Rebecca Bulley (born 18 August 1982), also known as Rebecca Strachan, is a former Australia netball international. Between 2008 and 2015 she made 42 senior appearances for Australia. Bulley was a member of the Australia teams that won the gold medal at the

2015 Netball World Cup The Netball World Cup Sydney 2015 (NWC2015) was the 14th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, the premier competition in international netball. It was held from 7–16 August, in Sydney, Australia, which secured hosting rights after defeating ...

and the silver medal at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

. Bulley also won three ANZ Championship titles with three different teams – the 2008 New South Wales Swifts, the 2013 Adelaide Thunderbirds and the 2015 Queensland Firebirds. She began her senior club career with Melbourne Kestrels during the Commonwealth Bank Trophy era and finished it playing for Giants Netball in Suncorp Super Netball.

Early life, family and education

Bulley is the daughter of Leon and Lynley Strachan. She was born in Victoria and raised in the Pyramid Hill and

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

districts. She attended Pyramid Hill College and

Bendigo Senior Secondary College Bendigo Senior Secondary College (BSSC), is an Australian government-funded co-educational secondary school for Year 11 and Year 12 students located in the centre of Bendigo, Victoria. It is the largest provider of VCE, VET and VCAL in the stat ...

. Her sister, Meredith Ball (née Strachan), also played

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

for Melbourne Kestrels,

Melbourne University Lightning The Victorian Netball League is a state netball league featuring teams from Victoria, Australia. The league is organised by Netball Victoria. The modern league was first played for during the 2009 season. It replaced an earlier state league as t ...

and Sandhurst. Her younger brother, Kieran Strachan is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er. Rebecca is married to Randall Bulley, a schoolteacher based in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

. She gave birth to a daughter, Indie in 2016. The Bulley family home is in

Woonona, New South Wales Woonona () is a northern suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney. It is served by Woonona Station on the South Coast (Illawarra) Line, and by the Princes Highway. The suburb has a strip of commerce along the highway ...

Playing career

Early years

As Rebecca Strachan, Bulley began her netball career as a junior with Calivil United in the

Loddon Valley Football Netball League The Loddon Valley Football Netball League is an Australian rules football league based in Central Victoria. History The league was formed in 1903 by the Inglewood, Bridgewater, Newbridge and Arnold’s Bridge clubs. Inglewood and Bridgewater ...

. Her mother, Lynley Strachan, coached at the Calivil United club. After her family moved to

, she switched to Sandhurst in the Bendigo Football Netball League. Her team mates at Sandhurst included her sister, Meredith.

Commonwealth Bank Trophy

Between 2000 and 2007, Bulley played 85 games for Melbourne Kestrels and

AIS Canberra Darters Canberra Darters are a former Australian netball team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The team was originally formed as a partnership between the Australian Institute of Sport and Netball ACT. Between 2003 and 2007 they played ...

in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. She also captained both teams. Between 2001 and 2003 she also played for the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

ANZ Championship

;New South Wales Swifts Between

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, Bulley played for New South Wales Swifts in the ANZ Championship. After missing out on selection for the Melbourne Vixens squad, Bulley was encouraged by Liz Ellis to join Swifts. She was subsequently a member of the Swifts team that won the inaugural 2008 ANZ Championship title. At the end of the

2010 ANZ Championship season The 2010 ANZ Championship season was the third season of the ANZ Championship. The 2010 season began on 20 March and concluded on 11 July. New South Wales Swifts went through the entire regular season home and away undefeated, winning 13 consec ...

, Bulley was named the Holden Cruze ANZ Championship Player of the Year, the

QBE NSW Swifts MVP New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was ...

and the

NSW Swifts Members' Player of the Year New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was ...

. ;Adelaide Thunderbirds Between

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, Bulley played for Adelaide Thunderbirds. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

she was a member of the Thunderbirds team won the ANZ Championship. ;Queensland Firebirds In

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Bulley played for Queensland Firebirds and finished the season with a third Championship winners medal.

Suncorp Super Netball

;Giants Netball Between

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, Bulley played for Giants Netball in the Suncorp Super Netball. Bulley had initially retired after the

in order to start a family. However, Giants head coach, Julie Fitzgerald, subsequently persuaded her to come out of retirement as an injury replacement for

Kristiana Manu'a Kristiana Manu'a (born 3 September 1995) is a New Zealand-born Australian netball player in the ANZ Premiership, playing for the Central Pulse. Manu'a was born in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, though moved with family to Liverpo ...

. In August 2018 Bulley announced her retirement as a player for the second time.

Australia

Between 2008 and 2015, Bulley made 42 senior appearances for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. From 2005 she was regularly featured in Australia squads, including the advance squad for the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

. However Bulley had to wait until 2008 before she made her Test debut. She made her senior debut on 20 September 2008 against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. She was subsequently a member of the Australia teams that won the silver medal at the

and the gold medal at the

. She retired from international netball following the latter tournament.

Coaching career

During the 2019

Australian Netball League The Australian Netball Championships, formerly the Australian Netball League, is an Australian netball competition. Since 2008 it has served as a second level competition, initially below the ANZ Championship and later below Suncorp Super Netb ...

season Bulley served as an assistant coach with

Canberra Giants GIANTS Netball Academy is an Australian netball team that represents Netball New South Wales in the Australian Netball League. The team was originally formed in 2016 as a partnership between Netball ACT, Netball New South Wales and Giants Netb ...

. She was subsequently appointed head coach of

Giants Netball Academy GIANTS Netball Academy is an netball in Australia, Australian netball team that represents Netball New South Wales in the Australian Netball League. The team was originally formed in 2016 as a partnership between Netball ACT, Netball New South Wa ...

ahead of the 2020 season Ahead of the

2021 Suncorp Super Netball season The 2021 Suncorp Super Netball season was the fifth season of the premier netball league in Australia. The season commenced on 1 May and concluded on 28 August. The defending premiers were the Melbourne Vixens, but they failed to make the finals. ...

, Bulley was named as assistant coach of New South Wales Swifts.

Honours

;

Netball World Cup The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by the World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and th ...

**''Winners'':

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

**''Runners Up'':

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

; Queensland Firebirds * ANZ Championship **''Winners'':

; Adelaide Thunderbirds * ANZ Championship **''Winners'':

; New South Wales Swifts * ANZ Championship **''Winners'':

;Individual * Holden Cruze ANZ Championship Player of the Year **''Winner'':

**''Winner'':

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulley, Rebecca 1982 births Living people Australian netball players Australia international netball players Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Netball players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in netball Australian Institute of Sport netball players AIS Canberra Darters players Melbourne Kestrels players ANZ Championship players New South Wales Swifts players Adelaide Thunderbirds players Queensland Firebirds players Giants Netball players Suncorp Super Netball players Netball players from Victoria (Australia) Australian netball coaches Australian Netball League coaches Australia international Fast5 players South Australian Sports Institute netball players New South Wales Swifts coaches 2015 Netball World Cup players