The Bullants finished up eighth on the ladder with 10 wins, 10 losses, and a percentage of 90.19. They scraped into the finals with Port Melbourne, North Ballarat, Williamstown, the Werribee Tigers, Casey, the Coburg Tigers and Frankston.
Bu, their September campaign ended at the first hurdle when they were bundled out by the Scorpions in the heartbreaking loss in Cranbourne.
Coach David Teague talks about how the boys went in their last game for the year, and about how the side fared in regards to his expectations for the season.
It was very disappointing to lose the way we did on the weekend.
We had our chances. There was a slight breeze that picked up throughout the day, so we were kicking with it in the first quarter and didn't take our chance.
They got away from us in the second, but to the guys' credit they fought it back just before half time and we were nine points down going into the main break.
We had a pretty good third quarter, we hit the scoreboard and got in front, up by 11 points at three-quarter time, but we couldn't hold them off in the final term as they were kicking with the breeze.
We got a goal late in the game and still had a chance, and we had the ball inside our forward 50, but we just couldn't get that last goal with a few minutes to go.
We had a strong side in. Richard Hadley and Jake Edwards had gone off to have surgeries, so we didn't have them, and Darren Pfeiffer didn't come up after hurting his ankle in the final home and away game.
Had we had just one of those in the midfield … we got beaten pretty comfortably there, so it might have been different if Pfeiffer or Hadley had played.
I was very proud of the way they fought the game out, and even in the last quarter when Casey got in front, the boys just kept trying their hearts out. As a coach that's all you can ask for.
We probably went a little bit short and a little bit wide at times when we needed to be direct, but the effort was always there so we can't be too disappointed.
I went into the season wanting us to make the finals. Last year the boys just missed out on the finals. We lost four of our more experienced Bullants last year so we knew it was going to be hard, but we picked up Matty Lappin, which helped.
I was hoping we'd make finals and when we got there I honestly thought we had a chance against Casey. Had we got over that game, we probably would have fared better against Werribee this week.
Watching the guys develop has been the biggest positive for me this year. To see how Joey Anderson, who was one of the best players in the final, went up in the last couple of rounds and played senior football, was great.
Dennis Armfield and Steven Browne, some of the guys who have played seniors most of the year, were really good to watch.
That's what we're about – developing the younger Carlton-listed players – and the boys did a really good job in developing while still winning enough games to make the finals.
Carlton now comes back to training in October and the Bullants come back in November. We've got a little bit of time off now to review the season and see where we can improve, and then we'll get back into it for next season.
CASEY SCORPIONS 4.1 9.3 9.5 13.10 (88)
NORTHERN BULLANTS 4.4 7.6 10.10 12.11 (83)
GOALS
Casey Scorpions: J. Allen 3, M. Ferguson 2, M. Rix, M. Gardiner, J. Taylor, D. Armitage, B. Howard, K. Matthews, J. Steven, G. Chivers
Northern Bullants: D. Teague 3, M. Lappin 2, A. Gianfagna 2, J. Saddington, J. Bannister, A. Hartlett, C. Ackland, A. Joseph
BEST
Casey Scorpions: D. Armitage, J. Geary, J. Wall, J. Taylor, M. Gardiner, J. Allen
Northern Bullants: B. Bransgrove, J. Anderson, D. Armfield, L. Blackwell, J. Saddington, A. Hartlett
