Around the Grounds – Williamstown CYMS

Weeks deep into March and the town of Darley, hanging back-shoulder off the side of Bacchus Marsh and the snaking Western Freeway, is still an island of resistant, baking heat. Shadows are highly sought around the community hub oval for a triplet of practice games scheduled for Saturday lunchtime – Williamstown CYMS’ Under 19s, then Seniors, then Reserves versus the corresponding teams from the Bacchus Marsh Cobras.

The CYs had a run the weekend before, against Lara, but the feeling around those who have travelled to Darley is this is the hitout that will inform the club of its progression over the summer, after coach Con Terzoglou and his chargers last year hauled themselves from the relegation drop-zone through late July and August, and maintained their place in Premier B.

A draw with eventual premier Old Haileybury, followed by three successive wins did the trick for Terzoglou, who navigated his group with a contest-focused gameplan and a ‘Great Escape’ theme. It worked, and from the lesson comes a new message: avoiding the dangerous places the 2024 season took the team to, with an eye to the upper half of the competition.

Jordan Busuttil, fresh off a second consecutive best-and-fairest at Fearon Reserve, isn’t out there, but would record 13 disposals in his VFL debut with Essendon later that day.

Neither is Williamstown VFL-listed Liam Conway, who would line up against Busuttil at Tullamarine. There are a few other CYs footballers who you can expect to see in Round 1 who haven’t made the trip over. One that did, and is worth a watch come the start of the season, is today’s full-forward, Zac Provest.

Watch Provest shuffle by, and you’ll notice he’s without the height or size of some of the behemoth goalkickers in Premier B, standing six foot one, maybe six foot two. But it’s his spring and speed inside 50 that demand attention, allowing him to play out of the goalsquare as required but creating a ground-ball issue for brittle defensives should the football make it there.

From behind the CYs’ bench, there’s an appreciative murmur each time Provest takes flight. When given a skerrick of a chance, he trampolines at the Sherrin, leaving little space for a defender behind him to twist in front with a fist. It’s notable that when the CYs win at stoppage, the wingers and half-forwards charge outward to create open territory – leaving runners from behind to sweep by and their bounding full-forward a highway out of the goalsquare to hurtle into and leap at the incoming football.

The run and spread from behind is a key topic of conversation at the conclusion of the game with Con Terzoglou, as he and assistant coach Michael Johnstone set up on the hill above the oval to watch the Reserves. 

“We look at the top end of Prem B, and look at the way they play their football, and we need to play a brand that we think can elevate to that standard,” says the CYs coach.

“We know that the Ammos game does play off that half back line, so it’s an area we want to improve in and we’ve put time into that at training. To see snippets of that today and last week is pleasing to know that we’re trending right. Still work to do, but we’re really happy with how it’s come so far.”

Provest has a day out, following up five goals against Lara in the previous practice match. It’s hard to track his goalkicking, with no scorekeeper at the venue such is the nature of the game, but after some consultation, the consensus is Provest finished with a bag of eight.

“The body of work that he’s put in over pre-season, and being able to get some sort of reward, albeit in a practice game, is important,” Terzoglou says.

“I think the most pleasing thing for him is the way he’s moving now, the way he’s attacking the football, and the fact that he’s probably getting some easier looks than he did last year. I think last year it was a lot more contested – his leading patterns have improved a lot.”

Provest is one of many touchstones made boundaryside with great of the club Peter Welsh, who watches closely from beside the coaches box as Terzoglou and Johnstone direct players. Welsh’s role as a monolithic figure at ‘The Fearon’ through his term as president of the CYs and involvement in the development and growth of the club’s under 19s program is well known across the VAFA. It’s a practice match, far away from his home ground, but Welsh – wearing his Footscray cap, the club he played 165 games and won a best-and-fairest with in the 60s and 70s – is glued to the spectacle.

“‘Spider’s’ (Welsh’s) involvement over the last 20 years is varied,” says Terzoglou.

“He’s a mentor, he’s a set of hands that helps as a general volunteer, but as someone with his experience – (as) a little bit of an old hard-nosed VFL defender – he’s always teaching our young guys how to throw their weight around, obviously a little more fairly that what he used to do back in the day.”

Welsh points out a few notables from his position – the angle cut by Lachie Downey as he roams at centre-half-back, the space held in ruck contests. He explains a kick-out drill trialled with the CYs’ under 19 players, placing a kick-out 30 metres or so ahead of a player belting the width of the half-back flank to quickly clear the defensive area. This year that tactic is obervable at Hawthorn in the AFL, employed to great effect using Jarman Impey’s dash from one side of the backline to the other.

“(He’s) fantastic. He’ll sweep the floors if he has to,” says Terzoglou 

“He’ll pull a big guy aside and teach him how to use his body. That’s just invaluable, to have someone with that experience around the club on a day-to-day basis.”

Downey – a raw backman who has enjoyed a bountiful pre-season after two senior games in 2024 – and Dean Cutajar stand out in defence, as does Will Chan in the midfield – a smaller, agile player with a second sense for the front-and-centre. Terzoglou’s throttling press on the opponent works to great effect – but at half time the coach reminds his players of their defensive responsibilities in transition after the Cobras found far too much room beyod the first layer of the contest.

“That’s part of our learning,” he says later.

“We don’t need to have a perfect execution on our plan today, we need to keep trending upwards… if we can respond well to those types of performances, we’re going to be happy, and I thought our last quarter we did do that, so we’re pretty pleased.”

The result is a seven-goal CYs win, made complete with a six-goal-to-one final term. One more weekend to pass before Round 1 begins, where they’ll open their season at Fearon Reserve, taking on the promoted Hampton Rovers.