Allan Matheson Shield round three features a benchmark test for several sides

Shepparton Park and Kyabram met in last season’s semi-final after claiming spots in the bottom half of the top four, the Bombers only barely missing out on the double chance.

Largely expected to advance within one game of a grand final berth, Kyabram had its prospective party spoiled as Park provided a mild boilover, ending the red and black’s campaign earlier than expected.

It goes without saying that this is a different-looking Kyabram side, now led by Mal Williams, than the group which had its season ended by Park.

With that said, it wasn’t predicted to be a pretty year for the Bombers either — but the skeptics have so far been defied with a two from two start to 2024-25.

While Kyabram would have been generally favoured to defeat Euroa last weekend, its round one victory over what loomed as an upstart Mooroopna side remains a line in the sand moment which indicates that perhaps rumours of its demise may have been premature.

Meanwhile, Park firmed as the likely candidate to stand next in line to challenge Tallygaroopna and Shepparton Golf’s duopoly, but had its colours lowered in ruthless fashion by the former last week in an 18-96 to 0-70 rink sweep.

Another side facing a stern test of its place in the likely pecking order is Tatura-Hill Top, which gets set to host a rampant Tallygaroopna.

There’s still likely to be significant jostling in the next handful of weeks before the festive break, but the chance is there to make a major statement for the western outfit.

Mooroopna was tipped for much greater things this season and will need to rebound from a difficult opening fortnight when it welcomes Shepparton Golf to town, while East Shepparton seeks to capitalise on a massive win last weekend when it travels to winless Euroa.

On a midweek note, Brian Nisbet of East Shepparton and the After the Jack podcast got a word with Shepparton Park’s Brian Hall, a former VFL footballer with North Melbourne, following his side’s four-shot victory on Tuesday.

Returning to Park after a handful of years at Numurkah, Hall was happy to be back and went over the process by which another decorated Shinboner in Frank Gumbleton found his way to the club.

“I enjoyed my time there, but with my wife’s health I had to go back to Shepparton Park, which I love,” Hall said.

“There’s more division one bowlers in the Goulburn Valley at a better standard across the board. (The Murray) is getting the standard up, which is good, and it’s a tight competition up there.

“I heard Frank was coming to Lifestyle Shepparton, so I went around and had a word to him about his bowls. He was playing division two or three at Echuca and he wanted to play on grass.

“He’s a good man and a two-time premiership player at North who’s very, very approachable.

“We are building a bit of depth, so we’ll see how we go from there; we haven’t been out of finals for a while and I’d like to continue that and get a bit better.”