DYLAN WILLIAMS has praised his teammates, coaches and the club staff for making his decision to extend his time at Alberton very easy.
The 19-year-old joined fellow 2019 draftees Miles Bergman and Mitch Georgiades in agreeing to terms on two-year contract extensions, tying them each to the club until the end of 2023.
The 23rd pick in the 2019 draft, Williams is a classy left-footed forward who is strong overhead and has a good goal sense.
Described by Georgiades as one of the smartest players he’s come across, the Oakleigh Chargers product showed his smarts by withstanding the lure of going home to Victoria and electing to stay with Port.
“My manager kind of threw it up like, ‘do you want to go home?’ and I said ‘no I’m staying’ and I think that’s a credit to the boys and how welcoming they were, and the staff and all the coaches as well,” Williams told portadelaidefc.com.au from his family home in Victoria.
“I’m very excited and happy to stay here. The boys are going in a really good direction and that’s why I signed because I’m really happy with the place.
“The playing group is going in a great direction, obviously making a Prelim this year, but it’s such a young group and such a talented group that wants to stick together and work hard so it’s very exciting.”
It was a challenging year for Williams, being away from home and not having SANFL football to showcase his talent.
He also had to shake off a groin injury that prevented him playing in some of the match simulation sessions the club organised.
When he did play, however, those who got to watch would have been excited by what they saw of Williams’ skills and game sense.
“I think I only got to play three or four practice games so it was a pretty tough year for the boys who didn’t play but I think we all handled it well,” he explained.
“All the staff were just as involved with the players who weren’t playing so that helped and we kind of stuck together as a group and tried to be as resilient as possible.
“You’re not going to get your opportunity on day one so you’ve got to hang in there and I think we all did that really well.”
Having added about five kilograms since landing at Alberton, Williams will return to Adelaide soon after a short break back home with family with a goal to increase his running capacity and challenge for a senior game early in 2021.
“My goal for the offseason is to get as fit as possible because that’s the main component I need to work on so I’ll just get as fit as possible and put my hand up as much as I can to play some early games,” he said.
“The first couple of weeks I just chilled out, saw some family and mates and after that you kind of get stuck back into it.
“We started our program on the 16th, so a couple of days ago with some running, a bit of gym and then the bike.
“All the 1-4 year boys will be back on the 7th of December and then I’ll come back here for Christmas.”
