THE 2022 VFL Women’s season is almost upon us, so it is time to take a look at each of the competing teams and see where they sit as we head into another season. Today we take a look at Williamstown, who finished 11th in 2021.

2021 was certainly a long and tough year for the Seagulls. They only won two games for the year, one against Western Bulldogs and one against fellow cellar dwellers, Darebin. They also had a draw against the Falcons.

Reflecting on the season, despite the lack of wins, captain Erin Meade was happy with the growth she saw in her teammates.

“I guess as captain I was still pretty positive with the growth we saw within the group,” Meade said. “Sometimes that doesn’t always articulate on the scoreboard but seeing the little wins from girls improving from training to games week to week was something I was really proud of.

“We’ve been able to retain some of the squad from last year which is awesome, and then bring in some new players so hopefully we’ll continue to see that development this season.”

Coach Penny Cula-Reid had similar thoughts, and noted how she believed nothing went drastically wrong, just not a lot went right.

“The scoreboard didn’t really reflect the effort and the amount of work these girls did and we didn’t come away with the wins but the progression through the season I think really showed what these girls are capable of,” Cula-Reid said. “I think once that pressure came off the table for myself and the girls we really started to enjoy our football and we started to see some really good links of play, and I think with the base that we have and the foundation that we’re working on.

“We’re bigger and better season two… and we’re just going to get better and better.”

As has been evident in the past few seasons, with the way that the VFLW is currently structured, clubs like Williamstown are up against it to match it with the clubs that are aligned to AFLW clubs. When asked about this, both Meade and Cula-Reid agreed that there was a simple solution.

“I do appreciate that the VFLW season is trying to move earlier in the year to marry up with the AFLW season a little bit. I’d love to see us play at the exact same time as them so there is a clear difference between the teams that are playing AFLW each week and then their VFLW girls,” Meade said.

“I think that would balance the competition a little bit better and we’d be able to really see the state league girls that are really putting in the effort and possibly ready to get drafted versus when the AFLW season finishes up and those girls flood back into the VFL competition, that’s where that starts to get that shift in balance and it falls away a little bit, especially for standalone clubs like us.”

But that was then, and this is now. Williamstown has brought in a number of new faces for the 2022 season, all with varying levels of experience at the elite level.

Among their inclusions this season are Bridie Kennedy, who was on Carlton’s list in the AFLW for several seasons before playing with Port Melbourne in the VFLW.

One of the inclusions who is new to the VFLW scene is Ellie Cleland, who comes to the Seagulls from Blackburn Football Club in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. She is both a midfielder and a forward, and is very quick, so one to definitely keep an eye on heading into this season.

Williamstown did have a practice match on the weekend against the Southern Saints, which they lost by 14 points. Despite the loss, Cula-Reid was pleased with elements her side showed on the weekend.

They have another practise match this coming weekend against Carlton, so the Seagulls will certainly be looking to build on that ahead of their Round 1 clash in only 12 days time.

When asked what the goal was for 2022, Cula-Reid’s answer was pretty simple – finals.

“I’ve been sort of thinking about this for a while because I know this is something that as a coach, we all want to play finals, but in the scheme of things I really think that this group has the potential to play finals,” she said.

“It’s something we wanted to do last year but that sort of just didn’t happen for us. A couple of injuries and I think Covid hit us pretty hard last year in terms of our mental space, so we’ve worked pretty hard and got a welfare officer and gotten a mindset coach to really help these girls perform on and off the field. “I think with that combination and the group we have, it’d be really exciting and a really good reward for this group to play finals.”