BENDIGO East skipper David Keenan attributes stability to the success of his rink in the Bendigo Bowls Division this season.
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Keenan and his rink – Barry Edwards (lead), Paul Vlaeminck (second) and Paul Moller (third) – have finished on top of the Bendigo Advertiser BBD power rankings for 2012-13.
Keenan’s rink has mirrored the overall performance of Bendigo East this season – slow out of the blocks before finding consistent form.
The rink won just two of its first four games, but in its past 10 games won nine and ended the home and away season 70 shots up.
“Considering we had a very bad start to the season, both as a club and as a rink, to finish the way we have is obviously better than a bad finish,” Keenan said yesterday.
“For our rink, I’d say it’s a stable rink, while Barry Edwards has been fantastic for us setting a lot of the games up.”
The BBD finals start tomorrow, with three-time defending premiers Bendigo East taking on Bendigo in the second semi-final at Eaglehawk.
Bendigo East will carry ominous form into the finals, having won nine of its past 10 games, including its past six by an average of 49 shots.
In those six wins in a row to end the home and away season, East won 20 of 24 rinks and now has all four of its rinks at least 70 shots up.
However, Bendigo has had the wood over East this season, winning both encounters by margins of 16 and 23 shots.
“Since we made some changes just before the Christmas break we’ve bowled a lot better as a club,” said Keenan, who is in his third season at Bendigo East.
“Bendigo has had the better of us by a clear margin in both games we’ve played, so it’s time for East to step up this weekend.
“But we’re certainly a very different side to the one that has lost to Bendigo... we’re bowling much better and have a lot more depth through the rinks that we didn’t have previously.”