Hundreds of bowls players gather in Perth for 2023 AFGRI Men’s Country Week Bowls

Almost 1000 male lawn bowlers from across the State will converge on Perth this week for the start of the 2023 AFGRI Men’s Country Week.

The eight-day marathon will be held across 19 metropolitan clubs, culminating with finals for all three disciplines on Friday, March 10 at Sorrento Bowling Club.

The singles field has attracted more than 450 entrants, with sectional play and two knockout rounds held on the opening day.

Multiple players from Denison, Geraldton and Wonthella as well as surrounding Mid West clubs have nominated across the range of disciplines.

The headline act will be Geraldton Bowling Club’s Shane Giudice-Nairn and Michael Ford the defending pairs champions who will be getting underway at Bassendean in section 7.

There will be stiff competition including last year’s runners-up, the Eaton pairing of Tim Stevens and Greg Slavin who will be hoping to go one better when contesting section 48 at Sorrento.

Wonthella singles champion Kerry Easton will pair with Garry Cripps in section 20 at Gosnells while Denison champion father-son pairing Joel and Peter Leeson will compete in section 107 at Rossmoyne.

In the singles competition, Merredin’s Matthew France will be looking for a hat-trick of titles, having won the Men’s Singles in 2021 and 2022. He begins his title defence at Sorrento in section 115.

France’s opponent in last year’s final, Peter Cole from Pinjarra starts at Doubleview having drawn section 61.

Michael Ford is the most recent singles champion from the Mid West and is in section 139 at Yokine.

On Saturday, attention shifts to the pairs with more than 400 teams contesting sectional play in groups of four.

The men’s fours sees teams drawn across 38 sections of six with sectional play starting on Sunday and finishing Monday afternoon prior to one knockout round.

Last year’s winning combination remains intact, with Stephen Tuffley, Doug Wright, Jon Sharp and Matthew Mitchell from Emu Point kicking off their title defence at Mt Lawley in section 36.

Geraldton and Wonthella have four teams with Denison supplying three.

Geraldton was the last Mid West team to win the men’s fours back in 2014.

From Tuesday the knockout rounds continue across all three disciplines with the fields diminishing prior to finals day next Friday.

All three men’s country week finals will be streamed live on March 10 from Sorrento Bowling Club on the Streamer platform at streamer.com.au.