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December 13, 2007
REPORT ON ‘ONE WHITE’ 2007 / 2008. PREVIEW - ROUND SEVEN

A couple of ‘on the side’ bits to kick off this week.

Firstly, please bear with me on a personal note: one very proud and grateful father here after watching his young son as a member of the winning team at the prestigious ‘Yokine Box Allstar Fours’ 2 day’er.

My thanks to his team-mates, John Goddard, Gary Caffell and Dave Rankin for looking after him so well.

David has been blessed with the encouragement and mentoring since taking up bowls a little over 2 years ago, not just from the members at Gosnells but also from the likes of former junior’s boys coach Maurice Crabb, Rhett Butler, Tim Murray and his One White skip, Brett Holland, to name just a few.

But John Goddard has been his bowls hero, so to speak, since watching him on T.V. represent W.A. at Moama when he made the finals a year or two back. David met John in person when their teams played each other at an Osborne Park tournament last August and they immediately hit it off. Since then John has gone out of his way to stay in touch with David and promised him they’d play a tournament together.

Being invited to play the Box Allstars was in itself a dream come true - to win it with John is fairytale stuff for such a young boy. I know you say he earned his place in your team John and bowled well but there was more to it than that and I’m very grateful to you for a fantastic boyhood memory that he’ll have from that experience and event.

SECONDLY
The $64,000 questions being put to me are: –Who? – Dalkeith-Nedlands – who’s the guy????? - Who’s the bloke that writes that stuff …..? Wasn’t that caption outstanding ….? Wasn’t that advertisement idea funny……? Isn’t it shocking that the Gypsy swears that much………Is it true that some people have actually turned to stone just from looking at the expression on Marco’s face in that picture .……….?

Look, I can’t answer all those question, all I can say is that the writer from the Dalkeith-Nedlands club just wants to remain as one of us nine club contacts who contribute to our one white write-ups being as informative and entertaining as possible.
Fair enough.

THIRDLY
this isn’t directly related to One White but I nevertheless feel it’s important in the interests of fairness that I alert the men’s pennant fraternity to a tactic that was employed by the Como Bowling Club late last Saturday afternoon in an effort to try and ensure that they’d win the aggregate.

It was at about the 14th end when the aggregate was delicately balanced on a razor’s edge that about a dozen attractive young ladies, dressed in casual summer attire, came out onto the green directly behind us and began having a few celebration drinks and a barefoot, corporate bowls type rollup. (Apparently there to celebrate the birthday of one of their group).

Although their fun-loving behaviour was both appropriate and impeccable I nevertheless called for the Como Umpire to query the fairness of such a delightful distraction to our club. Unfortunately I never got a ruling because on route to my location the Como umpire apparently walked smack into a pole and needed to go and ice a bump to his forehead.

My initial suspicions about this questionable tactic were eased somewhat as the game progressed when I overheard just as many Como players as Gosnells players saying, “What is it my turn again already?” & “Whose holding shot and which bowls are ours?”

My final word to the Como Bowling Club:- “An outstanding tactic guys, keep up the good work”. - Great to see the facilities being used by a good group of young adults. (PS It backfired as we snuck a 6 to 2 win).

LAST WEEK
In my summing up of the games to come I wrote, “Although Morley were very disappointed with their overall result last week it may well have been the shot in the arm that they needed leading up to their big test against the competition pacesetters in Dalkeith-Nedlands”. Well good on me for saying that but bad on me for not having the courage to actually pick them - so zero points. Nevertheless that win has certainly tightened up the top of the table.

I thought Mosman Park at home may account for Yokine and didn’t the Yokine boys give it to me for being wrong when I was at their club on Monday (See ‘My Predictions’ segment). Hey I wasn’t that far off – one rink had a big blowout which can happen on any given day.

Thornlie got us (Gosnells) at our railway tracks as might have been expected (but I was never going to pick against our boys in a derby). And the two sides that play their home surface so very well.

Kardinya and Safety Bay, got a win at their respective homes and very well done to them both.

ON THE SIDE AGAIN
I have only known Basso’s President, Steve Black, for a short period of time but am already a big fan of his absolute love of the game and of his passion and competitive nature.

David ‘the kid’ rang Blacky last Saturday evening as soon as we got home to see how he and the Basso boys got on down at the Bay. I can tell you the man was absolutely devastated that it was his rink (Justin’s rink) that allowed the aggregate to escape. It happens to us all but those words were of no comfort to Blacky, Justin and the boys.

THIS WEEK:
Everyone will want to go to the break with a last start win under their belts so with that in mind I particularly like two games this week. A third one is also probably worth an extra look.

First up – 2nd Yokine V’s 3rd Kardinya should be a cracker. If it was at Kardinya I’d slightly favour them, but away I don’t know. Sure as eggs Kardinya are to good a side not to start winning more games away from home.

