March 2011 From the General Manager’s Desk Williamstown Football Club With the start of the 2011 season only weeks away, it is imperative that all Williamstown members, supporters, sponsors P.O Box 307 and past players (Club 1864) prepare themselves for an exciting 2011 season. Undoubtedly not playing home games at Williamstown 3016 Burbank Oval in 2011 presents a number of challenges for everybody connected with the mighty Seagulls. Ph: (03) 9391 0309 Fax: (03) 9391 5497 Just as all sections of the Club rallied in 1995 to ensure the existence and future of our Football Club, this season E:[email protected] presents a number of different challenges - • Can we maintain strong support / attendances at our home games? • Can we maintain our loyal sponsors in 2011? • Can we maintain our position in the top 4 in an ever increasing even VFL competition? • Can we make an impact in the Foxtel Champions Cup? • Can our new facilities at Burbank Oval be completed on time for the 2012 season? • Can we continue to have strong support at our Presidents Luncheons and Friday Networking Luncheons? • Can our ‘Club 1864’ continue to grow in 2011? • Can we make our 35 and 25 year reunion of our 1976 and 1986 Premiership sides something special this year? • Can we produce another AFL draftee like Peter Faulks or Liam Picken? • Can we continue to grow ‘Football Williamstown’? The Board of the Williamstown Football Club have identified that more than ever it is vital that we keep in communication with all of the stake holders of our Club. Within the next month the Club will have a new website which will give us the flexibility to promote our sponsors in a more effective manner and will provide us with an opportunity to show match highlights, player interviews and other video content. I also welcome feedback from you and please don’t hesitate to contact myself, Board members or our other full time staff in Chris Dixon (Football & Development Manager) and Norhana Stipic (Events & Marketing Manager). 956 1958 1959 1969 1976 1986 1990 2003 Brendan Curry W: 9391 0309 M: 0409 857 308 E: [email protected] 2011 New Sponsors Williamstown Football Club would like to thank all of our Sponsors for their continued support of the Club. We thank Joanne Royston from Hocking Stuart - Williamstown for their support as our Major Sponsor and Peter Young from Westpac Bank for their support as our Community Partner. New sponsors to the Club include - - Nevin Lenne Gross Solicitors - Ramair - Engineering Directions - Spot On Signs - Wyndham Events Centre - Daniel O’Regan Real Estate - Advanced Carpet Installations - Jimmy & Sandra Hasset - Petrogas - Pekish Restaurant - Lawson Property Services - Hunter French Real Estate - Aussie Home Loans - The Bohica Room WILLIAMSTOWN FOOTBALL CLUB http://williamstown.aflvic.com.au http://williamstown.aflvic.com.au - Adam Cook Plumbing - Griffiths Signs ESTABLISHED 1864 PREMIERS 1939 1907 1921 1945 1949 1954 1955 1 The Word From Williamstown — March 2011 2011 March — Williamstown From Word The Follow us on : www.twitter.com.au/williamstownfc www.facebook.com Q & A with Senior Coach Peter German 1. We are only two weeks away from the start of the 2011 season. From your point of view, how have you viewed the pre-season and especially your initiative to have a pre season camp in Perth? Our Pre-season has been a key focus once again for all players to build an important base for the season. It has been well attended in all areas and our camp to Perth was really well received by all who attended. Our aims on the camp was to experience a different environment with 4 days of solid training and also bring the playing group together which I felt we achieved. 2. The Williamstown list welcomes in 17 new players in 2011, how have you viewed the change in playing personnel from last season? After losing both our bookends in Faulks and Little, it has left us with a big challenge to reconstruct our team. Brett Goodes has been our most experienced recruit and is a class player. With our other new recruits I believe we will see some of them progress into Senior football and many of the first year TAC Cup players filling the 23rd player role. I’m confident we will have good depth from the Williamstown players this season. 3. Justin Plapp and Jeremy Barnard have joined our coaching ranks this year and Todd Clark has had changes to his role. Please tell us about the qualities they bring to our Club and their roles. Justin has been appointed as our Reserves / Development Coach and his understanding of young players is well proven in recent years. Jeremy has a wealth of experience as a player and coach and already has made his imprint on our mid-field group. Todd has really grown in his role as Senior Assistant and his management skills and attention to detail makes him an important member of our coaching staff. 