Two clubs that are riding a stretch of good form will collide this weekend at Simonds Stadium. The Geelong Cats are striving for their tenth win on the trot when they go head to head with Williamstown who tallied their fifth straight victory last Saturday.
In the last round of the home and away season, this game between second and fifth placed teams provides both sides with the opportunity to approach the finals with the confidence and momentum to reach success.
Although Geelong boasts the best winning streak in the competition for 2012, they encountered a scare last weekend when they faced an unlikely threat in the Coburg Tigers. Captain Troy Selwood considers the match to be an essential learning curve with the team approaching finals.
“From the weekend’s game, we feel as a whole group we didn't get to play the game on our terms at all. Coburg's pressure was fantastic and really forced us to make uncharacteristic errors in attack, defence and when the ball was in dispute. So we are therefore looking to doing the basics really well and making sure they are executed against a team in fantastic form in Williamstown.”
Round 22 will see a change of half a dozen players in the Geelong line up compared to the week prior. The Cats will most likely lose star Travis Varcoe to the AFL after an enthralling comeback to football through the VFL last week. However, they will be boosted by the likes of Selwood and Shane Kersten.
“Some of our regular VFL players had been carrying some minor niggles over the last few weeks so we decided to get some rehab and solid training into them before finals. We will have a few come back into the team this week as we feel it is important to get our best team on the park for September. Hopefully, I will be one of those inclusions.”
Geelong and Williamstown last met in Round 3 at Torquay Oval. Selwood believes that the Seagulls have proved their ability and will provide the ideal test and finals preparation for his side.
“Our Easter Sunday clash was an extremely tough game. Williamstown have fantastic depth of players and this has become more apparent as the season has gone on.
“They have an extremely talented and experienced midfield which will be a great challenge and opportunity for our young players to match up against.
“Playing one of the toughest teams in the competition is a perfect game for us to finish the home and away season. If we are good enough to grab a win this weekend then it will give our team great confidence that we are really earning our wins rather than relying in individual talent,” Selwood said.
Williamstown’s Football & Development Manager, Chris Dixon feels that his side will not make the same mistakes they made in Round 3 against the Cats.
“We got off to a horrible start and we were playing catch up from there. We can’t afford to let a quality side like Geelong jump us like they did last time. We’re probably going to come up against a completely different Geelong line up in terms of personnel but what was pleasing when we played them last time was that we were able to more than match it with them in the second half.”
Round 21 worked in Williamstown’s favour with the Club recording a huge win against Sandringham and their direct threat Werribee experiencing a shock loss at the hands of the Northern Blues. This has provided them with what seemed to be a highly unlikely opportunity, to sneak their way into a top four position. Although they are presented with a slim prospect of reaching this double chance, the Club are not pinning their hopes on the option.
“All we can control is our match against Geelong. Unfortunately we’re not in a position where we can control our own destiny so it’s not something that we’ve really looked at. If we were to win and Collingwood as well then it would be a bonus, but our focus is more on beating Geelong which will consolidate fifth spot and potentially a home final. We know we’ve got a tough challenge coming up against a side that has won nine games in a row so our complete focus has been on the task at hand.”
The Williamstown Football Club have developed a remarkable culture at the Club throughout the year which continues to breed further due to their success.
“It’s an exciting time. The Development side have finished their season 18-0 and now have a couple of weeks off before the Preliminary Final. There’s a lot of young talent in that side which are keeping our senior players on their toes so we’re in a great position from that point of view. As a Club we’re looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead with two finals campaigns, we seem to have found our best form at the right time of the year which is pleasing,” Dixon said.
Last Modified on 24/08/2012 16:16