Second up - Thornlie V’s Bassendean should also be an arm wrestle and I think the rinks will match-up very well. The X factor in this match is whether Thornlie play their carpet or not. I have noted that up until now they have only played their carpet once this season and that was against Dalkeith-Nedlands after some rain in the lead up.
I’ve tried to find out but their ranks closed and all I could get was “it’s being debated”. Why do I have a feeling that you may be playing on carpet Basso?

Lastly – the Safety Bay V’s Mosman Park match is interesting because by crickey it’s a long break and a long way back for the loser.

LAST WEEK RESULTS

Safety Bay 78 (5) defeated Bassendean 69 (3)
Morley 85 (6½) defeated Dalkeith-Nedlands 78 (1½)
Thornlie 75 (6½) defeated Gosnells 67 (1½)
Kardinya 88 (7) defeated Leeming 73 (1)
Yokine 81 (6) defeated Mosman Park 70 (2)

LADDER:

Dalkeith-Nedlands 34; Yokine 32; Kardinya 29; Thornlie 28½; Morley 25½; Bassendean 23; Leeming 23; Mosman Park 20; Safety Bay 18; Gosnells 6½.

‘My Predictions’: Ditto what I said last week about knowing nothing about bowls. Last week only 2 from 5 again. For the season a (18 – 12) winning rate.

Now this tipping capper is a whole lot of fun – NOT. If I tip against Gosnells then Andrew and a few of the boys at the club give it to me and then when I get home I get ‘the look’ from ‘the kid’. Jim Mc and Alan P and a few of the boys from Thornlie are always on hand to give it to me when I tip against them.

Phil Dobie at Leeming lets me know if I get it wrong down their way. Oh and Safety Bay won’t talk to me if – no forget that because they don’t talk to me anyway. But I walked into Yokine last Monday to watch the kid play his last game and copped it big time from three of the four one white skips in the form of Tony Kay, Scotty Edmonds and Jamie O’Keefe one after the other for having tipped against them last week and getting it wrong.

So I sneaked outside and sat quietly on my own chair to watch David play when the fourth skip, ‘the heater’ spies me. Now to Rod’s credit he didn’t mention me tipping against the doggies like the other three skips – no, he just wanted to know in a very loud voice if everyone around had noticed that the third best bowler in the Downey family had arrived.

In the words of Kevin Sheedy when the whole of Subiaco oval waved their coats and gave it to him he smiled and said, “I just love Australians”.

LEEMING V’s DALKEITH-NEDLANDS

LEEMING
Danny Comrie (Sk) Gary Ford Peter Middleton Steve Harris
Don Munro (Sk) Bill West Phil Dobie Tom Glendinning
Lindsay Strange (Sk) Alan Pryce Gary Pemberton Dennis Anderson
Peter Morris (Sk) Ian Ashworth Colin Webber Ray Morley


A report from a contact at Leeming is as follows:

Dannie Comrie’s rink:
After 7 ends the scores were, Leeming 4 - Kardinya 11; 14 ends Leeming 9 - Kardinya 21; final Leeming 17 - Kardinya 26. Danny’s boys were behind the ‘eight ball’ all day and could not seem to hold the scores they were holding due to the opposition. They simply outplayed us when it counted.

Steve (that is my real face!) Harris probably held his own against a good lead but that wasn’t enough to keep them in the game.
Middo tried but claims the conditions didn’t suit him. Sook!! Fordy didn’t have his usual blinder but claims that the pressure of being the best third in the club finally took its toll. He says it won’t happen again!! Danny had his work cut out for him and in the end the task was just beyond the team.

Lindsay Strange’s rink:
After 7 ends the scores were Leeming 7 - Kardinya 4, 14 ends Leeming 17 - Kardinya 10, final Leeming 30 - Kardinya 14.

What a difference a week makes, from Boiled Lollies to Chocolates, that's how Lindsay Strange and his team saw it at the end of their game on Saturday, especially after the last couple of pennant games?
They had a good win (the only Leeming team to put a point on the board) on a wind blown/tricky plastic green at Kardinya.

Denise (Head Shake) Anderson lead beautifully again, showing why he is the number one leader in the club, he handled the tricky conditions with panache and the obligatory shake of the head when his bowls did not finish within one or two inch's of the kitty in the gale force winds.

Gary (Pembo) Pemberton put his game on show in the tricky conditions adding and changing the head especially on the wide turning hand when asked by his skipper. Lindsay could not be happier with his two solid chargers up front.

Alan (Prycless) Pryce showed when he arrives on time and has a roll up he is capable of performing some where close to his potential. Welcome back Pryceless?

Lindsay (Casual) Strange got off to a slow start in the first few ends of the game, but "man" when things started to heat up he went up another cog and broke the game wide open converting a number of ends for big numbers in his teams favour.
Lindsay said his boys asked to change from the unpredictable narrow hand over to the wide hand and this had instant success which helped change the outlook of the game (good call boys, winners are grinners).

