All I Want For Christmas Is...!
24/12/2006

It is the festive season, so we asked some of the superstars of The Bullets Football Club what they are hoping for this Christmas and their New Year's resolutions..

Rob Hazell:
All I want for Christmas is...a new coach for rec footy. I just can't relate to him.

My New Year's resolution is...not to fall over at rec footy in 2007 and be out for the season. I'm sure I was tripped!

Andrew Merryweather:
All I want for Christmas is...respect from the Number 1 ticketholder.

My New Year's resolution is...to handball less.

Dave Beattie:
All I want for Christmas is...to get advanced notice of all booze buses around Sandringham oval, and to work out a way of removing cola from my alcohol.

My New Year's resolution is...to live my life like I'm a footy: to be pumped up, straight laced, tough as leather, and always on the way up as I pass through my goals.

Debbie Murray:
All I want for Christmas is...to play AFL footy next season.

My New Year's resolution is...to train twice a week to make it to the AFL. I will still be playing for The Bullets...that's where my heart is!!!

Rob Rizzo:
All I want for Christmas is...footy boots.

My New Year's resolution is...to see The Bullets and the Melbourne Demons win premierships.

Danijela Mijic:
All I want for Christmas is...my first ever football.

My New Year's resolution is...to kick a goal for The Bullets whilst doing a back flip!!!

Some interesting wishes there...Bullets fans will have to wait and see which of them come true.

Rizzo Makes It To 10!
20/12/2006

One of The Bullets' longest-serving players, Rob Rizzo, finally reached his tenth game on Tuesday night. We caught up with him at the ground to conduct this interview.

Q. You debuted in The Bullets second ever game. How did you join the club?

Warren came over to our house to visit Joe, my older brother, and asked me if I was interested in playing mixed football. Coachy gave me a brief rundown of the game, and how it worked. We teed up a training session at Central Reserve that night.

Q. What were your first impressions of the game?

It was a relief for me to be playing football again. I hadn’t played football since primary school. Fond memories…I really enjoyed kicking the footy with Warren in training to begin with and then met the other great people on the team. Why is the ground so small?

Q. It's taken you a while to get to 10 games. Is it a relief to  
finally play in a milestone game?

I feel much more experienced and relaxed within my team unit in my tenth game. It crept up on me. However, it did feel great to achieve this milestone with The Bullets.

Q. You have been more of a regular in the side this year. Do you think playing more regularly has helped you develop your game?

Playing regularly has definitely helped my game. Regular playing has helped me to know the ground in game play. More so, experiencing and observing the mental processes, when competing against different opposing teams. Often the opposing forward line is overtly stupid and confident or lacking in self belief.

Q. Do you have a favourite moment(s) in your career?

I am happy playing in any position. I enjoy the spotlight of the forward line. However, know that the team functions in all areas of the ground. My favorite moment in Recreational Football was when a Year 8 student of mine in Albury, New South Wales asked me about what Recreational Football was. I was wearing the red rec footy cap in a trumpet lesson. I explained the rules to him and felt proud to be a true footballer. He agreed with my enthusiasm and asked me for an autograph!

Word Association:
Coachy: Brains
Mez: Artful
Dean: Truck (works through the opposition like a truck and delivers on time, every time)
Dan: Ablett (The Player)
Luke: Bean pole (actually a brilliant player)

We thanks Rob for his time and look forward to seeing him play with The Bullets for many years to come.

Bullets Deliver Fans Early Christmas Present!
19/12/2006

After Round 7 2005, Warren 'Coachy' Burford was facing the sack. A meagre 1-11 career coaching record spelled doom for his future prospects. Following the 2006 season, the only sack Coachy will be seeing is Santa's, as he has turned the club around by leading them to 9 wins from their 14 games, in doing so, quelling that moment of mediocrity by heralding in an epoch of prosperity. As with last year, The Bullets won their last three games of the season to finish on a high, a 6-4 win/loss record outdoing last year's previous season best 4-6 record. Never more evident was Coachy's successful turnaround than on Tuesday night when he made a number of changes to conjure a magnificent finals win for The Bullets. Coachy's first out-of-the-box move was to begin the game kicking into the wind. The players didn't let him down, trailing by only three points at the half-time break with the confidence-boosting knowledge that they would be coming home with the wind at their backs. But Coachy wasn't through. He restructured the side at half-time, moving the deadly Debbie Murray up forward, letting Danijela Mijic loose in the midfield and cautiously slotting the reliable and close-checking Narelle Jones down back. And they didn't let him down. Some clever ruckwork from the svelte Luke Barisic followed by some Mijic magic and The Bullets piled on four unanswered goals to set up the win with Murray, Andrew Merryweather, and Dean Jones sharing the spoils. And when The Travellers attempted to bridge the gap, it was the hard work of Narelle (only conceding one nine-pointer) along with Rob Rizzo and Dave Beattie who thwarted the majority of their attacks. Coachy even made a cameo appearance down back as he soaked up the watershed moment of his career.

