Williamstown hosted Bendigo in Round 18 action last Saturday at Burbank Oval. After last weeks narrow loss to Port Melbourne selectors made 5 changes to the side. Into the side came Peter Street and Stephen Tiller who were dropped from the Bulldogs. Scott West and Shaun Higgins returned from injury and Tom Langlands was promoted from the reserves. Out of the side went Josh Hill promoted to the Bulldogs, Cameron Wight was out injured and Jarrad Boumann, Brennan Stack and Nathan Lyons were dropped.
A good crowd was in attendance to see the return of champion Bulldog Scott West after a long layoff due to a knee injury. The West family has a long history with the Williamstown Football Club with twin brother Brent a Williamstown player for 4 seasons and older brother Troy holds the games played record at the club (208) and was co-captain in our 2003 premiership.
Bendigo have struggled in recent weeks after their aligned AFL club Essendon have been struck down with a number of injuries and their on field strength has been severely affected.
Williamstown won the toss and kicked with the breeze and within the opening minutes it was obvious that a big gulf existed between the two sides as the seagulls kicked 8 unanswered goals with forward Patrick Rose dominating with 5 goals. Williamstown midfield were receiving an armchair ride through the dominance of Peter Street and Wayde Skipper in the ruck. With Bendigo pre-occupied with putting players behind the ball , this made it nearly impossible for them to score and the Williamstown defenders were able to pick up possessions with no pressure being applied.
In the second quarter the Williamstown dominance continued although Bendigo ruckman Tom Bellchambers received a free kick and kicked accurately to record their one and only goal for the game. Midfielders Shaun Higgins, Brett Johnson, David Stretton, Ben Jolley, Scott West and Guy O’Keefe were having a picnic.
In the third quarter Williamstown continued their dominance with a miserly defence led by Kane McKenzie, Stephen Tiller, Liam Picken , Scott Meyer, James Beaumont and Andrejs Everitt who continued to provide plenty of attack and run out of defence. Up forward Matthew Little, Jason Cloke, Wayde Skipper and Callum Urch were lively and causing plenty of problems for the Bombers.
Kane McKenzie
In the final quarter Williamstown knew that percentage was going to be all important in deciding final ladder positions and even though Bendigo had the wind it made no difference to the dominance of Williamstown. Bendigo could only add a behind to their score while an inaccurate Williamstown kicked 4 goals 7 to run out 155 point victors. Sam Reid, Cameron Lockwood and Tom Langlands all were valuable contributors in the second half as the win promoted the team to top position after the surprise loss of North Ballarat against the Northern Bullants.
WILLIAMSTOWN: 8.6.54 ~ 12.12.84 ~ 19.19.133 ~ 23.27.165
BENDIGO: 0.0.0 ~ 1.2.8 ~ 1.3.9 ~ 1.4.10
GOALKICKERS : Rose 5, Skipper 4, Little 3, O’Keefe 3, Johnson 2, Higgins 2, Urch 1, Picken 1, Tiller 1, Street 1
BEST PLAYERS : McKenzie, Jolley, Higgins, Johnson, Stretton, West.
RESERVES WRAP
Williamstown reserves recorded their fourteenth victory of the season with a comprehensive 239 point victory over the hapless Bendigo Bombers.
WILLIAMSTOWN: 10.2.62 ~ 18.12.120 ~ 26.14.170 ~ 36.25.241
BENDIGO: 0.1.1 ~ 0.2.2 ~ 0.2.2 ~ 0.2.2
GOALKICKERS : Galea 9, Mulligan 4, Dickson 3, Cartelli 3, Cravino 3, Young 3, Stack 3, Georgiadis 3, Chiu 2, Grossman 2, Keddell 1.
BEST PLAYERS : Keddell, Stack, Galea, Chiu, Cravino, O’Shea.