Victoria lost some key bowlers during the off-season and will be missing some more important figures for Saturday’s home encounter with Ballarat Memorial Sports.
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Big V chairman Paul Tudorovic revealed that skippers Jesse Thomas and Greg Brown and experienced leader Brian Boyle were all unavailable for the Geelong-Ballarat Premier Bowls round four clash.
Mark Oswin, Wayne Lynch and Mike Cunningham have all gained a call-up to the side as replacements.
Victoria heads into this match in fifth spot on the ladder after a start to the season that has returned one win from the opening three games.
Tudorovic and his side lost to the strong Bareena by eight shots in round one, beat reigning premiers Queenscliff the week after and suffered another narrow loss last Saturday at the hands of Webbcona.
“Overall, I think we are actually bowling okay,” Tudorovic said.
“This is obviously a very, very crucial game for us because there’s a lot of teams around that 19-33 mark on points and we’re one of those.
“BMS is ahead of us and we need to make sure we get this win and then obviously look forward to whoever we face next week.”
Tudorovic said he rated BMS highly.
“I watched them play last year quite a bit and I’ve played against them quite a few times in tournaments and they’re a quality side,” he said.
“Not just their skippers, but one to four they are very, very good across the board.”
Victoria will host BMS this weekend and Tudorovic said winning home games was vitally important for his side.
“You need to win every home game because away games are so hard,” he said.
“Unfortunately for us, most teams we play have a synthetic green and we don’t have one at the moment.
“You are playing to their strengths, which is unfortunate.”
After gaining promotion to the premier competition following last season’s division one flag, BMS has already claimed two wins to sit inside the top four. Both of those have been on the home greens at Alfredton.
Other Ballarat-based teams Webbcona and Sebastopol have clashes against City of Geelong and Queenscliff this weekend. Elsewhere, Eastern Park and Ocean Grove will lock horns, while Lara hosts Bareena.
In division one, Central Wendouree and Ballarat East are set for a big clash, Creswick is up against City Oval, Webbcona is poised to meet Mt Xavier, Buninyong will welcome Sebastopol to town and Ballarat has an encounter with Learmonth.
