------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.
.

To read Martin's previous previews or Premiership tables , click on the above buttons

January 10, 2008
REPORT ON ‘ONE WHITE’ 2007 / 2008. PREVIEW - ROUND NINE

Last Week: I spoke about the 3rd to 7th place (anything can happen) group and while that’s still relevant, the 4th to 8th place group is even more interesting with only 3 points separating those five teams.
That is the difference between one for those five teams making the finals and two of them being relegated, - incredible.

Last week I threw doubt on Kardinya on the basis of a couple of omissions and the shuffling of some of their rinks for their forthcoming match against the strong competition leaders. Yet after my preview was posted on the web I heard that Dalkeith-Nedlands were in a similar position - so much for that observation being a factor.

Dalkeith-Nedlands managed to come away with the majority of the points courtesy of only a 5 shot aggregate win. Yokine as expected had a good win at home against Safety Bay.

Morley put a little break on the pack with their 7 to 1 win over the Basso boys at Bassendean. Mosman Park moved into the top four for the first time this year with their 7 to 1 home win over Thornlie; and Leeming as expected easily accounted for Gosnells at our railway tracks.

This Week:
Pick of the bunch: -
Morley (3rd) v’s Mosman Park (4th):
Morley won’t want to surrender the hard-fought gap they have established over the hungry pack, and Mosman Park who have just arrived at their highest position for the season won’t want to surrender it;

Thornlie v’s Yokine:
The Ravens have two home games in a row and need to start making things happen because they’re in for tough patch very shortly, while the Doggies desperately want to keep their impressive momentum going;
Leeming v’s Bassendean:

Leeming will want to keep marching forward after their 8 to 0 demolition of Gosnells, while Bassendean need a quick fix for the wounds that were inflicted by Morley last week.

LAST WEEKS RESULTS:
Leeming 101 (8) defeated Gosnells 60 (0)
Morley 78 (7) defeated Bassendean 70 (1)
Dalkeith-Nedlands 79 (6) defeated Kardinya 74 (2)
Mosman Park 75 (7) defeated Thornlie 67 (1)
Yokine 88 (7) defeated Safety Bay 58 (1)

LADDER:
Dalkeith-Nedlands 47; Yokine 46½; Morley 39½; Mosman Park 33; Kardinya 32; Leeming 32; Thornlie 31½; Bassendean 30; Safety Bay 21; Gosnells 7½.

‘My Predictions’: Last week 3 from 5. For the season (25 – 15) winning rate.

DALKEITH-NEDLANDS V’s GOSNELLS

John Morgan(Sk) Vinnie Santostefano Norm Sutton Peter Gason
Tony Skoric (Sk) Ross Donald Steve Back Vaughan Colley
Peter Bacich (Sk) Mark Lindsay Gordon Wilson Ross MacKenzie
Tom Williams (Sk) John McIntosh Alex Gryta John McCormack

A report from a contact at Dalkeith-Nedlands is as follows:

Click---Here--To Read the Dalkeith report


GOSNELLS
Brett Holland (Sk) Jason Bryan Andrew Hay-Hendry David Downey
Bert Cruickshank (Sk) Trevor Gibbs Roy Sharp Peter Gale
Neville Mulcahy (Sk) Trevor Close Colin Waters Mike Rickard
Kevin Bairstow (Sk) Peter Hodgson Brian Creswell Trevor Simons

Leeming came, they saw, and they certainly conquered to the tune of 8 to 0. An all too familiar story on some of our rinks where our opponents get a break that proves to be the difference at the end.
Sometimes it happens at the start of a game, sometimes in the middle and sometimes at the end. The scorecards have continually shown this trend all season and it’s beyond the norm.
Maybe it’s a lack of concentration; lacke of confidence or self-belief, lack of killer instinct or a combination.

Bert Cruickshank’s rink V’s Danny Comrie’s rink:
It was close early with both sides trading blows but our boys were holding the advantage until the 12th end. At that point the Leeming boys scored a 6 and then held that lead until the end to win by 5 shots, 20 to 15. The Gosnells lead, Peter Gale, and 3rd Trevor Gibbs were best for Gosnells while Gary (Fordy) Ford playing 3rd for Leeming was the killer and the difference between the two sides.

