Werribee is punching above its weight in the top flight of Bowls Victoria’s mid-week pennant.
The newly-promoted Bees were tipped to be relegation fodder in their first season at premier division level but are proving a much tougher nut to crack in the opening two months.
“We’ve never been in the premier division before, so we thought that if we could avoid relegation in the first year it would be pretty good,” Bees player Denise Thompson told Star Weekly.
“We’re actually not travelling too badly.”
Werribee began the season with three consecutive wins to be the surprise ladder leader after three rounds.
The past month has seen the new kids on the block come back down to earth somewhat with Tuesday’s 26-shot loss to Glenroy their third in four games.
But losing to a star-studded Glenroy side is nothing to be embarrassed about.
“They’re a very strong outfit with quite a lot of state or ex-state players,” Thompson said.
“We weren’t disgraced but they had the jump on us most of the day.”
The Lyn Milledge rink was the strongest performing for the Bees, going down by only two shots.
Judy Brown went down by nine, while Trish Forder was beaten by 15.
It was a minor setback for Werribee, who are still sitting among the leading clubs in the competition with a 4-3 record.
If their work ethic is anything to go by, the Bees will be in the finals race for the long haul.
“I feel our girls have put more time into it this year than they did last year,” Thompson said.
“They want to stay there in the top division.
“We’re all sort of gelling and getting along really well and we’re all playing as a team.”