Gulls footy firing on all cylinders

by Nicholas Duck

Warragul's football program has gone from strength to strength in 2026 with a famous footy face leading the charge.

Senior coach and Hawthorn legend Gary Ayres has set the standards for what up to now has been an extremely successful campaign for the Gulls' top team.
With just over half the home and away season through, the Gulls have claimed eight wins, one draw and one loss to sit entrenched inside the top three on the ladder.
Fresh off their first finals appearance in almost a decade last season, Warragul's growth has come largely off the back of a talented crop of young stars coming into their own.
Players like Riley Senini have been strong additions to an already powerful engine room while Caleb McIntosh patrols the wings.
Warragul's backline, which has had to make do without regular Paddy Mulqueen, has been bolstered by youth in Lucas Carter, Alby Phillips, Xavier Olsson and others.
Up the other end there have been strong contributors including Sam Grummisch, Heath Jinks and developing tall Henry Allsop, who recently booted four goals in his second game of senior football.
Even co-captain Tom Stern is far younger than his performances this year would suggest.
While the club's youth has been a driving factor in their growth the senior talent has kept up their end of the bargain.
Midfielder and co-captain Tom Hobbs has been a force to be reckoned with on-ball, Sean Masterson has stood tall in defence in the face of injuries to his teammates and former coach Jed Lamb has found a new joy for footy now that he's not pulling the reins.
The club have also enjoyed the services of VFL-level talent in Coburg boys Liam Serong and Rhys Galvin, whose contributions - while brief - have strengthened the team when they've taken the field.
When the Gulls get in a scoring mood they can put it on the board extremely quickly, having claimed multiple wins over 100 points and even scoring more than 200 points against Sale.
They've already claimed multiple scalps, including wins over fellow top five sides Wonthaggi and Traralgon - the former of which seeing them erase a 38-point deficit to get the four points.
A draw against Leongatha saw them go toe to toe with the reigning premiers and although Moe got the better of them, there's plenty of reason to think the Gulls can make an impact in finals.
Warragul broke their finals drought last season and though that's as far as they went, the question remains: how much can they build on it?
Get everything to click and the sky may be the limit.
In the lower grades Warragul are also showing their stuff with their reserves, thirds and fourths all well in contention for finals.
Their reserves especially are enjoying their strongest season in some time, currently sitting inside the top five despite some troubles with numbers in recent weeks.
The club's thirds are outside the top five but still well in the hunt heading into the second half of the season, while the fourths are eyeing off a top three finish of their own.