Then, on Sunday, the finalists for the Wimmera Bowls Champion of Champions were decided in the Men's and the Ladies event was completed, with Nhill's Jenny Blackwood victorious.

There was a bit of discussion around some sectors of the bowling community about where finals should be played, and how much travel should play a part in those decisions but once teams were into matches, finals intensity made the game the main event.

Of the matches I got to last Saturday, the crisp new synthetics of Sunnyside and Horsham Golf provided wonderful venues for bowlers and spectators on a balmy day of this tropical February we are experiencing.

In Division 1 two great matches, Nhill 1 got the job done despite only winning 1 rink in its match with Sunnyside 1, and Horsham City 1 and Dimboola 1 went down to the wire, a draw after the regulation 75 ends then a 1 shot win to the City after three extra ends.

After mentioning how Nhill had won better than four out of five rinks across the season, as usual, everything goes out the window in finals and nothing is a given.

Kevin 'Fox' Jones was up 9-1 against Kevin Smith, but that turned around to be 10-18 down about two thirds of the way through the contest as 'Foxes' rink found shots harder to find than Tupperware lids in a dark cupboard. Smith and his ebullient third Gaven Watson led their rink to a 7 shot win.

Sunnyside's Rex Bergen got his rink up to a one shot win over the 'Sparra' Lynch combo, but the rink which had lost just twice for the year saved the day for Nhill. Terry Robins, Larry Bywaters, third Barry Cramer and Skipper Alan King were the Nhill trump card with a 16 shot win to get the blue and golds an eight shot win and a grand final spot.

At the Sunnyside rinks, another great final between Horsham City 1 and Dimboola 1. City was up early and then Dimboola came back and had a lead of around 6-7 shots going into the final few ends.

Daniel Gloury's rink got a 4 on its 25th end to pull a heap back and get City into the lead by one, but Dimboola skipper Peter O'Loughlin drew the shot with his first bowl of the last end of his match with Ron Goudie's rink and that tied the match up at 69 all after 75 ends. The O'Loughlin - Goudie rink was the last to finish of the three deciding extra ends, Dimboola headed into the last end 3 shots down, knowing they needed 4 for a win and three to send it into more extra time.

They picked up two shots, but City skipper Ron Goudie elected not to bowl his last bowl secure in the knowledge that City had won the match 72-71 even though O'Loughlin's rink had been Dimboola's only winner on the day, 26-19.

City 1 will now play Sunnyside 1 in next week's preliminary final at Coughlin Park.

Division 2 went the way of the ladder positions, with Sunnyside 3 taking another step to be the number one side in Division 2 by defeating Horsham City 2.

Just like Nhill in Division 1, the top side lost two of the three rinks but prevailed by a whopper win on one rink. Billy Hogan and Hux Mitchell got 13 and 2 shot wins for the City, but out on the far west rink of the golf green Jimmy Hadden, Terry Miller, Elaine McFarlane and Skipper Barry Gross won 40-19 for Sunnyside to be the difference.

A bit further west at Goroke, the home shire advantage for Edenhope 1 wasn't enough as they were comprehensibly defeated by Horsham Golf 1. Russell Smith's rink up by 15, Ken Walters' team doing it by 12, and Kevin Walsh home by 5 shots to give Golf 2 all three rinks and a 32 shot margin.

They will now take on City 2 for a spot in the Granny.

In Division 3, the preliminary will be between Sunnyside 4 and Nhill 3 after both matches were decided by comfortable margins.

Out at Natimuk the powerful Horsham City 3 got up by 18 shots over Sunnyside 4, 15 of those coming from the win of Bev Bretag, 'Stumpy' Kearns, Duncan Bottoms and John Lehmann (s).

Paddy Ross got a rink for Sunnyside, but on the third rink, it was super tight as Sandra Knight skipped her rink to a 6 shot win over Stan Walters quartet 18-12 meaning most ends were won with single shots.

Those wonderful characters in the Nhill 3 side will fire up for another final after defeating City 4 also by 18 shots.

Nhill got all three rinks but as always for me, the highlight is to see Bill Alexander and Kevin Bye strutting the green with their close to 174 years of combined life on the planet.

Up at Nhill on Sunday, the Champion of Champions was played with the Ladies winner Jenny Blackwood of Nhill and the Men's down to the two finalists.

In the Women's semi-finals Lorraine Ross (Dimboola) defeated Deb McInnes (Sunnyside) and Jenny defeated Loraine Coad from Kaniva.

Blackwood came from behind in both matches, 10 down in the semi, and down 8-17 in the final, but then winning 25-22.

The Men's Semis saw Horsham City's Col Morrell beat Mal Coutts from Kaniva and Ash Batchelor from Horsham Golf prevail over Kevin Jones of Nhill.

The Men's Champion of Champion between Morrell and Batchelor will most likely be decided next Sunday.