Don Monro’s rink:
After 7 ends the scores were Leeming 4 - Kardinya 7; 14 ends Leeming 5 - Kardinya 21; final Leeming 12 - Kardinya 31. Ouch!! To quote Prycless, we went from chocolates to boiled lollies. I would like to blame lots of things, the wind, the surface, the colour of the sky but the simple fact is we got belted.

In our defence, Kardinya’s skip Geoff Gould played a blinder. I kept track of his conversions and he directly scored 17 shots. If he wasn’t ripping shots off us, he was drawing cold, you name it he played it.
That is not to take anything away from the rest of his rink. It didn’t seem to matter what the first 3 did for 13 of the 21 ends it was all undone. Thank goodness we managed a 4 and a 3 in the closing ends or it would have looked real sick. Not that it is flash anyway.

Peter Morris’s rink:
After 7 ends the scores were Leeming 5 - Kardinya 6; 14 ends Leeming 11 - Kardinya 12; final Leeming 14 - Kardinya 17. A real tight battle all day. One in it after 14 and then just singles scored on 6 of the final 7 ends. Very tough conditions for all concerned.

This Week: No reported changes.


DALKEITH-NEDLANDS
Marco Krajancic(Sk) John Morgan Norm Sutton Ross MacKenzie
Tony Skoric (Sk) Ross Donald Steve Back Vaughan Colley
Peter Bacich (Sk) Mark Lindsay Alex Gryta Peter Gason
Tom Williams (Sk) John McKintosh Vinnie Santostefano John McCormack

A report from a contact at Dalkeith is as follows:

Gee, a week is a long time in bowls. Seven days after one of their great away wins the Silvertails came back to earth with a very rare defeat at home to the not to be underestimated Morley.

It was a day that the Duke became the Duck and the Krackerjack, once a particularly dangerous explosive devise that could take off your entire hand if not treated carefully, was reduced to no more than a kids sparkler, so harmless that you could, and still can, buy them over the counter, kick start them and poke them into another kids eye without doing any damage on bon fire night. It’s been a long time since the Krackerjack / the Sparker has had a game like that.

It wasn’t all bad. The Bomb had a win against good opposition and the Gypsy had his third draw of the season. We understand the odds of a draw are much higher at the bookies than your customary win loss bet.

But first the Duck, I mean the Duke.
He ran into Robbie Urquhart at his best, who missed one drive all day and plonked every other thing on the jack. In addition he had Wayne Neilson at three who was pretty devastating himself, and Brad Moyle had a beauty up front.
This, all in all, meant a pretty tough day on the pond for the Duck. Everything he drove at just missed and not much else went right. It wouldn’t have made much difference though, the Morley boys would have fixed up most Premier Division teams with form like that.
The Duke did well to keep the score to 28/12 The Meat Cleaver did all he could at three to stop the bleeding but in many ways it was like trying to stop the tide. Alex ‘the Big Banana Fritta” Gryta continues to go well at two and held his own.

The Krackerjack aka “the Sparkler”
had a shocker. It is the first sign of him being human for a long time. So bad was he, that half way through the match, as the Sparkler stood bewildered and confused on the mat trying to work out how he would have to hold the bowl to make it roll to the right, that is his right, his team mates met briefly at the other end and drafted up a brief add to put in the Sunday Times.


It simply read

Positions Vacant
“The DNBC require a skipper for one white pennant team. No bowling or skippering experience needed. Own bowls some advantage but not necessary”.

It was a miracle that the Sparkler only went down by three to Bruce Walter. In fact the game was absolutely in the balance up to the 20th end. With the scores level and the DN boys holding four or five.
Bruce Walter in an act of calculated desperation on an impossible hand was able to put the kitty into the ditch for five. The Sparkler had your basic 2 meters to draw second and a meter to draw shot.
The first bowl was so short it was deemed illegal and the second smashed into the ditch so hard that the rink marker fell over. Radical Ross McKenzie at that point phoned the Sunday Times.
“No Nickname” Sutton was clearly the best as the post match votes indicated and played some truly great bowls. Radical Ross McKenzie was down on his outstanding game last week but no one can be expected to maintain that level of performance. The third reckoned he played alright but that thought was soon to be extinguished at the post match post mortem by the Sparkler.

At the post mortem the Sparkler, had questions, wanted answers, and was in need of apportioning blame principally to those who were not skippers.

With his lead, second and third lined up in front of him like a firing squad, out came the gun from his right hand pocket in the form of that nasty thick pork sausage pointy finger on the right hand and it was leveled at all three.

As they cowered together, faces contorted, wondering who would cop it first, the Sparkler slowly lowered the gun to his side, bowed his head and simply said. “I was terrible”. You could have heard a pin drop. Touched, his team mates slowly moved toward him and draped their arms around his bull like shoulders to give the Sparkler comfort.
It was a scene that would have bought a tear to a glass eye.

