Shepparton Golf and Tallygaroopna lock horns in third consecutive grand final

The Goulburn Valley Playing Area’s great modern-day rivals meet for a third consecutive weekend pennant decider – and destiny demands a tiebreaker.

The Redlegs’ 2023-24 breakthrough, a three-shot belter that will long live in the memory, set the wheels in motion for the great division one power struggle, while a year later it was the Golfers’ flag to the tune of nine shots.

Euroa Bowls Club will play host to this Saturday’s trilogy bout – so who’s looking most likely to take out local bowl’s top prize in the club game?

Shepparton Golf currently holds honours after defeating minor premier Tally by seven shots in the semi-final, handing the Redlegs only their second defeat of the season.

The Golfers have had the week off and are “champing at the bit” to get stuck into their pursuit for back-to-back premierships, according to Golf skip Brad Orr.

No stranger to the big stage or Saturday’s opposition, the GV bowls star is unsurprisingly expecting another tight hit out.

“I think everyone's feeling confident,” Orr said.

“We’ve come off a pretty good win in the qualifying final. We’ve had the week off and everyone will be champing at the bit come Saturday.

“Whenever these two sides meet, everyone knows that it's going to be a close contest with a lot of good bowls.

“Whoever stands up the best in those key moments will probably walk away with the win.”

Tallygaroopna had all the answers in the preceding two bouts, engineering a thrilling one-shot victory over Golf in round four before widening the gulf in round 11 by a more comfortable 34.

On both occasions, Tally skip Mitch Sidebottom proved a thorn in the Golfers’ side, and he’s yet to drop a rink in eight starts.

On the flip side of the coin, Golf’s Brad Orr, as always, stands as a formidable foe, winning seven of his eight rinks this season.

It’s a stacked field, however; Tally’s David Daws and Mark Ryan are no strangers to the big stage, and the same is true of Golf’s Kris Ferguson, Brent Reiner, and John Gribble.

Tally’s Russell Orchard admits the Redlegs weren’t at their best against Golf last start, but the preliminary final victory win against Shepparton Park has the minor premier sporting a bit of momentum.

And with all their skips firing at the right time of the year, the stage is set for another GVPA classic.

“We would be the first ones to admit we did have a few down on that [qualifying final] day, so we’d be hoping that we’ve got a bit of improvement in us for sure,” Orchard said.

“It’s always a close tussle, I mean it’s Carlton versus Collingwood virtually, it’s always tight.

“We had a couple of our skips, Dawsey (David Daws) and Mitch Sidebottom, both play a fair bit of Premier League bowls in Melbourne, and along with that came a bit of unavailability.

“It was a year we obviously didn’t have a full team. But of course, we've got them now; they're all fit and fine and ready to go.”

With grand finals often coming down to a stretch of two or three ends, Orchard said the key on the big day is consistency, something he says they’ll be striving to achieve yet again.

But perhaps equally important is the support you gather along the way, and he’s hoping to see a sea of green at Euroa as the side hunts its third flag in five seasons.

“We’d love to see as many supporters as we can,” he said.

“We’ve got a strong supporter base. It's a small town, but a big sporting community.

“We’ll be looking forward to a lot of green colour over there in the crowd.”

On the adjoining greens at Euroa, Shepparton Park and Seymour will grapple for the division two pennant title.

The Parkers will also vie for division three and four glory against Euroa and Dookie respectively at Tatura Bowls Club, while at Mooroopna it will be Colbinabbin and Murchison battling in division five.

Mooroopna Golf will play Avenel in the division six decider.