GSFL 2024: Mt Barker coach Brad Hook hoping there is more left in the Bulls story after preliminary final loss

Mt Barker coach Brad Hook is hoping there are more chapters left in the Bulls’ book after their quest for an elusive Great Southern Football League premiership ended on Saturday.

The Bulls made a late charge for a grand final berth with a pulsating fightback in the last five minutes of their preliminary final clash against Royals at Retravision Stadium but were beaten by the final siren, bringing their season to a crushing end.

Arguably one of the most feared sides in the premiership conversation, the Bulls boasted an incredibly potent forward line, a star-studded midfield and dynamic defence.

They have curated all the foundations of a premiership-quality side, but after three preliminary finals and a semifinal exit in the past six seasons, the Bulls are craving the ultimate success.

After their agonising 10.7 (67) to 9.6 (60) loss on Saturday, Hook said he hoped there was more left in the Bulls story.

“I hope this isn’t the end of it, personally,” Hook said.

“We’ve been really competitive, probably five out of the last six years, and I hope this isn’t the end.

“I hope the footy club can just keep on rolling and maybe take that one step extra.

“I thought (at the beginning of the season) we’ve got this and then we lost a few players, and then we got back on the recruitment bandwagon and as the year went, we picked up a couple of players and sort of things fell into place.

“I thought we had a team that could make a grand final, but overall, really positive vibes to come out of the season, pretty happy with everything.”

The Bulls made one change from their elimination final with Jye Williss returning at the expense of Keegan Berry.

Although Hook believed his side took great confidence out of last week’s dominant semifinal victory over Railways, Hook conceded his side were outplayed.

“There was a lot of confidence out of last week, we finally played the way we wanted to and we had our best team all year but it just wasn’t to be,” he said.

“(Lions) definitely kicked more goals into the (breeze) and they were deserved winners.

“I think they were harder at the footy than us, they ran harder than us and we might have got attracted to the ball a little bit too much.”

Reflecting on the disheartening loss, Hook admitted the Lions were deserved winners after booting four crucial goals into the breeze but was pleased with his side’s endeavour.

“It just felt the whole day, the ball just didn’t bounce our way, it just didn’t pop up and they had a couple of goals there that went through and we just didn’t have the luck,” he said.

“To the boys’ credit they never gave up and that last five minutes was probably some of the best footy we’ve ever played.

“It was a big margin (in the last quarter) and the southern end was definitely the scoring end all day.

“It wasn’t out of question, we had to play our best footy but (the Lions) did really well.”