Williamstown CYMS coach praises skipper Ben Gray’s efforts in the VAFA

WILLIAMSTOWN  CYMS coach Mathew Montebello has paid credit to club captain Ben Gray, who notched game 150 in Saturday’s huge win over Marcellin.

Williamstown CYMS captain Ben Gray. Picture: David Smith

WILLIAMSTOWN  CYMS coach Mathew Montebello has paid credit to club captain Ben Gray, who notched game 150 for the club in Saturday’s huge win over Marcellin.

The defender has built an impressive CV since joining the CYs, collecting two club best-and-fairests and three flags, including a Victorian Amateur Football Association Division 1 premiership as captain in 2014.

“Talking about him gives me tingles,” Montebello said.

“If you go back and have a look at any local club, anyone that has those things next to their name becomes a legend of their football club.

“No one will forget what he did in the 2014 grand final playing on (Jarryd) Bannister. Even when he’s down, he finds a way to get the boys up.”

Gray is no longer joined in defence by Luke Molan, however, the key utility deciding to play socially in Premier C Thirds this season.

“There comes a time where you’ve got to say it’s fantastic having him, he’s been great for the footy club, but he just wants to enjoy himself,” Montebello said.

“He’s at that point where he’s established he’s not in the headspace to keep pushing at senior level. He considers himself a CYs boy now, but he’s having a social kick down with the thirds. It’s a very different mentality — the result isn’t the be-all and end-all.”

The fifth-placed CYs boast a 4-2 record this season after doling out a flogging to last year’s minor premier Marcellin on Saturday, 19.17 (131) to 8.10 (58).

“It’s an improvement from where we were at this time last year, but take that positive out and probably the two games we lost, the group would agree were lost opportunities,” Montebello said before Saturday’s win.

“We’ve spoken about resilience, not everything is going to go our way. The

“The three games we’ve won were three teams below us and the two games we’ve lost were two teams above us.

“We consider ourselves in the top tier, but you’ve got to continue to perform up with the top-tier (teams).”

Montebello said keeping an unblemished home record intact would take his side a long way.

“If you win your home games and try to win half of your away games, 14-4 or 13-5 generally puts you in finals contention. We’ve got a tough month, but this is where we work out where we sit,” he said.

The CYs face third-placed Caulfield Grammarians away from home in a crunch match this weekend.