It didn’t last long - about two or three seconds. The big shoulders twitched, the arms exploded outward and the one time comforters were forcefully returned to their original firing squad positions. Out of the pocket came the gun, quick and deliberate. “But you !!@$* weren’t much better.
“Now one of you pathetic, let-me-down, shit head, bastards get me a !!@$*ing ouzo and coke”.
It was, in all the circumstances, a moving apology. The Krackerjack was back.

Tom “the Bomb” Williams “went good” according to the Stallion who’s English lessons are coming on well. The Bomb is happy with his team and beginning to find some of last years form. He is a skippering well and has a close knit team who are getting better as indicated by their 26/14 win over John Armstrong.

With his Stallion having his first up run on a new home track his groomers and trainers had worked overtime. The stallion turned up in fancy looking new red Andi horse shoes, his coat healthy and shiny, not an ounce of fat, and particular attention had been paid to his mane. With the track rated 16 seconds and firm the Stallion did not break any track records but will get better as he becomes accustomed to his new environment.

The Saint got the votes again this week; he just kept banging them on the kitty again. A metre through is like a wild drive to the Saint now days. Gentleman John McCormack was steady without being spectacular.

The Gypsy contrived his third draw for the season, this time a 21/21 result against Peter Aungier. He again played well without being his brilliant self, and again had two bowls to win the match. I say again because he drew with Tony Walsh on Thursday with two good but unlucky bowls to finish with, as he did twice in Friday night practice, once against the Duke and then against the Mad Dog. The losses are bad enough but the $40 really hurts the Gypsy.

Vaughan “the Shopping Trolley” Colley recently had the Gypsy attend to repairs to a couple of his wobbly wheels and as a consequence is currently traveling a lot smoother and had a good day.

The Beekeeper prefers all things natural. He hates anything remotely artificial which explains his complete absence of form over the last three weeks in which he has played only on carpet. A return to the natural surface coincided with his return to form and a delivery sweeter than honey.

Steve Back Dalkeith (pictured) Talented player with a delivery sweeter than honey

Rowdy Ross Donald had a good game and would have had an opportunity to take some good form into next week but he unfortunately accepted an offer to play in the Box Fours with the Gypsy and the Krackerjack with disastrous consequences.

The Gypsy is a simple skipper who believes in the carrot and the stick approach to his players. The carrot is a normal carrot, one you would find in a 1kg packet of bagged carrots in a supermarket. Not overly big or juicy or orange for that matter, just your normal carrot. When his players do well, the Gypsy gives the carrot. “Ross we a five down, get me something close” – “Rowdy” Ross Donald draws a resting toucher, through blockers on wide hand, on difficult green. Rowdy gets a carrot – “Good”.

The stick on the other hand is a little more significant and perhaps not proportional to the carrot. It is half an old railway sleeper, wrapped with razor wire, broken glass and nails poking out at the end. Inside there is a suspicion that it contains Argentinean killer bees.
“Ross, we are one down with 4 good seconds; see if you can move shot bowl for me”. Rowdy just misses therefore Rowdy now gets the stick. “ !!!@#$# me Ross, you can’t hit a !!!@#$#ing thing, I’ve seen Asian women who are better !!!@#$#ing drivers than you. You always !!!@#$#ing letting me down.

The Krackerjack went to a similar, but far harsher, bowls finishing school than the Gypsy.

When Rowdy accepted an offer to play in the Box Fours on the Sunday and Monday he was unaware that the team had the Gypsy and the Krackerjack playing at three and four respectively.
He was admitted to Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital on Monday evening with what appears to be post traumatic shock syndrome. When I visited him on Tuesday morning he was laying in the fetal position in a padded cell, just repeating over and over again, “My brain hurts, my brain hurts”.

That aside the Gypsy noted that more people stayed on at the Club after the loss than on other occasions when the Silvertails have won, so this can’t be a bad sign. Like any competitive team you have to learn to take your wins well and your defeats even better.
More friends are made with a graceful defeat than by a resounding victory. The Silvertails were simply beaten by a better team on the day. It doesn’t mean you have to enjoy it or accept it and so the Krackerjack and the Gypsy ordered compulsory training on Friday

THIS WEEK:
the Silvertails take on Leeming away from home and will be keen to arrest their losing streak. Some of their players will have a good warm up in the Melville Super Sevens on Wednesday night and be cherry ripe for Saturdays match.
PS
Not with standing the above mentioned casualty, The Krackerjack bounced back into ominous form at the Box Fours with some terrific bowls and was in the money amongst some star studded teams.
Well done to all at Yokine for a great tournament.

