Bendigo Premier League teams may be talking about how good Moama is, but the local squad of 16 isn’t getting ahead of itself.
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The inaugural premier league is the first time Moama has come up against teams outside the Campaspe Playing Area in a home-and-away format.
And four games in, it remains unbeaten at the top of a nine-club field, its record including three wins and a draw to second-placed Eaglehawk.
“To be honest, we didn’t know what to expect at the start (of the season), but obviously we’re delighted to be where we are,” skip Kevin Anderson said.
“But we need to keep our feet firmly on the ground.
“It’s a long season, and we’re up against a lot of good teams, so it could change very quickly.”
Moama also beat fourth-placed Kangaroo Flat in their season opener, but is yet to face South Bendigo, who rounds out the top four.
“We’re pretty confident we can match it with anyone, but every game is difficult,” Anderson said.
Although his side was an easy favourite heading into its clash against Golden Square, Anderson admits the win was far from a straightforward task.
“It took a big performance from us across the board,” he said of the home game.
“It wasn’t comfortable by any means, but we got the job done.”
Moama won two of the four rinks, with Kevin Brennan’s rink up by a shot and Paul Newcombe suffering the opposite fate, down a shot to Golden Square skip Lachlan Bowland.
Bradley Campbell’s rink trailed by seven to end the day, but it was the heroics of Kevin Anderson, Vern Rehe, Richard Bullows and Peter Campbell that sealed an outright 11-shot win, with the rink prevailing 28-10.
Even with Anderson’s rink sporting the best shot percentage of any in the competition over three games, the skip said his rink had to work its way into the game on Saturday.
“Even our rink was pretty close, it was 8-7 after about 10 ends,” Anderson said.
“But then, we had a slight change of tactics and we just started to drive most ends.”
The squad remains relatively unchanged four games in, although two new faces showed they were up to the task on Saturday.
Bullows came up from division one, slotting in as second on Anderson’s rink, while Damian Broderick also played as a second under Paul Newcombe, with Graham O’Brien moving into third.
“(Bullows) has been performing brilliantly in the ones, so he came up and had a really solid game, putting a lot of balls at the head,” Anderson said.
“And (Broderick), it was his first game for the club. We were really happy with how they both performed.”
Breaking into the top team will be hard with it on a winning run, but there remains some opportunity for players to come up the ranks throughout the season.
“It’s really good to have a lot of depth at the club. There is probably six or seven players in division one who could come up and do the job (in premier league),” Anderson said.
“These round games give us about 16 games to get all our teams right for finals to give us the best possible chance.”
With several of the club’s Campaspe Playing Area teams also flying, Anderson credited the “often thankless” work of its selectors.
"I think we’ve only lost about three matches out of 19 games in the last two weeks,” Anderson said.
“Everyone is doing really well and credit to the selectors, they are obviously picking the teams really well.”
Moama will look to consolidate its almost flawless start to the premier league season with an away game against Inglewood on Saturday.
The side then holds a bye on the December 11 weekend, before returning for the final game before Christmas break on December 18.
More bowls news, page 20.
Sports journalist