Tara Murray
There’s been plenty of celebrations for Deer Park as it celebrated double premiership joy in the Bowls Victoria weekend pennant competitions.
The Parkers top side claimed back-to-back wins with a stunning premier division grand final on the long weekend.
It came after their second side won the division 2, section 1 title and finished runners-up in the overall division 2 title.
Head of bowls operations Mark Casey said it was in incredible feeling to go back-to-back in the premier division, having won their first ever premier division title last season.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “It’s a reward for the group’s hard work and commitment through a tough season.
“We never lost the belief in ourselves which was important.”
The Parkers finished the regular season on top of the ladder before losing to Moonee Valley in the first week of finals.
They were able to bounce back the following week against Bundoora to win through to the grand final and another crack at Moonee Valley.
“We were disappointed with how we played against Moonee Valley, overall we were below the standard that we know we could get to and against good sides they make you pay which Moonee Valley did,” Casey said.
“We made some combination changes and put in a good performance against Bundoora.”
Casey said they knew they needed to rise to the occasion in the grand final and wanted to go up another level.
There was no repeat of the last match, with the Parkers getting off to a flier.
Once in front they were able to stay there and came away with a massive 83 (15)-58 (3) win.
Aron Sheriff’s rink won 26-11 and Matthew Baus’ rink had a 25-8 win. Ryan Tainton’s rink had a 20-all draw, while Jay Bye-Norris’ rink lost 19-12.
Casey said they needed all 16 players to stand up in the final and that is exactly what happened.
“We had a number of outstanding individual performances, but it was how we operated as a whole unit that got the win. It was a complete performance.”
Having also had their second side claim a title, Casey said it had been a really successful season.
“It’s incredible,” he said. “Gaining promotion into division 1 has been a focus of the club for many years, the club has worked so hard to make this happen, it really was a massive effort from all our playing group.”
Having already secured a number of key players, Casey said there was an exciting future ahead at the club. Casey himself has re-signed as head of bowls operations for the next five years.
“We will also welcome in some new talent to help with the upcoming season,” he said.
“The next focus turns to the state pennant finals in May.”
