This is a very even season and winning at home becomes even more important, lock down your home deck and try to steal a win or two on the road. No skipper remains undefeated, so the top skippers role is up for grabs.
Joondalup 76 (5) vs Sorrento 68 (3)
(Brian McMurdo 29 - Ian Linford 10) (Glen Oakley 17 - Lance Martin 20) (Mark Ryan 15 - Ronald Rogers 16) (Martin Hinchcliffe 15 - David Dunstan 22)
The McMurdo rink carried the aggregate on their own, it is not often you have a 5 v 3 scoreline. (I did predict it this week, just on the wrong game.) It was a very low scoring day across the board with some games going down to the wire. While Joondalup are still bottom of the ladder, it did help close the gap on those near them. I'm really struggling to rank Sorrento most weeks, not sure if the constant rink changes are affecting their cohesiveness.
Morley 79 (6.5) vs North Beach 67 (1.5)
(Allan Boorer 25 - Garry Barr 17) (Les Spinks 26 - Richard Hunter 8) (Victor Orchard 17 - Lee Mitten 17) (Wayne Mitchell 11 - Alan Howe 25)
I did predict a Morley win but a little closer than the end result, I just feel the North Beach away from home are going to struggle most weeks. Morley managed to jump North Beach on the ladder and with Swan going down a heap, also skipped ahead of them. I think those bottom 4 teams are going to be fighting it out all year to avoid relegation and you need to win your home games against each other.
Osborne Park 69 (6) vs Quinns Rocks 64 (2)
(Mark Pasalich 17 - John Berecz 23) (Mark Rollings 17 - Hugh Ward 12) (Neville Stevens 22 - Shane Smith 10) (Robert Lawrence 13 - Christopher Parr 19)
Osborne Park proved me wrong once again with a big win against Quinns. Parr did his job against the unbeaten Lawrence rink and likewise Rollings did his job against Ward. O'Neill was missing against his old club and Smith stepped up and unfortunately that was enough for Osborne Park to secure a 12 shot win on that rink and win the aggregate.
Wanneroo 87 (6) vs Yokine 60 (2)
(David Anderson 15 - Shane Shaw 22) (Kingsley Toster 29 - Martin Sharp 7) (Martin Nievelstein 28 - Erron Martin 11) (Michael Golding 15 - Paul Kelly 20)
Well it looks like Wanneroo hit their straps and with Quinns going down, along with Yokine they closed the gap on the top two clubs. My pre game prediction was "Sharp comes back down to earth" and I was not wrong, pity he crashed and burned at the same time, losing by 22 shots. A big win from the Yokine crew with some colourful language from some of the Wanneroo crew.
Swan 61 (0) vs North Perth 83 (8)
(Brian Davis 18 - Don Dixon 21) (Kotuku Engelen 14 - Markus Merz 27) (Peter Hilsz 15 - Anthony Kay 17) (Tony Natalotto 14 - Benjamin Horwood 18)
After last week's big loss, Merz helped secure the aggregate against Swan. The other three rinks were close and only won by 4 or less shots. When the difference between 1st and 4th is 2.5 points, winning 8 nil is hugely important. Likewise the difference between 7th and 10th is 3 points, so every last point is important. Next week does not get any easier for both sides, with Swan trying to win against Wanneroo and North Perth against a strong Quinns side.
