The East Perth combinations of the late fifties and early sixties would hold claim, along with their immediate predecessors at the top, South Fremantle of the late forties to early fifties, as arguably the best club sides ever seen in Western Australian football. Just a glance at some of the players who represented the club in those years gives an indication of the strength of the side: Farmer, Everett, Kilmurray, Kennedy, Watts, Seal, Hunt, McGill, Langdon, Mose, Graham, Bull, Washbourne, Sheedy, Hawke, Chadwick, Allen, Charlie Walker, Atwell, McGregor, Lavater, Bellos, Sheedy, Ray, Hall, Giblett. It's an imposing list, with a number of them, such as Farmer, Kilmurray, Seal, McGill, Chadwick, Hawke, and Langdon possessing exquisite skills, complemented by the likes of Atwell, Sheedy, Bull, and Walker, who were tough, uncompromising characters. One of the smallest in stature of the latter category, but a man who defined the word “tough” was defender Ned Bull.   Bull played most of his career, after the advent of Jack Sheedy as coach, in defence, and together mainly with Washbourne, Kennedy, Watts, Lavater, and Walker, formed a hard hitting and formidable back line for the Royals in the fifties, and was a solid player in four grand finals and two premierships. Ned Bull came under notice as a seventeen year old, when he accomplished the rare feat of winning two different clubs fairest and best awards in  the one season. In 1950, beginning the season playing for Central Districts in the East Perth district and midway through the season crossing over to North Perth Metropolitans, he took off the trophy at both clubs. The following year, East Perth coach Mick Cronin threw Bull onto a wing for the season opener. “I was pretty light then, I put on some pudding later,” the jovial Ned commented. He held his place in the side, and when Sheedy took over the reigns and moulded the previous bottom four regulars into premiers in 1956, Bull was transformed into a defender. The diminutive but stocky Bull became one of the best defenders in the league under Sheedy,  his determination and toughness an unsettling factor in many contests, with the willingness to back his judgement a feature of his game. He played the game hard but fair, and was never reported during his ten year career. East Perth became the dominant side of the competition, playing in every grand final between 1956 and 1961, winning three of them. Bull was a leading contributor to the success of the side, and his efforts in the big games were rewarded with the Simpson Medal as best player in the grand final of 1958, when playing on East Fremantle's Jack Groves.  He was recognised at State level the following year and played in a back pocket for Western Australia. A knee injury soon after his State debut necessitating the removal of a cartilage cost Ned a place in the 1959 premiership team, and a similar injury on his other leg later caused him to retire from league football midway through the 1961 season. He was later honoured with life membership of the East Perth Football Club. Retirement for Ned Bull didn't last long. He became involved in the formation of the Inglewood club, and was coach of the side for four years  when they competed in the Sunday League. His football days behind him, Ned Bull transferred his allegiances to Bowls, and became a driving force behind the fledgling Bedford Bowling Club, where his efforts as one of those who contributed to the clubs standing today as one of the leading Bowling Clubs in the State have been recognised with life membership. Ned Bull didn't like to dwell too much on his football days. Getting the bloke to talk about himself was like drawing teeth, and neither would he be drawn on who he thought was the best he'd played with. “The whole team,” he said, and thinking of that team, who could argue? The best he'd played on? That wasn't so tough, and it involved a self-effacing story, in typical Ned Bull style. “John  Todd and Barry White,” he said. “We played South Fremantle one day and they changed on me, as well as another handy rover in Steve Marsh, and they kicked about seventeen goals between them.”  We think that would have been well and truly an off day for Ned. A painter by trade, Ned Bull spent most of his spare time after retiring from football at the bowling club, where his sporting ability hadn't deserted him, having been a top division bowler during his many years there, and he served in many capacities both on the committee and as a valued volunteer. He was, in fact, a legend at Bedford Bowling Club. Ned Bull was one of the outstanding defenders, not only at East Perth but the league, during a fine career of one hundred and fifty games, and would have been a worthy fairest and best winner, but was just one of many great players who were victims of the array of talent wearing the blue and black in those years.   The words of former State player and East Perth two hundred gamer Laurie Kennedy sum up Ned Bull the player, and are a fitting postscript to his story. “Ned was a backman whose main aim was to stop the ball. If there was a pack on the ball, Bully would be at the bottom of it. He was a tenacious and attacking left footer with a long, penetrating, and accurate kick. When Bully got the ball, the forwards started moving.” “He was one of the stars of our side.”   From someone who knew him, Ned was a bloody good bloke.