As the final end concluded in Saturday’s Goulburn Valley Playing Area weekend pennant division two grand final at Stanhope Bowls Club, there was a common theme surrounding the conversations between the jubilant Euroa players.
We are back where we belong.
After being relegated from the region’s top flight bowls competition at the end of last season, it took just 365 days for the Magpies to return to the Allan Matheson Shield.
And it was a perfect performance on grand final day that capped a successful stint down in division two.
Facing a Kyabram squad that lost just one game all season en route to the minor premiership, Euroa saved its best performance for last as it dominated the decider from start to finish to run out a clinical 16-135 to 2-78 winner.
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Division three: The Seymour squad after defeating Nagambie.Image 2 of 5
Division four: Seymour VRI celebrates its grand final win over Kyabram.Image 3 of 5
Division five: Eildon all smiles after defeating Dookie on grand final day.Image 4 of 5
Division six: Kyabram's premiership winning squad.Image 5 of 5
Division seven: Rushworth celebrates its division seven triumph.Coach Andy Houston said the win was a culmination of six months of hard work and sacrifice as his team “did it the hard way” to claim that all-important ticket back to division one.
“We’ve done it the hard way, we came from third spot on the ladder to win it which meant we had to win three games in a row to get to this point,” Houston said.
“We are a small town and struggle for numbers at times, so to pull off this premiership win is incredible.
“We are back where we belong, but probably need to strengthen a bit if we want to stay up there in division one.”
Heading into the clash as an underdog, the Magpies quickly shook off that tag as all four rinks got off to fast starts.
Ultimately they would win three of those rinks, with an incredible 50-20 win by Tony Kingma in rink four and a clinical 33-15 demolition by the legendary Ken Sutcliffe in rink two paving the way for the 47-shot win.
Houston said it was the ultimate “team performance” from his squad.
“From the start we were just on, it was great to watch,” he said.
“We played a rather aggressive game and a few things went our way and went against them which sort of got us on a roll.
“Kenny (Sutcliffe) does what Kenny does and he led from the front for us, we had Tony Kingma who was absolutely superb and Shane Drysdale in his first year of skipping has been massive for us.
“The game was beautiful for us today, nothing went wrong.”
Elsewhere, Seymour secured promotion for the 2023-24 season after it outlasted Nagambie 16-99 to 2-89 in a thrilling division three decider at Shepparton Park Bowls Club.
A tight match throughout, the Lions’ class showed itself in the big moments, as they secured three crucial rink victories to set up the premiership triumph.
Graeme Flint was particularly impressive for the Seymour side, as he produced a marvellous 29-16 win to keep the Nagambie side at bay.
Seymour VRI secured the division four crown with a comprehensive 18-100 to 0-83 win over Kyabram.
Sweeping all four rinks, Michael Szczykulski was the star for VRI, with his 25-17 win in rink three proving the catalyst for the victory.
In division five, Eildon claimed the crown with a hard-fought 18-79 to 0-69 victory over Dookie.
A match where all rinks were decided by less than five shots, Eildon took the chocolates in all four rinks thanks to the work of trusty skips Steve Hall (22-19), Sharon Hall (17-14), Ivan Sutcliffe (18-17) and Raymond Holt (22-19).
In division six Kyabram claimed its only premiership of the day from four attempts.
Duelling out a thriller against Yea, the Bombers emerged a 14-62 to 2-59 victor, with Ray Harrison (25-21) and Bob Manson (21-18) claiming the all-important rink victories.
Rushworth rounded out the weekend pennant premiers for season 2022-23 with a tough 12-49 to 2-36 triumph.
Playing the two rinks, Rushworth was buoyed by the performance of Wayne Lloyd, who’s whopping 28-10 win paved the way to premiership glory.