By Tara Murray
It was a mixture of excitement and relief for Hoppers as it claimed the Bowls Victoria weekend pennant, division 4, section 1 premiership on Saturday.
After a mountain of work had been done behind the scenes the past 12 months, the Hawks entered Saturday’s grand final with Bacchus Marsh as clear favourites.
Early on, the Hawks were made to work for it before coming over the top to take a big lead into the back half of the match.
The Hawks then focused on maintaining the lead, which they were able to do on the way to an 87(16)-67 (2).
Hawks coach Stephen Macklin said everyone was pretty excited to have walked away with the title.
He said the biggest thing for them all season had been everyone playing their roles for the team and wanting the club to succeed.
“It was a really huge thing for the top team to make finals as well as to get that division 3 spot for next season,” he said.
“The club was serious about competing at a higher level. It was great by the players and it was about being better as a team.
“We got some players back and into the club. Andrew Doyle had eight years off bowls and was a premier division before his break.
“It’s fantastic for him.”
It was a tight start to the final with Bacchus even leading in some of those early stages.
The Hawks were able to pick up some crucial shots before a break to jump out to a 12-13 shot lead.
With about 34 ends left the margin was out to about the 20 shot mark.
Macklin said they changed their tact at that point.
“We decided to go into management mode and play smart bowls,” he said. “We didn’t want to drop shots.
“We managed to do that over the last 25-30 ends which is not easy. It’s something good teams are able to do.”
Macklin said with the lead they had they could enjoy the win the last few ends.
Jason Wright’s rink won 22-15, Albert Wu’s rink won 23-20 and Doyle’s rink won 23-11.
Macklin’s rink was the only losing rink, going down 21-19.
The Hawks didn’t have long to celebrate with the sectional finals starting on Sunday.
Macklin said every game in the sectional finals was a bonus having already achieved what they set out to do.
Macklin said the win was a huge credit to the committee led by Richard Lewczuk and former coach Mark Coleman.
He said he thought that the committee would be relieved that their focus and gamble paid off.
“I think for those people who pushed so hard to get the club moving and being more competitive it is so exciting for them,” he said.
“I came in at the end. They’ve worked so hard.”
