What went right, what went wrong for Bulli in 2023 Premier League

The dust has now settled since the Balls Paddock club excited the competition. After finishing the regular season in fifth (11 wins, two draws, nine loss), Bulli was knocked out in the opening week of finals, falling 3-1 to Coniston at Macedonia Park on Saturday.

Read more: How Olympic's Sandy Lowcock took on cancer and smashed it

The defeat capped a truly up and down campaign for Bulli. The highs were really high - a 7-1 trouncing of last year's grand final winners Olympic and Ben McDonald finishing second in the Premier League's Golden Boot race - while the lows included a 1-0 defeat to Corrimal in July.

As Bulli now switch focus towards their 2024 campaign, head coach Julio Miranda shared his thoughts with the Mercury on his side's season - and where they need to improve on.

"I was pleased with the young guys that came into the squad, they really made a difference to our side," Miranda said.

"We also had a fairly strong group with all three teams (firsts, seconds and youth grades). Second grade were minor premiers and a lot of the time we trained together. With them coming first and us making finals, that's been a big positive."

"It's hard to look past that win against Olympic but, football-wise, the best that we probably played was against Helensburgh in round one up there (Bulli won 5-0)," Miranda said.

"But it's been a good year, given what we had and the number of new players that came in."

"From my perspective, Logan Mathie has been a huge plus for us," Miranda said.

"I didn't know much about Logan when he first came out, I knew he'd been at the juniors with the (Wollongong) Wolves and (South Coast) Flame. I went on recommendation, and I'm glad that we took him in because he's a good individual and he can also play football."

"We're going to need a player in our defensive third to replace our Japanese boy (Yuki Hashimoto), he's going back to Japan," Miranda said.

"Everyone also wants a good number 10. You can't always get the good ones though, especially if you don't have the funds and other clubs do."

Our news app has had a makeover, making it faster and giving you access to even more great content. Download The Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store and Google Play.