SWFL men’s: South Bunbury coach Julian Burgess says Tigers have “achieved nothing” despite unbeaten 2024

South Bunbury coach Julian Burgess was in no mood to celebrate despite his side finishing an unbeaten home and away season on Sunday, saying they had “achieved nothing”. The Tigers completed a campaign without a single loss in nail-biting fashion at Hands Oval, beating Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault by two points to become the first side to go through a regular season without a loss since the Lions in 2019. Twelve of the Tigers’ 18 wins of the year have been by margins greater than 10 goals and four have been by more than 90 points in a dominant season. But while Burgess said celebrating wins was important in the moment, he said his and his team’s focus was firmly on the month to come rather than what has been. “We haven’t achieved anything. We’ve had a great season so far, but we’ve achieved nothing,” he said. “If we take our eye off the prize now it’s a wasted season. We’ll just knuckle down, there’s no two ways about it. “To go through the home and away season undefeated is great but we don’t play footy for those reasons, we play wanting to win a grand final. That’s what we’ve got our eye on at the moment.” “If we just keep doing what we’re doing and following the process, we’ll be OK.” The win over the Lions was the closest of any of their games this year, edging out their dramatic four-point win over Bunbury in round seven’s WA Day derby. Burgess said the clash, which saw his side desperately defending their lead in the dying stages, would be an invaluable tune-up for the finals. “I actually prefer to play that game rather than what we have over the last few weeks,” he said. “It shows our boys have got a bit of resilience. I was really happy with them.” Finishing as the minor premiers grants the Tigers a week off in the first round of the finals, but Burgess said his side would not be taking too much of a break. “We’ll have a training session on the weekend, it’ll probably be a solid one to keep the boys focused. Nothing changes, it all stays the same except for a Sunday morning training,” he said. “We’ll go watch Bunbury and HBL and see how they present and start planning for them.” South Bunbury will host the second qualifying final at Hands Oval next weekend and will progress directly to the grand final with a win.