Josh Pitts has burst onto the recreational football scene in style, guiding The Bullets to 4th place in their first Corporate Games. In an extraordinary day, The Bullets overcame a lot of adversity to almost clinch a medal. Going into the games a player short after a late withdrawal, The Bullets began well, before comeback kid Ruth Hannan, after recreating some of that old Hannan magic, went down in just the second game of the day. Now two players down, the team refused to give up. After winning their first two games and narrowly losing the third against the Mattel Battlers, The Bullets somehow managed to pull out a gutsy win in their fourth round-robin game to qualify for the playoff for 3rd/4th. Narelle Jones was an ironwoman, having to cover all three zones of the field, while 'Pittsy' and 'Mez' were getting the job done up forward. Against medical advice and all common sense, Ruth Hannan returned to the field for the final game in a desperate effort to get the side over the line, but it wasn't to be. Mattel again proved to be a bogey corporation. This time, it was the Mattel Terrors who crushed the dreams of The Bullets, running out comfortable winners. Despite having the lower score, it was hard to give the tag of 'losers' to The Bullets. They could walk off the ground with their heads held high.
The Bullets are primed and ready to take on corporate Australia in The 2009 Australian Corporate Games. The Bullets, representing IT giant and long-time club sponsor Suave Designs in the games, have been drawn alongside other corporate giants, such as ANZ, Mattel, and Alloys in Pool B of the mixed recreational football event. If they can make it through to the playoffs, they could face more teams from ANZ and Mattel, as well as Leica Microsystems Bulls, Hall & Wilcox Hall-Stars, and the GM Holden Lions, who incidentally were The Bullets' second-ever opponents back in their inaugural 2004 season.
There will be a slightly different feel to The Bullets side that has been playing weekly in the Box Hill Recreational Football League, with the very much in-form Simon Conti and Danijela Mijic missing from the team. Bullets bad boy Dean Jones will also miss the weekend event, as he continues to serve a suspension for 'that' finger incident. Into the side, however, comes the returning Ruth Hannan alongside the debuting Josh 'Pittsy' Pitts.
Warren 'Coachy' Burford this week hit back at critics who suggested The Bullets were only in the Corporate Games for the money, saying that his $3m appearance fee (which is being co-funded by the State Government and IMG) had nothing to do with the club's decision to participate in the event. "We mean business," snarled the coach...from the deck of his new luxury yacht.
She has not played since the 2007 finals series, but Ruth Hannan has returned to The Bullets Football Club in a big way, signing on to take part in the 2009 Corporate Games. And Warren 'Coachy' Burford has a message for those who think that Hannan's best is behind her. Speaking at her official contract signing, 'Coachy' warned opposition clubs that the 2007 Best First Year Player is primed and ready for action, despite a career hampered by knee injuries. Hannan, who burst onto the scene in 2007, with seven goals from four games, took time away from the game to focus on her scientific research. But now she is back to dedicating 100% of her energy into her recreational football career, which has many long-time Bullets fans salivating at the prospect.
Speaking this week, Hannan admitted that she had been reluctant to return to the game, but that a heart-to-heart conversation with the club's number one ticketholder and former mob boss Dan Vitale managed to change her mind. "He told me to come back or he'd put a hit out on me...it just made my decision that much easier!" recalled Hannan, this past week.
