Small lawn bowls club punches above its weight to make maiden grand final

Mortlake Blue skipper George Draffen - a long-time lawn bower who has been part of the club's steady build - expects the town to throw its support behind its title tilt in two weeks' time.

Mortlake Blue advanced to the 2024 decider after beating minor premier City Red by four shots in the second semi-final at Port Fairy on Saturday, February 17.

City Red will meet reigning premier Warrnambool Gold in next weekend's preliminary final after accounting for Dunkeld Blue 69-41 in the elimination final, also played at Port Fairy.

Draffen said Mortlake Blue's win was special for a small club which had worked diligently to put itself in contention.

"We have never made a division one grand final to my knowledge," he told The Standard post game.

"We made the finals about three years ago and lost - that was the first time we'd made finals in divvy one and then we made finals last year and won one so that was the next step and this year finishing second (in the regular season) was a real bonus and then to make the grand final is the next step.

"Now we just have to win. It won't be easy."

Draffen, 63, said a change to the rules where division one dropped from four rinks to three rinks a number of seasons ago helped smaller clubs be more competitive.

"I have played since about 2000 and when I started we were a divvy two side. We'd get promoted and in those days it used to be 12-a-side in division two and 16-a-side in division one," he said.

"You'd win division two and then have to find four more players. It meant the first couple of times we won (division two) we got relegated straight back.

"Now it's been 10 of 12 years we've stayed up."

Draffen said an influx of players more than a decade ago was the foundation for today's successes.

"They have developed into really good bowlers and all of a sudden we're competitive," he said.

Mortlake Blue won two of the three rinks on offer but was always wary of City Red which made an emphatic start.

"It was quite tense out there. We didn't know (we'd won) until the last end, it was very exciting," Draffen said.

"I rated us underdogs today. We had a very good draw - the three other finalists we only played once.

"The last time we played City they belted us, beat us by 20 or 30 shots. They belted us in last year's preliminary final too."