WilliamstownCYMS.com.au

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EVERY HEART BEATS TRUE

FOR THE GOLD AND THE BLUE

Welcome to the website of the Williamstown CYMS Amateur Football Club. We play in the Victorian Amateur Football Association.

Currently our Senior and Reserves Teams play in Division 1. Our Thirds play in the Club XV111 (Club Eighteen) North Division and we have a team in the Under 18 Division.

Our Seniors and Reserves teams won Premierships in Division 3 in 2008 and Division 2 in 2009.

We have a long and proud history dating back to 1886 making us one of the oldest Australian Football Clubs still in existence.

We are proud to be a member of Football Williamstown (www.footballwilliamstown.com.au), an organisation that includes every Australian Football club, team and group in the suburb of Williamstown. The other members are;

Williamstown Auskick (for girls and boys of Primary School age)

Williamstown Juniors Football Club (Under 9’s up to under 16’s plus a Youth Girls team, ages 13 to 18).

Williamstown Seagulls FIDA (Teams for people with an intellectual disability)

Williamstown Football Club (Playing in the VFL)

Williamstown Superules (over 35, over 40 and over 47)

Football Williamstown provides the opportunity for all citizens in Williamstown to be involved in football both on and off the ground for their entire lifetime. Its motto is “from the cradle to the grave”.

Williamstown CYMS has a close association with all other members of Football Williamstown and plays a significant supporting role with both the Youth Girls Team and the FIDA Teams.

Williamstown CYMS has a strong group of loyal sponsors plus a Coterie of over 100 members. The Club is based at the Fearon Reserve, Garden St. Williamstown.

We encourage you to find out more about our club by visiting the various pages of our website, click here LATEST NEWS as a starting point.

We extend a warm welcome to new players, supporters, sponsors and volunteers.

Please feel free to contact us at

billd@footballwilliamstown.com.au or at football_president@williamstowncyms.com.au

Excitement reached fever pitch at the CY’s this week as they went through their paces in preparation for Saturday’s Match of the Year against the undefeated Banyule outfit at  RJ Brockwell Reserve, Heidelberg.

Banyule have swept all before them this year with 8 wins on the  trot. They have scored 159 more points for the season than second placed Whitefriars. That indicates an awesome scoring potential. Further to that they have had the least points scored against. All of this adds up to a % of 180. They have established themselves as red hot favourites for the flag in the opinion of most of the teams they have played to date.

So we know what they can do.

What we don’t know is what the CY’s can do. They have been decimated by injury  since Round 1 and unable to field anywhere  near their best side, yet they have won 6, lost 2 and are third on %.

Saturday will give us a good indication of where the CY’s are at. Most experts are tipping a comfortable win for Banyule, The Amateur Footballer scribe “expects the Bears to easily account for the CY’s”. But the CY’s are not out of this by a long shot. If they bring their A game, they will be right in it.

Into the side come Dylan Jones for his first game this year. Dylan has been a star for the Western Jets this season and returns to the CY’s with the Jets having a week off. Also in for his first game for the year is Ben Newman. Ben was a sensation last season and a key player in the CY’s late charge for a berth in the finals. Injury has kept him out this year to date but he is now fully recovered so having him back is a huge plus.

Out go Josh Vanderloo, unavailable, and the unlucky Matt John who really did well last match against Peninsula.

A review of players on the injured list shows Blake Stringer resuming in the reserves this week,  Cassidy and Lethborg possibilities for the following week and Brett Fairley and Jack Connors not too far off either.

In the Reserves, Banyule, 2nd and 7-1 will start favourites but the CY’s, 4th and 5-3 will be strengthened with the return of some good players so there won’t be much in this whichever way it goes.

The Thirds, 5th and 4-4 take on Therry Penola 6th and 4-4 at home. The CY’s, despite 12 changes at selection should win, home ground advantage being crucial here. An interesting selection for the home team is M. Montebello on the Interchange Bench. Watch this space.

The Under 18’s, 2nd, host Werribee 3rd, at the Fearon. It will be on for young and old here. Both teams have been beaten only once so you won’t get it more evenly matched than this. Werribee easily beat Oakleigh last start who beat the CY’s the week before. This will be a great game so supporters should get down to the Fearon before heading out to Heidelberg.

The full list of WILIAMSTOWN CYMS Under 18 players as been posted on the 2011 PLAYER LISTS page.

The traditional bye for the Queens Birthday long weekend presents us with a timely opportunity to review the season to date and ponder what lies ahead.

Expectations for 2011 were high after the CY’s brilliant finish to the 2010 season when, after a slow start, they stormed home to win 10 of the last 13 games to just miss a place in the finals. Supporters were confident that the CY’s would make the finals in 2011.

