The club only returned to the Campaspe region two years ago and finished dead last in 2023-24. With two rounds of this season’s home and away rounds remaining it sits 10 pennant points clear of Tongala.
Before the weekend’s round of matches the Bulls were on top of the ladder, but picked up only four pennant points from their match with Mathoura - a four-shot loss, despite winning two of the three rinks - and were relegated to second.
There could yet be another twist in the tale as Tongala faces fourth-ranked Echuca and sixth-placed Deniliquin in the final two rounds of the season. Stanhope has a tougher draw, facing third-placed Moama and reigning premier Mathoura - fresh off a big win against Tongala and still with a chance of making the finals.
Mathoura sits fifth on the ladder and has plenty of incentive to win both its remaining games, being just three pennant points behind fourth-placed Echuca. It looks like a race in two for the final spot in the playoffs as Deniliquin is now 15 points outside the top four.
Stanhope’s (60-50, 16-nil) win came on the back of a come from behind rink win from Ben Fletcher, an all-the-way win for Tim Hancock and a continued return to form for Greg Fitzpatrick.
When Fletcher dropped five shots on the 12th end of his game he was four shots behind, having led 6-1 after four ends of the game. He finished with only 10 end wins, but two of those came late and a one-shot haul on the final end gave him a 20-19 win.
Hancock dropped two shots on the first end, but reclaimed the lead on end three and only surrendered it once more for the entire afternoon. He collected nine shots in two ends to lead by eight after 13 ends and despite winning just three of the final eight ends he won the game 21-16.
Fitzpatrick has improved his record to 7-3 (win/loss) after taking a second successive win with his quality rink of John Patterson, Jono Thorne and Peter Myers.
He lost the opening three ends and trailed by four before reclaiming the lead on end 11, only to lose it again two ends later.
Eight shots in three end wins then allowed him to build a five-shot lead with three ends remaining and he eventually won by four (19-15).
– Tongala’s four-shot loss to bottom team Rich River, its first win of the season, came after Glenn Fields struggled to match it with Dennis McHarry.
Fields, a high performing skip with the Bulls of late, opened the game in spectacular fashion by taking five shots on the first end. He secured shot bowl on just two of the next 16 ends and trailed by 16 shots with three ends to play.
He gave back that five-shot haul on the third end and never recovered, losing 12-26.
Brad Tinning claimed his eighth win of the 11-week season when he started slowly, but picked up five shots on the ninth end and led from that point to the end of the contest.
He finished with shot bowl on only seven of the 21 ends, but his opponent’s 14 end wins included 13 single-shot results. Tinning won 18-15.