State Championship Week

State Championships Week 2025

Join us in the coastal town of Pottsville for  State Championships Week from 5-9 May 2025.

Nominations close 31 March 2025.

Registration for this event is $350 which includes entry into the State Singles and Pairs bowls championships as well as lunch and dinner Monday – Thursday.

You must be a financial member of the NSWBGA and full state uniform is required.

Accommodation suggestions are being organised by Simon Cooper.

Email simon@turfcareaus.com.au to register.

 

State Champs Week Young 2024

NSWBGA State Week Wrap Up

We headed to Young Bowling Club for the 1st time to play the 2024 Greenkeeper State Championships. Sunday afternoon again proved the meeting time for most of the Greenkeepers to catch up. With the live pairs and singles now done, the sledging begun. Unfortunately, some familiar faces were missing, but we had a lot of fresh faces come for their first time and I am sure not their last.

NSWBGA STATE PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIP
Monday morning saw the start of pairs. In very windy conditions, the schedule saw 3 rounds needing to be played.
Once the dust had settled after game the 3 games, we were now down to our Semi-final match ups these included.
– B Morthorpe/J Gebbie v M Woods/A Webb
– M Dagwell/P Watts v D Elphick/D Smith

So, the scene was set for the semi-final stage B Morthorpe/J Gebbie v M Woods/A Webb M Dagwell/P Watts v D Elphick/D Smith.
With Mother Nature providing us with the beautiful sunshine, and a lot less wind, created some remarkably close semis.

The Gebbie v Webb was a very tight battle with scores locking at 5 all, 12 all and 18 all after 21 ends. With an extra end needing to be played, both skippers had to play big conversions shots resulting in the extra end being replayed multiple times. With the crowd on the edge of their seats, Morthorpe & Gebbie won the extra end and booked their place in the final.

In the other Semi Watts v Smith saw another tussle with the lead changing multiple times. With some game changing conversions from all players, this game came down to the final ends with the pairing of Elphick and Smith winning 20-17.

The Final was set, Morthorpe/Gebbie v Elphick/Smith, the Cabramatta pairing v Elfco Greenkeepers.
The game start with some impressive heads being built by both leads. The Cabramatta pairing winning the first few ends to lead 11-0. Elphick/Smith would then score the next two ends but were only kept to singles. Morthorpe/Gebbie combo would then turn the screws and win the next 6 ends scoring 1s and 2s to push the score out to 23-3 and putting one hand on the trophy. The Elfco Pairing would fight back but the Cabramatta pairing would be too strong and eventually be the 2024 State Pairs Champions.
Final Result- Ben Morthorpe & Jayden Gebbie 26 – Duncan Elphick & Darren Smith 3
Special Mention to Jayden Gebbie winning a NSWBGA State Title on his first year.

PLATE PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIPS
After round 2 results all unsuccessful players go into the plate pairs with names drawn out of the hat for combinations and played under 2 sets of 7 ends plus 1 end tiebreaker if necessary.
After 2 rounds the final was between Barry Wilkinson & Aaron Appleby v David Hukins & Hemi Palmer and in another entertaining final going to a tie breaker, the pairing of David Hukins & Hemi Palmer took home the Plate title.
Final Result – David Hukins & Hemi Palmer 1 ½ set – Barry Wilkinson & Aaron Appleby 1 set.

NSWBGA STATE SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP
On Tuesday It was Singles time and again we witnessed 3 Rounds to kick off day 2 of the tournament with some mouth-watering early round match ups, we were down to our last 8 quarter finalist. Quarter final match ups featuring the following.
Clayton Rogers v Andy Rodger
Aaron Appleby v Ben Morthorpe
Adam Webb v Nick Hancott
Jayden Gebbie V Darren Smith

The Rogers v Rodgers game was being live streamed, with some tight heads and who the sledging of who had the better spelling of Rodgers/Rogers, it was Clayton Rogers running out the winner 25-19.
Appleby v Morthorpe game was a tight tussle, with Morthorpe taking a small lead early and eventually hanging on in the final stages 25-22.

Webb v Hancott game saw Webb jump out to an early lead with Hancott clawing back to even, but the coke zero kicked in for Webb to win 25-20.
Gebbie v Smith was a battle of the skippers from the pairs final. With Smith out for revenge, it was not to be with Gebbie running away with the win 25-12.