A good pre-season and two excellent practice match performances reinforced that confidence. While the CY’s would be without inspirational skipper Andrew McKay (injured) and midfielder Dean Russ (overseas) for the season, and tough CHB Lennie Andrusiw was MIA, these losses were somewhat balanced with the return of stars Ross Cassidy and Brett Lethborg, who both missed 2010, and Ben Gray, committing to the CY’s after a challenging year in 2010 when he swapped backwards and forwards between the CY’s and Bendigo Bombers in the VFL.

Added to that, there was the unknown X factor of the exciting batch of youngsters who had joined the Club over pre-season.

Based on the above, supporters rated the CY’s a definite finals prospect. The 2010 CY’s kicked some cricket scores and the return of Cassidy and Lethborg could only make the forward line stronger. It was anticipated the loss of McKay and Andrusiw would weaken the defence; we would be too light, too short and too inexperienced. As a result we would have high scores kicked against us, but no matter what the opposition kicked, we would have the fire power to kick more.

In reality however, the opposite has occurred.

The back 6 have been sensational. Led by the dashing Will Cooper at CHB, this unit has not only restricted opposition scores, conceding the third least number of points against, they have provided the rebound and run to launch attacks from deep in defence.

The 3 first yearer’s have been a revelation. Hard nuts Phil Johnson and Daniel Calman-Orr are tough and hard hitting and apply relentless pressure. They do not concede a contest. Luke McDonald’s run and long accurate kicking turns defence into attack.

Nathan Knapman is proving to be the surprise packet of the year at Full Back. He is improving with each game and has quickly become an integral part of this unit. John Gallivan has been the Rock of Gibraltar in the last line of defence. Never beaten, reliable and dependable, he has the ability to shut down the most dangerous forwards.

Will Cooper has been a star for the CY’s at CHB, he has closed the centre corridor as an avenue of attack and has led the defence with great running and attacking play.

The mid field is the barometer. When it fires, CY’s win.

The centre line has been outstanding. Nick Walsh and Jack Gray are having great seasons, if they aren’t the best 2 wingmen in the competition, I’ll go hee for tiggy. Callum Richards’ ability to find a way through heavy traffic and make every disposal count is uncanny, and with Skipper Craig Taylor, Jules Hatfield, Matt Lishman, Darcy Weston, Matt Carland and Jack Connors rotating through the middle, we have the ability to flood back and support the defence and then sweep the ball through the midfield into attack.

The importance of the midfield was never more apparent than in our two losses, it went down and so did we.

The much vaunted forward line, seen to be capable of kicking a winning score against all comers, lasted till half time of Round one with Elliott and Cassidy, both shoulders, out of the game. Lethborg then broke his arm and by games end we had lost the entire half forward line. Round 3 saw Ben Gray do a hammy and Round 4 Brett Fairley break his arm. Also in Round 4, Cassidy and Elliott resumed only to go straight out again, Cassidy with a quad and Elliott with a back.

With Vanders out of touch as a result of a disrupted pre-season, it was left to Wong, Read , Stringer and the midfield to kick goals. Wong was brilliant but the team could only average 10 goals per match over the first 6 weeks.

It’s hard to win kicking just 10 goals but our great defensive unit stood firm and enabled us to win 4 of the first 6.

With Vanders running into form kicking 14 goals in the last two games, good players returning from injury and Ben Gray starting to hit some form, we have booted 45 goals in the last two matches. That’s more like it.

In the big man department, the lion hearted Cody McCracken led the way with part-time support from Ben Gray, Will Cooper, John Gallivan and Fin Adamson.

Cody’s Round 5 lacerated hand put him out for two weeks but stand up Fin Adamson. Taking on the No 1 ruckman role, Fin has been a sensation responding to the challenge and playing his best games for the Club. Cody and Fin are now developing into a formidable combination.

What lies ahead? Given the injuries the Club has endured, it has been a mighty effort to win 6 games. But as Oopy says, injuries are part of footy, you don’t focus on them, you move on. The CY’s have fielded 36 players in the seniors, 8 of them first gamers. We have talent and depth.

The next challenge is Banyule, undefeated and playing at home. This has “Match of the Year” status (another one) written all over it.

When the CY’s get their act together, they are capable of playing at a standard worthy of a higher division, they can beat anyone anywhere. They are young and inexperienced but boy when they fire, this team can play!!

We have played 5 of 8 at home, that was in our favour, now we have 6 of 10 away. It will be a fantastic second half of the season. Supporters better tighten their seat belts because there will be plenty of thrills and spills to come. One thing’s for sure, they will get their money’s worth as CY’s strive to be part of the September action.