Lawn Bowls

On Monday 27 April, three senior and one junior Lawn Bowls teams arrived at Ringwood Bowls Club, eager to prove themselves as bowls champions. Despite our team's having minimal Bowls experience, the seniors and juniors were able to perform exceptionally throughout the day, and saw one of our senior teams reaching the Finals and the other three teams unfortunately just falling short.

In the Finals, our senior team found themselves matched up against a pool of five Vermont teams, a clear powerhouse in the competition who were able to fill out 5/6 final spots. 

Despite the fact that Vermont held an overwhelming statistical advantage along with "6" training sessions to prepare, the underdog Wantirna Side (with just 1 training session under their wing) was able to overcome this challenge, despite their disparity in experience.

They prevailed in the Semi-final with outstanding performances across the board from superstars, Jordan Peavey (Captain), Harry Hayes, Ava Reilly, Ezekial Simari and Sami Waddell, whose efforts landed them in the Eastern Metropolitan Region Lawn Bowls Grand Final.

This victory instilled confidence in an already extremely talented Wantirna team, and this became very apparent in the Grand Final where Wantirna were able to win the first end 3-0 with the support of a very passionate player/coach, Ezekial Simari, an encouraging Wantirna crowd and a phenomenal Bowling performance from Sami Waddell.

Despite these Superb performances from the players, Vermont where able to claim the next end at the score of 1-0, bringing the total score to 1-3 with Wantirna leading. In the 3rd end Vermont where able to carry this momentum through winning the end 2-0, bringing the total score to 3-3 and tying it all up. 

The 4th end saw Wantirna in really bad shape with Vermont pushing the senior team into a 4-0 deficit. With only 2 bowls remaining at a point -  when doubt would creep in to most players and when all hope felt lost - superstar, Harry Hayes stepped up and delivered a devastating blow to the confidence of the Vermont players. 

He knocked the 4-0 deficit down to a 1-0 deficit, before Tournament MVP, Jordan Peavey stepped up and delivered a "clutch" picture-perfect Bowl, stealing the end from Vermont and moving the total score to 4-3 Wantirna's way.

In the 5th end, Jordan Peavey showed no signs of slowing down, delivering 2 immaculate bowls, breaking the hearts of the Vermont players, before Sami and Harry produced their own masterclass last bowls sealing the win, shutting the door on Vermont and solidifying their spot for the 5th of May State Bowls Championships in Sunbury!

Thank you to all who participated and supported on the day, you were amazing!

A massive congratulations to Erin Robinson and the Senior Bowls team for this incredible achievement!

Good luck in Sunbury!

Jack Hawkes

AFL Trainee