Kevin (the bear) Bairstow’s rink V’s Lindsay Strange’s rink:
The Bear’s boys were slow to start and were 1 to 5 down after five ends, however on the sixth end they picked up a 6 only to see Lindsay’s boys hit back with a 5 on the very next end. Only 13 to 15 down after thirteen ends but in the blink of the eye they were down 13 to 22 after sixteen ends, to eventually go down 17 to 27. The boys tell me that Lindsay Strange in the main was the destroyer, and then just to add insult to injury they were told that it was his very first roll with a new set of bowls. Isn’t that wonderful our boys said – well NOT exactly.

Neville Mulcahy’s rink V’s Don Munro’s rink:
Were 0 to 11 down after four ends; 7 to 17 after eleven ends; 10 to 21 after sixteen ends; to eventually lose by 10 shots, 15 to 25. Lead, Mike Rickard, and Neville were best for us while there were good signs that Trevor Close won’t take long to find his feet again.
The Leeming boys played well as a team and congrats to Doug Griggs on his debut in One White. Brett Holland’s rink V’s

Brett Holland’s rink V’s Peter Morris’s rink:
Congrats to Don McColl on making his debut in 1st Division for the year. Although a bit of a make-up side, Brett Holland, nevertheless suffered his biggest loss of the season in going down by 16 shots. Down 1 to 8 after six ends; 5 to 16 after eleven ends; 10 to 23 after sixteen ends and eventually 13 to 29 at the end. Brett was full of praise for his young lead, David (the kid) Downey, who was clearly the pick of the two leads and easily the standout of the Gosnells boys. Ian Ashworth at 3rd was the pick of the Leeming boys who all performed pretty well.

This Week:
Our junior star, Jason Bryan, returns from Junior State Representative duties to replace Don McColl in Brett Holland’s rink and accordingly Andrew Hay-Hendry will drop back to second.

Martin’s Prediction: Dalkeith-Nedlands.

LEEMING V’s BASSENDEAN

LEEMING
Danny Comrie (Sk) Gary Ford Peter Middleton Steve Harris
Don Munro (Sk) Phil Dobie Tom Glendinning Doug Griggs
Lindsay Strange (Sk) Alan Pryce Gary Pemberton Dennis Anderson
Peter Morris (Sk) Ian Ashworth Robin Gray Ray Morley


A report from a contact at Leeming is as follows:

No changes to last week’s side that collected 8 points from Gosnells. This was our goal as points are very close for those teams in the middle of the pack.

The Peter Morris rink:
With the return of Robin Gray to the rink after a six game absence (due to injury), the rink was reconstituted to the original selection and had a big win over Brett Holland of Gosnells. A good battle between the leads Ray MORLEY for Leeming and David DOWNEY of Gosnells.
I’m led to believe that Ray just pipped David (sorry dad), the battle was closer than their ages. I think Ray’s about 112 and young David 12 or so. Robin was back to his almost best and now that Pete’s rink can stabilise it should be a real test to all comers.
Ashy proved again the player of the miracle bowl. Definition of miracle bowl - TOO HARD, TOO NARROW, “A” GRADE WICK, WOBBLE IN FOR SHOT, BREAK OPPONENTS HEART.

The Danny Comrie rink:
On the bus trip to the game there was a discussion about when you use stickers on your bowls. I know it’s a hard rule to sort out but we did finally agree that you only use stickers at home games.
During the roll-up it was noticed that Fordy had stickers on his bowls and when questioned (particularly as we had discussed the issue earlier) Fordy said “It is part of my ploy to confuse the opposition”. Gosseys were a wake up to the rules and demanded Fordy “stickers” Ford use bowls without stickers.

‘Stickers’ played very well and we think the ploy worked because the Gosseys team seemed to leave ‘Sticker’s’ bowls alone (thinking they were their bowls) despite Sticker’s bowls being bright red.
The rest of the team played well enough to win despite a very good opposition. Steve “I can’t @#$@ing get this @#$#ing green” Harris played pretty well and Danny and Middo contributed to the win.
Danny “I can’t win at @#@#ing Leeming” Comrie said he was looking forward to next week’s game, issuing a warning to any comers to be “very afraid”.