The race for the leading goalkicker award was as close as it has ever been (save for 2004 when the club managed to only kick seven goals from their four games). It went down to the wire with Andrew Merryweather prevailing for the second year running. 'Mez' went into the game holding a one-goal advantage over teammate, and 2004 leading goalkicker, Dean Jones. However, Merryweather kicked six goals to Jones' three in the final to win the award. However, it wasn't all bad news for Jones. His first goal of the game saw him notch his 50th career goal, another incredible accomplishment in such an already storied career.

Jones' 50th career was not the only milestone reached on the day, as both Dave Beattie and Rob Rizzo each played their 10th games for the club. For Beattie, his consistency this season (he is one of only three players to have not missed a game) has been rewarded with this first step into immortality. As reliable as they come, Beattie has been an excellent addition to the backline. For Rizzo, the reward is more for perseverance. Having debuted in The Bullets second-ever game (way back in Round 7 2004), his ascent into immortality has been thwarted by a number of setbacks. However, while he has missed a great amount of football over the past few seasons, he finished this season by stringing together some consistent, often brilliant, football. In the end, his increased appearances led to his most productive season. Also great to see was their sometime partner-in-crime Rob Hazell joining ticketholder Dan Vitale on the boundary in support of the club, despite him being unable to play through a shoulder injury.

With a 14-point finals victory over The Travellers (64-50), The Bullets can now claim outright 5th position on the ladder. Their rise from the wooden spoon to 7th to 5th has been nothing short of a phenomenal success. And as the new season approaches, and Coachy prepares to take the club to the next level, there is till some unfinished business left over from Season 2006. Yes, in January, The Bullets will be holding their first-annual/traditional gala event of the season, The 2006 End-Of-Season Dinner and Awards Night. Stay tuned for details of that and other updates around the website, including Coachy's hotly-anticipated end-of-season review and player report cards and Luke Barisic's fabled feature-story on the maladroit, pestiferous and obstreperous history of The Bullets Football Club.

Oh, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! To you, the supporters, thank-you for all of your encouragement, well wishes, hero messages, and contributions throughout the year. Every player at the club greatly appreciates our constantly growing supporter base. We thank those who made their way down to watch the games. For those who couldn't, I hope this website helped make you feel like you were a part of the game!

Beattie's Big 10!
18/12/2006

Daring defender Dave Beattie this week plays his tenth game for The Bullets. We caught up with Dave during the week for a brief interview.

Q. You began your rec footy career with The Barracudas in the 2005 season. What were your first impressions of the game?

DB: I was used to football pressure, but not glitz and glamour. I just couldn't believe the number of groupies hanging around Sandringham after the game. I'm a weak man, and yes, I overindulged. But now, I've learnt to take the fame and pressures in my stride. Plus I've now got a 10.30pm curfew.

Q. Your first game was against The Bullets (which is still the record winning margin for the club). Did you realise then that The Bullets was the team for you?

DB: We were aware of the Bullets problems to that point, and decided to let them win that one. We were working on the long term future. While playing the Bullets in most positions that game (I'm like margarine - I spread myself regularly) , I knew I could make a great improvement to them in the following areas: defence, the centre, rucking and up forward, plus kicking, marking and handballing. I also knew I could devise a more efficient waterbottle delivery system.

Q. How did you join The Bullets? Was Coachy a tough negotiator?

DB: It was tough. We're two grizzled coaches with a begrudging respect for each other. There was some shadow boxing, then some real boxing. Words were exchanged, then returned for being defective. But after he'd upper the offer an extra $5 , I was in.

Q. Do you have a favourite moment(s) in your career?

DB: No disrespect to my fellow players, but I often find the best moments are when I'm on my own. I find marking the ball, then kicking or passing it to myself brilliantly or maybe kicking a goal while tumbling in mid-air to be very inspirational. Whereas other players can be a nuisance.

Q. Any special celebration happening for the 10th game?

DB: Just the usual, a pre game drink, a mid game drink, an after game drink, then drive myself home. Just this time I wont try to order a kebab at a booze bus! The court got a real laugh out of that one !

