The schedule for Saturday’s return to action looks something of an anomaly.
In fact, if all eight teams played finals, the fixture would look precisely like a week one schedule: first against eighth, second against seventh, third playing sixth and fourth meeting fifth.
By that token, arguably the most pivotal affair this weekend sees Tatura-Hill Top (4-5) welcoming Shepparton Park (5-4) to the Tatura greens.
It is natural and understandable to question the importance of past form after a four-week gap between rounds, but the two sides come in off contrasting fortunes.
Tatura closed out the 2023 portion of its season with almost the barest of victories, pulling through to claim the points by a solitary shot over winless East Shepparton.
Meanwhile, Park was on the wrong end of one of the 2023-24 season’s most lopsided results, falling by a whopping 34 shots ‘on the road’ against Tallygaroopna.
Park comes in as the higher-placed outfit but has looked off the pace for some time, dropping three straight contests after registering its most recent win on November 18.
Tatura-Hill Top’s Scott Adams says his side is more than up for it.
“It’s a very big game for us. It’s pretty much our grand final this weekend,” Adams said.
“We’re all ready and raring to go see if we can nail down fourth spot and stay there.
“If we do lose this one, we could probably still make it but it’ll become very difficult.”
Adams maintains his side has no interest in taking an additional focus on news from around the grounds.
For now, with destiny still in their own hands, the work is still there to be done at home.
“We had a pretty rough start to the season, but we’ve just got to hit our straps,” Adams said.
“We constantly talk about it at training, just improving week by week.
“I think we can beat the Kyabrams, so if we can beat the Parks and teams below that, we’re a big shout for finals.
“I wanted to make finals. That’s in everyone’s mind, and that was a big part of me taking on the role to coach.”
Beyond events at Tatura Bowls Club, every round 10 game takes on its own finals importance as the home stretch kicks off.
Shepparton Golf (8-1) won’t have a better chance to tighten its grip on top spot than this weekend when it hosts East Shepparton (0-9).
As always, though, Golf could find three’s a crowd if it slips on the banana peel, with second-placed Kyabram (7-2) poised to strike if the Redbacks can fend off Mooroopna’s (2-7) visiting challenge.
Rounding off Saturday’s schedule, Euroa (3-6) makes the long road trip - although it could have been longer - in hopes of pulling the boilover on free-scoring powerhouse Tallygaroopna (7-2), who harbours strong minor premiership ambitions.
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