By JARROD POTTER
THE final siren had sounded on Dandenong Stingrays’ season.
Post-match talks had ended, final warm-downs and stretches had just begun in earnest as the players prepared for one last 2015 dip in the dreaded ice-baths.
For some of the 22-selected Stingray, they took off their jumpers, placed them on a neat folded pile on the floor in the Princes Park change room and bid farewell to the TAC Cup.
One of the last to take off his jumper, the one he’s worn for 32 TAC Cup matches in two seasons, was fittingly the man who led the side onto the field week-in, week-out – Dandenong Stingrays captain Lachlan Williams.
The 18-year-old from Somerville had been the most vocal throughout the day and across the year in whole.
His was the last man the Stingrays heard before they went down the race onto the famous Carlton oval on Saturday – as he pumped up his side before the first bounce.
Once again Williams did that at half-time when the team needed a rev-up before returning to the field.
Williams finished what will likely be his last TAC Cup clash with 20 possessions and a number of forward-entries – playing his role throughout the forward half – as the Stingrays tried but couldn’t mount a comeback.
In one of his final tasks as the captain, Williams was one of the loudest Stingrays telling his mates to keep their heads high after the season-ending 28-point TAC Cup preliminary final loss to Eastern Ranges.
That was customary throughout Williams’s time at the head of the leadership group in 2015 – as round after round he’d lead vocally as much as by action – he’d be heard clearly in the locker rooms, in the huddle and on-the-field in the middle of the action.
Williams knows it’s a thrill just to become a TAC Cup player but to become the side’s leader has been his proudest football accolade.
“It’s been a big honour – they’re a really good bunch of blokes and I’m pretty speechless at the moment,” Williams said after the match on Saturday.
“It’s pretty heart-breaking at the moment but every bloke I can see in this room today I’ve made a better relationship with them.
“We’re all from different areas with the three different leagues – and I couldn’t think of a better bunch of blokes to play footy with and win or lose, I hold close to my heart how much I love these guys and it’s something I’ll never forget.”
It’s been a challenging year for the midfielder/forward who was rushed to hospital part-way through the season with an inflamed appendix requiring emergency surgery.
But in a strange way the surgery helped him out tremendously – giving him time out of the game through June and July to dig deeper on the training track and eventually thrive in his final seven clashes.
“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster year for myself – the appendix was all new to me, but I learned a lot off it and I couldn’t thank the staff enough – especially Octo, he tried to get me on the park as much as possible and get my fitness up and the result has been amazing,” Williams said.
“I’ve played some better footy coming back from it, feel a lot fitter and it’s probably a blessing in disguise the way it happened.”
Season’s end holds a different feel for Williams and his TAC Cup brethren.
There isn’t next year for this group to bounce back; the top-age players graduate the program to pursue senior ambitions while a new group of 16 and 17-year-olds will try to continue the traditions the alumni hold dear.
To the AFL the best will go, others onwards to the VFL and local leagues but the skipper knows that the red, black and yellow will always course through his veins and every other player who was lucky enough to become a Dandenong Stingray.
“Once you’re a Stingray player, you’re a Stingray for life,” Williams said.
“It just shows from the past, the amount of players that have gone onto the AFL and VFL, how much they look back at their time wearing the Stingray jersey.
“No doubt we’re going to have some players go on to the top level and some going in other ways to VFL or local but we’ll back on this and think about the journey we had together – it started back in November as Blacky (coach Craig Black) said and I just couldn’t be more thankful to play with these type of guys as they’re a ripper bunch of blokes.”
Williams’s next footballing task will technically be as an individual – running around Etihad Stadium at the Victorian State Combine testing day later this year – but it’s clear he’ll still be a leader, as he cheers for his team-mates in pursuit of their AFL dreams.
