Top-four locked in after interesting final-round lawn bowls results

Warrnambool Gold won its final-round lawn bowls match against club-mate Warrnambool Blue on Saturday, February 10 to lock in an elimination finals berth.

The 69-46 shot win came after an up and down season which included back-to-back defeats before rallying in round 14.

Warrnambool Gold will play Dunkeld Blue in an elimination final on February 17 after the latter fell into the finals despite losing all three rinks to Port Fairy Red 64-44.

City Red and Mortlake Blue were assured their finals spots entering the final round and will meet in the preliminary final with the winner to advance directing to the decider.

Long-time Warrnambool Gold skipper Paul O'Donnell said it was a relief to extend the side's finals run.

"I have been here 20 years and it would've been the first time (we'd missed) and before that no one can remember if they've ever missed out on finals," he said.

Warrnambool Gold is wary of Dunkeld Blue which has returned to the finals after a season on the lower rungs of the ladder.

"They have won a lot of games on their new green. We were there and they beat us up there on their green this year but it will be a neutral green (for the elimination final)," he said.

O'Donnell conceded it had been a rocky road for his side in season 2023-24.

"It didn't look like (we'd make it) for a while," he said.

"We'd lost the previous two games and were struggling a bit and we lost one of our players (Neville Mahney) yesterday (for the final round) with COVID so we had a fill in.

"But our fill-in Ivan Cross did a great job today."

O'Donnell, who praised Mark Bowles for his form after returning to a skipper role this season, said the club as a whole was rapt with its finals representation.

"We have four sides in the finals across all divisions, so that's a great thing," he said.

"We got three premierships last year - I'm not saying it's going to happen this year but at least we're in the finals."