THE Bendigo Bowls Division weekend pennant finals get under way on Saturday with a pair of re-matches from last weekend.
Bendigo East v Eaglehawk and South Bendigo v Bendigo were both among last Saturday's round 14 matches and they are the two games featured on Saturday.
All season the competition has had a sense of inevitability about it that it will be Bendigo East and Eaglehawk the last two left standing and that the rest of the teams are just making up the numbers.
The Beasties (192 points) and Hawks (175 points) finished first and second on the ladder with combined 23-3 records and a plethora of dominant rinks.
The competition's top 10 rinks feature seven from either Bendigo East: Lee Schraner (No.1), Aaron Tomkins (No.3), Brad Marron (No.8) and Marc Smith (No.9); or Eaglehawk: Darren Burgess (No.2), Dean Carter (No.4) and Brayden Byrne (No.6).
The Beasties defeated the Hawks by five shots last week, ending an 11-game winning streak for Eaglehawk.
Among the results was the Hawks' Burgess inflicting the first loss of the season on East's Schraner with a 20-15 result.
Could the two go head-to-head again on Saturday in a return battle of the competition's two top-ranked rinks?
The Beasties and Hawks will lock horns in the qualifying final at Bendigo, with the winner to take the direct route through to the grand final on March 17.
Tip - Bendigo East by 6.
Season meetings - Eaglehawk 102 d Bendigo East 88; Bendigo East 88 d Eaglehawk 83.
SOUTH BENDIGO v BENDIGO
It's hard to mount a case for Bendigo keeping its season alive against South Bendigo in the elimination final at Eaglehawk.
Bendigo was last week cleansweeped by South Bendigo, continuing a wretched run of form in which it has lost its past four games by 25, 23, 50 and 37 shots - a total of 135 shots.
South Bendigo had only been a rough chance of making finals last week before its all rinks-up win, combined with Kangaroo Flat's loss to Golden Square, propelled South from fifth to third.
Tip - South Bendigo by 14.
Season meetings - Bendigo 89 d South Bendigo 75; South Bendigo 97 d Bendigo 72.
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• Form since mid-season break:
Bendigo East
Record: 5-0
Points: 78 Shots: +145
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Eaglehawk
Record: 4-1
Points: 65 Shots: +75
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South Bendigo
Record: 2-3
Points: 39 Shots: -24
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Bendigo
Record: 1-4
Points: 23 Shots: -124
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Saturday's finals matches and greens:
DIVISION 1
Bendigo East v Eaglehawk (Bendigo Hesse)
Bendigo v South Bendigo (Eaglehawk Kelly)
DIVISION 2
Marong v Eaglehawk (White Hills Every)
Strathfieldsaye v South Bendigo (Bendigo East A)
DIVISION 3
Harcourt v Bendigo East (Golden Square Front)
Golden Square v Heathcote (Bendigo East B)
DIVISION 4
Woodbury v Strathfieldsaye (South Bendigo Sherman)
South Bendigo v Eaglehawk (Kangaroo Flat A)
DIVISION 5
Dingee v Marong (Inglewood)
White Hills v Harcourt (Golden Square Back)
DIVISION 6
Kangaroo Flat v Campbell's Creek (South Bendigo Dillon)
Eaglehawk v Bendigo (Kangaroo Flat B)
DIVISION 7
Bendigo VRI v White Hills (Eaglehawk Read)
Marong v Eaglehawk (White Hills Turner)
DIVISION 8
Strathfieldsaye v Campbell's Creek (South Bendigo Dillon)
Marong v Castlemaine (White Hills Turner)
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