Bundoora senior men’s coach Michael Ryan is hopeful that his side’s efforts throughout the 2023 season will be rewarded with a premiership ahead of this Saturday’s highly anticipated Melbourne Greyhounds Division 1 Grand Final.
After another successful home and away season in which they secured a top three finish, the Bulls claimed a tight qualifying final win, before despite going down to Heidelberg in the second semi-final, produced one of their most brilliant performances in recent history, as they comfortably defeated North Heidelberg by 87 points in the preliminary final.
Senior men’s coach Michael Ryan said post-game it was the best performance he had seen his team play since taking on the role, further explaining to NFNL.org.au the specifics of the match that impressed him the most.
“It was all based on the way we connected through the ground and just our work rate, our tackles, our ability to put pressure and come forward at the opposition,” he said.
“I thought it was sensational but then also when we won the ball and our ability to connect through the ground as well, I thought was the best we’ve done.”
It sets up the opportunity to win the club’s first senior men’s premiership since 2017 on the weekend, but to do so, they will have to overcome a powerful Heidelberg outfit.
They have not defeated the Tigers in their last seven meetings, including last year’s decider in which they went down by 15 points.
But Ryan was adamant that his side have continued to learn from their recent battles with the reigning premiers, and says the right plans are in place to produce a strong performance on the big stage.
“Heidelberg have definitely been the form team and have been the benchmark the past two years in the competition, and we’ve taken learnings away from each time we’ve played them,” he said.
“We’ve collaborated the coaching group and the playing group about things we need to improve on for when we play them this Saturday.”
Last week’s terrific preliminary final win came off the back of a complete team performance, with all 22 players having an influence in the huge triumph.
It leaves big selection calls to make for Bundoora ahead of the decider, but while Ryan didn’t give too much away, he did highlight the efforts and roles every player on the list had in the senior side reaching the final match of the home and away season.
“Thus far we used 39 players on the list, probably in my time of coaching Bundoora the past three and a half seasons [it’s] the most injuries we had,” he said.
“To use 39 players and come into a Grand Final, it’s a real credit to the whole club and the under 19s program, whilst the reserves have been able to help out even though the reserves have had a tough year from a win loss perspective.”
“There’s been some guys who have stepped up and helped us to this point and get us to this position where we can play off for a premiership on Saturday.”
When Ryan took over the reigns as senior coach at the end of the 2019 season, the Bulls had just completed a season where they finished in ninth position and registered just five wins.
Following two COVID interrupted seasons, the club bounced back to a point where they have been challenging for a premiership over the last two years.
Ryan explained how much it would mean for Bundoora if they were to claim the ultimate prize this weekend.
“It just means so much to this group, this group’s a very special group with how close they are not just on field but also off field,” he said.
“They really enjoy each other’s company, they’re so low maintenance to coach and they really deserve it this group, they really deserve success.”
“Especially the guys who stuck around the end of 2019 and saw through the tough times and decided to put their hand up and really work hard to put the club back on track. I really want to see it for those guys as well, it’d mean the world to this group on Saturday.”
