Fresh off its first Ballarat District Bowls Division one pennant premiership, Buninyong is excited to enter the premier division and is intent on staying there.
Buninyong joins Bareena as the second newcomer to the premier division and despite its elevation it will keep a stable line-up with no changes to its premier side.
President Wayne Morgan said the whole club was excited for the challenge that awaits and was confident the decision to put its faith in the side that got it there was the right one.
“Our aim is to show that we do belong in the premier division and stay there,” Morgan said.
“The players know each other, they’ll play in fairly similar positions to what they did last year. We didn’t go out chasing players just because we’re in premier division.
“In fact, I think it’s a nice reward for the players that got us into the premier division.
“We’re really excited to be going into the premier division, it’s been the end result of three or four years of hard work and competitive bowls.”
It will be the club’s first appearance in the premier division and there is plenty of anticipation around the club following its midweek side following suit and winning division two to move into the top league.
Morgan said while it hadn’t recruited this season there has been some talented players join the club over the last couple of years and plenty of players coming through the ranks.
He expected competition to be fierce to keep the pressure on the history-making premier division side.
“The club’s in a really good position at the moment, having the players stick together, they know how each other plays and we’re looking forward to it.
“We’ve got some new players the last couple of years that we think are going to push up and put pressure on our premier division bowlers.”
Buninyong will take on City Oval in its round one encounter.
City Oval finished ninth last season and will be looking to cover the loss of former skipper Heath Fumberger, who is off to play in Melbourne.
Fellow skipper Wayne Roberts said the club was “quietly confident” going into this season.
While it hasn’t welcomed any notable recruits on board this year it is pleased with its current squad and the lower-grade players coming through.
“We’re quietly confident we can perform really well,” Roberts said.
“We had a year last year where we learnt the ropes.
“While we’ll miss Heath, we’ve still got a fairly settled side.”
Ballarat District Bowls Division is confirmed to begin play on Saturday barring any unexpected rain.
