Excitement was at fever pitch as Williamstown faced local rivals Port Melbourne in the 1st Qualifying final at Box Hill’s City Oval. Williamstown earned the right to host the final, (albeit at a neutral ground due to the $8.5million dollar Burbank Oval redevelopment), having finished top of the ladder after the conclusion of the home and away season. Port Melbourne would prove to be tough opposition after strong performances during the regular season saw the ‘Borough finish in 4th position with 13 wins and just 5 losses.

Despite losing in form trio Dylan Addison, Jordan Roughead and Andrejs Everitt to the injury hit Dogs, the Seagulls were able to bring in some Bulldogs talent through Shaun Higgins, Stephen Tiller and Jarrad Boumann all returning from injury. Matthew Panos and Ed Carr were rewarded with strong reserves form, while Nick Sing, Jason Tutt and Kwame McHarg were desperately unlucky to miss out on a first finals appearance.

Port Melbourne brought in the experience of Ryan McMahon and Dylan McLaren for the big game, however they were dealt a cruel blow early on with the loss of prolific midfielder Nathan Batsanis to a suspected knee injury.

First Quarter

Under sunny skies the ball was bounced in front of a healthy mixture of Seagull and Borough supporters. After a cagey start it was Williamstown who gained the early advantage through Bulldog Shaun Higgins who soccered a goal off the ground to get the ball rolling for the Gulls. This opened the floodgates for the Seagulls who kicked the next 5 goals to take a 34 point lead at quarter time. Matthew Little was in great form early on leading hard with those trademark strong hands, kicking two goals in the process to extend his tally to the year to 82 goals. Tom German was showing his trademark qualities in the middle, accumulating multiple contested possessions and tackling any Port Melbourne player who dared to try and get past him.

The old midfield firm of Johnson, Jolley and Davies were also prolific as the Seagulls won the crucial midfield battle, with great assistance from Will Minson who was setting the tone early with dominance in the ruck duel. Down back Tim Callan was spoiling and repelling everything, while Cameron Lockwood and young Dane Rampe were providing the run and rebound.

Williamstown                6.1.37
Port Melbourne             0.3.3

Second Quarter

Despite winning the second quarter, the feeling at half time was that it was a quarter of wasted opportunities as the Seagulls squandered a number of opportunities to put the game past the ‘Borough at half time. The normally reliable boot of Matthew Little had a couple of rare lapses in front of goal, while Captain Brett Johnson, Tom German and Ben Davies were also culpable for some inaccuracy.

Goals to Bulldogs small forwards Brennan Stack and Patrick Rose ensured that the Seagulls extended their quarter time margin to 35 points at the main break. However what a different story it could have been with more accuracy up forward.

Williamstown              8.6.54
Port Melbourne                    2.7.19

Third quarter

After a rev up from coach German the Seagulls came out in the third quarter with the aim of putting the game out of reach of the Port Melbourne side. It was however the boys from Port who came out of the blocks stronger and reduced the margin to just 4 goals. Goals from Matthew Panos and a second to Stack came the Seagulls some breathing space, before the already busy Andrew Hooper made his stamp on his game. Hooper was giving Chris Cain the run around as a half forward and truly showed his authority when he kicked 3 goals in the space of 6 minutes to give the Seagulls a 52 point lead at the last change.

The courageous Tim Callan was on the receiving end of some friendly fire from Lukas Markovic, taking a huge hit that left him in the hands of the trainers. However it was only to be a minor scare for the Gulls coaching staff as Callan returned to great applause to the playing field.

With the game seemingly over Coach German pleaded with his players to stick to the same structures and processes that had set up the win, regardless of the score.

Williamstown            14.12.96
Port Melbourne         6.8.44

Fourth Quarter

The last quarter saw goals being exchanged at either end, goals to Little, Rose, Hooper, Hill and Stack were greeted with big roars from the Seagull faithful, who felt like some revenge had been extracted for the 2008 preliminary final loss to Port. Ben Davies continued to dominate through the midfield of the ground finishing with 38 disposals. Brett Johnson in his 100th Williamstown game maintained the high standards he has set this year with 32 touches, he was supported by Ben Jolley (32 disposals), Shaun Higgins (30), Tom German (25) and Dane Rampe (23) who all benefited from Will Minson’s dominance in the ruck who notched up 50 hit-outs along with 15 possessions.

Williamstown      19.15.129
Port Melbourne     10.11.71

Goals: Hooper 4, Rose 3, Little 3, Stack 3, Hill 2 , Panos 2, Higgins, Davies

Best Players: Davies, Hooper, Minson, Jolley, Callan, Faulks



What’s on next week...?

Next Saturday 4th September:  Williamstown seniors now have the luxury of a week off and proceed straight to a preliminary final against either the Casey Scorpions or the Northern Bullants. The reserves face Sandringham in a cut-throat preliminary final this Saturday the 4th of September at TEAC Oval, Port Melbourne starting at 11am.

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