Martin’s Prediction: DALKEITH-NEDLANDS

MORLEY V’s GOSNELLS

MORLEY
John Armstrong (Sk) John Sheridan Graham White Travis Ingram
Peter Aungier (Sk) Allan Barron Neville Gannaway Andy Elmer
Bruce Walter (Sk) Gavin Grieve Denis Mullenger Glenn Britten
Robbie Urquhart (Sk) Wayne Neilson Joe Heiden Brad Moyle

A report from a contact at Morley is as follows:
It was a great return to form by the Morley 16.

Robbie Urquhart's rink,
with Wayne Neilson (making his first appearance for the white team this year-- due to work commitments) in blistering form, Robbie himself playing his usual excellent game and the front end of Brad Moyle and Joe Heiden regularly getting the rink off to a good start-- were far too good for a very frustrated Peter Bacich -- finally winning by a very convincing 16 shots. This rink is as good as any rink going around in 1st White.

Robbie Urquhart Morley (pictured) Great skip for morley


Bruce Walter's rink
had a great tussle against Marko Krajancic's rink, finally prevailing by 3 shots. Marko was a bit out of sorts for a fair bit of the game but the same could not be said for Bruce Walter who played many telling bowls and again was the best player on the rink. Our lead (Glen Britten) also was a solid contributor setting up the rink on many occasions. John Morgan(3rd) for Dalkeith-Nedlands was their best player.

Peter Aungier's rink
bounced back from their average performance last week to draw a very tough game against Tony Skoric's rink. His rink led for most of the day but in the end had to be satisfied sharing the points. Peter Aungier and his 3rd (Barron) have been playing very good bowls in almost all the games played this year.

John Armstrong's rink
have been a bit erratic this year and on Saturday they had a day they would like to forget against a very good rink skippered by Tom Williams. They got off to a very bad start and from that time on, their task was that of containment of the opposition - not getting beaten by too big a margin and blowing the aggregate.

All in all it was a tremendous team effort by Morley to defeat the league leaders especially after such a very poor performance the week before.

THIS WEEK:
No reported changes.

GOSNELLS
Brett Holland (Sk), Jason Bryan, Andrew Hay-Hendry, David Downey.
Neville Mulcahy (Sk), Bert Cruickshank, Brian Creswell, Mike Rickard.
Alan Corby(Sk), Maurice Crabb, Roy Sharp, Peter Gale.
Kevin Bairstow (Sk), Trevor Gibbs, Peter Hodgson, Trevor Simons.

Congratulations to our closest neighbours, the Ravens, on their 6½ to 1½ win in our derby. By all accounts the game was a tight contest for the main and played in very good spirit. With 11 ends completed Gosnells held the advantage by 41 shots to 33 but once again couldn’t sustain it to eventually lose the aggregate by 8 shots. Close again but no cigar she cried.

It was great to see Gentleman Jim McKenzie and a few of the Thornlie boys still enjoying a drink and laugh at Gosnells even by the time I arrived back from Como.

Kevin (the bear) Bairstow’s rink V’s Paul Pohe’s rink:
The Bear’s boys got away well to lead 5 to 1 after four ends and 13 to 5 after eleven. The ravens then fought back well and there were only 3 shots in it after the 18th end. Thankfully the home side maintained that 3 shot lead to win 18 to 15. A solid effort by all the Gosnells boys on this rink again.

Brett Holland’s rink V’s Glyn Vaughan’s rink: This was a great battle all day. 3 all after five ends. 14 all after 14 ends and eventually 20 all after 21 ends. Brett Holland’s rink has been solid all season to date he has recorded 3 wins, 2 losses (by only 2 & 3 shot respectively) and a Draw.

Neville Mulcahy’s rink V’s Jim McKenzie’s rink: Look, credit where credit is due for Jim and his boys, but the home side were very stiff to miss this one. It was close early but then Nev and co. skipped away to lead 15 to 9 after 16 ends but couldn’t bring it home dropping 5 shots in the last two ends to go down 16 to 18. Nev said the three up front, Bert Cruickshank, Brian Creswell and Mike Rickard did their part but he was disappointed with his own game having missed a couple of vital conversions.

Maurice Crabb’s rink V’s Greg Reagan’s rink: Were again behind the eight ball from word go. Were down 0 to 8 after four ends and 7 to 19 after 14 ends, to eventually lose by 9 shots. Although lead Peter Gale and skip Maurice Crabb played reasonably well there were rarely enough Gosnells bowls in the head at the change of ends to work effectively with. Gosnells actually won 9 ends but mostly only by a solitary shot.

NEXT WEEK:
Three of the four rinks stay the same but a case of back to the drawing board on the Alan Corby/Maurice Crabb rink. The two had a sit down and decided to try a swap of roles so Alan will go back to skip and Maurice will play third. (Probably a case of swapping seats on the Titanic for this season but good to see that this group will continue to try different combinations and won’t give up).
Martin’s Prediction: MORLEY.

