Tasmania Tridents on show in Bowls Premier league

by Rob McGuire on November 7, 2022

The Tasmania Tridents lined up today in lawn bowls’ showpiece television event, the Bowls Premier League, which will be held at Club Pine Rivers in Queensland from Monday to Friday this week.

The Bowls Tasmania-owned Tridents were established in 2021, through funding contributed by the Tasmanian Government.

The three-pronged Tridents moniker was chosen to represent the three regions of Tasmania and the three Tasmanian players that will carry the state’s hopes on the national stage.

Bowls Tasmania Chief Executive Officer Rob McGuire said that Tasmania had long wanted to be part of the BPL competition to promote themselves on the sport’s biggest stage and was appreciative of the Tasmanian Government’s assistance.

“With considerable assistance from the State Government, Bowls Tasmania has been able to work with Bowls Australia to ensure the establishment of a Tasmanian team in Bowls Australia’s top-level event, the Bowls Premier League,” McGuire said.

“The provision of a pathway for bowlers in the state to progress their bowls and aspire for greater rewards has been limited in the past.   The Bowls Premier League now provides that vehicle for which we can now display the tremendous talent that we have in our state.   While many teams in the Bowls Premier League include overseas international players and players from other states, Bowls Tasmania is committed to only playing local Tasmanian players in its team.

“Success of the program will not be measured in prize-money won, but players drafted to national squads and the greater community awareness and participation rates in the sport here in Tasmania.”

The Bowls Premier League is the sport’s made-for-television, showpiece event.    Staged biannually, at Queensland’s Club Pine Rivers in November and New South Wales/Victoria border club Moama in February, the event has been designed to change people’s perception of the sport.   The Bowls Premier League is the Twenty20 of bowls – it is fast, it is loud, it attracts the world’s best bowlers, and it appeals to non-bowlers who once upon a time may have seen bowls in a different light.

The Tasmania Tridents has an all-Tasmanian line-up headlined by dual Commonwealth Games gold medallist and world champion Rebecca Van Asch, alongside the experienced hand of former Australian Indoor Championships runner-up and current Tasmanian Champion of Champions winner Mark Nitz and current Tasmanian Fours Championship winner Taelyn Male, with one-time Australian Jackaroo Mark Strochnetter assuming the coaching duties.

After finishing last in its first Bowls Premier League, the Tasmania Tridents were sensational in its second outing surprising many by finishing fourth and big things are expected of them in this week’s event.

The Tasmania Tridents lost its opening game this afternoon against Gold Coast Hawk in straight sets, narrowly losing the first best 3-4 before dropping the second set 1-7.  

The Tridents bounced back in the second game this afternoon defeating the Moama Steamers in a tiebreak.      Moama won the first set 5-4 but the Tridents hit back winning the second set 4-2 to take the game to a tiebreak which the Tridents won 1-0.

The Trident’s third game of the day was live streamed on Bowls Australia’s Facebook page against  Melbourne Extreme.   A wayward last end of the first set by the Tridents enabled Melbourne to score three shots on the end to win the first set 6-5.    A great display of class bowls from the Trident’s Mark Nitz in the second set enabled the Tridents to race away to a 5-0 lead after two ends and the game looked set to go to a tiebreaker until a lucky Matt Flapper shot on the final end resulted in two shots for Melbourne and a drawn second set 5-5 which was enough for Melbourne to win the match.

Ladder after Day One:

  1. Sydney Lions 6 points
  2. Moama Steamers 6 points
  3. Melbourne Extreme 6 points
  4. Melbourne Pulse 6 points
  5. Perth Suns 6 points
  6. Tweed Heads Ospreys 3 points
  7. Gold Coast Hawks 3 points
  8. Moreton Bay Pirates 3 points
  9. Adelaide Pioneers 3 points
  10. Tasmania Tridents 3 points

The event will be shown live on Fox Sports, Kayo and Sky Sport NZ from 4pm-10pm AEST each night from Tuesday to Friday, with additional live-streaming through Facebook during the daytime rounds.

For more information and all the results click HERE.