2001 - EXPECTATIONS OF A RETURN TO DIV 1

Returning to Peninsula Grade after winning the Division 2 Flag in 2000, Chelsea was under no illusions as to the task ahead and appointed Melbourne utility Paul Hopgood to the position of Senior Coach, at the expense of an accepting Brett Bowey who stayed on as a player.

Paul proved to be a hard and demanding taskmaster with an AFL mindset and this required a level of commitment that was probably beyond most local players who were not really professional footballers. However, all proceeded well with the Gulls winning 7 of the first 9 games, despite the coach only being able to provide limited game time due to injury which restricted his on-field involvement.

A match for top position against Karinagal saw the Seagulls suffer a 10 goal thrashing and this became the start of a string of poor performances. A series of mid year crisis meetings did little to arrest the slide and the team finished in 7th place with 8 wins.

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