The Lindsay Strange rink:
The day started very well and we all knew it was going to be a good day because Alan (Priceless) Pryce turned up for the bus so there was a good chance he would be going to Gosnells. (Readers may remember Prycless turning up at Gosnells when we were playing at Morley a couple of games ago).
Lindsay turned up with new bowls which is not a good sign especially if this is the first time he has used them! This did not instilled confidence in the team members. But as it turned out Lindsay saved numerous shots in the first half dozen ends and when the rest of his team decided to play some decent bowls Lindsay was able to relax.
Definition of relax, LYING IN THE SHADE ON THE BANK. DON’T CALL SHOTS AS NO-ONE PAYS ANY ATTENTION ANYWAY.

The Don Monro rink:
A good solid performance by all in Don’s team which welcomed Doug (I’ll get one close soon” GRIGGS). Tommy G (no relation to Ali G) usually lead, moved to second and performed very well indeed (he could play any position anyway).

Doug Griggs Leeming (pictured) Played his first game last week for Leeming.


Phil (gee he’s a nice bloke) Dobie moved to third and even using new bowls also put in a solid performance with Don cleaning up anything missed by his team.

This Week:
No changes at this stage.

VERSUS


BASSENDEAN

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

A report from a contact at Bassendean is as follows:

Bassendean VS Morley:
Morley came to Bassendean to play, and gave Bassendean a good slapping on their home greens, something that the Basso Lions are not too pleased about. The truth is the better side won on the day, it was a reality check for Bassendean. As it hasn't killed us... we believe it shall make us stronger.

Black, Jones, Greenhalg, Opie V Moyle, Heiden, Neilson, Urquhart
In a game where both sides played good bowls, in particular the front 3 from each side, it was to be Morley's steadier efforts and their skipper’s brilliance that made the difference.
Robbie Urquhart played a great game, and through giving the mat away was able to put in some very telling final bowls, checkmating Justin Opie’s attempts to pull his side into the game.
Morley by 8 shots

Kirkup, Hall, Davies, Lynch V Elmer, Revell, White, Barron
This was a good tussle for most of the game, with all players contributing and the skippers playing well. Morley's skipper Barron played some good conversions as did John Lynch however it was two poor ends from the Bassendean side that made the difference with the Lunch team dropping a 5 and a 4.
Well done to the Morley team who outplayed the Basso boys on the day and came home with the bacon.
Morley by 11 shots

Early, Strachan, Hotker, Heruer V Ingram, Harmon, Sheridan, Armstrong
This was a hard fought match with both sides playing good bowls. The Heruer team was playing the slightly steadier bowls with Morley just failing to convert on a few ends.
With Colin Hotker playing some very good saves and Fred Early and Neil Strachan putting in some great shots, Marcel Heruer was able to play a great game himself, making some telling shots. The Morley team continued to battle hard and fought the game out to the finish.
Bassendean by 15 shots

Denton, Robertson, Hutchinson, Gray V Britten, Giekie, Grieve, Walter
This was another great effort by both sides. Bassendean through great bowls was able to skip out to an early lead, at one stage close to 10 shots separated the sides. Then the Morley team started to home in and a great fight back started. It was nip and tuck in the final 3 ends with both sides a chance, Morley proved to be the steadier and ran out the winners.
Morley by 4 shots

This Week:
We have a change to one rink. Phil Hutchinson is on holidays and so Steve Patterson comes in fresh from the Navy. Steve played 1st division last year at Bassendean and we welcome him home.

Martin’s Prediction: Um um – Bassendean. VERSUS

MORLEY V’s MOSMAN PARK

MORLEY
John Armstrong (Sk) John Sheridan ?? Harmon Travis Ingram
Allan Barron (Sk) Graham White Rod Revell Andy Elmer
Bruce Walter (Sk) Gavin Grieve Bob Giekie Glenn Britten
Robbie Urquhart (Sk) Wayne Neilson Joe Heiden Brad Moyle

A report from a contact at Morley is as follows:

Very handy win by Morley last weekend against Bassendean. The aggregate was only secured in the last 10 or so ends, after being down by more than 20 shots around the half way mark. The rinks of Allan Barron and Bruce Walter were able to finish off strongly, coming from behind while Robbie Urquhart's rink was in control all day.

