Bullets Go Back To The Future!
12/11/2008

If you had hopped into a time machine in 2006 and fast forwarded two years, the landscape of The Bullets Football Club would have changed significantly. The team has relocated from the sunny Bayside town of Sandringham to the cold, unrelenting gloom of Box Hill. Some of the great champions...names like Murray, Beattie, Newton, Fewster and Lucy Burford...have seemingly retired for good. The coach is the same, but three bitter divorces and an on-going battle with depression has taken it's toll in the last couple of years. Star players are battling injury, anger management issues, gambling addictions, substance abuse...well, some things remain the same. And while we reported last week about one player's 'alleged' addiction to heroin, Bullets fans have an addiction of their own...to two heroines. Danijela Mijic and Margit Gailis made their spectacular returns to The Bullets Football Club this week after lengthy absences, and Bullets fans couldn't be happier. Mijic had not played since the 2006 finals series, while Gailis had not played since Round 9, 2005. And although neither player looked to have lost their touch, it still wasn't enough as The Bullets went down to The Whitneys by 22 points in Round 2 action of the BHRFL.

Gailis, who was returning from maternity leave, was dangerous early up forward and was unlucky to not finish with a goal. But she had a hand in setting up a few of them, taking several great marks. It had been a tough week for Gailis leading into the game, having been forced to defend herself against allegations that the Department of Human Services had been called during the past fortnight in relation to a case of gross child neglect. Gailis had allegedly put her recreational football career ahead of everything, including the needs of her infant daughter, Heidi, who, according to several sources, had gone without food and water and clean nappies for several days. Gailis was defiant in her response after the game, when asked by the media about the condition of her daughter, Heidi: "Who?", she replied.

Mijic returned to the side after taking a year off to successfully develop her own life coaching business, Pivotal Power. If her success away from the field has changed her, it has only changed her for the good, as she seemed refreshed and revitalised when dashing through the midfield or kicking goals down forward. When thebulletsfc.com caught up with Mijic this week at her home, we were surprised to find two-time Vitale Medallist Luke Barisic also present. Unbeknownst to most Bullets supporters, Mijic graciously offered to help life coach Barisic back to health after details of his heroin addiction were revealed last week. "Luke has a lot of negative influences in his life. By setting him goals and enhancing his energy...I see these as the principles to success. Through hard work and discipline, I really think I can help Luke become a better person". Barisic, who was working furiously scrubbing Danijela's kitchen floor during the interview, seemed calm for the first time in a while, although that may well have been the impact of the harsh chemicals he was using to clean the floor. "I'm all for for taking advantages of opportunities that present themselves and this was a fantastic opportunity." "For Luke", she quickly added. "At the end of the day, I'm just glad that I can really make a difference in his life...he's really sparkling now" she proudly beamed before finally adding, "Luke, you missed a spot there." Despite Mijic's claims about Barisic's recovery, the only thing this reporter saw that was sparkling was the kitchen floor.

Certainly, there was a change in Barisic's game on Wednesday night as he kicked three first-half goals and was named best-on-ground. Other good signs for The Bullets was the continued good form of Simon Conti and Dave Gutteridge, with Kate Mellor showing plenty of promise in her debut.

The Bullets next week tackle Gary Ablett Jr. (the side, not the individual) at 6:30pm as they continue searching for their first win of the season.