Semi-final 1 saw Webb v Gebbie. With some tight heads and big bowls being played, Gebbie jumped out in the early part, but Webby refused to go down and fought back to within 2 shots. Gebbie under pressure played a couple huge conversions to turn the screws and book his spot in the final winning 25-18.

Semi Final 2 saw Morthorpe v Rogers. With early pressure from Rogers, he jumped out to an early lead. Morthorpe then turn on heat to put the next few ends together to jump back in front and eventually winning 25-14.

So, the stage was set for the Singles final with the two greenies from Cabramatta BC, Boss v 2IC. Morthorpe going for his 4th Singles title and Gebbie going for his Maiden.
As per many games during the week the large spectator group were expecting nothing but a classic final and the boys did not let them down. Morthorpe came out firing with consistent draw shots and the experience of being in the finals, jumping out to a 16-3 lead. Gebbie would not go down easy, fighting back to 18-10, it was Morthorpe with the more consistent game winning 25-16 and taking home the Double Crown of 2024 State Singles and Pairs.
Final Result- Ben Morthorpe 25- Jayden Gebbie 16

Presidents Challenge Greenies vs Hosts.
The annual Presidents challenge v Host was played on Wednesday afternoon. The challenge saw 6 rinks of fours (24 players). With the Greenies Selector (President Wood) saw the Greenies be too strong for the local Young BC side. The Greenies winning 5 rinks to 1 with a master board score 89-43.
Special mention to Simon Cooper skipping his rink to a rink win. Although the comments have came in that it was easier playing with no skipper with the shots he gave to the opposition.

On Another Special mention to Craig Touhy on getting his first win in 5yrs when the under 50s v over 50s played a challenge match.

Highlights from State Champs 2022

Sunday 1 May to Friday 6 May 2022, South Tamworth Bowling Club

Thanks to everyone who joined us in Tamworth for our second State Championship Week at South Tamworth Bowling Club.

All the action – with Ben Morthorpe

WE were back at South Tamworth for the 2nd year of the NSW Bowling Greenkeepers Championships held from Monday May 2nd through until Thursday 5th May. Sunday afternoon again proved the meeting time for the majority of the Greenkeepers to catch up. Unfortunately, some familiar faces were missing, but we had a lot of new faces come for their first time and I’m sure not their last. With the sun shining and the greens running a kind 16 seconds, the round of 16 pairs had begun on the Monday. The standard of the greens was fantastic, and credit must go to State President Michael Woods and Craig Graham as the host greenkeepers.

NSWBGA STATE PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIP

Once the dust had settled after 2 games, we were now down to our Semi-final match ups these included:
– Damien Miller/Wade Turner v Blayne Cook/Aaron Appleby
– Luke Wade/Adam Troth v Mitch McDonell/Hemi Palmer

So, the scene was set for the semi-final stage Miller/Turner v Cook/Appleby & McDonnell/Palmer v Wade/Troth. With Mother Nature providing us with the beautiful sunshine, our President had the greens running true, level and timed at 17 seconds which made for some fantastic heads. The Turner v Appleby was a very tight battle with scores locking at 5 all, 12 all and 15 all, until Damo and Poppy picked up a 4 on the 17th end to sneak away with a 22-15 win.

In the other game of Troth v Palmer started off a little different with the pairing of Wade & Troth wining the first 9 ends to jump out to a 16-0 lead. McDonnell & Palmer tried to fight back but the consistency of Lukey Wade up front was too much with a win of 21-7.The Final was played on Thursday 5th, after receiving a light downfall of rain, the amazing surfaces at South Tamworth were still running 15 seconds, this game could of gone t either way with the lead changing several times over the first 7 ends until Wade & Troth scoring a 6,2,3 and 1 on consecutive to jump out to a 18-7 lead.
After 13 ends and the score of 20-7 Troth, most people thought the game was over, except for the pairing of Miller/Turner who dug deep wining the next 6 ends to make it 20-19 with two ends to go.

