The Steamers are the Bowls Premier League’s second-most successful franchise, earning their most recent title at BPL 22 last November and will head to Ocean Grove for the next edition of the competition from November 9 to 13.
The trio of bowlers that earned that title, local Cassandra Millerick, Aron Sherriff and Matthew Baus, remain on the books for this campaign and should prove formidable weapons for coach and Moama Bowling Club bowls operations manager Kevin Anderson.
“These guys are really good mates, we've got a good connection in the team,” he said.
“We’re four pretty chilled out people but three incredibly talented players so it doesn’t take much to get going.
“We’ve got a good record so hopefully we can get that trophy back at Ocean Grove.”
The BPL format is a quick fire, franchise-based biannual competition, with clubs playing 22 rounds games and finals over five whirlwind days.
Ocean Grove is a new venue for the event, which traditionally alternates between Greater Brisbane and Moama.
Although he has never taken to the Ocean Grove greens to get an assessment of the conditions, Anderson expects a mostly similar venue to the Steamers’ home.
“They've just built two new domes like we have here, so the surroundings will be similar, but the carpet could be different,” he said.
“We’ve just got a new carpet here as well, and it’s come up really good, so it’ll be interesting to see what the surface is like down there but I’m sure our guys will be able to adapt.”
The new addition pushes back Moama’s next hosting duties.
After regularly hosting in February, the local venue will have to wait until November 2027 for its next BPL — not necessarily a bad thing, according to Anderson.
“We’re not too upset with not having it this year,” he said.
“It gives our volunteers a bit of a rest.
“We’ve had some huge events here and our volunteers have been absolutely sensational for the last five years since I’ve been here.
“A lot of people do a great job, they put in and we genuinely couldn’t have run the events without the volunteers so we’ll look forward to hosting it in November 2027.”
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