WILKO FINDS THE WILL TO WIN

After taking the trophy at the Quicksilver Pro at Snapper last week, the question now is: will bell ring for the tour’s resident class clown?
Byron Bay’s Matt Wilkinson clinched his first WSL Championship Tour victory last week, proving he’s finally serious about winning the world title after almost failing to requalify for the CT a few years ago.
“I was hoping to make it in the top five THE WILL TO WIN or 10 this year, and I have been at the back end of the teens for the last few years, so this is a different start,” Wilkinson said.
“I feel like I have matured a lot in my heat surfing and in my surfing in general.
Hopefully I can put a lot of heats together this year and win the title.”
Wilkinson has hired friend and former CT competitor Glenn Hall as a coach and the move appears to be paying dividends.
“Wilko had a reality check since he almost fell off tour and he knows he’s a lot better than that and obviously I do too,” Hall said.
“I had a little chat with him and told him, ‘Hey, you’re better than that.’ He thought it was probably a good time to change his ways.”
The goofy-footer unleashed a variety of technical manoeuvres at Snapper to take his win, dispatching reigning World Champion Adriano De Souza and last year’s event winner, Filipe Toledo.
Wilkinson won the event 14.22 to 13.66.