With the crowd now on the edge of their seats and the heads tighter then Simon Cooper’s shirts, the 2nd last end changed multiple times until Troth’s last bowl changed the head from 3 down to 1 up. This gave the pair a 2-shot lead going into the last end.

The last end saw some great opening bowls from both Wade & Miller and the skippers both needing to change the head in their favour.
After the leads played their 4th bowls, the jack had been moved out to the boundary peg where the pairing of Miller/Wade held two shots which gave them a draw an

d extra end. With the green taking plenty of grass, troth narrowly missed drawing the shot, this gave Turner the chance to draw another shot to hold the win and put the pressure on Troth to save the game. After much discussion, Troth decided to go for a draw shot to either cut the count back to 1 or get the shot, with the Troth bowl on its way and the crowd watching closely the bowl unfortunately slipped past just missing out on 3rd shot which meant the pairing of Miller & Turner had snuck home for the win and was the 2022 state pairs champions.

Final Result- Damien Miller & Wade Turner 22  Luke Wade & Adam Troth 21

PLATE PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIPS
After round 2 results all unsuccessful players go into the plate pairs with names drawn out of the hat for combinations and played under 2 sets of 7 ends plus 1 end tiebreaker if necessary.

After 2 rounds the final was between Barry Wilkinson & Steve Britt vs Adam Webb & Clayton Rogers and in another entertaining final the experienced pairing of Wilko & Britt proved too strong.

Final Result – Barry Wilkinson & Steve Britt 2 sets Adam Webb & Clayton Rogers 0

NSWBGA STATE SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP
On Tuesday it was Singles time and again we witnessed two Rounds to kick off day 2 of the tournament with some mouth-watering early round match ups, we were down to our last 8 quarter finalists. Quarter final match ups featured the following:

Luke Wade vs Adam Troth
Ben Morthorpe vs Lee Johnson
Gavin Speers vs Aaron Appleby
Adam Webb vs Peter Watts

Morthorpe vs Johnson was live streamed with Lee having the better of the early stages before Ben fought back but wasn’t enough as Lee finished strong winning 25-21 ending the dominance Ben has held on this event over the last 3 years.

Wade vs Troth game saw a tight tussle early until Troth running away from his long-time pairs partner victorious 25-16.

Speers vs Appleby game saw Speers jumping out to a 9-1 lead which proved to strong for Appleby fight back eventually winning 25-15.
Webb vs Watts saw a back-and-forth tussle with the lead changing multiple times until Webb got the better of Watts winning 25-20.

Semi-final 1 saw Troth v Johnson. Troth jumped out to an 8-1 lead and never looked back playing some fantastic bowls to win 25-2.
Semi Final 2 saw Speers v Webb. With early pressure from Speers, he jumped out to an early lead and continued the pressure winning 25-12.

So, the stage was set for the Singles final with Adam Troth going for his second title and Gavin Speers going for his first title (pictured top).

As per many games during the week, the large spectator group were expecting nothing but a classic final and the boys didn’t let them down. Troth jumped out to an early lead of 12-4 until Speers fought back to be 15-11 down, but the consistency of Adams first two bowls kept the pressure on and eventually ran away with the win which made Adam Troth the 2022 state singles championship, his second Singles championship .

Final Result: Adam Troth 25 Gavin Speers 14.

Live Stream

Reminder both finals can be viewed on our Facebook page NSW Bowling Greenkeepers Association, special thanks to Rodney Crean that did a lot of work behind the scenes to get the livestream action up and running and our fantastic commentary duo of Gosper and Watts for giving their insight.

President’s Challenge Greenies vs Hosts
With the annual Presidents challenge v Host played on Wednesday afternoon, the challenge saw 6 rinks of fours (24 players). With the Greenies Selector (President Wood) saw the Greenies too strong for the local South Tamworth side. The Greenies won 4 rinks to 2 with a masterboard score 96-59. A special mention to Kel Cartledge who picked up a 7 on her rink, but it was the birthday girl herself who missed out on making the 8.

Make sure you check out the Destination Tamworth website for all the information about visiting the area.

General info
• Must be a financial member of the NSWBGA (if not $50 to be paid)

Check out the 2021 State Champs Week, South Tamworth

Wrap up from 2019 State Champs Week, Ballina

Check out the action from our 2018 State Champs Week