The Bull Sharks went from hunters to hunted in 2024 as three premierships from four grand final appearances in Director of AFL Andy Lovell’s first year in charge in 2023 marked the club as the standard bearer across the QAFLW and QFA competitions.
Each club spent their summer plotting the Bull Sharks’ downfall and that preparation could be clearly seen in the opposition’s game plans each weekend.
In the face of this the Bull Sharks once again reached finals in all grades.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t to be any silverware making its way back to The Canal but a host of individual successes combined with Grand Final appearances for the women and Preliminary Finals for the men ensured 2024 was a season to be proud of.
We asked Lovell for a state of play across the program and his hopes for 2025.
The highlight:
The fact that all four teams once again played finals, with both women’s teams in grand final for second year running and both men’s team in preliminary finals on the back of last season Grand Final appearances.
The summer focus:
We clearly need to make up some ground, as we fell short losing in both women’s sides Grand Final and only making it to Prelim Finals in men’s comps. We need to focus heavily on consistency, not only in executing the game plan but some continuity with availability of players for selection. We will focus heavily on increasing our physical resilience over the preseason with our conditioning program, as well as in the gym with our strength.
Three cheers for:
Imogen Evans got recruited by Collingwood, she worked hard to get back there, and we are excited to see her show her mettle. Chris Fitchett, our men’s reserves team manager, is the go-to guy for everything to do with footy operations. We thank him for everything he does from ground marshalling, team manager duties on game days to social media. Nikki Milne is another one who works tirelessly for us on publication of teams and liaising with AFL Queensland, mentoring our physio team and washing the guernseys. She is an all-round Jill of all trades, and we couldn’t operate without her.
Everyone fell in love with:
Sarah Heptinstall, for her energy, vitality and club leadership. She always brought a positive outlook and great team advise. Our men’s reserves team, who despite having 10 of their 22 players missing due to unavailability, battled incredibly well throughout the finals series and only lost by 2 points and 1 point in their two finals.
Expect big things from:
The girls that are in the draft, Havana Harris, Mia Salisbury, Tara Harrington, Nyalli Milne, Heidi Talbot and Skye White, as they potentially embark on AFLW careers. Let’s hope the cards fall their way.
Competition awards:
Three girls made the QAFLW team of the year, Courtney Sexton, Ella Calleja and Jasmyn Davidson.
Jasmine Single won QAFLW reserves best and fairest. Poppy Presley won QAFLW reserves leading goal kicker award.
The Bull Sharks’ club championship awards will be held on September 21.