In his seventh game of AFL football, young forward Jack Williams finally experienced the joy of winning as a West Coast Eagle.
Williams was propelled into the senior West Coast side ahead of expectations on the back of the squad’s availability concerns and has relished in his opportunities at AFL level.
Following West Coast’s 10.12 (72) defeat of North Melbourne 10.7 (67) on Sunday afternoon, the Eagles’ first win since round two, 19-year-old Williams said it’s good to get some reward for effort.
“It’s so good, so good, I’m just taking it in now,” Williams said.
“We’ve been working all year, working hard for this and to get the young boys into that winning culture is good, and we’ll keep pushing.”
Despite the wintery conditions at Optus Stadium on Sunday, over 38,000 fans showed up to support the team and Williams said it was nice to be able to celebrate with them on home soil.
“They’ve been unreal all year, it’s been so good to have them, it’s good that we can give something back to them and celebrate.” Williams said.
After suffering a spleen injury during pre-season, Williams said he’s worked hard to get back on the track and has been developing his game against experienced players in the League.
“It was a tough start, at the start of the year I had an injury and was wiped out for the first half,” Williams said.
“I’ve been able to work hard with the strength and conditioning staff who’ve been able to get me right, so props to them.
“I’ve just been picking it up as I go, I’ve gained a lot of experience and knowledge playing on some good players in the last seven games I’ve played, so I’ve just been building.”
With his role evolving to include more time in the ruck, Williams said it’s been good to have teammate Bailey Williams to show him the ropes.
“It’s good, coming up against some big, experienced bodies, like (Todd) Goldstein and (Tristan) Xerri, they’re no pushovers,” Williams said.
“I’ve been working hard, ‘Baz’ has been helping me out and we’ve got a good rapport going now so it’s good.”
Following a six-day break, West Coast will take on Essendon at Marvel Stadium on Saturday and Williams said the team will take confidence out of the win over the Roos.
“It’s nice that we’ve got a win now, sometimes we find ourselves in those instances when we’re up, now we know we can hold on and win,” Williams said.
“We will just take a lot of confidence out of today and push forward to next week.”
