A criticism rightly levelled at the committee over recent times is a lack of communication with members and supporters. As a start to correcting this we will be sending out a newsletter at least monthly during the off season with the aim of keeping you up to date with what is happening in
relation to on field and off field activities. If you have any feedback or suggestions in relation to the newsletter, please let me know as the intention is for this to meet the needs of our members and supporters.

Presentation Night
Our 2018 Presentation Night was held on Saturday 1 September at Columbo’s Family Restaurant in Balwyn. This was a great night for those that were able to attend, and we thank Columbo’s, one of our sponsors this year, for the great facilities and venue that they provided.
Specially congratulations to Billy Wilson, winner of the Senior Best and Fairest, Madelyn Davies, winner of the Women’s B&F and Lachlan Imeneo, winner of the Reserves’ B&F. Each count was interesting in its own way; In the Seniors Billy had a close tussle with Jack Cowell who had his seventh Top 4 finish from seven years of Senior footy. In the Women’s B&F Maddie Davies was a run a way winner averaging over 11 votes a round out of a maximum 15 available. A truly outstanding effort. In the Reserves only four votes separated the top three in what was a very close count.

The following is a full list of winners and award recipients.

Seniors B&F: Billy Wilson 1 st , Jack Cowell 2 nd , Rob Edsall 3 rd , Harry Vogler 4 th
Reserves B&F: Lachlan Imeneo 1 st , Matthew Cowell 2md, Terry Harisiou 3 rd , Joe Caridi 4 th
Women’s B&F: Madelyn Davies 1 st , Rachel Traplin 2 nd , Jacqui Krienke 3 rd , Mel Krienke 4 th

Coaches Awards: Patrick Moio, Seniors, Michael Sabbatucci, Reserves and Raffi Jones, Women’s.

Milestone Awards:
50 Games – Dean Stratus and Billy Wilson
100 Games – Jake Hopkinson and Joseph Moio
150 Games – Terry Harisiou and Peter Voglis

300 Games – Spiros Lambropoulos.

We were also privileged to be able to present Jamie Gunn with his VAFA Umpires Association award recognising his outstanding achievement of having umpired 500 Games, including more than 20 grand finals. Jamie is a past player with the Bullants and was this year our home umpire for reserves games as well as a regular umpire for our Women’s games.

Encouragement Awards: These are given to younger players that we believe display the on and off field attributes that will make them future leaders of the club. This year these went to Patrick Moio and Rachel Traplin.

The Best Clubperson award this year was presented to Andrew Sartori. Anyone that has been around the club over the last few years will know that this is extremely well-deserved recognition for someone that seems to be involved in everything. Andrew was heavily involved in sponsorship and grants work this year, as a past Treasurer he assisted our current Treasurer in her first year in the role, he was Bar Manager and on top of that was often seen on the end of a broom helping to clean the rooms. Thank you, Andrew, for all the work you do around the club.

VAFA Awards:

This year two of our players had their outstanding performances recognised by the VAFA by being named in the Division 2 Team of the Year, congratulations to Billy Wilson, who was named on the wing and to David Dakin who was named as a rover. Billy Wilson was also finished third equal in the Division 2 Best and Fairest, a great result backing up his winning run in the club B&F.

Coaching Appointments:
We are pleased to announce that Harry Urwin has been reappointed as coach of our Senior Women’s team for what will be his third year at the helm. Many of you may not know but we were one of the VAFA’s foundation women’s clubs in 2017 and Harry has taken a fledgling side, we had four women at the first pre-season training for the 2017 year, to a side that in 2018 had a chance to play finals until the last couple of rounds, beating the eventual premiers in the process. We look forward to a successful 2019 to continuing the development of women’s football at the Bullants.

We are also delighted to appoint Declan McLaughlin as coach of our Under 19s team for 2019. Declan has played football to Under 19 level with Old Marcellin, has been assistant coach to Peter Daicos at Kew Rovers and was this year assistant coach for the Greythorn Kew combined Colts side. He also has several years coaching experience in cricket, holding Level 2 accreditation, and has recently been appointed Head Junior Coach for North Balwyn Cricket Club.  Declan has completed a Bachelor of Sports Development from Deakin University and currently works for the Collingwood Football Club developing football programs for schools. The Committee is pleased to have found a coach as well credentialed as Declan to lead our Under 19 program, something that we see as critical to the long-term success of the club.
We are currently in the process of interviewing potential Senior Coaches and have several worthy applications under consideration. Tim Merrett and Jade Rawlings join me on the selection panel and I am confident that we will be able to announce our new coach within the next couple of weeks. We will consider the appointment of a Reserves’ Coach once the Senior appointment has been made.

