John Osborn is one step closer to realising his pennants aspirations after Mudgee hammered Cowra 5/0 on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After taking some time away from golf, Osborn returned to the course this year and is looking to finally add a division one pennants title to his resume.
“I’ve only been here for eight years but I reckon Ozzy’s been around Mudgee golf for 28 years,” team captain Matt Stanley said.
“He caddied me last year in our win against Dubbo and I could just tell how keen he was.”
All the pre-game talk surrounded Cowra and how Mudgee players didn’t know what to expect from the quiet achievers but those mysteries were solved pretty quickly on Sunday.
“We all won fairly easily which was good,” Stanley said.
Lack of opposition knowledge won’t be an issue in this Sunday’s grand final as Dubbo awaits the reigning champions.
The two sides squared off in the big dance in 2017 and locked horns throughout this year’s group stage so Stanley knows what to expect.
“That game against Forbes could have gone either way,” he said.
“There’s a bit of a rivalry match set up now. We just need to have three good matches but that will be tough.”
One thing Stanley’s men don’t know about this weekend’s clash is what order Dubbo will play its golfers and if it will even bother matching up their best competitor with the undefeated Mark Hale.
“When they beat us they put their weakest player against Haley and just took it as a write off,” he said.
“That’s how good he is in the district. They’re probably only a few blokes who can beat him.
“Last time they threw their tactics into it and focused their energy on two, three and four and it paid off but I’m not sure what will happen this time.”
Regardless of what Dubbo decides to do on the day, Stanley is focused on one thing and one thing only – playing three good matches.
“It doesn’t matter who’s up against who. We just need to have three good performances,” he said.
Not only is Mudgee’s top flight team playing for all the marbles this weekend, so are the division two men as Fabian Wright and company squares off against Bathurst on Sunday and looks to claim back-to-back titles.