Williamstown has experienced their first victory back at the new Burbank Oval with a convincing 48 point win over Collingwood.
Anton Woods and Nick Sing both got their first Senior opportunity of the year after strong form in the development squad, while Anthony Anastasio also came into the side when Brodie Moles was a late withdrawal 10 minutes before the game with illness.
Read westernbulldogs.com.au's exclusive post match chat with Bulldogs rookie Alex Greenwood.
Keen to make amends for a poor run of form, the home side came out of the blocks firing.
The home team was dominating possession early on but not capitalising on their dominance forward of the centre.
Like last week, frustrations grew as Collingwood were able to score 3 goals from their limited inside 50’s, while Williamstown wasted opportunities to kick 4.4 to take a 9 point lead in at quarter time.
Wall was instrumental in the ruck giving his midfielders such as Ed Carr, Brett Goodes and Anton Woods first use of the ball.
Once again the second quarter saw the Seagulls dominate possession but inaccurate kicking failed to extend the lead beyond 12 points at half time, with Williamstown kicking 3.7 for the quarter compared to the Pies 3.1.
The game had been threatening to break open and it did in the third quarter with Williamstown kicking 6 goals to 2 to take a stranglehold on the match.
Cameron Lockwood, Jason Johannisen and Stephen McCallum were providing a lot of drive from the half back line as Collingwood found it difficult to enter their forward 50.
With the game seemingly beyond doubt the last quarter was a stalemate with three goals a piece to both teams.
Liam Jones overhead marking was a constant threat to the Magpies defence while Charlie Nastasi showed a maturity beyond his years and didn’t look out of place in his first game of Senior football.
The win puts the Seagulls back into the top 8, with a week off to rest the legs before tackling Werribee at home on the 22nd of July.
Williamstown 4.4 7.11 13.17 16.22 (118)
Collingwood 3.1 6.2 8.3 11.4 (70)
GOALS:
Williamstown: Jones 3 Nastasi 2 Anastasio 2 Panos 2 Conway 2 Skinner Jolley McNamara Carr Wall
BEST:
Williamstown: Wall Johannisen Goodes Grant Jones Carr