Word Association:
Coachy: Hero
Mez: Rival
Luke: Smother!
Dean: Goal!
Dave: The one

We thank Dave for his time and wish him all the best for the big game on Tuesday night.

Finals Ins & Outs!
17/12/2006

Finals time can be a time of highs and lows. For every success story, there is one of failure. But the real spirit of finals is just getting out there on the field and being a part of it. However, not everyone gets to experience this in their sporting lifetimes. This week, nine fortunate people have been given the chance to compete at the highest level of recreational football. Nine fortunate people have been placed under the spotlights of the grandest stage of them all. Nine people have been given the opportunity to shine and forever immortalise themselves in the annals of rec footy folklore.

This week also marks a week of milestones. Dave Beattie and Rob Rizzo both play their tenth games, while spearhead Dean Jones is set to kick his 50th career goal. He currently sits on 49.

Just one change has been made to The Bullets side to face The Travellers on Tuesday night with Maree Fewster out of the side. Danijela Mijic is her replacement. Mijic comes back into the side following a successful mixed doubles campaign at the recent Mansfield Tennis Open. The Bullets are once again missing key defender Rob Hazell, who has not receovered from a shoulder injury. Here is how the team will lineup:

In: D.Mijic
Out: M.Fewster

Forget The Bush...Bullets On Fire!
12/12/2006

The town of Sandringham is on high alert after The Bullets turned up the heat on the rest of the SRFL on Tuesday night. Warren 'Coachy' Burford had worried about the side becoming complacent earlier in the week, but his concerns were unfounded as The Bullets piled on a big score to win by 59 points. It was a bit of a danger game for The Bullets, as Sportal have shown consistent improvement throughout the season. However, The Bullets burst out of the blocks to be leading by 25 points at halftime (32-7). The second half brought more of the same as The Bullets finished the game big winners, 67-8. A big crowd was on hand to watch the game with Graeme Jones (father of Narelle and Dean) cheering on from the sidelines as well as semi-regulars June and Jeff Henderson.

The Bullets spread the goals around with regular forwards Andrew Merryweather and Dean Jones both kicking three goals, while midfielders Debbie Murray and Luke Barisic made rare ventures down forward to kick one and three goals respectively. The Bullets defence once again held firm with Dave Beattie, Rob Rizzo and Maree Fewster all playing solid games with some flashes of brilliance thrown in. Narelle Jones once again looked dangerous up forward, setting up a few goals but unfortunately not converting herself. She later moved to the midfield with brother Dean and proved a handy combination. Coachy even got in on the action, coming on in the second half to help out in defense.

The win sees The Bullets finish the season with five wins and four losses, easily surpassing last year's 3-6 finish to the regular season. Unfortunately, a poorer percentage prevented The Bullets from dislodging Manhands from 4th spot on the ladder, but the club is very happy to have finished fifth. They now enter the finals with supreme confidence. Their opponent will be The Travellers, a rematch from last year's finals series. In last year's final, The Bullets ran out 37-point victors. When the two sides met earlier this year, The Bullets ran out winners by 40 points. However, The Travellers play very spirited football and those two games were much closer than the scores may indicate. If The Bullets are to win, they will have to remain at the top of their game.

The week leading up to the finals always provides plenty of excitement at the club and this year will be no exception as both Dave Beattie and Rob Rizzo will be gearing up to play their milestone 10th games this week. Meanwhile, spearhead Dean Jones is only one goal away from kicking his fiftieth career goal. The club is also abuzz over the potential return to the side of Danijela Mijic, although unfortunately key defender Rob Hazell has failed to overcome his shoulder injury and will not be available for the final as was once hoped.

Round 9 Ins & Outs: If It Ain't Broke...!
10/12/2006

A bit of a rarity has occurred this week with The Bullets naming an unchanged lineup for their last clash of the home-and-away season. In fact, it is the first time in the club's history it has named an unchanged lineup. This week, The Bullets take on Sportal and both clubs will be fighting desperately for the four points as The Bullets hope to have their best season finish, while Sportal attempt to avoid the wooden spoon, a 'prize' senior Bullets players know only too well.

The Bullets are still missing key defender Rob Hazell, who may now be struggling to return in time for next week's finals. Danijela Mijic is also missing again this week, although should return for next week's final. Here is how the team will lineup:

No Change

Mez-merising Display Helps Bullets To One Point Victory!
05/12/2006

History almost repeated itself on Tuesday night at Trevor Barker Oval as The Hackers made a late surge towards victory against The Bullets. In the corresponding game last year, The Bullets opened up a 33 point lead in the first half before going down by 7 points. This time The Bullets kicked out to a 16 point lead early in the second half, but The Hackers wouldn't say die. And despite some tense final minutes that saw numerous mistakes and panic attacks from both sides, The Bullets held on for a 1 point victory.

