General News
25 February, 2021
Lakers’ frustrating campaign ends
MORTLAKE selector Darren Grant remains hopeful his side can rise up the Western District Bowls Division ladder next year after its season ended last Saturday.
MORTLAKE selector Darren Grant remains hopeful his side can rise up the Western District Bowls Division ladder next year after its season ended last Saturday.
The Lakers avoided relegation courtesy of Terang’s win over Dennington Jets, finishing with three wins, nine losses and a draw in ninth position after losing its final round contest with Koroit Blue 65-52.
Grant said the club had mixed feelings about its season as a whole, with the lower grades providing some optimism on a dismal 2020/21 top grade campaign.
“It was obviously disappointing to be fighting to avoid relegation after last year where we fought to make the finals,” he said.
“But it was pleasing division two finished well off the bottom of the ladder, I think they ended up sixth or something (eighth) and it was excellent for division four to make the finals after finishing on top of the ladder.”
Grant said the Lakers were still at a loss to work out exactly what went wrong, but conceded early losses ultimately set the side on a downwards spiral it never recovered from.
“We had the same players, albeit we lost Shane Cashill mid-year, but we got off to a poor start losing some early games which really set the tone for the year,” he said.
“The most disappointing part though is that we were unable to continue on with the good form we had last year with the same players.
“But the pleasing side of it was still our ability to play well against the top teams – we did lose to them but we didn’t get smashed by them which was positive.
“But a lot of it comes back to those games that we should have won by close margins which I’ve said throughout the year.”
Grant said the club was still pleased to see development and improvement within a number of players, a notion he hopes benefits the club next season as it eyes a return to the top half of the table.
“We’ll be working in the off-season to plot our best line-up to go into next year,” he said.
“We’ll have a look around to see if we can recruit any new bowlers to the club but I remain positive that next year we can definitely improve.”