Players Reviews:
We have recently undertaken end of season reviews with both the Women’s and Men’s playing group and it was pleasing to note the enthusiasm of both groups in taking part in this important exercise. The passion and commitment to improving the club and its on field performance was
heartening and I look forward to working with both groups as we move forward into the 2019 season. The player’s feedback and suggestions are going to be an important as the Committee develops its 2019 Season Plan. Work on this will begin immediately after the 2018 Annual General
Meeting in October and will be shared with all members before the end of the year.

Junior Club:
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been fortunate to be able to represent the Club in attending both the Colts’ Dinner and the Junior Presentation Day. At the Colts’ Dinner I was able to see and listen to a number of the young men that will be a part of our Under 19s side next year. The obvious
fun and enjoyment that they gain from each other is a testament to the work that the Junior Club has done throughout their football careers to date. I look forward to seeing most of these young men as part of the Senior Club as they continue their careers in the blue and gold.
At the Junior Presentation Day, I presented two Encouragement Awards on behalf of the Senior Club. These are awards that we have given, in consultation with the coaches, for several years now recognising the playing and leadership potential of a young man and young women that we believe best epitomise the spirit of being a Bullant. This year the awards went to Dion Sivilioglou and Kaitlyn Bloomfield.

Sponsors:
We are currently undertaking a review of our sponsorship program with a view to enhancing the mutual benefits that the Club and our sponsors can get from these relationships. I would particularly like to thank this year’s major sponsors for their generosity and support throughout the year. Sammic Australia (www.sammic.com.au), Toscano Plumbing
(www.toscanoplumbing.com.au)and Money Quest Blackburn (www.moneyquest.com.au), that have all signed up to continue with the club until the end of the 2020 season, and to the Harp of Erin Hotel (www.harpoferin.com.au) and Furphy (www.furphybeer.com.au). If you have the opportunity to support any of these sponsors, please do so and make sure that you mention the Bullants.

2018 AGM:
This year’s AGM will be held on Monday 22 nd October starting at 7.30pm in the upstairs private room at the Harp of Erin Hotel in Kew. All members and supporters are encouraged to attend to have their say in how the club is run.

Go Bullants!

Russell Wallis
President
Bulleen Templestowe Amateur Football Club

To all Bullant members and supporters,

This is just a quick update for everyone on what the committee has been up to since we finished playing last week to let you know that we are not sitting back waiting for 2019. We have increased our present committee by several new members for next season with room for any one else who is interested in jumping on board. This obviously needs to be approved at the AGM however there is always a need for people prepared to take on roles to support and run the club. 

We are actively chasing up on possible new senior players for next season and a sub-committee, headed by David Keast, has been formed to introduce these new players and personnel to our club. We have also formed a sub-committee to support the creation of an Under 19 team for next season. Bobby Toscano is leading this initiative and we are been lucky to have two of this year’s Colts parents on board to help. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate both our Colts teams on having  a successful season with one team playing finals and the other team just missing out. The Youth Girls have made their Grand Final and I wish them every success for next week. I hope to welcome a large number of these players and their parents to the senior club over the coming weeks. 

In regards to coaching roles we have interviewed two under 19 coaches with one interview remaining which we are hope to hold this week. The senior positions have been advertised and while it is early days yet, we have already had an initial discussion with three people in regards to the role of senior coaching role. We are also progressing the discussion to hopefully reappoint this year’s Women’s Coach for another season. 

It’s our intention to keep everyone more informed on what’s happening at your club and  if you wish to raise any issues concerning your club please don’t hesitate to contact me. 

See you all Saturday night at Presentation night. To keep up to date with all the award winners, remember to follow us on our Social Media Channels (the feeds are also available on the right of our home page here).

Go Bullants! 

Russell Wallis
President
Bulleen Templestowe AFC
Ph: 0410 335 216

2017 Winners