Well what a season this was, certainly some egg on my face by the end of the year. I was warned that Osborne Park is more likely to finish first than 7th and their call was correct.
Sorrento 79 (2) vs Quinns Rocks 85 (6)
(Brian Collins 17 - Steve ONeill 25) (David Dunstan 23 - Hugh Ward 20) (Lance Martin 18 - Christopher Parr 20) (Tim Murray 21 - Shane Smith 20)
There was nothing really on the line in this game other than pride. it was a close game with Quinns getting over the top. Parr finished the highest ranked skipper for Quinns and Dunstan for Sorrento. A few interesting changes for Quinns over the year, some normal names moving around and missing games. Was hard to judge their form most of the year.
North Beach 74 (1) vs Osborne Park 75 (7)
(Alan Howe 18 - Mark Pasalich 21) (Garry Barr 25 - Mark Rollings 14) (Gary Gregson 15 - Neville Stevens 20) (Jeffery Post 16 - Robert Lawrence 20)
Well getting up by 1 shot and winning 1 v 7 was a huge result for Osborne Park and they were sweating on the Yokine result and they would have been over the moon with the result. Ossie Park finished with 3 skippers in the top ten, showing the quality of their roster with a heap of depth and experience. I underestimated the strength of their experience to get them back into One White. It would have been great to get an update from someone at the game about what happened in the last few ends.
Swan 72 (2) vs Morley 90 (6)
(Brian Davis 26 - Phillip Leyland 16) (Lindsay Sanders 19 - Victor Orchard 29) (Peter Hilsz 5 - Wayne Mitchell 30) (Tony Natalotto 22 - Les Spinks 15)
Battle of the bottom two teams that had a rough time in the division. Swan have lost a heap of players over the last few years and they've finally gone down a division. They're a proud club and should bounce back in no time. Morley have also been smashed with the loss of players since the One red days when the club ended up being gutted.
Yokine 84 (6) vs Joondalup 80 (2)
(Erron Martin 21 - Mark Ryan 18) (Paul Kelly 17 - David Webber 21) (Shane Shaw 30 - Mike Wyndham 19) (Sid McCann 16 - Thomas Vlahos 22)
Home deck, automatic promotion on the cards, playing against a bottom ranked side. They would have been hoping for a 7 v 1 or 8 nil win. Looks like they needed that result in the end and would be kicking themselves. So many years, the only team that gets promoted is the team that wins automatic promotion. Yokine have been the team to beat all year and to get over taken by Osborne Park would have hurt. Joondalup have knocked off North Perth twice and taken some vital points off Yokine, they've shown at times they can mix it with the better teams. Hopefully next year they will take another step, if their top team gains a player or two, it will help their second side.
North Perth 78 (6) vs Wanneroo 69 (2)
(Anthony Kay 15 - Kingsley Toster 26) (Benjamin Horwood 28 - David Anderson 10) (Don Dixon 15 - Michael Golding 16) (Markus Merz 20 - Martin Nievelstein 17)
This is the only game someone sent in a report. This game was a rather simple equation, win and you're in. (There was a backdoor option for Wannaroo to secure 3 points and still get in.) I mean how often will you lose the aggregate and gain three rinks. Horwood, like he has done in all divisions, was their best skipper and secured an aggregate winning score. North Perth were down most of the day and Wanneroo looked likely to get into the finals. North Perth across the board pegged back the margin to get in front. Merz v Nievelstein was the last rink. Wanneroo needed 2 shots for a draw and three shots for a rink win and a 5 v 3 result. Holding 3 shots Hampshire steps up to the mat and fresh from a Novice win (and the following day singles final win) he draws a back toucher to take the shot. Merz and Nievelstein change nothing in the head and North Perth are into the finals.
