There is a buzz at Melton Bowls Club ahead the Bowls Victoria Pennant season opener on Saturday.
After an average season last year, the club has been boosted by the installation of a new green.
While it’s expected to help with a better standard of bowls, it’s also attracted new members to the club.
Secretary John Adams said the laying of a brand new green had everyone excited.
“The green is carpet and a lot better than what we were playing on,” he said.
“We’re getting the other green done and with the new greens, we’ve picked up some better players.
“A lot didn’t like playing on our synthetic green as it was uneven. It was holding us back a bit.
“Now we need to learn how to play on the new green.”
The second green is expected to be completed by Christmas. Adams said the new green had attracted some new players to the club, many of them younger players.
Samantha Shannahan, who has represented Australia, is the biggest name to join the club.
“We’re a fairly old side and while we need to have some experience, but we need to get some youth into the team,” Adams said.
From last season’s top side, Adams said they had lost a couple of players. One of their skippers, Ray Morrissey has moved to Deer Park which has been promoted to the premier division. Adams said overall they had lost 10-12 players across the five teams, but believed they had enough players to fill those spots.
Melton missed finals in section 1, division 1 last season, after a poor second half to the season when they slipped out of the top four.
Adams said they were keen to atone for that this year. Melton starts its season on Saturday, hosting Fitzroy Victoria.
“Last year we had our chances until the end, but if we had made it I don’t think we could have gone any further,” Adams said.
“This year we could give it a real run.
“We’ll be looking for top four with the top two sides and surviving relegation with the other three teams.
“We’ll be disappointed if we don’t make finals in the top division. Hopefully we came out full guns blazing.”
Melton’s other teams are playing in division 2, division 4, division 6 and division 7. All four sides are playing in section one.
Meanwhile the Central Highlands Bowls Division still has a couple of weeks before play gets underway. Round one of that competition is one October 21.
