You would not believe it by the way they dominated the Bowls Victoria premier division grand final, but Altona went into the decider extremely low on confidence and unsure about how the big day was going to pan out.
Hindsight tells you that the A’s were at their menacing best, sweeping Melbourne four rinks to nil and winning with a comfortable 86-58 scoreline at the Deer Park Dome, but there was some uncertainty going in.
“It was a bit of relief to get the win actually,” A’s coach Ben Loughlin said.
“Everyone was really edgy right up until the day, but then it sort of went like a dream that day.
“We weren’t confident going into the grand final.
“We were slight underdogs and deserved to be underdogs, but we knew we had to turn up on the day and perform, which we did.”
It was the month or so leading into the grand final that planted the seed of doubt in the minds of the Altona players.
The A’s were clearly the best team across the home-and-away rounds, but they suffered a form slump just at the wrong time of the season.
They suffered two late regular season losses, which had minimal impact from a ladder standpoint, but it created a little bit of self doubt.
Then it was on to the finals, where they were beaten comprehensively by Melbourne.
Still, the A’s had the benefit of the double chance, so many felt this would be a slight hiccup and straight on to the grand final for a re-match with Melbourne.
This is when Altona had its biggest wake up call when it pipped Deer Park by one shot on the last bowl of the day.
It was too close for comfort and even created a negative mindset.
“We were lucky to get out of the prelim,” Loughlin said. “We deserved to be underdogs in the grand final.
“Melbourne beat us in the first final and we only just got over the line in the prelim against Deer Park.”
Altona wiped the slate clean in the lead-up to grand final week.
The A’s had worked too hard and achieved too much throughout the season to let the pennant slip out of their hands.
They also had memories of last year’s disappointing finals exit to spur them on and wanted to do it for captain Brett Foley, who possibly played his last game for the club.
“It was a strong resolve not to let the chance go by,” Loughlin said.
“We got knocked out of the finals early last year, so we didn’t want that feeling again.
“Brett bleeds for the club and we wanted to do it for him. He’s our captain, our leader and is probably going to leave to go interstate.
“That was our last chance that we’re going to play with him in pennant games.”
It was a fairytale ending for Altona. The A’s took control of the match early and never relinquished the lead.
“We jumped them early and got out to about 10 or 15 up,” Loughlin said.
“They did make a run at us and got it back to about nine shots, but we got it back out to about 20 fairly quick after that.
“With about 15 or 20 ends to go, we knew we had it in the bag.
“Everyone from the club who came and watched said to all of us that there wasn’t anyone on the green that didn’t contribute and that doesn’t happen very often.”
