The Hawks led by as many as 26 shots after 50-ends, but saw their margin whittled away to just one shot with two ends remaining.

Both of the final two ends were played between the Eaglehawk rink skippered by Brayden Byrne and his South Bendigo  counterpart Mitch Sidebottom.

A steady Byrne ensured the Hawks went into the final end with a three shot lead and was able to draw a further shot on the final end to clinch a dramatic win.

It ended a run of four straight grand final losses for Eaglehawk.

South Bendigo was hoping for its first premiership since 1993-94.

Byrne, whose rink ended the grand final with a 24-21 advantage, said he was able to breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the contest.

“We had that good solid lead at the start, but they hit back really hard at us at the end, which we knew they were capable of doing,” he said.

“We just kept plugging away and winning our ends.

“South were pretty resilient – they’d beaten us once before (this season).

“My final two bowls I was just trying to get some cover. The first one was about trying  to get the shot and tightening things up, but the second was just to get some cover at the back.

“It worked out well.”

The flag was a first with Eaglehawk for Byrne in five attempts.

His opposing skipper Sidebottom praised his South Bendigo team-mates fight after many in the crowd at Bendigo Bowls Club had written them off at the halfway point.

But Sidebottom, who late last year captured the men’s singles crown at the Victorian Open, was always convinced South was capable of launching a fightback.

“They did so well to get back into the game – it really sows the character of our group,” he said.

“Unfortunately, two centimetres difference and we win or send it to extra time, but that’s bowls for you.

“I know we were 25 or 26 down, but it never felt like we were out of it.

“I knew we would fight back, but it’s a long way to come from behind. You really can’t afford much to go wrong when you give up that sort of lead.”

Ryan Tainton’s rink did its best to keep South Bendigo in the game and emerged with a five shot advantage over Simon Carter, making amends for a loss to in the two sides’ qualifying final match a fortnight ago.

Liam Crapper’s rink also fared well to  recover from a sizable deficit to trail by only one at day’s end.

Focus for Sidebottom will now turn to football.

The ruckman will line up for Kyabram and District club Tallygaroopna, after spending recent seasons in the Loddon Valley league with Mitiamo.

It was a special triumph for Hawks pair Ray Rowe and Con O’Shea, who played in their sixth premiership together for Eaglehawk.

Rowe said he remained relative calm as South continued to surge and narrowed the margin from 17 shots after 87 ends to a solitary shot at the completion of 93 ends.

“We almost had it in the bag and then we almost lost it and seemingly tried our hardest to lose it,” he said.

“To their credit, South started bowling exceptionally and we dropped off a bit.

“In the end it was our young guy (Brayden Byrne) who got us across the line – he was brilliant in the finish.”

Rowe said it was not the first close encounter he had survived on grand final day.

“We’ve had two others (grand finals) where we’ve had playoffs – extra ends,”  said.

“The first premiership is probably always the most special, but it was as good a premiership I have been involved with in the finish.”

• Grand final results:

DIVISION 1

Eaglehawk 16-96 d South Bendigo 2-92

Brayden Byrne 24 d Mitch Sidebottom 21

Dean Carter 25 d Brad Holland 20

Simon Carter 18 lt Ryan Tainton 23

Tony Ellis 29 d Liam Crapper 28

DIVISION 2

White Hills 14-83 d South Bendigo 4-81 

Justin Rorke  17 lt Leslie Wilkinson  24

Mark Anderson  29 d John Geldart  19

Stephen O'Connor  16 lt Craig Adams  22

Hank Jansen  21 d Arthur Kendall  16

DIVISION 3

Harcourt 2-94 lt Bendigo East 16-113 

Steven Douglas  25 lt Barry Perryman  27

Gary Maddern  21 lt Colin McKean  32

Leo Moloney  23 lt Ian Vlaeminck  31

Tony Olsson  25 d Noel Kilby  23

DIVISION 4

Kangaroo Flat 14-94 d Woodbury 4-87 

Geoffrey Howes  17 lt Danny Tuck  23

Jeff Friswell  24 d Leonard Handley  22

Gerry Teasdale  22 lt Graeme Poulton  23

Warrick Stewart  31 d John Grenfell  19

DIVISION 5

Dingee 0-81 lt Kangaroo Flat 18-107 

John Jackman  24 lt David Martin  26

Colin Koch  12 lt Don Nicholls  25

Neil Lister  25 lt Kenneth Packer  26

Ron Thompson  20 lt Kerry Sparke  30

DIVISION 6

Harcourt 15-106 d South Bendigo 3-79 

Brian Buchanan  17 lt Barry Mott  30

Ronald Douglas  36 d Robert Rogers  7

John Starbuck  30 d Joy Warfe  19

Ken Tribe  23 tied Ken Presley  23

DIVISION 7

Kangaroo Flat 15-79 d Eaglehawk 3-67 

Col Beecham  23 lt Greg Johnston  25

Raymond Berry  30 d Ken Merrett  20

Norm Wild  26 d John Wheare  22

DIVISION 8

Castlemaine 4-41 lt Woodbury 14-56 

Barry Chester  27 d Carol Edwards  23

Pamela Fraser  14 lt Kenneth Geyer  33