A forgettable season has come to an end for the Goulburn Bulldogs.
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Heading into the season with the goal of making semifinals, a poor start was not what the doctor ordered.
Back to back losses in the opening two rounds, along with a first home win in round nine, put finals footy in jeopardy and coach Shane McCallum said injuries meant his side weren't able to mount a comeback.
"We're pretty disappointed with where we ended up as we didn't achieve our goal, but we did have a lot of injuries," McCallum said.
"We went through 40 First Grade players in the whole year which was unheard of to me."
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Attitude was also an issue as a few players didn't turn up to training, but McCallum said there were star players to mention.
"We had a few shining lights this year," he said.
"Our utility Bradley Arnall was like a Mr Fix-It for us and he played everywhere.
"Jono Cotterill came off the bench and made a massive difference for us this year.
"He was really enjoying his footy.
"You've also got the Cornish brothers in Tyler and Mitch who always gives everything."
In a season with plenty of lowlights, McCallum said one match stood up above the rest.
"Beating the Queanbeyan Blues by 50 odd points was our best game of the season as we hadn't done that for a long time," he said.
"Just winning against them is always a tough ask."
Although injuries meant a depleted Bulldogs side most weeks, there was a silver lining.
"The highlight was blooding four to five junior players into the side," McCallum said.
"Moving forward as a club, that's really good for us as they'll pick up a lot of things from the higher grade."
Just like most teams in the off season, the Bulldogs will be looking to strengthen their squad and McCallum already had ideas in mind.
We're looking to buy a few key players," McCallum said.
"We want a couple of front rowers as we need more size up front and we might need an outside back as well."
Reflecting on his first year as coach, McCallum said he thought it would be a lot easier.
"It was a tough gig, but it was really enjoyable as they were all a great bunch of blokes."
To wrap up the season, the club will have their presentation night at the Goulburn Railway Bowling Club from 5pm on Saturday, September 23.
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