Echuca has a bye in the sixth home-and-away round of the season, its dominant start to the season having included a 16-0 whitewash of Rich River and a trifecta of 14-point results where the team lost only one rink on the way to victory.
The worst return the Echuca division one pennant team has had this season came against Rochester last weekend when the Dennis Compton-led rink drew and Ian Page lost by a shot to Richard Feuk.
This weekend’s match of the round is set to be between Moama and Deniliquin. They occupy the second and third rungs on the weekend pennant bowls ladder.
Deniliquin has a superior percentage to Moama, but is 10 points behind. Its match with Rochester was washed out in round one and then it had a second-round bye. It lost its round three match to Tongala before registering a pair of 14-2 wins against Rich River and its closest neighbour, Mathoura.
Mathoura’s Mick Humphreys, despite a recent hiccup against Moama, has been the pick of the four skips the club has used to this point of the season.
Apart from his 13-18 defeat at the hands of George Thornley he has amassed wins in all of the club’s remaining three matches.
From those matches he has a 75-52 shot for-and-against ratio to underline his ability to swing a match on his own hand.
Tongala, ranked fourth, will tackle Rich Rich and in the final match of the round Rochester (bottom of the ladder) is pitted against fifth-ranked Mathoura.
Mathoura is probably the unluckiest of the seven-team competition this year, having lost by four, five and six shots in three of its four matches this year.
Rochester’s five-round season has also been interrupted by one washout and a bye, which probably hasn’t helped its ranking in the competition.
There is a three-week break in Saturday pennant competition after this weekend and the season will not resume until Saturday, January 15.
By that point there will be only eight rounds of the season remaining in the race to the finals.
This year’s competition, as expected, has created plenty of interest as the Moama club’s involvement in the Bendigo Premier League competition has drawn considerably on its pool of talent.
And while Echuca leads the way comfortably to this point of the year there is every indication that there could be a bolter from back in the field.
Premier league club Moama is up against ninth, and bottom, ranked Bendigo.
Bendigo has been beaten by 37 and 32 shots in two of its five matches this season, third-ranked Eaglehawk and sixth-ranked Bendigo East handing them the defeats.
It was also beaten comfortably by fourth-ranked Inglewood and is 21 points behind eighth-ranked Castlemaine on the bottom of the table.
Moama must use the chance to increase its one-point lead in the competition this week, with second-ranked Kangaroo Flat and third-ranked Eaglehawk both pitted against lowly competition.
Only four points separate the clubs on top of the ladder in something of a breakaway from fourth-ranked Inglewood.
So far this season Kevin Anderson’s three rink wins from his five matches are the pick of the crop, with Brad Campbell having an interesting season.
He has recorded 31-13 and 29-11 rink wins, and another 17-all draw — losing his remaining two matches by two and seven shots respectively.
Stay tuned for a full round-up of the weekend’s bowls in Monday’s Riverine Herald.
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