Ben Jolley is well respected right across the VFL competition. He has left a lasting mark on a number of players and coaches across his 200 games journey.
We spoke with a number of people involved in Jolley’s career, and here’s what they had to say about the Williamstown captain leading up to his 200th game:
His first VFL coach at Bendigo Matthew Knights
Ben Jolley was outstanding to coach due to being so trustworthy. You could trust him to win a contest, make a tackle but more importantly trust him to spread the word and coach the game style out on the ground.
One of Ben’s great qualities was giving himself to the team. One week you could ask him to be an attacking first possession player and team defender and the next week ask him to take out the opposition’s best midfielder. Either role Ben would execute to the best of his ability. Ben was also able to have a good time with his peers and was able to mix with all age groups which was critical in our situation at Bendigo.
First coach at Williamstown Brad Gotch
I remember Brendan (Curry) telling me about him and said he was on to a really good type that would be there at the club for a long time, and would offer a lot of reliability and consistency he thought, so it was a pretty good identification. The key thing with Ben, is he is just such a hard worker and reliable and a fantastic character. We always knew he was going to be a leader along the way at some stage, and he is just a very impressive person to have around a football club. He has a never give up sort of attitude where he is never beaten or never concedes.
I used him more as a defensive type midfielder, to keep an eye on the opposition better players. You always knew he would stick to his task and the dominant midfielder for the opposition team would not have a good day. He always got the best out of himself, and got better as he went along. From the early days when he might not have been as attacking or skilful as some others, he was neat enough to work away at his game and have an impact.
One thing I do remember is he would always get very excited about wins - it meant a lot to him to win. He had a little sneaky smile like it was really satisfying to win, it was a unique trait that he had, that he was happy every time. Some guys just the win and move on, but every win was important, and he didn’t treat any of them different, and really enjoyed the wins.
Former Williamstown captain Brett Johnson
Ben is a class act the way he conducts himself on and off the field, and is a role model for a lot of younger players out there. The thing that stands out to me is he plays the game the way it should be played. When I first started playing with Ben when he arrived at Williamstown, he was really good in terms of the defensive side of his game.
As he progressed he was a complete player - he accumulates the football and makes really good decisions now and he is just so consistent. He will go down as one of the great players that has played for the football club.
Former Williamstown coach Peter German
In my 21 years of coaching, he is probably the most professional, diligent, honest, hardworking, courageous football that I have coached. At all the state levels I have coach, there are not too many I could put in his category of professionalism and preparation in terms of his body and what he does.
He reminds me a lot of someone like Daniel Cross, just willing to do whatever it takes to get himself in peak fitness and loves a challenge.
Coburg captain Nick Carnell
I have a lot of respect for what he has been able to achieve. Being in similar positions as standalone clubs, and the position that we hold, I look at him and his ability to still play football to a very high standard.
I have a lot of respect as he mixes in work and a career away from football as I know the difficulties of building a career around the time you need to spend around a VFL club. He is obviously still hunting for that premiership as well, and he is a little bit closer than we are, but what Williamstown has been able to build, he is the catalyst for all that I would imagine.
Last Modified on 21/05/2015 08:35