Sunbury suffered a two-shot loss in the opening round of Bowls Victoria’s pennant season on Sunday.
Craigieburn was a new opposition for Sunbury, with Sunbury switching sections in the offseason to be in division 2, section 2 this year.
The two teams split the rinks at two a piece, with Craigieburn taking the 10 points on offer for the win with a 76-74 shot victory.
Sunbury’s two rink wins sees them finish with four points, with Craigieburn taking 14 points.
Mark and Elise Cowan started this year, where they finished off last season both winning their rinks.
Elise led her rink to a 19-17 win, while her father’s group won their rink 24-19.
In the other two rinks, Eric Taylor’s rink lost 17-14 and Damian Hoder’s lost 23-17.
Sunbury’s Dave Glennon said the side had picked up a few new players in the off season.
“Carla Odgers’ sister has joined the club and she is a really good player,” Glennon said. “Kristie has played at the Australian Open before, but she gave the game up for a few years.
“We’ve also got a couple of youthful ladies from Glenroy who live in Sunbury. They will play for us on Saturdays and Glenroy in Tuesday pennant.
“There’s a couple of other players who gave up for a while are returning too, which will add depth to the sides.”
Glennon said the club would this year be without a coach after Carla Odgers stood down from the role due to her other bowls commitments.
“All the top coaches were taken when Carla decided she wasn’t continuing on, so we decided we would go without a coach this year.
“A couple people have stepped up and will help run things, but no official coach.”
After losing in the grand final last season, Sunbury is hoping to finally make the step into division 1.
“We are looking forward to this year at Sunbury.
“There’s positive vibes again and we are looking to be competitive.”
