Lawn Bowls
5 March, 2026
Warrack wraps up pennant hat trick
For the grand finals of divisions one and two, played at Hopetoun, the weather forecast was for rain to develop during the afternoon but not much wind. The green was looking good, recently brushed and with an advised speed at 16 seconds. A good gallery of spectators was present supporting the three clubs playing.
Division one
On rink one Rod Sinclair, Brian Taylor, Norz Belot and Michelle Powell lined up to play Roger Perris, Brian Gunn, Bill Russ and Graham Clayton from Warracknabeal Golf Bowls Club.
The Townies (Warrack) kicked off the game with the first two ends, then the Golfies picked up the third end.
The Golfies picked up nine shots on ends five, six and seven to be seven up.
That was when the townies rallied to take the next 10 ends to be 22/10 up on the 17th end.
The Golfies picked up a single on the 18th end and in a late rally on ends 20, 21 and 22 picked up seven shots but a bit late to finish at 27/19 in favor of the Townies.
Rink two was where Graeme Shalders, Josh Barry, Jing Robertson and Shane Langman met Warren Perris, Russell Miller, Gary Bellis and Barry Holland, where in a tough competition with numerous challenges of the length of the jack, the Townies claimed the first two ends for four shots then the Golf crew claimed four ends for five shots.
After three ends to the Townies for nine shots on the card and then two shots to the Golf crew to have seven shots on the card, the Townies claimed the next five ends to be 16/7 on the 15th end.
Four ends to the Golf crew brought the card to read 16/16 on the 19th end.
A five on the 20th end to the Townies had them at 21/16 on the card,
After single to the Townies, the Golf crew claimed a four on the 23rd end to be one shot down before the Townies claimed the last two ends to have 28/21 on the card at the end of play.
It was a well-fought game.
Rink three found Ron Baron, Edna and Peter Anderson and Shane Powell lined up to play Mick Marchment, Bruce Wilson, Terry Sanders and James Thomas.
This game was a demonstration of the skill and prowess of Town skipper Ron Baron, claiming eight of the first 13 ends to have the scorecard read 29/8 at the halfway point.
They then claimed eight of the remaining ends to finish with 43/14 on the card at the end of play, not to take anything away from Ron's lead second and third,
His ability to carmly control and direct his players building heads that the Golf crew were unable to counter was a pleasure to watch.
Overall, the score of 98/54 was in favor of the Warracknabeal Townies to claim pennant honours again.
Division two
In division two, Warracknabeal verses Minyip on rink six featured Gary Mclean, Terry Smith, Neville Keam and Norm McLean lined up to play David Funcke, Peter Niewand, Ray Funcke and Davis Mansfield.
Winning seven ends in the first half found the Warracknabeal side 14/8 up at the halfway mark.
But, winning only three of the remaining ends left Warrack level with Minyip at the 19th end before they dropped the last four ends to be 19/23 down at the end of play.
On rink five Dale Stronach, Isobel Davison, Ken Schilling and Ian Hewitt played the Minyip team of Bruce Midgely, Michael Krause, Brendan Kerrins and Roselie Landwehr.
In a tough game, the scores were close from the halfway point to be level at the 23rd end.
Gary McLean finished at four down with the pressure on, managing to take the last two ends for four shots and a win on the rink by four shots at 24/20, squaring off the loss on rink six.
On rink four Bill Kerr, Mick Hall, Debra Steed and Brett Johnson did battle with Keith Landwehr, Ray Petering, Chris O"Connell and Mark Krelle.
In a seesawing match, with scores level at the halfway mark, the second half became a tough battle with sores at 17/20 down for Warrack on the 21st end.
With one rink down by four and finished and the other rink just dropping a four to be down one shot on the 22nd end, things were not looking good for the Warrack teams.
We needed numbers to survive.
Watching closely as rink five claimed the last three ends to finish four up and square the ledger between rinks five and six, it was up to Bill's team to pull some magic out of the hat.
Bill's crew claimed two shots on the 22nd end to be one down, claiming the 23rd end with a four, putting the side up by three shots overall, but the Minyip team were not going to lie down.
Gaining another four shots to be seven shots up on the 24th end did release a bit of the pressure but on last end Minyip were determined to make their last stance by holding three shots on the changeover.
A perusal of the head showed no chance of losing an eight but a dead end could have made things a little harder for the Warrack team.
With three shots in a tight head with Warrack bowls within close proximity, there was a possibility of running into two of the Minyip bowls and moving the jack back to the Warrack bowls.
Not too much weight was needed as there were danger Minyip bowls a little further back.
Bill delivered his first bowl and it reached the two target bowls but did not move either.
Keith played his first bowl close but did not add to the count.
Bill's second bowl was played with a similar intent as the first but fell a little bit short.
Keith's last bowl was a little overweight and missed.
Warracknabeal's division two side was victorious by four shots.
It was well played by Minyip.
The forecast rain started as Keith and Bill were delivering their last bowls.
The overall score was Warracknabeal 70 shots to Minyip 66 shots.
That completed the hat trick of midweek pennant division one and division two and weekend pennant by Warracknabeal Bowling Club.
All players in the club have done themselves and their clubmates proud.
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