Despite winning six flags on the trot, Warrnambool Bowls Club’s Bryan Sheehan said he was hungry for more success.
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“It’s could be easy for us to get a bit complacent,” he said. “So we need everyone to stay revved up.
“We’ve broken the record already… but each year it gets harder.”
Sheehan started playing bowls about ten years ago, which means he has won a Western District Bowls Division top grade pennant more often than not. But his football career was a different story.
He used to play Hampden league football for Port Fairy in the 1980s and doesn’t flinch when asked the last time his old club won a flag, the answer being 1958.
Sheehan never got to play off in a Hampden league grand final with the Seagulls.
But recalled fondly getting the chance to learn from Bob Mallett – the current Port Fairy Bowls Club president who once played for South Melbourne in the VFL.
“Bob was an assistant coach when I got there,” Sheehan said. “He was an brilliant footballer.”
And while Sheehan eventually also had to give up tennis when his knee turned “crook”, his love for competitive sports never subsided.
“That’s when I got into bowls,” he said.
“I love everything about it – it's a great game and all involved are good people.”
But Sheehan had a little cause for concern on Saturday.
Warrnambool Gold went down to City Gold by eight shots, and in doing so surrendered second spot on the table to City Red.
Despite winning four games in a row since round 12’s narrow loss to Timboon Gold, Sheehan said he wasn’t brimming with confidence.
“We really needed to win today,” he said.
“It was a massive game, because we’re not travelling that well at the moment.”
And with one game to play before finals, Sheehan said Warrnambool Gold needed to lift across the board to make it seven premierships in a row.
Warrnambool Gold, now third, play Koroit Blue away next week in a match that will shape the finals.
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