Umbers saves Lara’s day
TWO rink wins and a draw were not enough for City of Geelong to cap its hard-fought promotion into the restructured Geelong Premier bowls competition with an openinground victory.
Playing under the roof at North Geelong, City was denied by Lara’s solitary rink win with Brendan Umbers getting up by 20 shots to save the visitors’ day.
Although going down by 10 shots overall, it was an encouraging effort from a depleted City. The club fought a rearguard off-season battle to be part of the new-look Geelong region Premier League, which was subsequently extended to 10 teams to accommodate them.
Lara skipper and selector Mick Kelly said he was happy to take the win given his side had lost a handful of players from last season, when it finished fifth in the former competition.
“Even though we hadn’t played (City) in Premier League, we knew them all, we knew what we were up against and what their talent was,” he said. “At the break we led by 20 shots and they slowly pegged us back.
“(Umbers is) a class act, most clubs have got their number-one players and you try and build around them. He won 37 to 17, which was a big result.”
The opening round saw perennial finalist Queenscliff clean sweep Eastern Park, and last year’s premier Ocean Grove sneak home by just five shots at home against Bareena.
Of keen interest in these opening rounds will be competitiveness of the four clubs promoted from Division 1 last year, who came in with mixed results.
Ocean Grove 2 made Highton work to the full 100 ends before the Hawks secured a win for new coach Dan Priddle. Highton won by 10 shots, securing 15 points, with Ron Imanse’s rink leading the way with a 12-shot win.
The two other Premier newcomers played each other with last year’s Division 1 Premier Drysdale hosting Torquay. Drysdale disappointed to drop this game at home with Torquay getting the job done by five shots.
Kelly said he expected the new league to be tight, particularly early in the season.
“It’s a close competition, I’ll take the points and say right, see you next year,” he said.
“Lara is not blessed with superstars, you’re just asking people to play a game.
“There’s a lot of thought that goes into it, but in the end it’s still just a game.”
RESULTS: PAGE 28-29