TWELVE months ago Jason Pongracic was on the other side of the world, running around for the fledgling Sussex Swans in the AFL London competition.

The Swans, who play at Brighton, south of London, were playing their first season in an 18-a-side competition, and Pongracic enjoyed the social nature of getting a few kicks while helping teach the greatest game in the world to an enthusiastic group.

But there was an itch that had to be scratched, and with good mate Jake Greiser in his ear telling him about Williamstown’s need for experience, Pongracic returned to DSV Stadium.

Having already chaired 100-gamer Greiser and 300-match legend Ben Jolley off after their milestone games this year, it will be Pongracic’s turn when he reaches triple figures in the Seagulls’ Terry Wheeler Cup clash with Footscray on Saturday.

It will also be the 50th in a Williamstown guernsey for Pongracic, 29, who also played 50 times for Frankston, where he was captain when the Dolphins lost their VFL license in 2016.

Pongracic is proud to have made it back to VFL level after three years out of the game, with his mantra of being a team player an important characteristic recognised by his teammates.

“I’m not one of the best players anymore but I aim to be one of the best teammates, so to get recognised for that is something I’m really proud of,” Pongracic said.

“My two Ron James trophies at Williamstown for the Players’ Player, which ‘Joz’ (Jolley) has won nine times – I think I broke his run there.

“(100 games) has been a bit of a journey, it pales into comparison a bit with ‘Joz’ knocking off the 300 … I don’t know how he’s got to 300 because it feels like it’s taken me quite a while, but I’m proud to achieve it.

Pongracic said his plan was never to spend three years in England and admitted to doubts about how he would go.

“I had the idea that we’d go for a year and then come back, I didn’t think it would be the end of my VFL career,” he said.

“With Covid we extended our trip to three years, so I wasn’t sure whether I’d be past it or whether I’d have anything to offer coming back.

“Jakey Greiser kept in touch about Willy’s list in 2022. They were a young group and lacked a bit of experience, so it was almost a perfect match that I could add something to the group.

“I really enjoyed my time off and (the footy) was quite social, it was nice to get a few kicks but it lacked a bit of that competitive element so I was pretty hungry to see if I could come back and test myself again at the highest level possible.

“It was probably a bit harder than I expected coming back after such a long time away from playing such a competitive level of footy, but this year has been as enjoyable as any.”

Pongracic said reaching 100 games in a perfect 50/50 split with the Dolphins and Seagulls was a nice touch, especially given the sadness over his 50th game at Frankston Park.

“It’s pretty nice, the symmetry of the split. That last game I played for Frankston was when we found out Frankston wasn’t going to be in the comp, so it was a little bit bittersweet,” he said.

“I wouldn’t have left Frankston if they’d stayed in, but the silver lining was I was able to go from a club where we weren’t having a lot of success to join Williamstown, so I’ve loved my time here and it is nice to even the ledger.

“I have very fond memories of my time at Frankston, but I’ve really enjoyed my time being part of Williamstown as well.

“It was a tough time because the (Frankston) group was close and we were starting to build a core group with a few guys that had played 40-50 games and a few guys in their mid-20s.

“I think lots of them would have stayed and we hopefully would have started to build success around that, but it was an exciting time to move to Williamstown … a club that had been successful and was in that premiership window.”

Pongracic said there was a pull to return when Frankston was readmitted in 2018, but circumstances conspired against it.

“We’d moved our lives up that way, we’d started working and we’d been embraced by the Williamstown footy club,” he said.

“You get a little bit seduced by the team success, and we’d put a lot of work in in 2017 and we didn’t quite get the job done – we lost a close prelim – so there was unfinished business to try to have some success with that group.

“There were definitely some thoughts and there were discussions for the first three years at Williamstown – Frankston was always making contact, which I appreciated, but Williamstown is such a good footy club, and we had our lives up around there by then.”

And there’s only one thing he’s worried about for Saturday.

“It’ll probably be Jakey and Pickess (chairing me off) if they’re up to the task. I said to Jakey (when they carried Jolley last week) that it was a bit easier to get ‘Joz’ on the shoulders than him and he said, ‘I don’t even know if we’ll be able to get you up!’”