A super warm welcome to all readers and congrats to the 10 teams making up 1 White this season. 1 White tends to be something between a revolving door & Russian roulette with the seasonal changes, it’s a ruthless division decided on absolute minimal outcomes. Newbies coming down are the mandatory couple with the tail between their legs Gosnells & Kardinya. In my humble opinion I think both these sides were unlucky to come down. Gosnells finished bottom yes but only lost 1 game more than Mt Lawley & they survived. The Kats won more games than the Mounters & 1 less than North Beach, only going down by 0.5pt & believe it or not, that 0.5pt was the last bowl of the season against Sorrento where they only needed to draw that 1 game to stay up & lost be a measure, it was that close. For the elevators coming up this season, we have 2 more than the natural sport in Kalgoorlie with 4 up. 4 could have come up & they bloody did just to make our lives difficult. This is the first time in a while where only 4 of the 10 teams survive 1 White…yep that’s 1 White for you. It’ll take a while for everyone to feel each other out but the newbies are Bassendean, Doubleview, Leeming & Manning are reasonably well stocked. 2 of those 4 have a 1 way trip to 1 White but we’ll cover that later.
For those new readers, it might be worth reminding that even though we vaguely try our best to be accurate there is an element of thumb sucking and randomness in the weekly commentary so please do not take offence as it's all meant in good fun and nobody is taking it too seriously. However, is saying that to help the fun we have an email address which is Division1White@hotmail.com where anyone or any team can submit commentary, great shots, game reviews, club news or general yarning/whining. We would love to hear from you so please reach out as these weekly articles are for you the reader, so get involved!!
Right lets get right into it. I'm sure the hungry has built over the last 7 months & everyone's appetite is feverous at this stage as the anticipation is almost over.
For the newbies we do a special R6 prediction of what R18 might look like & seasonally update this in R12. The R6 final predictions have been fairly accurate over the last few years so stay tuned for that special in late November.
We do love our stats here in 1 White & the theme seems to be heavily reliant on Home form again as a few of these sides have below par Away form. To make this bias worse we have some tricky tracks to add to the list which should allow some sides to be real home track bullies.
For example of last seasons 1 White & the PL demotions, other than Basso & Dolphins going up to PL the rest had a maximum of 3 away wins all season with the average around 1.5 wins over the season. This leads applies huge pressure on the home sides so dropping a few of them early will have teams under pressure.
We genuinely wish all teams and players all the best for a successful, safe and enjoyable season ahead. Play well & stay safe tomorrow.
GOSNELLS
R Foy, A Hodge, C Towers, M Byrne
L Garbutt, G Anderson, I Farley, R McKay
E Gahan, T Close, P Gale, D Bradbury
G Lynch, C Hickinbotham, T Auckland, L Paterson IN: L Garbutt, G Anderson, T Close, T Auckland, C Towers, I Farley, R McKay, L Paterson OUT: G Bradford, S Harris, D Newton, K Weissflog, N Vanderplank, F Carbone, R Bishop, M Rickard
As usual we appreciate the effort from Rossmoyne is getting their selections in earlier or some might say ‘not at all’ or ever. Who know who’s playing for the River Rats & that’s enough reason to go against them here in the opener. Unsure if they have many movements but they were close to dropping last season but did well to stay up in the end with some big wins.
Gosnells coming down with the same side would be enough for the W but unfortunately they’re not the same side that won 5 PL games last year. Some key outs for them flips my decision back to the home track bullies(ish). Tough call but close game expected here. Whichever side loses this will be naturally disappointed.
Rossmoyne 6 - 2
KARDINYA v SAFETY BAY
KARDINYA
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SAFETY BAY
G Smith, S Foran, G Hodges, A Ballard
Z Boddy, S Hide, G Ogg, J Brannan
C Carruthers, R Hall, J Thorington, J Hanafee
G Taylor, T Parker, T Bochat, C Owen IN: P Daynes, K Cuttell OUT: G Ogg, J Brannan
GAME OF THE ROUND: No idea whatsoever why I’m making this Game of the Round especially since the Kats can’t even lodge their selections in time. Notwithstanding their allergy to a keyboard, the reason this gets a spotlight is fairly simply….Kats lose at home this early & it’s pressure on from the start & that’ll only build with their inconsistent away form. Also I just can’t see either of these not playing finals as both are home track bullies.
It would be unlikely that the Bay win here but R1 is probably the round to get an early jump & they finished last season with a massive away win against the mighty Joondalup where no team had beaten them at home so it's not impossible. Most sides suffer that 1 rink blow out here & it’s difficult to not foresee the same. If the Bay keep it tight they’ll have a chance but you’d think they’ll still not go home empty handed. Another bell weather game for others to gauge these 2 sides, we'll be watching this result closely.
