Deer Park is the super team of Bowls Victoria division 1, but the carpet surface has been its kryptonite.
The Parkers hold a two-game lead over the rest of their section, but both their losses this summer have come on the foreign carpet surface.
Parkers president Ray Franksen told Star Weekly his players must learn to adapt to the carpet surface, which runs at a speed of roughly 16 seconds compared to their 13-second greens.
And the best time to start is this weekend when they face Brighton indoors on Saturday.
“That’s going to be a challenge,” Franksen said. “We’ve lost two games this year and they’ve both been on carpet, so we really need to do something about that. We’re just not used to playing on carpet.”
Deer Park’s struggles on the carpet have done little to diminish the club’s Superman status.
The Parkers are the most feared team in their section and would probably still make the finals if they didn’t turn up for the remaining five home-and-away rounds.
Franksen says his club is enjoying the ride too much to lose momentum.
“We’re looking very good at the moment and the club is buzzing,” he said.
“We’re having fun after our wins; we have that much enjoyment in our club.
“The five sides all come back to our club, we get in a room together and sing our song with gusto.
“We’ve got so much pride in our bowlers and every single player in the club.”
The Parkers made it a winning start to 2015 on Saturday with an impressive 18 (96)-0 (61) victory over Burwood District on the road.
Burwood, fifth on the table, is no pushover, having played in Victoria’s top flight only last season, but the merciless Parkers enjoyed a clean sweep of the rinks.
Robbie Campbell (29-9) was the biggest winner, while Paul Dorgan (28-20), Robert Doody (23-17) and Neil Smith (22-21) also got the spoils.
“It was a very good win,” Franksen said. “When you travel away and win at a bowls club you’ve never been to and on a green that is slow as hell, it’s a fantastic result.”
In division 2, Sunshine City remains in a battle for survival, sitting rock bottom of section 1.
City was competitive against finals contender Altona Sports on Saturday before going down 16 (88)-2 (73).
Keilor made a positive start to the new year in section 2, notching its fifth win of the season in a 15 (78)-2 (72) upset over Fitzroy Victoria (2).