THORNLIE V’s BASSENDEAN

THORNLIE
Paul Pohe (Sk) Mick Hansen Jim Stein Andy Lill
Jim McKenzie (Sk) Alan Petchell Rod Kimble Jake Halse
Glyn Vaughan (Sk) Ross McMillian Jim Irwine Tony Churcher
Greg Reagan (Sk) Terry McCormack Ian Rewell Ray Halse

A report from a contact at Thornlie is as follows:

Gosnells V Thornlie – the Derby! Well Martin is confirming that as a tipster he is as good as all the others, I’ll say no more, or will I.

Despite being tipped against, Martin, The Ravens bounced out of the blocks. Playing on what could only be described as a reasonable green, all participants appeared to struggle for consistency, it was difficult to land two bowls in the same place very often, at least that appeared to be my major problem for the day. The wind and surface made for a challenging day of bowls.

Showing strong consistency on the score board was the rink of Greg Reagan. Terry McCormack is proving to be a worthy third, playing the odd very good bowl and a few very handy bowls. Ian “Buddah” Rewell has read several pages of the “How to Bowl with Distinction” book.

I must say Buddah, it takes more than just using yellow bowls, (although it has been said the colour does suit you), he slipped in a few very useful ones as did Ray “The Hat” Halse.
However it was the ever cool Gucci that lead the rink with distinction. Not sure whether reference to Gucci will result in any legal action, but Greg knows all about that.

Despite dropping a few shots over the closing ends to Maurice Crabb and his lads, Gucci held a handsome lead all day, making life a little easier for the other three rinks that continued to struggle.

Glynn “Bubbles” Vaughan, had a battle with Brett Holland. It was an up and down affair all day, Tony “You Hire It” Churcher and Jim “Have a Chat” Irwine were in and out of the game at various stages as was Ross “Not too much Practice” McMillan.
Still in all Bubbles kept the boys trundling toward a very steady draw. Well done guys the half point was brilliant.

Jim “I’ll Chase it Down” McKenzie was having another dirty day. Fresh from Krackerjack’s flogging last week, perhaps McKenzie is having some confidence problems.
Still the boys played on. Jake “Junior” Halse was struggling until the 16th end when he decided to start playing bowls. Jake turned it on with touches on 4 of the next five ends, that had both Doc Kimble and Al “The Pal” Petchell breathing a little easier.
Together the boys turned a five shot deficit into a two shot win over the closing stages of the game. Someone was heard to say McKenzie played only three good bowls for the game, but they were rippers.
Nifty Mulcahy and his men must have wondered how this one got away. Well it did we are glad to say.

That only leaves one rink to go, but we are not sure where to put them. I guess it is fair to say that when playing Gosnells someone has to play Kev “the Bear” Bairstow. Well Paul it was your turn on Saturday. Paul “You Gotta Get It Up” Pohe, together with Jim “I’ll Cast it in Brass” Stein, Mick “The Bruiser” Hansen and Andy “Will I Be There Next Week” Lill, had a real battle all day. The boys kept the bleeding to an absolute minimum and in the end were meritorious losers by just three shots.

One can only say that a win is a win. Always a great battle when the South East Derby is played.
The fellowship after the game was nothing short of brilliant however the 6.5 points The Ravens took home was even better.

THIS WEEK:
No changes to report at this time.

Martin says: I don’t mind a scrap if appropriate so if the Thornlie contact had said anything I thought was out of place regarding our greens I’d be saying so. The fact is our greens are not up to our usual good standard and there’s no shortage of people to tell you that it’s more than just a problem with our water.

BASSENDEAN
Gordon Gray (Sk) P. Hutchinson Ian Robertson Ray Denton 
John Lynch (Sk) Jamie Davies Nolan Hall Norm Kirkup
Marcel Heruer (Sk) Colin Hotker Neil Strachan Fred Early
Justin Opie (Sk) C. Greenhalgh Wes Jones Steve Black

A report from a contact at Bassendean is as follows:

Bassendean VS Safety Bay -
Played in very trying windy conditions, hoping for 6 points we won on three rinks but failed to take the aggregate, resulting in a 5 to 3 loss. This game was played at the Bay at the request of the Safety Bay club, giving Bassendean three home games in a row in the second half of the season.

