Premier One lawn bowls season set to kick off tomorrow

ASCOT PARK, Marion and Holdfast Bay look the sides most likely to prevent Adelaide’s fourth-straight premiership as the Premier One lawn bowls season kicks off this Saturday.

Front LtoR: Simon Dorr (Modbury Bowling Club), Ashley Whiley (Marion Bowling Club), James Gregory (West Lakes Bowling Club) and Scott Thulborn (Adelaide Bowling Club) Back LtoR: Dean James (Lockleys Bowling Club), Craig Mills (Ascot Park Bowling Club), Steve Grant (Hawthorn Bowling Club), Marc Evans (Grange Bowling Club), Max Kleinig (Holdfast Bay Bowling and Croquet Club) and Ian Dinham (Gawler Bowling Club) pose for a photograph at Lockleys Bowling Club. The Premier One lawn bowls season kicks off next weekend. Picture: Stephen Laffer

ASCOT PARK, Marion and Holdfast Bay look the sides most likely to prevent Adelaide’s fourth-straight lawn bowls premiership as the Premier One season kicks off this Saturday.

The Blues held off the Lions in a dramatic grand final to complete a hat-trick of top-flight flags in April.

Star skip Scott Thulborn said the side, bolstered by Marion recruit Matty Northcott, was out to equal the club’s four consecutive One Red pennants from 1993/94-1996/97.

“Our goal is to make the finals and then it’s like footy — anything can happen,” Thulborn, last year’s Australian Premier League MVP, said.

“Recruiting two or three good players every year helps keep the team fresh and our second side is also really strong so there’s always that pressure to perform week in, week out.”

Ascot Park skip Craig Mills said the grand final heartbreak would fuel his side’s title challenge.

The Lions will look to recruits David Faehrmann (Payneham) and Danny Deed (Glenelg) to support young gun Nathan Pedersen and experienced skip Dave Stockham.

“To miss out in the grand final by a few shots on that last game was disappointing but it’s probably inspiring a few blokes to go one better this year,” Mills, 35, said.

It has been an off-season of change at Marion with 10 senior players departing.

But the return of player-coach Jeff Aworth from Brighton as well as Joc Hastie (Brighton) and Brandon Wylie (McLaren Vale) should ensure the Hurricanes figure in finals calculations.

Holdfast Bay finished last season strongly and has been boosted by the recruited state player of the year Ashley Klose as well as Stuart Forbes and Brady Slater (all from Marion).

Grange is expected to improve on last campaign’s sixth place finish and has brought in Terry O’Brien (Holdfast Bay) and Darren Niblett (Murray Bridge) to play with Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Wayne Ruediger.

Modbury will look to finally crack the top four after finishing fifth for the past three seasons.

The Thunder welcomes back Mat Romaine after a year off and Rhys Taylor from Payneham.

“We just need another five per cent and we’re there,” skip Simon Dorr said.

Lockleys needs to rebuild after losing skips Ian Miller, Gary Thompson and Peter Gageler, while West Lakes will field a young side headlined by Australian underage star Renee McPharlin.

Promoted clubs Gawler and Hawthorn replace the relegated Payneham and Salisbury.

Gawler’s Ian Dinham said the form of skips Shane Bevin and Darryl Kubisch would be crucial if his side was to survive in the top flight.

“The year will be all about having a go — if you get beaten, come back next week and try to turn it around,” he said.