THE first event in the 2009 club championships at the Cooma Bowling Club will be in full swing with all first round matches in the triple's championship to be held this weekend.
There will be four matches on Saturday and a further three on Sunday.
Peter Harris, Denis Steinfort and Owen Russell will play Steve Lapham, George Davidson and Bill McDonald in a very even match.
Russell is recovering from a hand operation but he has shown in the past that he very quickly recovers from setbacks.
His battle with the wily McDonald will be a very interesting tussle.
Richard Nichols, Mark Buckley and Peter Caldwell are a strong team on paper but they will have their hands full with Tony Gray, Bob Lahy and Terry Croker.
Gray is one of the most promising newer bowlers in the club and how he fares in his clash with Nichols will be very important to the outcome.
Lahy has shown a return to form following the purchase of new bowls and his combination with the competitive Croker will force Buckley and Caldwell to be on their game.
The match between Dennis Sellars, Max Reeve and Neil McGregor and Dave Paul, Mel Storta and Ross Russell will be affected by the absence of McGregor and an injury to Storta.
McGregor will have the capable Peter Longhurst substituting for him but it is not known whether Storta will be sufficiently recovered from a back injury to play.
The outcome of the game will depend on who actually plays.
The very strong team of Chris Wallace, John Schoon and Wayne Lodge will play Stumpy Wallis, Geoff Venables and Jack Sajina who is a substitute for Mark Venables.
Lodge will start this match a strong favourite and one of the competition fancies, however, their opponents will make them work hard for the victory.
On Sunday the defending champions, Ignazio Mondello, Dave Pastro and Troy Pastro start their defence of their title with a very hard match against Peter Marsicano, Kevin Jackson and Giulio D'Amico.
Both sides have plenty of skill and experience and the champions will need to be on their game if they are to progress.
The experienced team of Jason Thompson, Colin Roberson and Tony Brooks should have too much experience for Robbie Roberson, Andrew Caldwell and Mick Meillon.
The by play between the Roberson brothers will be an interesting element of the game.
The final match will feature the first game in Cooma colours for the very skilled Kim Weston.
He will be the skip for Tony Shaw and Bob Lowe with their opponents Cobber Seears, Paul Cannell and Jim Fletcher.
This will be a great match with the strategies adopted by both sides the key.
Fletcher is well known for his ability to drive and he will use the option of giving the mat away to his advantage.
However, Weston has a very solid all round game and he will take uo the challenge.
With so many players involved in the championship games on Saturday the 'fab four' competition will be suspended for this week, however, there will be plenty of room on the greens for social bowlers.
Social bowls will be played on both days with names to