The Yarraville-Footscray Bulldogs are the undisputed king of Bowls Victoria’s division1 after making it two premierships in three seasons.
It’s effectively a back-to-back triumph for the Bulldogs, who spent last summer in the top-flight premier division.
That’s where the Bulldogs will play next season, but right now coach Wayne Roberts is happy to focus on lapping up this summer’s glory before thinking about what lies ahead.
“It was a marvellous day, a great effort. We might be in premier league for another 10 years and not win another thing,” he said.
“That’s why I didn’t want to go into premier league as runner-up. I wanted to go in as the winner and we’ve done it.”
Roberts’ check list for the summer is complete.
The first mission was to finish on top of the section, which the Bulldogs did with a consistent season. They were expected to be tested in the section finals but overcame Cheltenham, the pre-finals favourites in Roberts’ opinion, and Moonee Valley, which beat them twice in the regular season.
Picture gallery: Yarraville-Footscray v Essendon
In the divisional semis, the Bulldogs took care of Fitzroy Victoria before downing Essendon in the grand final at Doncaster Bowls Club on Saturday.
Roberts stuck to his guns by promoting from within the club, making the triumph all the sweeter.
“We haven’t spent a lot of money buying players. Apart from Nelson Ball, Andrew Doyle and Frank Dalton, all the other people have come from within the club, so it’s been a great achievement.”
Yarraville-Footscray had two big rink wins in the 78-69 victory over Essendon.
Alan Dove was outstanding, winning by 13, while Roberts’ own rink had a 12-shot win.
Jamie Pearce, who was money in the bank for the Bulldogs all summer, had a rare rough outing, losing by 12, while Ray Coulter finished down, but his rink was called off early as the overall result had been determined.
“We’re a proud club, we’ve got a lot of history here and we’re just delighted with what’s happened,” Roberts said.
