13. Mentor

Ironically, I met another friend called Neville who became a huge influence on my life in sport. Neville Thorne was a new bowler who had come across to Mount Cottrell from Pascoe Vale and was looking for a game in the Winter Pennant Competition. Both Robert and I were still playing together and we had managed to rope poor old Les Delaney in for yet another season at the helm. Poor Les!

I met Neville one Sunday morning before the Round One of Winter Pennant in 1997. Neville was only a front end player like Robert and I, so we all sat down and agreed that Robert would lead, Neville play two and I would play third for Les. We changed our name to ‘Mount Cottrell Brown’ to eradicate the shocking season before as team Composite.

We all hit it off and actually started to win a few games in the competition. This must have been a huge relief to Les who had constant head lies of 6 and 7 down just one winter before. Fair to say though, Robert and I had improved somewhat and the excitement of a new player in the team always helps get the season off to a better start.

Besides this interaction with Neville on the green, I had also formed a very close friendship which still exists today. Neville was a great sportsman in his own right. He had achieved in cricket and football as both a player and a coach. He had even coached the Madden brother’s in their junior years. He had a lot of information that only helped me grow up in the world and the game of lawn bowls. He was my mentor.

I would call Neville at least once a week and often we would have telephone discussions that lasted over an hour. I would talk about issues in my life and he would provide me with experienced information that would help me make decisions. He was a great benefit to my life.

After a successful winter campaign and a final berth, we were knocked out by the all conquering Gisborne Red side in the first final. The performance however, was a sign of better things to come.

Les was a member of Flemington/Kensington, so he didn’t play pennant for Mount Cottrell. The selectors in their wisdom, kept the front 3 combination of Robert, Neville and myself and teamed us up with one of the clubs best skips – well so we were told! John Banks was one of the toughest skips at the club and man did he make us work during summer pennant. He was often critical rather than beneficial and would make us feel as small as sardines when we weren’t playing well.

Eventually, Robert pulled the pin on the rink and was transferred to one of our more placid skips, John McKenzie. Neville was pushed back to lead and the club champion Don McDonald was put in our rink as a second. This would surely allow us to win more games.

I can’t say I had much of an idea at the time, but I know now that Don and Neville became good friends. They must have approached the selectors to rid our rink away from Banksy. They were successful. Reggie Burns became our new skip and as a rink, we piled on 11 consecutive wins despite being knocked out of the finals in straight sets. Our rink had performed beyond the level we were expected, especially with me playing third in my first year. Ironically, it was Banksy who copped two floggings in the finals and played a big part in our close losses to Kyenton and Trentham.

Neville and I would discuss things very closely on the phone over the next few months. I was now 15 years old and needed a bowling club that would help improve my game. I had made friends with David George and his sons from Footscray Park during the Winter Pennant Competition and this played a huge part in my movement.

I would continue to play Indoor Bias Bowls at Mount Cottrell that winter, but for the next summer, I was going to sign at Footscray Park and attempt my first year in Metropolitan Bowls.

That ego of mine was talking too much.