Goulburn Murray Bowls Region names teams for Region Sides Championships

The three-day event, running from January 10-12 with finals on the Sunday morning, represents the first big step on the annual bowls calendar with local competitions kicking off again the following week after festive breaks.

It’s a solid group of names lined up on paper to represent Goulburn Murray as well.

The teams were revealed Saturday night following a long whittling process that saw an even balance retained between Murray and Goulburn Valley women, while the men’s side was largely skewed towards Allan Matheson Shield names.

GMBR secretary Stephen McGregor expressed his confidence in the stars selected.

“It’s always difficult for the selectors, as they had quite a few names to cut down,” McGregor said.

“We’ve gone through the process, first with the GVPA-Murray playoff and then again after the O&M, and some might say it’s not the best side, but it comes down to players who are available.

“We’re confident we’ve selected the best side possible for us and we’ll back the players all the way to have a good weekend.

“It’s a big challenge, but we’ll wait and see what happens.”

With names like Tallygaroopna’s Mitch Sidebottom off the list, it’s only natural some eyebrows might raise.

Such is the cut-throat nature of representative participation, however, and those who qualified have more to go on with after the men came as close as possible in 2024 without claiming gold.

“Hopefully, we can go one step further with the men,” McGregor said.

“Players had to be available for at least one of the two trial days and Mitch wasn’t available for those dates, so according to policy, he had to miss out.

‘’The women have got an opportunity as well. They lost a couple of games last year by just a few shots.

“We’ve picked a few younger players and given some an opportunity to impress.

“The games are longer this time around, with three games of 21 ends instead of 12, so it’ll be interesting.”