4. Season 2011 sees the introduction of the Foxtel Champions League with Williamstown drawn to play WAFL Premiers Swan Districts in Perth on the 9 th of April. What are your views on the competition and how will Williamstown approach our opening game? We are really excited to be part of this new competition. It will give our players and the VFL great exposure. At the moment we will treat it like any other game with maybe the chance to rest some older players and give some younger players a chance to play. We will wait and see how it all pans out. 5. As the Senior Coach, what impact will there be with no training or playing at Burbank Oval in 2011? I have mixed feelings as I know the players enjoy playing at Williamstown but knowing that we will return in 2012 to top class facilities will make our 2011 travelling to all parts of the state worth while. We will still train and prepare in good facilities at Whitten Oval and at the Western Jets training base (Crofts Reserve) 6. During your time as Coach of Subiaco, you saw that Club develop their facilities and invest in their infrastructure. As the Senior Coach what do you hope to see occur at Burbank Oval with the current re- development and what positive impact can it have on the coaching and playing group? The key is to develop facilities for both members and players. In 2012, our members will enjoy an excellent social / dining room and with strong input from the football department we will hopefully have upgraded player and coaching facilities which will provide the necessary tools to prepare the players better than any other VFL club. 7. Now in your second year as Coach of Williamstown, how have you seen the Leadership group develop in your time and please tell us about Richard Maloney as he oversees our playing group and now has a similar role with the Western Bulldogs. History will tell you that to achieve any high performance as a team, leadership plays a massive part. Richard really understands what is required as a player in this area and the improvement by our leaders last season was quite evident . We are expecting Richard to even lift this group to another level and his role at the Bulldogs will be very similar. THE WORD FROM WILLIAMSTOWN— MAR 2011 Page 2 Check us out at williamstown.aflvic.com.au 8. You have a dual role as Development Coach of the Western Bulldogs. How do you manage the demands of development of young players and the aim of creating a winning culture and how supportive is Rodney Eade? It’s a very difficult role in that you serve two masters. I enjoy working with the young Bulldogs and try to develop not only their physical game but just as importantly help get them ready mentally for the long and tough AFL journey. ‘Rocket’ I must say gives me all the support in my role as he knows often I’m caught in tough selection situations. 9. You have a great appreciation of “history” within football clubs and how important is it to have a strong “Club 1864” group? The past players at Williamstown Football Club (Club 1864) is very important to the club culture and future of the Club. Often we see the boys from the halcyon days of the ‘50s to Terry Wheeler and Big Bazza Round of the ‘80s which gives great inspiration to the players. I love it when they have their reunions and look forward to their continued support. 10. What are your thoughts about the VFL competition and the constant speculation that a number of AFL Clubs are considering entering “stand alone” sides in 2012? Personally I loved the old VFA days and no doubt alignments have eroded the passion for a lot of supporters. I totally understand why certain AFL clubs want to enter stand alone teams however our alignment with the Western Bulldogs works very smoothly. It will be very interesting to see what unfolds for next season. 11. Which of the first year Western Bulldogs players have impressed you thus far and who can step up this year from the following group – Panos, Cordy,Roughead, Hooper, Mulligan, Tutt, Howard etc. Tom Liberatore and Mitch Wallis have shown they are both ready to take on the AFL challenge however Jayden Schofield reminds me of a young Glen Archer. He will surprise many plus Zeph Skinner will be exciting to watch as he develops his football knowledge. I expect all the mentioned players to make big inroads as key ‘Willy’ players and push for AFL positions.