Tara Murray
Deer Park is hoping for a big finals series in the Bowls Victoria weekend premier division.
After finishing the regular season in second spot, the Parkers have been one of the form teams in the back half of the season.
The Parkers were set to face Melbourne for a spot in the grand final on Saturday. The two teams which played off in last season’s decider, drew in their last match.
The winner of that match moved through to the grand final, while the loser was to play in a preliminary final on Sunday.
Speaking before the finals, Parkers head of bowls operations and player Mark Casey said they were happy with how the season had gone so far.
“Our pre-season goal was to finish top two so we are delighted to have achieved that, now it’s all up to us,” he said.
“We have been undefeated since round four, so we are in good form heading into the finals.
“We are confident that if we can perform at our best that we will be very hard to beat, we understand we are up against some strong competition but we can’t wait.”
Casey said the slow start to the season was just the group getting used to each other. He said they always expected that it was going to take some time.
“To be honest, we have been surprised how quickly it has all happened for us. I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of people representing the Deer Park Club.”
Having finished runners-up last season, Casey said he believed they were better prepared this time round.
“Like the majority of finals, there will be times through the game where momentum goes against you, it’s something that we have spoken about and have worked on so we believe we have the right processes in place this time around,” he said.
A Parkers premiership in the premier division would be the club’s second this season.
Three other teams made finals with the club already winning one premiership.
“Our fourth team (division 5) won the premiership last week so that was a huge thrill for the club,” he said.
“Of course, we would have loved our division 2 team [which finished runners-up) to win but it wasn’t to be.
“It’s been a very successful year for the club, but winning the premier league flag would mean so much to so many people at the club.
“That’s what we need to do.”
