HE may be a new recruit but Neil Crisp is very familiar with his Warrnambool Gold teammates.
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Crisp comes to the competition powerhouse having played for Ocean Grove last season.
While he wasn’t part of Warrnambool Gold’s Western District Bowls Division premiership last season, he knows a thing or two about winning the top prize.
Prior to his stint at Ocean Grove, Crisp was a key member of the Warrnambool Gold team that has made a habit of winning division one Saturday pennants.
Crisp is excited to be back on his home green.
“The standard of bowls at Ocean Grove was a bit higher than here so I wanted to give it a go at that level,” Crisp said.
“I traveled up to Ocean Grove on the weekends with a couple of blokes from Camperdown and enjoyed it before I got crook and missed a lot of the second half of the season.
“One thing I missed was playing the association and club events so it will be good to get back and have a go at those.”
Warrnambool Gold and City Memorial Red have dominated division one for many years, building a fierce rivalry and in the process making it hard for other clubs to reach the grand final.
But last season Koroit Blue emerged as a serious contender, finishing runners-up to Warrnambool Gold.
Koroit has recruited strongly with Warrnambool Gold pair Kellie Bowles and Brian Lenehan crossing over.
Crisp said the emergence of Koroit and the continued improvement of other clubs has sparked his competitive spirit.
“One of the reasons I went to Ocean Grove was because I was after a new challenge.
“It had become a bit predictable here with us and City Memorial Red playing off all the time,” Crisp said.
“With Koroit and those other teams coming through that will drive us to keep on improving to stay ahead of the field.”
“We have added two or three players so I think we will be a bit stronger than last year.
“Hopefully we can get some early wins, it’s good to have the runs on the board, it covers you if things don’t go to plan later in the season.”
Round one action will see Warrnambool Gold play an away game to start its 2015-16 season with a round one outing against Lawn Tennis Red. Koroit Blue will also be away when it travels to take on Terang Green.
In other games Warrnambool White takes on City Memorial Red, Timboon Gold plays Port Fairy Red, Warrnambool Blue plays Mortlake Blue and City Memorial Gold will be up against Dennington Red.
