TWO seasons ago Koroit didn’t have a Western District Bowls Division top-grade side.
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Now it’s sitting atop the men’s division one ladder as the competition’s most improved team.
Koroit Blue has notched four wins and a draw to start the season and jumped to the top of the standings on Saturday after reigning premier Warrnambool Gold suffered a heavy defeat to perennial grand final foe City Memorial Red.
For the small Victoria Park-based club, celebrating its centenary, it’s a small step towards an elusive division one flag.
It won the division two title in 2012-13, earning promotion to the top tier last season where it finished on the cusp of finals.
A strong off-season recruiting drive now has Koroit Blue well-placed to challenge.
But Koroit Blue is wary of complacency.
Skipper Barry Padgham said the club needed to embrace a week-by-week mindset.
“Our approach, quite honestly, is to take each week as it comes,” he said.
“We want to be competitive. We’d like to make finals. To be on the top of the ladder is a bit of a surprise.
“It’s very early days.
“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves.
“We have some tough games like City Red at home this weekend.
“As a club we are getting a lot of support and encouragement from the big clubs, be it City Memorial or Warrnambool.
“They do take an interest in it and they are welcoming new faces in the competition.”
Padgham, who moved to Koroit three years ago from Melbourne, where he played top grade pennant for Mount Waverley, said the team showed signs of its potential last season but ultimately lacked the experience to produce a finals berth.
“Last year we were always hovering around fourth spot,” he said.
“We only missed the finals by one point.
“I think it was the second last game of the season from memory and we lost all four rinks to Dennington at home which we shouldn’t have done.
“We only had to win one rink and we’d have been there so it was our own fault.”
Koroit Blue bolstered its playing stocks in the off-season. The new players have come in and made an immediate impact.
“We were fortunate enough to pick up players from Dennington in Jack Murnane and Les Johnson,” Padgham said.
“Dave McNicoll came across from Mortlake and Bruce Elliott from Port Fairy so we have improved our depth in that side and as a result it is increasing depth in division two.
“Last Saturday was good for the club — all four sides won.
“It is very important we look at it from a whole club perspective rather than one side.”