Sport
29 February, 2024
Fierce rivalry adds another chapter with division one grand final meeting tomorrow at Avoca
Lawn bowls will take centre stage tomorrow afternoon, with the Goldfields Playing Area grand finals to be held at Avoca Country Golf Bowls Club. Division one will see fierce rivals Highland Tartan and Dunolly Blue do battle as Tartan seeks their...
Lawn bowls will take centre stage tomorrow afternoon, with the Goldfields Playing Area grand finals to be held at Avoca Country Golf Bowls Club.
Division one will see fierce rivals Highland Tartan and Dunolly Blue do battle as Tartan seeks their third consecutive premiership, while Dunolly Blue will be looking for their first premiership since 2021.
In division two, minor premier Highland Red will be looking to cap off what’s been a dominant season with a premiership, but will have to do it against Talbot Brown, who will be seeking to claim another division two premiership, having done so in 2021.
In division one’s showpiece game, minor premier Dunolly Blue have had a bit of a harder road to make it to the grand final, as their undefeated run in the home and away season was brought to an end in dramatic fashion in the two teams’ last meeting two weeks ago in the second semi-final.
Having led comfortably at the halfway mark, Dunolly Blue were reeled in by Tartan, and eventually, the game required a roll-off, with the game tied up at the end of the 63rd end.
Highland Tartan were able to deliver a one-shot win as a result, with Dunolly Blue utilising a second chance in last week’s preliminary final against Talbot Gold.
It was a tight, fierce battle, with Talbot Gold holding sway for much of the day, before Dunolly Blue fought back to lead at the right time to eventually take a two-shot victory.
Coming into this game, both teams have thrived in different areas of the game.
Highland Tartan have proven to be an offensive juggernaut throughout the season, and comfortably lead the league in making the most shots throughout the season, with 897.
Dunolly Blue, however, are a team that loves to break opponents down with good pressure, and while they rank second in the league offensively with 792 shots made, it’s their 558 shots that they’ve conceded which has stood out — 61 shots fewer than any side in the competition, while Highland Tartan rank third defensively with 631 shots conceded.
While the road has been tough for Dunolly Blue in the finals, side manager Peter Waters says it’s been a terrific campaign regardless, and looks forward to tomorrow’s showpiece event.
“The good thing about the finals is that it’s been great for spectators. They’ve seen some very competitive matches, and teams that have been able to get the best out of what they can to try and scratch out a result,” he said.
“Highland are a good club and they have a lot of depth. We had a good game against them in the second semi-final, but we lucked out by one shot in an extra end roll-off after we drew. So we’re looking forward to being able to take it to them again this week if we can.
“Highland were able to get over the top of us with what was the last roll of the game, and against Talbot, we were challenged early, we were down, and we were fortunate enough to have Tony Galofaro’s rink doing very well. In the other two rinks, we had to close the deficit to be able to look more towards the overall result and we did that.”
From the other end of town, Highland Tartan team manager Garry Coburn says the week off went as planned for the team, who were set to use their final training session last night to have a scratch match between themselves and Highland Red to prepare adequately for their grand final matches.
“We’re going pretty well at the moment. We are training and getting together to have a scratch match between the Reds and the Tartans, which will be the final stepping stone before Saturday, which will be tough,” he said.
“We’ll get together for an hour and have a bit of a roll with both teams, and that will be really good to get a good hitout for the week. The week off is good, but we had a roll for an hour and a half last Saturday, which we needed, but it’s not the same as actually playing.
“We have a lot of good players playing with the Reds, such as Bert Spencer, Lawrie Barry, Robert Bursill, just to name a few, and there’s plenty who have had a taste of division one bowls and stepped back into division two. They are a very important part of the club.”
The game is expected to be a much closer affair than the blowout that Highland Tartan enjoyed in last year’s decider, having won 70-37 on that occasion at Newstead.
Indeed, Dunolly Blue have been the dominant team across the season, and recorded two strong wins in the home-and-away portion of the season.
In round four, they were too strong, taking two of the rinks on offer and drawing the third rink in what was a 55-50 win, while in round 11’s Charity Round at the Highland Society, Dunolly Blue took another win, scoring a 61-53 victory.
With that in mind, both Waters and Coburn are looking forward to this game going down to the wire.
“Highland were the best team last season and were deserved winners. We think this year, we’ve been able to galvanise our team, and the challenge is in front of us, and we can give it a good shot on Saturday,” Waters said.
“It’s as competitive as it has ever been. We’re hoping that we can give a good showing for all our supporters and our other players around the club.
“We’ve changed our team up a little bit this week. Alan Weir has been taken out of my rink and he’s going to skip another rink. There is a bit of movement across our team, whereas Highland have been stable for most of the year. We think we have a good mix and this new lineup, albeit late in the season, will do well.”
Coburn agrees that the season deserves a grand final spectacle which has matched how close the teams have been this year.
“It’s been pretty close all year between the three teams [at the top],” he said.
“I’m hoping it will be a close game, and it will be sad if it was blown out one way or the other, as it’s been really close all year. So hopefully we can put on a good show with both teams and have a close encounter.”
With both games to be held at Avoca, and ideal conditions present on Saturday, both side managers are excited about the prospect of a good game.
“We’re playing at Avoca, which is the best carpet green in the district. We like to think we bowl well out there and we’re comfortable on that green, so anything can happen,” Waters said.
“A cooler green probably creates a better bowls spectacle. Sometimes with the carpet greens and depending on the amount of sand in them, later in the day, if it is hotter, it can dry the green out and it slows the game down. We’re comfortable and looking forward to playing out there.”
Coburn believes it will come down to who bowls well when it matters most.
“Every day is a different day, and there’s so many aspects — the weather, the way the green is playing and the opposition. You can’t control the way they’re playing,” he said.
“You hope that our blokes are switched on and perform on the day. It’s what we all strive for, and it will be difficult. Both sides have very good bowlers, so it will come down to who bowls well on the day.”