Football
30 September, 2024
Cullinan tops of terrific season with best and fairest
Taylors Lake midfielder Bray Cullinan has topped off a stellar season in the first year at the club, winning the senior best and fairest and is excited about what 2025 will bring for the club after its improvement in 2024.
Cullinan has spent most of his career in the Northern Territory but played one game for the Lakers in the under-17s in 2018 while playing for Minyip Murtoa. He played for the Burras in 2019 and 2021, winning a premiership in 2019.
In 2022 and 2023, he played for Newcomb in the Bellarine Football Netball League and had stints in the Northern Territory. His connection to Taylors Lake was through Justin Beugelaar, who also played up north.
"Justin and I spoke, and I thought it could be a good opportunity to play for the Lakers and see my family as well, as they live in Horsham," Cullinan said.
As an inside midfielder, Cullinan was consistently among the Lakers' best players each week. He won a lot of footy, generated a lot of drive, and put it down to confidence.
"Two years ago, I got confident with my footy and knew where my game was. I figured out my role and focused on that," Cullinan said.
"I think the HDFNL is a good contested league, and it helped me as that is my style.
"I didn't have too many expectations going here and wanted to see where my footy would be. I'm happy with how the season panned out."
Cullinan praised Beugelaar for believing in him.
"Justin gives me confidence to have the mentality to back myself in and believe in myself, and he got the best out of me," Cullinan said.
"I have gone up a league in my football, and we have such a young group, so he gave me the role of a leader on the field.
"I have always been a quiet person and have always done my thing, but he has given me a role to help the others give guidance, and it's been really good for me."
As for 2025, Cullinan is excited about where the club can go.
"This year, we set the boundaries, and most clubs would have booked us in for a 100-point win, but this season, we only had two blowout games," Cullinan said.
"Most of the time, we were in the game, and we did the hard work to do it, and we will do the hard work in the off-season, and hopefully, we can have a taste of more wins and see where it goes.
"I am excited."