Kardinya 6 - 2
LEEMING v MANNING
LEEMING
G Fewings, P Hickey, B Eather, R Bellis
K Vandersluys, P Boys, T Higham, W Birrell
G Ford, J Bowden, D Johnson, N Bennetts
J Newton, G Burgess, A Andersson, L Mundri IN: G Fewings, P Hickey OUT: P Dobie, W Blake
MANNING
A Taylor, L Herbert, B Adams, J Moulton
P Smith, Graham O'Brien, P Herbert, N Rees
W Heldt, M Ellis, M Walker, S Lambert
S Perica, K Jolly, B Hogg, P Bowden IN: P Smith, S Perica, L Herbert, K Jolly, B Hogg, M Walker, J Moulton, N Rees, P Bowden OUT: M Piggott, J Butler, S Adams, M Hoskin, J Titheradge, M Carey, G Hogg, R Ker, A Macpherson
I probably have to put my hand up on this one as not knowing enough to make a reasonable call. Apologies on my laziness but I’m unsure from records when Leeming were last in 1 White, presumably a few years. Leeming had a great season last year & it's probably about time that a club of this size has representation in the 1 White or higher. They'll have their work cut out to maintain their place & it starts right here in R1 against a side that arguably was the best team in both 1 Blue North & South last year.
Manning look strong but some is a product of the many changes hitting the club this season. Seems like the hymn sheet of mass joining with a view of sneaking into the PL team late in the season to coat tail another flag might be a communal theme in the off season. Eagles look solid on paper but if they don’t put Leeming away with a stronger side than when they met last season then I would be worried. Looking back on the 1 Blue GF against The View at Thornlie, it's hard not to see a case for them to be ranked best team coming up & with the new recruits they'll be in Finals contention. To get there I think they need to put these early away games to the sword & grab some early Aggs.
Manning 6 - 2
DOUBLEVIEW v MOSMAN PARK
DOUBLEVIEW
B Heta, M Leed, B Hodgson, N Feletti
D Cosgrove, M Marinko, G Papadopoulos, J Gilchrist
E Johnson, M Fredericks, L Martin, F Williamson
C McKenna, M Young, R Leed, A Bloxham IN: D Cosgrove, E Johnson, M Young, L Martin, B Hodgson, A Bloxham OUT: C Bell, L Thorn, B Griffiths, G Nelson, S Deering, M Hansen
MOSMAN PARK
D Adams, J Adams, J Pallett, ???
M Cranswick, T Cranswick, J Townsend, D Burges
M Robertson, K Stower, S Carmody, N Parker
C Hoffman, R Kershaw, M Bright, M Van Bemmel IN: J Pallett, ???, J Townsend, D Burgess, K Stower, S Carmody, N Parker, M Bright, R Kershaw, M Robertson OUT: D Marsland, T Massang, S Swanson, A Monson, S Jocelyn, S Perica, W Owen, A Southern, T Southern, G Willis
The View are back into 1 White & have a very tough assignment straight up against a Mossies side that just missed out on Finals last year after coming down from 1 Red the year prior. Mossies have lost a few more again this season so they won't be a certainty for Finals & will have to work hard to maintain top 4 positioning. The View side are a fairly decent seasoned 16 & so are Mossies looking at selections, so this will be a hard one to call. I would probably say each team will win their home games against each other this season & given Mossies mixed away form last season it might be best to go with the home side here but I can't see more than 9 shots in the result.
Bassendean 6 - 2
BASSENDEAN v COCKBURN
BASSENDEAN
A Southern, R D'Souza, S Colegate, N Kirkup
B Dinnison, D Killisch Von Horn, D Blight, J Holman
E O'Sullivan, N Strachan, A Britton, S Bermingham
S Jocelyn, T Lynch, G Malaspina, A Parravicini IN: A Southern, S Jocelyn, D Killisch von Horn, T Lynch, G Malaspina, N Kirkup, J Holman OUT: I O'Neill, P Hutchinson, R Sheppard, D Rhodes, N Hall, T Little, J Zorich
COCKBURN
D Bandy, M Simunovic, A Threlfo, D Gurr
M Abonnel, J Ricci, B Blagaich, B Dropulic
J Marevic, I Mateljak, M Musulin, V Dropulic
W Tepania, P Brotherston, D Ravlich, J Kop IN: B Blagaich, B Dropulic OUT: K Wylie, J Rebelo
This one is probably closer to game of the round as these sides have massive games against each other. Considering the Roosters have ran the Lions down to the last bowl on multiple visits here & it was the top Basso side whereas this is the 2nd side, then it would be fair to say that Cockburn have a huge chance here to do what Joondalup did to Basso in R2 & get an early jump on them which could be huge for later in the season. For me these are the exact games Cockburn need to win to have genuine ambitions of 1 Red. They have maintained the same side as last year, they are a settled 16 which definitely can't be said for the Basso side but they are strong names on paper if they can gel from game 1.
I honestly can't pick this one, head says Basso at home but they are a new-ish structure & Cockburn are so settled. Heart says Roosters but they keep letting me down on these away predictions, albeit by not very much but they need to learn how to grind the Aggs from away trips. I'm going for an upset here purely to make it entertaining. I think it will be a cracking game & I'm predicting this will be our bell-weather game over the first few rounds so I'm going with the team that only won 2 away games all season & only 2 the season before against pretty average sides.
