Lawn Bowls
21 November, 2025
Golden Josh strikes again
Warracknabeal’s Josh Barry had a stellar campaign for Victoria at the Bowls Australia Para Nationals, returning home with a gold and bronze medal.
Taking place at Burnie Bowls Club in Tasmania from November 11 to November 15, Barry took out gold in the men’s triples, alongside Victorian teammates Lucas Protopapas and Josh Thornton.
Barry and Protopapas also paired together in the men’s doubles, where they claimed a bronze medal.
Heading into the final round, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland each had four wins, with the other states ahead on points percentage.
However, with New South Wales having the bye and Queensland losing their final match, Victoria needed to draw or win to take the gold.
Trailing 13-11 before the 15th and final end of their match against Western Australia, the Victorian trio won the last end by two shots to draw the game and secure the overall victory.
With the triples not played in 2023 and 2024, this was Barry’s fifth straight gold in the triples after winning four years straight between 2019 and 2022.
Barry was pleased to make history and claim yet another gold.
“It was good in the end because that was the fifth time I’ve won the triples in a row,” Barry said.
“We won it four years straight before they stopped it.
“Queensland lost the last couple of games in the rounds and we snuck in to win.”
Wet weather affected the first couple of days of competition before the championships were moved to the indoor greens.
“The green drew a bit slow the first day, and we had hail the first night,” Barry said.
“The greenkeepers had to close the greens because they were a bit soft anyway, so then we went indoors for the rest of the championship.”
The championships occurred amidst the early stages of pennant lawn bowls competition taking place across he state.
Barry splits his time between playing for Warracknabeal in the North Wimmera division one competition and for Clayton via permit in the Bowls Victoria Metro Premier competition.
Barry’s midweek and weekend Warracknabeal pennant teams are both currently undefeated, something he hopes can continue.
“We haven’t lost a game in either, and that’s with playing a different team each week,” Barry said.
“I think we’ve only lost three rinks so far.”
In addition to pennant competition, Barry has been selected for the Wimmera Bowls Region team, which will compete at the Provincial Championships on Sunday, November 30, in Geelong.
From here, Barry hopes to be included in the Wimmera team for the Bowls Victoria Region Sides Championships set to take place in Ballarat in January 2026.
“I’ve been picked for the Wimmera team to play in the Provincial Championships against Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong,” Barry said.
“They then select 16 of our team of 24 to play against Murray Mallee in Wycheproof, and then only 12 will get selected for the Region Sides, so hopefully I can make the regional team again.”
