GOLDEN Square and Bendigo East will face off in Saturday's Bendigo Bowls Division preliminary final for the right to meet Eaglehawk in next week's grand final.
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If East prevails at Eaglehawk it will be their fifth grand final in a row and give them a chance at avenging last year's four-shot defeat to Bendigo.
Bendigo East has plenty to work on after suffering a 27-shot loss to Eaglehawk in last week's qualifying final.
Paul Moller and Liam Crapper were the winning skippers for East last week, while David Keenan and Brad Holland's rinks will be both looking for improvement after suffering double-figure losses.
Bendigo East's 27-shot losing margin to the Hawks was its biggest defeat since it was beaten by Castlemaine by 28 shots in round two of the 2008-09 season.
Golden Square kept its season alive - and its hopes of a first flag since 1963 - last week with a comfortable 95-81 victory over reigning premier Bendigo in the elimination final.
The victory improved Golden Square's record to 3-0 since the resumption of the season from the extended mid-season break.
Gary Conforti, Tas Wallis and Gary Beckham all skippered winning rinks last week for Golden Square.
• This season's meetings:
Rd 2: Golden Square 121 d Bendigo East 100.
Round 11: Heated out.
Since 2005: Bendigo East 9; Golden Square 6.
Tip: Bendigo East by 9.
Meanwhile, the BBD has had to deal with a controversy in division five in which White Hills has lost its grand final position.
White Hills has been stripped of all its points and disqualified from the finals after it was found to have played an unregistered player during the season.
White Hills had qualified for next week's division five grand final after beating South Bendigo in last week's qualifying final.
The BBD met to discuss the situation on Friday night and has postponed Saturday's division five preliminary final.
And Kangaroo Flat's division three team has also been disqualifed from the finals for playing an illegible player in last week's elimination final win over Bendigo.