NEW West End A-Grade head coach Michael Williamson is a huge Bulldogs fan as the team prepares for the latest Rugby League Ipswich (RLI) season.
Michael also appreciates the country lifestyle at Thagoona.
Michael and his family have enjoyed the relaxed area for nearly 20 years after the coach previously played and lived in Ipswich.
“It’s nice and quiet,” Michael said. “Yet close to the city.”
He said having the train line nearby made it easy to travel to Bowen Hills where he works.
Michael played many years for West End and Redbank before coming out of retirement to help Rosewood.
He had a long association with Norths juniors before his current switch back to West End.
Michael and his sons Lachlan and Mitchell are heavily involved in helping the Bulldogs rebuild after West End was re-admitted to the A-Grade competition last year.
“They hate me,” Michael joked.
“I’m their worst critic and their harshest critic.
“Other people tell me how well they are playing. I always find the fault.”
However, Michael conceded he might be “getting a bit softer in my old age and lighter on punishments and things like that.”
After a tough 2024 season as assistant coach, Michael has stepped up to help rebuild the Bulldogs’ A-Grade side.
“At 16, I played my last game here,” Williamson said, chatting at the club’s Daniels Park headquarters.
“At 17, I went off to the Jets with a mate of mine, Matty O’Brien.”
Michael played in the front row as a junior before switching to hooker/five-eight at the Jets.
His dad John was a former junior club president.
Coming full circle at West End had added appeal when club president Charlie Carney invited Williamson to return last year, joining Bulldogs stalwart Jae Woodward.
“It’s a good family environment here so it’s good to come back,” Williamson said.
“When Charlie and Jae rang me last year to come and help out, I jumped at the opportunity to come back to the Bulldogs.”
Williamson, 48, was one of Ipswich’s leading junior coaches and development mentors during a number of years at Norths. He also coached the Norths A-Grade side after the Covid year.
Last season, he stepped up as Woodward’s assistant Bulldogs A-Grade coach.
Williamson has the added bonus of working with his talented sons Lachlan and Mitchell, along with a number of other exciting players sharing the Bulldogs quest to be more competitive.
“We’ve kept the core from last year,” Williamson said.
“We got back into the comp and tried to rebuild and we had a five-10 year plan.
“Jae has just stepped back this year to help me.
“So, the boys have still got the same people around.”
Among the key Bulldogs recruits is Swifts speedster Godfrey Okot, one of the leading fullbacks in the RLI competition.
Lachlan is expected to play halfback, alongside former Ipswich State High Langer Cup teammate Mason Pintegne.
Mitchell will slot in at hooker, as part of the club’s rotational plan.
Last year’s Bulldogs best and fairest utility player Tupu Lisati has returned, anchoring the forward line and awarded the club captaincy.
“He was outstanding. He was our best player by a country mile,’’ the coach said.
Lisati will co-captain the A-Grade side with Lachlan.
Having a decade of experience working with younger players, Williamson is keen to provide more opportunities for talents like former Norths under-18 grand final winning team member Michael Lindsay.
“He’s a good frontrower and he’ll learn a lot from the changes that we’ve picked up,” the coach said.
Williamson grew up at Redbank Plains before his family settled at Thagoona.
He is eager to see the Bulldogs move forward after a testing 2024 RLI season where West End only had a small contingent of players with A-Grade experience.
“Result-wise [last year], it was not what you like to see on the scoreboard but from a development perspective, we gave a lot of guys an opportunity to play A-Grade football,” Williamson said.
The 2025 Bulldogs squad started pre-season training at Daniels Park in November with up to 45 players now working together across the A and Reserve Grade teams.
Williamson said the club was still hopeful of forming a Volunteers Cup (Third Grade) side this season, where they would tackle the Rosewood Roosters.