Andrew Merryweather returned after a two week hiatus in Queensland, but picked up right where he left off by playing another great game. He kicked four goals and took some great marks, one of which was criminally not paid by the umpire in a contentious 'contact' decision. It was a night for good marks as Rob Rizzo, who returned to the side, took a couple of great grabs in defence, including one running back with the flight. Luke Barisic, spurred on by having his mother and grandmother in attendance, managed to smother an opponent's kick and take a mark in the one action. Debbie Murray took some good grabs, including one at full stretch. She once again got plenty of clearances and gave the side plenty of run through the midfield. Narelle Jones also took some good chest marks. Jones, who was playing in her milestone 10th game (see the photo gallery for a picture and the news section for a pre-game interview), kicked her second goal in as many weeks. The side was also well served up forward by Dean Jones, who kicked another two goals. The competition to be the leading goalkicker continues to heat up with 'Mez' this week dislodging 'Deano' from the top spot. And the defence of Dave Beattie, Warren Burford, Rob Rizzo and Maree Fewster held up well despite a lot of pressure in the final moments. Fewster, in only her second game, showed what she is capable of, impressing onlookers with her sure hands and straight kicking.

The win sees The Bullets square the ledger at 4-4 this season and move to 5th spot on the ladder. The win last night has ensured that The Bullets can finish no lower than 7th on the ladder, while possibly still finishing as high as 4th if they have a big win and other results go their way. Whatever the final result, their position will be an improvement on last year's regular season finish of 8th spot, which is a great result for the club. The Bullets play their last regular-season game next Tuesday night against Sportal. While they currently sit on the bottom of the ladder, Sportal have shown consistent improvement throughout the season, recently notching up their first win, and it would be foolish to take them lightly.

10 Of The Finest For Narelle Jones!
04/12/2006

After last week becoming the outright longest-serving female player in the history of The Bullets Football Club, Narelle Jones this week chalks up another milestone when she plays her tenth game for the club. Making her debut back in Round 7 2005, Jones proved to be deadly around the sticks by kicking goals in her first two games, the latter of the two being the match-winning goal against Dumbalk in Round 8 2005 that snapped a six-game losing streak for the club. In fact, Narelle's four career goals also make her the leading female goalkicker in club history. She was unlucky not to kick a goal with her first ever kick, as she narrowly missed a set shot and instead scored a behind. Despite the initial setback, success seems to follow Jones around given that the club's winning percentage without Narelle (16.7%) is significantly less than when Narelle is playing (55.6%)! We caught up with Narelle during the week for a brief interview.

How did you become a member of The Bullets?

I was asked one night by my brother Dean to fill in for The Bullets as they were a few ladies short. Dean honestly thought that I would not be interested as he had never bothered to ask before and he had been playing for about one and a half seasons. Deano was very surprised by my enthusiasm and interest in playing a match. Coachy soon followed up with a phone call and details about the match etc. Five figure sums were negotiated for the debut match.

What are your memories of your first game?

A little nervous, of course, not quite sure what to do and what the rules were. I think I kicked a goal in the first match. No doubt a brother of mine was being kind to me, but things are a little blurry that far back. Coachy was very encouraging and I was invited back the next week.

Do you have a favourite moment(s) in your career?

Naturally it was kicking the nine pointer in the rain to win the match. Never in my life have I stood in the pouring rain in the middle of December shivering my butt off to win a footy match! Definitely a night I will never forget.

What is it like to play rec footy alongside your brother?

Very different to what I thought it would be like. As Dean and I have never really played any sport together, it is a wonderful team environment, he is very supportive and encouraging and tries with all his might to pass to me in the hope I will have at least one possession against my name for the match. It has definitely increased our friendship and created many interesting conversations over the dinner table.

Word Association:

Coachy: Inspirational
Dean: Supportive
Mez: Outstanding
Luke: No. 1 Ruckman
Dan: Motivating

We thank Narelle for her time and wish her all the best for the big game on Tuesday night.

Round 8 Ins & Outs: Mez Returns!!!
03/12/2006

With only two regular season games left before the finals, The Bullets really need to win both games to ensure they finish this season in a better position. The Bullets can still mathematically finish as high as third on the ladder and as low as the bottom depending on how the next two weeks unfold. Their cause has received a boost this week with the return of star forward Andrew Merryweather, whose presence out on the field has been sorely missed the past two weeks. The Bullets also regain Rob Rizzo this week. While Rizzo has only played a couple of games this year, his form has been very good and he is a welcome addition to the side.

