CARLTON’S VFL affiliate, the Northern Bullants, have opened up a one-game gap between themselves and the third-placed Port Melbourne after triumphing in a close clash with Sandringham on the weekend.

The Bullants are second on the ladder by percentage to Williamstown, and are four points clear of Port Melbourne, Collingwood and North Ballarat.

Coach David Teague shares his thoughts on the match and how some of the Carlton-listed players performed in the close win. 

We got off to a really good start, which was great because we knew Sandringham had some good experienced players in their side.

They came back at us late and it was a good effort by the boys to fight it out and hold onto victory after they kicked the first three goals of the last quarter. It showed me that we're playing with a bit of spirit and passion, as well as with some fight and determination.

The most pleasing part for me was the style of football we played. They had some big, strong bodies out there and we knew it was going to be a hard game. The way our boys attacked the ball and the opposition was really pleasing.

We matched them physically, which then allowed our skill to get us on top early, and then they came back at us and we fought out the game.

Mitch Robinson was probably our best player. He mainly played on ball, the opposition tagged him early, but his ability to win the ball at the stoppages and get his hands on it first gave us a real advantage. He had 27 touches and four marks.

It was the second week in a row he's been tagged, so the opposition clearly rates him, and that sort of attention will help him because there are no easy possessions for him. Everywhere he goes, he's got someone on him and he needs to go in there and win the ball himself.

Brad Fisher played his best game for the year. His work rate was right up there and he took some good, telling marks at centre half-forward, which is a hard position to play at Sandringham's little ground.

He presented all day and his work rate was first class. He got the benefits in front of goal this week with two goals, which is an area he's been working on, and he got to a few more contests too.

Ryan Houlihan came back to us and was really good. They paid a fair bit of attention to him, but he came back with a good spirit, played on the ball and on the wing, and he won eight clearances and delivered the ball down the throat to our forwards.

That sort of performance will definitely help his confidence. He's been playing some good footy and it was unfortunate he missed out on selection on the weekend but he did everything right – he had the right attitude and was there to prove he should be playing ones.

Greg Bentley was solid again and was in close, won a bit of the ball and was able to push forward and have a couple of shots. Adam Hartlett was one of our better players down back and kicked the ball exceptionally well, and Joey Anderson was pretty solid too with a really good second quarter where he gave us a lot of drive.

Setanta O'hAilpin had patches where he was okay, his ruck work was quite good and his second efforts with five tackles were good, and Jeff Garlett came in that morning from Western Australia where he'd been for family reasons and still managed to start the game well although he did tire.

We had one injury with Lachie Hill [Carlton rookie], who was making his season debut. He started the game really well but then hurt a hamstring and will miss a couple of weeks.

We've got the bye this week and I'll give the weekend off to the players. I'm not sure what Carlton have planned; some of the young Bullants guys will go back to their local clubs but the Carlton guys will probably train on Saturday.

Sandringham    1.4 4.6 8.8 13.11 (89)
Northern Bullants 4.0 9.5 12.10 14.11 (95)          
   
Sandringham
Goal Kickers: M. Maguire 5, D. Gallagher 2, E. Connors, C. Waller, D. Armitage, S. Tregear, T. Lynch, A. Smith
Best Players: M. Maguire, C. Begley, A. Biddlecombe, R. Stanley, D. Gallagher, C. Waller

Northern Bullants
Goal Kickers: J. Saddington 4, B. Fisher 2, D. Boundy 2, W. Bilney, G. Bentley, R. Houlihan, M. Robinson, S. O'hAilpin, J. Garlett
Best Players: M. Robinson, J. Saddington, B. Fisher, A. Hartlett, A. Iacobucci, R. Houlihan