F Early, N Strachan, C Hotker and M Hereur
Played the Paul Beaumont rink from Safety Bay with both rinks on a 2 win 3 loss record. The game was a very even game with Bassendean working hard to get to a good lead. With a few ends to go Bassendean was a chance for the aggregate and Marcel's team were holding a six, the Safety Bay skipper had pushed his first bowl wide and heavy and had one bowl in his hand to try and cut it down... result, Safety Bay 1 shot (7 shot turnabout).
The next end again with his last bowl he was down 4 shots, result.... Safety Bay 1 shot. Two huge shots in a game where there was 3 in the aggregate. All credit to the Hereur lead rink though who travelled to the Bay, with a strong breeze blowing and managed to win the game. Bassendean by 2 shots

N Kirkup, N Hall, J Davies and J Lynch
John Lynch and his team took on the Holmes lead team and got out to a flyer with the Basso boys handling the conditions well. It looked like the Lynch team was headed for a very good win when the Safety Bay boys changed the length and made the breeze more of a factor.
At this stage the Lynch led team struggled going down 9 shots in two ends and 16 shots over six ends to be one shot behind the Bay. Realising that they were in a dogfight, the Basso boys tried hard but were struggling with the wind until John Lynch played some great bowls to drag the team back into the contest. From there on it was tit for tat with the Lynch lead team playing the steadier game to record their 5th win for the season. Bassendean by 4 shots

S Black, W Jones, C Greenhalg and J Opie
If you were a gambler you would never have predicted the result of this game. The Opie rink has been the standout rink at Bassendean, taking the club to a promotion last year in the very tough Blue division.

They were expected to have a real tough and close game against the Beard lead rink, who are the top rink at the Bay with 4 wins and 1 loss. The Beard team played great bowls all day and the Opie team just couldn’t find any answers. The Safety Bay boys did not give the Basso team a sniff as they peppered the kitty from lead to skipper. When Basso had shot they struggled to keep it, if they were down they just failed to convert, it was an awesome display from the Bay team.

After the game the boys reckoned they couldn't find a rock big enough to crawl under, but as we all know in bowls, you always have the next game to make up for a bad day, this team will come back hard next week. Safety Bay by 21 shots

R Denton, I Robertson, P Hutchinson and G Gray
Had a very good game against the Safety Bay team led by G Scott who had a 2 win 3 loss record going in. Ray Denton the ‘old stager' of the team played a quality game that set up Basso for the win. With Ray dominating in the lead position and the rest of the Basso boys matching their opponents they worked their way to a solid lead.
On the final two ends with only 3 shots in the aggregate the Safety Bay skipper played some great saves, turning a 4 down to a 1 up with the final bowl and with his last on the final end getting shot with a knocker.
Gordon Gray who just had the edge on the day, also touched the kitty with his last bowl, only to see it run six feet along the edge of the ditch and away from the kitty whilst staying on the green which may give you some idea of the influence of the breeze during the game. Bassendean by 6 shots

Martin’s Prediction: BASSENDEAN.

YOKINE V’s KARDINYA

YOKINE
Rod Heaton (Sk) Ian Cooper John Bills Bill Morrison
Tony Kay (Sk) Darren Kellond Terry Fulcher Chris Busing
Scott Edmonds (Sk) John Gallop Juris Lorencs Ian Goghill
Jamie O’Keefe (Sk) Adrian Durrant John McGrath Graham Dawson

Doggies Stand Tough

The doggies played Mosman Park away from home in what was a game they marked as one of their hardest for the season. Played at the club with the million dollar view, and the saying, that if you’re having a bad day at least you can enjoy the view.
The conditions were as hard as you can get on a Saturday afternoon, with a green rolling close to 16 seconds and a howling sea breeze just to make things more interesting.

Mosman Park jumped out of the blocks well led by former Australian Rep. John Rainoldi taking a commanding lead over Tony (Pommie) Kay and the in-form Lester Mortimer and Steve Withers holding slight advantages.

Jamie O’Keefe rink started steady then opened the flood gates. With Juris (Feret) Lorence leading well in hard conditions and well backed up from John (Macca) McGrath they started to turn the screws on the newly promoted Mosman skip Peter Cole. With bowls in the head the back end could play the big shots to keep the pressure on the Mossie team.

Adrian (Pebbles) Durrant has found a new lease of life playing third to O'Keefe. Durrant's game and O'Keefe's steady head and skill to control the game from start to finish amassed a 22 shot win for the Dogs. O'Keefe showed that he has settled in just nicely at the kennel and his new rink is powering along with 2 from 2.
With O'Keefe pulling away and increasing the score line all day helped the dogs close the gap on the other rinks to secure a great win away from home.

Scott Edmonds returned to the winners circle with a last end that nearly turned the other way with Lester Mortimer picking up a 6 to just miss out on a vital half point to lose by 1.

Heaton's rink played their worst end on the last to drop a 4 and lose by 3, but that’s not taking anything away from the Steve Withers rink that played well all day. Tony Kay's rink might have blown the aggregate for us at one stage but battled hard and recovered to only lose by 8. Kay's recovery was instrumental in the dogs win.

This Week:
No changes. The doggies have a home game against Kardinya that will be played on one of the best greens in the state. With an unchanged line up the dogs would like to go into the Christmas break on a good note.
Kardinya will be trying to put a sour note on any early festive celebrations. The dogs know this will make or break their first half of the season; they can either go into the break having a 6 and 1 record with only a loss to the Silver Tails or be 5 and 2 and in the middle of the pack. Its all up to us ???