The only omission from the side this week is Danijela Mijic. She was already due to miss next week's game against Sportal as well so she won't be back until the finals. Rob Hazell has not yet recovered from his shoulder injury and will spend another week on the sidelines. Here is how the team will lineup:

In: A.Merryweather, R.Rizzo
Out: D.Mijic

Stats, Amazing!
01/12/2006

With the newly redeveloped website in operation for a little over a month, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at just what sort of clientele thebulletsfc.com attracts. One improved aspect of the website is an increased ability to view how many visits the site gets, what pages are accessed the most, etc. For the month of November, we had 106 visitors to the site, which gave the site an average of 3.53 visits per day. Of those 106, 65 were unique visitors with the other 41 being return visits. And of those 65 visitors, a measly 4 added this site to their list of favourites. I shouldn't talk...it isn't even on my list of favourites!!! With that in mind, here are the results for November 2006. I've added some comments in italics:

Most Popular Day Of The Week:
Thursday: 5.20 avg visitors per day
Wednesday: 4.80
Monday: 4.00
Sunday: 3.75
Friday: 3.00
Tuesday: 2.50
Saturday: 1.25

I am surprised Tuesday is so low since it is gameday and you would think it would more likely be on people's minds. Then again, I rarely update the site on a Tuesday.

Most Popular Hours Of The Day:
10am - 11am: 13.4% of visits
9pm - 10pm: 10.1%
12pm - 1pm: 9.5%
11am - 12pm: 9.4%
4pm - 5pm: 7.9%
7pm - 8pm: 7.8%

What is perhaps most odd here is that 4.8% of visits occurred between 5am and 6am in the morning. Geez Coachy, just go to bed already!!!!

Duration Of Visits To The Site:
0 - 30s: 41.5% of visits
30s - 2m: 13.2%
2m - 5m: 16.9%
5m - 15m: 16.9%
15m - 30m: 4.7%
30m - 1h: 4.7%
1h+: 1.8%

Average visit: 412s (or 6m 52s)

While the number of people who spend less than thirty seconds on the site might seem pretty high, it is a common thing for a lot of websites as most of this number is made up of people who check to see if the site has been updated and leave pretty quickly when they see that it hasn't been. And whoever comprises the 1.8% of people who spend more than hour looking at the site, you're...oh, who am I kidding? Just go back to bed, Coachy!!!!

Most Popular Pages:
132 - Homepage
55 - News
55 - Player Profiles
46 - Coachy's Corner
44 - Results
32 - Photo Gallery
6 - Season 2004 Archive

You should remember that some of these pages were created earlier than others. The results page was created later in the month than most others. There are also 32 people I need to apologise to for still not putting that photo gallery together yet. And I don't blame people for not wanting to relive the horror that was our 2004 wooden-spoon winning season, although it may upset 'club historian' Dean Jones to see such a lack of respect towards The Bullets proud history. That page also suffers from not being on the main menu as it's tucked away as a link on the results page.

Most Popular Profiles:
21 - Warren Burford (why am I not surprised?)
18 - Luke Barisic (all of these were traced to a computer in Highett)
16 - Dan Vitale (a cult favourite, yes?)
14 - Dave Beattie
13 - Margit Gailis (amazing...she is on leave AND has no internet)
11 - Asher Newton
      Lucy Burford
10 - Dean Jones
      Andrew Merryweather
      Catherine Croft
9 - Narelle Jones
8 - Stuart Akers

Again, the profiles all went up at different times so it's a bit unfair to do a comparison like this. Although, I sense there will be some egos crushed, some bruised and others inflated.

Where Do They Come From?
Australia - 78.9%
United States - 20.9%
Parts Unknown - 0.2%

Now, before anyone says "international tour", a number of Australian Internet Service Providers buy their services from The US (where they are much cheaper) and resell them in Australia, so the majority of those visits from The US are really Australians. But because the service provider is actually in The US, the stats are recorded as such.

How Do They Find The Site?
Direct Hit: 95.2%
Links From Other Sites: 2.8%
Search Engines: 1.8%

What Do They Use?
Operating System:
Windows - 99.9%
Linux - 0.1%

Browser Type:
Internet Explorer: 90.9%
Mozilla: 4.7%
Opera: 3.6%
Mozilla Firefox: 1.6%

I'm starting to get into nerd territory here (if I wasn't already), so this might be a good spot to end the report. I hope everyone found at least some of it interesting. I might do another one next month.