Already the top tier of the Goulburn Valley Bowls Division's weekend pennant competition looks like going down to the wire this summer, with a blanket able to be thrown over sides in second through to seventh position on the table.
But as division one giant Shepparton Golf sits on its own atop the table with three wins from three starts, Euroa lags behind on the bottom rung with four points to its name.
The Magpies are under no illusions — it is going to be a battle to avoid relegation from one of the strongest seasons of AMS action in recent memory.
But that does not mean they are willing to go quietly into the night.
“We're going to have a battle and we always knew it was going to be,” Euroa's Ken Sutcliffe said.
“A lot of the sides have strengthened up and Tallygaroopna has come up from division two with some great players already in the team.
“(Everyone expects us) to finish eighth. But we're not going to stop believing we can win games.”
The Magpies take on Tallygaroopna in round four after Andy Houston doubled the side's points tally last week with a rink win against Shepparton Park.
“We're expecting another tough game on Saturday,” Sutcliffe said.
“We lost a couple of good players over the off-season and we're all getting a little bit older too.
“We're sort of stuck over here on our own and it can be a bit hard to recruit, but Andy has come in this year and bowled well.
“We were in with a chance last week at the halfway mark. I've led all three of my games at half-time and come second in all of them, so I just need to make sure I can get a win this week.
“If we can get two rinks up we'll be right in with a chance.”
Tallygaroopna went down to Kyabram last week and will be looking to bounce back.
In other clashes, Stanhope hosts Tatura-Hill Top, Shepparton Golf tackles Kyabram and East Shepparton and Shepparton Park do battle.
With the weather forecast for Shepparton at the time of writing tipping the mercury at 40ºC though, none of the games may go ahead.
As stated in the GVBD handbook, if the forecast on WIN TV the night before scheduled matches is 40ºC or above, all matches will be cancelled.
Sutcliffe said Euroa's temperatures were not expected to reach those heights — but if 50 per cent of a division's matches are unable to be completed the entire round is abandoned.
“It's only meant to be 36 over here,” he said.
“But we'll have to wait and see if everyone else can get on first.”
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