Well what an end to the season - when you look at the ladder just 4.5 points separating the middle 5 sides on the ladder. Let’s do a quick summary of the season:
- Vic Park our deserving premiers after a brilliant season from them - they will play in One White next season
- Kardinya take on Kalamunda for the right to challenge one of 7th or 8th placed One White sides - looks to me either Leeming or Gosnells. Good luck to both sides!
- Fremantle and South Perth will play 2nd division next season - but both will no doubt bounce back quickly and return to Blue South quickly
- Both Forrestfield and Warnbro are now open to a challenge from a 2nd division club - pressure packed games and good luck to both clubs!
- The remaining 3 clubs in Thornlie, Dalkeith and Rockingham are finished for the year but will return to blue next season. Great result for Dalkeith and Rockingham who were promoted clubs from last season. Incredibly just percentage (and a small amount at that) separated Rockingham and Warnbro who both finished on 70.5 points.
A now let’s have a quick look at the final set of fixtures:
Kardinya 80 (6) vs Thornlie 66 (2)
(Conn Vinci 26 - Jim Stean 10) (Geoffrey White 19 - Daniel Slade 14) (Ian Barrie 16 - Michael Yates 20) (Norm Ball 19 - Eddie Gollan 22)
Kardinya did what they needed to and that was to defeat Thornlie at home. In the end that was enough to get them to 2nd spot in front of Kalamunda who suffered a surprise loss to South Perth. The rinks of Yates and Gollan scored 2 valuable points and that was enough to get Thornlie to safety. For Kardinya it was a great finish to the season and they will go into the promotion play offs with some confidence. The Vinci rink again leading the way to round out a pretty fair season for them.
Dalkeith Nedlands 91 (7.5) vs Rockingham 57 (0.5)
(Andrew Foster 23 - Marcus Simpson 13) (Jesse Brown 19 - Bruce Edwards 13) (Lindsay Richardson 18 - Mark Devenny 18) (Martin Saunders 31 - Lindsay Atkins 13)
Dalkeith have done an Houdini to claw there way to safety are getting 7.5 points on the weekend. That makes 14.5 points over the final 2 games when all looked lost. Jesse Brown won again and finished off a great season for him and he along with Martin Saunders who secured a comfortable win meant Dalkeith were safe. For Rockingham it was a nervous wait and in the end percentage got them over the line. Probably fair enough for mine as the Rocky boys had a couple of very close losses during the season and this obviously meant a pretty good percentage.
Fremantle 47 (0) vs Victoria Park Carlisle 106 (8)
(Brian Ciccotosto 13 - Graeme Wishart 30) (Dinko Golem 9 - Lee Such 28) (Kenneth Atkins 13 - Gary Beckwith 27) (Shaun McCormack 12 - David Florance 21)
No joy for Freo to round out the season as they were hammered by Vic Park at home. Again the Wishart and Such rinks doing most of the damage in what has been a season to forget for Fremantle. Vic Park with just 2 losses in what has been a dominant season for them. Will be interesting to see how they perform in White next season but for now they can celebrate a great season. Next week they take on Osborne Park for the Blue flag and that should be a great match to see.
Warnbro 79 (7) vs Forrestfield 67 (1)
(Barry Kalinowsky 18 - Jarad Weppner 15) (George Jackson 26 - Rhys Tillemans 18) (Lindsay Strange 15 - Trent Tillemans 16) (Troy Dellar 20 - Rhys Cummings 18)
It almost worked out perfectly for Warnbro with 7 points over Forrestfield but they came up just short. Dr G led the way again with another win to round out a very good season for his rink. In the end it was the one shot win from Trent Tillemans that spoiled the day for Warnbro. So both teams will need to front up next week and put their best foot forward and hold a 2nd division side at bay. Without knowing who the opposition will be at this point I am prepared to say that both clubs are good enough and I expect both to return next season.
South Perth 86 (6) vs Kalamunda 83 (2)
(David Mortley 20 - Dwayne Wooltorton 23) (Farley Anderson 11 - Arthur Bartlett 20) (Max Petrich 30 - Ian Cornthwaite 20) (Wayne Bezant 25 - William Brandsma 20)
Well this result was a bit of a surprise - South Perth went out with a bang with Petrich and Bezant recording great wins but it was a little too late to save the South Perth boys. Probably a disappointment in the end however the team lost a lot of players to the Premier side during the season and just could not get their mojo back. I think they can bounce straight back next year. For Kalamunda a year that started out particularly well with a comfortable win over Vic Park ended in some disappointment but the good news is that they are still in with a chance of promotion and have a talented team when they hit their straps. Good luck to them next weekend.
