Tara Murray
Bundoora has strengthened its side on and off the field in the Northern Football League division 1.
Coming off a grand final appearance, the Bulls have looked to add some more experience to the team in the hope of going one better.
Bulls coach Michael Ryan said it had been a productive off season for the club.
“It’s been a good season and we’ve made some good acquisitions,” he said.
“Joey Palazzolo returns, we’ve got Peter McEvoy, Ben McNiece and Lachlan East who have joined the club.
“It’s been a quite positive off season and it bodes well for a good 2023.”
Ryan said for the most part their recruiting had come through existing connections at the club.
McEvoy, who has previously captained Coburg in the Victorian Football League, has retired from that level but is keen to keep playing at a lower level.
Having been aligned with the Bulls since 2019, he decided the Bulls was the perfect location to do that.
McEvoy said adding East, a star in the competition, and former AFL-listed McNiece was icing on the cake.
“We’ve been keen on Lachlan for the last couple of years,” he said. “He will fill a really great space for us.
“Ben has really strong ties to Danny Younan from their time at Essendon. He committed just before Christmas which was really good.”
Ryan said the biggest thing about their additions, that they were not only good footballers, but good people.
He said they were keen to buy into the culture that had been set by the leaders, and also attract players to the club.
The Bulls have lost a couple of key players.
Kain Proctor, who was the side’s vice-captain last year, is playing football in the country, while Bailey Thompson is moving to Perth.
Ryan said they had also lost a few other players who had left in search of more senior opportunities.
As well as the inclusions, Ryan said there was plenty of pressure for spots in the senior side.
“The good thing for us is the reserves have won the last three premierships,” he said.
“We’ve got some good kids in the under-19s and are putting pressure on to play senior football.
“They’ve put a mountain of work in over the Christmas break.”
Ryan said the group were using the disappointment of the grand final loss as motivation for this year.
“We were clearly wounded early on,” he said. “We’ve put it to the back of our mind.
“We’ll look to have a really strong pre-season post Christmas and then get into the practice matches and then in round one.”
