Northern Bullants

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**Northern Bullants**

Full name	Northern Bullants Football Club
Nickname	Bullants
Strip	Red, white bullant
Founded	1882
Sport	Australian rules football
League	Victorian Junior Football Association (1886-1902, 1912-1925) Victorian Football League (1903-1911, 1926-)
Ground	Australian Motor Finance Oval
Club song	Tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy
President/Chair
Coach	Barry Mitchell
Captain	Frankie Raso
2005	3

The Northern Bullants Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Preston, Melbourne and currently playing in the Victorian Football League. They are one of the less financially successful VFL teams, and play their games at Australian Motor Finance Oval, Cramer St, Preston.

[edit] History

The club competed at junior levels for much of the early 1900s before entering the Victorian Football Association at senior level in its current form in 1926. Known as the Preston Bullants, the team wore red with a white PFC monogram and white numbers. They had little success through the first three decades of their time in the VFA.

In 1961, the VFA adopted a two-division structure with promotion and relegation. Preston began in the lower of the two divisions, but was elevated to division one for the 1964 season after defeating the Waverley Panthers in the grand final. They finished last in 1964 are were dropped back to the second division for 1965, which they won easily, defeating the Mordialloc Bloodhounds in the grand final.

Their second entry in the first division was much more successful, making the finals in most seasons, and never returning to the second division. They won their first division one premiership in 1968, beating Prahran by 14 points, and won another the following year, beating Dandenong by two goals.

The Bullants would lose four grand finals before winning another: 1971 in somewhat controversial fashion against Dandenong by 6 points, 1978 against Prahran by 22 points, and Port Melbourne Boroughs in 1981 and 1982 by 113 points and 7 points respectively. They rebounded from the two losses to Port Melbourne by winning the 1983 and 1984 premierships, by 7 points against Geelong West and 54 points against Frankston.

Since 1989, when the VFA was reduced to one division again, Preston have generally struggled on the field, and financially. To their credit, they have succeeded in keeping their team on the ground, while so many others were dropping out around them. Around the turn of the century, the club changed its name from Preston Football Club to Northern Bullants Football Club.

As teams in the newly renamed VFL were aligning to Victorian AFL teams, the Northern Bullants aligned with the Carlton Football Club in 2003. Under this arrangement, players from Carlton who are not playing in the senior team will play in the Bullants' senior team, as well as non-AFL listed Bullants senior players.

In a VFL where the difference in skill between the top and bottom teams is mammoth, the Bullants found themselves in the top group of teams in 2005 for the first time in many years. They finished second on the ladder (owing largely to their round 19 loss to eventual minor premiers Werribee, when the Tigers erased a 46 point deficit with the wind to win by three points), and were eliminated by the Tigers in the preliminary final. In 2005 Bullants players Digby Morrell and Setanta Ó hAilpín finished 2nd and 4th respectively in the J.J Liston Medal.

Against many experts' predictions, the Bullants' form continued to improve into 2006, and they won the minor premiership comfortably, losing only one regular season game. This success has come despite medium-term injuries to key VFL-listed players Frankie Raso, Josh Vansittart and Ross Young. A strong defence averaging 62 points against (an astonishing 22 points fewer than any other team) was the cornerstone of this success; in attack the Bullants also ranked #1 in the league, averaging 110 points for, despite several very low scoring games in rainy conditions. Former Carlton and Hawthorn player Daniel Harford finished third in the J.J. Liston Trophy for the Bullants. Unfortunately, their finals campaign came to a halt when Sandringham convincingly won their semi-final.

The current coach of the Northern Bullants is ex-Carlton player and current Carlton assistant coach Barry Mitchell. The captain is Bullants veteran Frankie Raso, and 2005 Carlton senior player Digby Morrell is both a player and assistant coach for the 2006 Bullants team.

[edit] Summary

Joined VFA: 1926
Premierships:
- Division One (4): 1968-69, 1983-84
- Division Two (2): 1963, 1965
Aligned with: Carlton Football Club
Position in 2005: Third