Sport
29 January, 2024
Bulls ready to charge in 2024
THE Mareeba Bulls are ready to charge into the 2024 season with a fresh committee, new teams and big ambitions ahead of their first game in March.
This year, the Premier Men will be back in full force, with a Premier Women’s team beside them, ready to come back after a year's hiatus.
After missing out on the grand final win last season, Premier Men’s coach Kane Alderton said the men have their eyes on the prize this year, refusing to lose their shot at the premiership again.
“It has made the boys hungrier after they’ve realised what they are capable of,” he said.
“This season, we are going to be more motivated, keep that motivation going throughout the season, and stay on track with our goal, which is to play in the grand final.”
Alderton said with a few new faces joining the team as well as old, seasoned players returning after a year or two off the field, 2024 was looking good.
“We are hoping this year we can build on what we had last year, give the club a bit more depth and get more numbers in the all-round club,” he said.
“Each year, we try and keep the core groups together – like the Reserves Grades and Premiers train together, and we consider that our core group – while trying to bleed some younger players coming up to get them involved.
“So hopefully, we can get them feeling comfortable and get them more involved in our senior teams.”
Last season, the Bulls were unable to fill a women’s side due to a lack of interest from local ladies – something that Premier and Reserve Women’s coach Christian Makoti said was disappointing for the club.
In what he called the “Matildas effect", he was excited that club has been able to fill two senior womens sides.
“It is fantastic because it is something we needed. We put the word out there last year, and no one was interested, but I put the word out at the end of last season to see if there were any girls wanting to come back, and there was,” he said.
“I think the biggest failure of last season was that we didn’t have any female representations at any senior level, and I decided, in the long term future, thinking of my own two girls, to do everything I could to bring it back and support it this year.
“I really hope we can inspire more people to come along – we are here to make a statement. Mareeba Bulls are back.”
Last season was a huge success according to new Mareeba United Football Club president Vince Tatti, who believes the outlook for the 2024 year is looking bright.
Watching from the sidelines as a committee member last year, he said he was proud to see how far each age group had come and looked forward to seeing where they could go this year.
“It looks really promising this season, especially since we didn’t have a girls team last year,” he said.
“The goal this season is just to do really well. We missed the grand final last year so everyone is really keen to make it up this year.”
Pre-season games will kick off in the coming weeks, with the first official game of the season scheduled for March.
If you are interested in joining the Mareeba Bulls this season, contact the committee through their Facebook page “Mareeba United Football Club”.
