The old saying goes that sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
Deer Park has the bonus of both categories applying to its recent form in the Bowls Victoria premier division.
The Parkers are flying high in third spot, enjoyed the washed out weekend on the back of a two-game winning streak and were handed an additional win for something out of their control.
“Mentone were on top of the ladder, but they played an ineligible player,” Parkers president Neil Cromie said.
“The game that they played us was one of the games when they had the ineligible player, so we’ve picked up the points for that.
“That bounced us back up into the top four again and it pushed them down.”
Even without Mentone’s mishap, Deer Park has been a surprise packet with its fast start in its promotion season. The Parkers are high on confidence following convincing wins over western suburbs rival Yarraville-Footscray and MCC.
The most recent triumph, a 94-71 win over MCC, showed that Deer Park has found the right mix in its rinks.
While it split the rinks two apiece with MCC, the victorious rinks of Robert Doody and Brett Mahoney had thumping wins, while the losing skips barely effected the overall total.
“We believe we’ve got our combinations right now,” Cromie said.
“We’ve got our rinks of a compatible nature.
“The players are back in a bit better form.”
Mahoney’s form has been so strong this season that he was called up to the Victorian squad.
He could get the chance to represent the Big V as soon as tomorrow with a five-game series against Tasmania running through to Friday.
A bonus for Mahoney is that Deer Park is hosting the series, which Cromie hopes will be well attended by local bowls players and fans in the west.
Following the completion of that series, Deer Park will click back into club mode for games against Essendon (home) and Bundoora RSL (away) before the mid-season break.
The jostle for positions in the pre-Christmas period is going to be hot.
“It’s crucial the next fortnight,” Cromie said.
“If we can take care of those games, after the Christmas break we’ve got six out of eight games at home, so we’re in a good position.”
Lance Jenkinson
