Sport
4 March, 2024
Lacey celebrates Highland’s stellar season
For new bowls president of the Highland Bowling Club, Tony Lacey, the 2023/24 season might not go any better for a debut season in the role. There’s still the matter of today’s midweek pennant grand final against Dunolly Blue at Avoca to...
For new bowls president of the Highland Bowling Club, Tony Lacey, the 2023/24 season might not go any better for a debut season in the role.
There’s still the matter of today’s midweek pennant grand final against Dunolly Blue at Avoca to negotiate, but from a Saturday pennant stand point, it’s job done.
Highland Tartan were able to secure their three-peat thanks to an incredible performance in their 62-33 win over Dunolly Blue, while Highland Red were able to claim a premiership as the best possible response to their relegation from last season, scoring a 67-44 win over Talbot Brown.
For Lacey, Saturday’s success was the culmination of getting selection right throughout the season, establishing chemistry from early on as changes were made — with Highland White going up to division one and Highland Red going down to division two.
“I’m over the moon,” he said.
“A lot of it has to do with selection, putting the right people in the right places and getting the team to work and gel together.
“The unfortunate part is that some people had to miss out. There’s nothing you can do about that; you have to give them all a go to see who gels with who and who works well with who.
“When you get that together, some guys have to miss out, and there’s not a lot we can do about that.”
There wasn’t a lot of nerves from Lacey’s end throughout the season.
Both Highland Tartan and Highland Red had a relatively slower start — Tartan fell back to fourth after round four courtesy of back-to-back losses to Talbot Gold and Dunolly Blue, the closest challengers all season for the division one premiership.
Highland Red fared a little better with a 3-1 record after four games, but it was a negative shot difference which was telling in the early stages.
None of that bothered both teams. Instead, both knuckled down towards the end goal of claiming the premiership.
Highland Tartan lost just one game from round four onwards — their Charity Round match against Dunolly Blue by eight shots, while Highland Red didn’t lose a game from their round three defeat to Carisbrook onwards.
Even then, Lacey was still worried about Talbot Brown with the changes they made to try and thwart Highland Red’s winning run.
“I was a bit worried to start with for the Reds, as Talbot had made a couple of changes and I wondered if it made a big difference from their semi-final, but it didn’t, and it was good for us,” he said.
But Highland Red, much like Highland Tartan, were able to get through and take the division two flag.
Lacey paid tribute to the supporters who made the trip to Avoca for the games.
“It was just the atmosphere which came around, with players saying ‘let’s do this, and let’s get through with it’, and that made all the difference,” he said.
“The number of people which came out was brilliant, and it was great to have the president of the Highland Society there as well.”
Lacey is now hoping for a bigger season in 2024/25 at the Highland Society.
“It’s been great. Having our centenary dinner coming up, the centenary itself and our team of the century, it’s been great altogether and it’s fantastic,” he said.
“We’re hoping we have a bigger and better Charity Round than what we had this year.”