Division1White@hotmail.com
Congrats again to the Kats on a wonderful season. They set the benchmark from the start & even though Safety Bay & Mossies put them to the sword after the Xmas period, they bounce back in style to remain unbeaten since.
The 2 standout games for the Final Round seems to revolve around who's getting that last Finals spot in 4th & the epicly close battle between 8th & 9th on who's going to 1 Blue.
Mossies have the edge over the Eagles for that 4th spot & the Eagles will be gutted if they miss FInals after hovering around 2nd to 4th for most of the season. Both team are away with similar lower table assignments so a win for Mossies see them a guaranteed Finals spot but with only 5.5pts in the difference Manning would need 6pts considering Mossies better score difference. The Eagles need a 8-0 or even 6-2 hoping Mossies get rolled for a duck egg. It's possible but you would fancy that even if Eagles get 7pts that Mossies will get 2pts at Leeming. It will be close & Manning probably have the easier game at Gosnells.
The 2nd game also involves Gosnells as they fight out an absolute nail biter with Rossmoyne to see who goes down automatically. You would think that after 17 Rounds & thousands of bowls there would be some element of separation between sides but not Gosnells & Rosmmoyne. It's all about minimums for these sides. The minimum point difference any side can have is 0.5pts between sides. Gosnells are 0.5pts ahead of Rossmoyne. The minimum score differential you can have between sides is obviously 1 shot & guess what Gosnells have 1 shot more than Rossmoyne. Yes you're reading that correctly, after over 1,000 scores & 17 Rounds both sides are within 0.5pts & 1 single shot. Whoever said every shot matters they clearly were thinking about this Round & this game in particular. Spectacular outcome for either side to come out the better of & heartbreaking for the side going down. Both sides are trickyfixtures so this could literally go either way & who knows it will probably go down to the last bowl!!
For those that remember our predictions way back in R6 as below, let's see how we went:
So from the top we predicted Kats to win, hardly a tough call there but yes they got there. 2nd spot we had Manning who failed to win a game since R12 so that's dropped them down a few spots. We had them on 82pts & they'll probably finish on 70pts so we'll make that as an incorrect prediction. 3rd we had Safety Bay on 74.5pts & they are 2nd on more points so not too far off from the super early call. 4th we had Leeming who had a solid start to the season but have lost 3 on the trot so they are currently 7th. 5th we had Basso who are now 6th so close enough. 6th we had Cockburn who went unbeaten since that R6 prediction until last R16 so they fly up into 3rd spot. 7th we had Rossmoyne who are now 9th but could finish 7th with a big Agg this weekend. 8th we had Gosnells who are currently 8th. 9th we had Mossies who defied all odds, going on a massive purple run with some giant killing in there too. They leap frogged everyone into 4th spot & created probably the story of the season if they can get back to PL. 10th we had Doubleview & they remain 10th & will finish there after R18. So some bullish predictions on the 1 Bue sides coming out didn't hold as the season developed & Mossies created a great story but other than that we were close enough again this season which is fairly tough after only 6 rounds in. We do agree with some commentary that weather did play a part in how the ladder looked in the end but who knows, this could be norm unless we create some flexibility next season.
We would like to thank all our readers for the season, we loved the feedback, selections & commentary troughout the season. Good luck for the final round & stay safe.
GOSNELLS
R Foy, A Hodge, David Newton, D Bradbury
G Lynch, S Harris, J Jobey, M Rickard
F Carbone, C Hickinbotham, B Holland, M Byrne
E Gahan, B Keighley, P Gale, L Paterson IN: A Hodge, M Rickard OUT: Daniel Newton, K Ashman
MANNING
S Adams, L Herbert, J Angel, N Rees
A Taylor, Graham O'Brien, B Adams, A Macpherson
W Heldt, S Perica, M Potente, Glen O'Brien
P Smith, M Carey, R Ker, J Titheradge IN: J Angel, N Rees OUT: P Herbert, S Lambert
LEEMING v MOSMAN PARK
LEEMING
P Boys, P Dobie, B Eather, A Andersson
K Vandersluys, P Hickey, D Johnson, W Birrell
G Ford, T Higham, G Burgess, N Bennetts
J Newton, J Bowden, L Mundri, M Bowden IN: K Swift OUT: A Andersson
MOSMAN PARK
C Hoffman, D Adams, J Pallett, M Whiting
M Cranswick, L Onley jnr, J Adams, A O'Sullivan
M Robertson, K Stower, R Kershaw, N Parker
S Swanson, T Cranswick, J Kop, M Van Bemmel IN: OUT: No changes
BASSENDEAN v SAFETY BAY
BASSENDEAN
J Krstic, T Lynch, S Colegate, S Bermingham
B Roper, D Killisch Von Horn, P Hutchinson, N Kirkup
E O'Sullivan, N Hall, G Malaspina, A Britton
B Dinnison, A Southern, N Strachan, J Holman IN: A Southern, P Hutchinson OUT: T Alden, J Hitchcock
SAFETY BAY
M Massari, S Foran, J Brannan, T Bochat
Z Boddy, G Taylor, C Owen, D Smith
C Carruthers, J Thorington, G Ogg, J Hanafee
M Mortensen, S Hide, M Ovens, A Ballard IN: M Massari, Z Boddy OUT: G Smith, T Southern
DOUBLEVIEW v COCKBURN
DOUBLEVIEW
B Heta, M Leed, D Leed, N Feletti
C McKenna, L Martin, C Curham, T Mainstone
M Fredericks, G Papadopoulos, J Steele, F Williamson
D Cosgrove, B Conway, T Pervan, A Bloxham IN: L Martin, J Steele OUT: R Leed, M Young
COCKBURN
M Simunovic, D Gibson, D Bandy, D Gurr
M Abonnel, J Ricci, H Chambers, J Reale
T Krajancic, J Marevic, I Mateljak, M Musulin
W Tepania, P Brotherston, K Wylie, D Ravlich IN: H Chambers OUT: B Blagaich
ROSSMOYNE v KARDINYA
ROSSMOYNE
W Harvey, R Vind, G Maesepp, J Fitzgerald
C Edson, R Halse, N Edson, I Armstrong
R Lang, D Horniman, P Lees, A Regan
M Barrett, A Petchell, S Maddy, G Collier IN: R Vind, G Collier OUT: J Carter, T Churcher
KARDINYA
S Novak, B McGrechan, D Comrie, C Booth
B Henley, D Flintoff, P Larard, T Leahy
M Allen, M Ngui, H Vriezen, M Holt
D Radford, C Stokes, A Cocodis, M Monteiro IN: No changes OUT: