Lakes Entrance Bowling Club claimed two of the five pennants up for grabs on Gippsland Bowls Region weekend pennant grand final day at the Bairnsdale Bowling Club last Saturday.
Among the haul was the prestigious premier league title, where they defeated Bairnsdale 65-49, while Lakes Entrance 4 claimed the division two crown, overcoming a gallant Yarram 38-34.
It was a new-look premier league competition in 2025/26, reduced to eight sides, with teams permitted only one side. It was a busy off-season for Lakes Entrance, who had to condense two sides into one and make room for players of the calibre of Brad Lancaster, Brendan Addison, Wayne Jones and Darren Martin.
The season did not always go to plan, with Lakes losing three of their final four home-and-away matches, but a victory in the final round over Metung sneaked them into the qualifying final, and the rest is now history.
A large crowd attended Saturday’s feats of bowls, with six associations chasing an elusive region pennant. The match was close and competitive, with Lakes Entrance leading by just two shots at the halfway point. At that stage, Stephen Smith, Jim Northe, Kevin Brown and Bradley Lancaster were 10-10 with their Bairnsdale opponents Geoff Woodward, Trevor Melotte, Stephen Sroczynski and Danny Prazza. The Lakes quartet then won nine of the next 11 ends to claim their rink in sensational fashion, 33-13.
Wallace Mason, Daffy Rawlings, Wayne Jones and Brendan Addison led 7-3 after 10 ends, finding another gear to claim six of the final nine ends and win 20-9. Bairnsdale’s only winners were Peter Baylis, Stewart Pyers, Dennis O’Keefe and Neil Watts, who, leading 9-7 after 10 ends, picked up eight of the final 11 ends to win their rink 27-12.
Lakes Entrance will now represent the Gippsland Bowls Region at the State pennant championships in April.
In division two, the rinks were split, but the victory of Ryan Dobson, Colin Grassby, Bob Lucas and Tony Spink, 25-16, proved pivotal in Lakes’ triumph. It was Yarram’s first defeat of the season – in the match that mattered most.