KARDINYA
Terry Ball (Sk)   John Smith,  Kerry Eames,   Les Phillips    
Ian Hastings (Sk),   Dave Wood,  Shaun McCormack,   David Phillips
Rex Sweet (Sk) ,  Rob Foy,   Marc Abonnel,    Steve Vinci
Geoff Gould (Sk) ,Tony Cocodis ,  Daryl Radford,    Owen Sweetman

A report from a contact at Kardinya is as follows:

We had a good win against Leeming who we knew would be stiff opposition having come down from the Premier League from last season. Both clubs went into the game equal on 22 points, and it was an important 15 shot victory to gain 7 points to temporarily avoid being in the log-jam that is the middle of Division One White.

Geoff Gould’s rink continued their unbeaten run, winning its sixth consecutive game. Graham Moon (Second) came into the rink as a late replacement for Graeme Wake who had to withdraw due to family reasons. Graham, who played One White Saturday pennants quite a few years ago, is currently only playing Mid-Week pennants on a full-time basis in our One Blue South colour. However, he fitted beautifully into the rink and, with Tony Cocodis (Third) and Owen Sweetman (Lead), all four players bowled superbly to win 31-12 and ensure that the aggregate was never in doubt.

Rex Sweet’s rink of Rob Foy (Third), Marc Abonnel (Second) and Steve Vinci (Lead) won 17-14 in a tight game, where little separated the teams all day. Rex played some excellent conversion shots to be the star on his rink.


Ian Hastings’ rink won 26-17, with David Phillips (Lead) and Shaun McCormack once again giving the side a strong start up front. Ian had an excellent game, pulling off some great conversions which contributed strongly to the rink’s win.

Daryl Radford’s rink of John Smith (Third), Kerry Eames (Second) and Les Phillips (Lead) struggled all day against some fine bowling by the Leeming boys, especially Gary Pemberton and Alan Pryce. They went down 14-30, but bowls is a team game and the other three rinks more than covered that deficit.

This Week:
The Selectors have made two changes for next week’s away fixture against Yokine. Terry Ball returns after injury to Skipper his rink, while Daryl Radford reverts to his earlier position as Second on Geoff Gould’s rink. The four rinks are now back to the same combinations as those selected for the

Martin’s Prediction: YOKINE.

SAFTEY BAY V'S MOSMAN PARK

I haven’t heard from anyone at Safety Bay so can’t report their lineup or any news. Last week Ray Beard’s rink won by 21 shots, Paul Beaumont’s rink lost by 2 shots, Holmes’s rink lost by 3 shots and Graham Scott’s rink lost by 6 shots.


MOSMAN PARK
John Rainoldi (Sk) Rad Anderson Jarrad Rainoldi Glenn Ellis
Steve Withers (Sk) Mark Simpson Tom Reid John Deery
Lester Mortimer (Sk) Wyn Ferris David Teague Peter Freund
Lindsay Hicks (Sk) Steve Novak Peter Cole Tom O’Neill

A report from a contact at Mosman Park is as follows:


This was not a great day for Mosman Park, a win against Yokine would have had them climbing up the ladder and knocking on the door of the top four, now it's looking like a long haul just to stave of relegation.

L Mortimer W Ferris D Teague P Freund V S Edmonds A Davis J Gallop I Goghill
The game was controlled all day by the Edmonds quartet. Freund, Teague and Ferris put in sound games with Mortimer the best for mossies.

P Cole S Novak R Anderson T Reid V J O’Keefe A Durrant J McGrath J Lorencs This was one way traffic all day with all four Yokine players having outstanding games. Not much the mossie boys could do to stop the onslaught. Lorencs looked like his bowls had a string attached to the jack all day with McGrath and Durrant having fantastic games while O’Keefe played brilliantly.

J Rainoldi L Hicks Ja Rainoldi G Ellis V T Kay P Kellond T Fulcher C Busing This was a good win for the mossie boys with Rainoldi playing great bowls, Ellis leading very well and young, Jarrad Rainoldi, having his best game for the season. The Yokine boys put up a good fight but not quite good enough on the day.

S Withers M Simpson T O'Neill J Deery V R Heaton I Cooper J Bills W Morrison
This was the game of the day and could have gone either way with Heaton and Cooper playing great games for Yokine and Simpson and Withers playing just as good for mossies.
It was a case of who could get in front and keep it. Mossies edged ahead and managed to hold off a determined Yokine team.

This Week:
Mosman Park face a huge task in the form of taking on Safety Bay at Safety Bay. This game will go a long way in determining where mossies finish this season?
Quite a bit of shuffling to the starting 16 as can be seen above.

Martin’s Prediction: SAFETY BAY