Robbie Urquhart's rink:
again held strong and secured a very good win against the rink led by the talented Justin Opie. Brad Moyle led well all day, setting up most ends for the very capable Wayne Neilson and Robbie Urquhart to finish off. The rink eventually won by around 8 shots.

Bruce Walter's rink:
had a pretty tough day struggling against a determined Bassendean rink, skippered by Gordon Gray. It was not until late in the day that his rink got some handy numbers to go on and win by 4 shots. His rink was missing Denis Mullenger (second) who is away on holidays, but was ably replaced by Bob Giekie who came up from third division. Bruce's rink won 11 ends to Bassendean's 10 ends. Bruce continues to carry the load, playing very good bowls, week in and week out.

Allan Barron’s rink:
Allan was promoted to skipper in place of the injured Peter Aungier (knee operation) and Graham White was brought over from John Armstrong's rink (where he was playing second) to play third for Allan. The moves obviously didn't adversely affect the rink which really powered home to comfortably beat the Bassendean rink, skippered by John Lynch, by more than 10 shots. Allan Barron also continues to play very good bowls every week. With the added responsibility of skipper this week it appears his game even improved.

John Armstrong's rink:
which was weakened by the loss of Graham White to Allan Barron's rink, continues to struggle. But to their credit they hung in and helped secure the aggregate for the whole team. This rink will probably receive some fine tuning, by the selectors, for next week's game.

This Week:
No reported changes at this stage.

VERSUS

MOSMAN PARK

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

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

Martin’s Prediction: Morley.

SAFETY BAY V’s KARDINYA

KARDINYA
Tony Cocodis (Sk) Shaun McCormack Graeme Wake Les Phillips
Ian Hastings (Sk) Steve Vinci Marc Abonnel David Phillips
Rob Foy (Sk) Dave Wood Kerry Eames Gordon Manuel
Geoff Gould (Sk) Daryl Radford Rex Sweet Owen Sweetman

A report from a contact at Kardinya is as follows:

It was a case of so near yet so far against Dalkeith/Nedlands with a 2-6 loss that could so easily have been a 6-2 or a 7-1 win. Having trailed early across the board, we fought back well to be in front with some 8 ends remaining. However a few good ends from Tom Williams’ rink, together with four shots on the last end to Tony Skoric’s rink, saw Dalkeith/Nedlands get over the line by 5 shots.

Geoff Gould’s rink of Daryl Radford (Third), Rex Sweet (Second) and Owen Sweetman (Lead)
continued his remarkable winning sequence with a 3 shot win over John Morgan, making it a perfect 8 out of 8 to date. Geoff, Daryl and Owen all bowled very well, with Rex gradually warming to his new role as a Second the more the game progressed.

Ian Hastings’ rink of Steve Vinci (Third), Marc Abonnel (Second) and David Phillips (Lead)
had a solid 5 shot win over Tony Skoric’s side. Ian played a very good game and was most unlucky with his last bowl of the game not to trail the jack into the ditch in what may well have been an aggregate-winning bowl. However, the rink dropped 4 shots on that last end which was most unfortunate for the overall aggregate. Steve, Marc and David were steady without setting the world on fire.

Tony Cocodis’ rink of Shaun McCormack (Third), Graeme Wake (Second) and Les Phillips
had a good tussle all day with Peter Bacich’s side. All four played solid games, going down by a mere 2 shots.

Robbie Foy’s rink of Dave Wood (Third), Kerry Eames (Second) and Gordon Manuel (Lead)
were beaten 29-18 by Tom Williams’ rink. Robbie led 14-10 after some 14 ends, but was overrun 4-19 in the last part of the game, in what was aggregate-defining for Dalkeith/Nedlands. Robbie bowled very well, but could have done with more support in the latter stages of the game.

This Week:
The Selectors have made no changes for the next fixture away at Safety Bay.

Martin’s Prediction: Kardinya.

THORNLIE V’s YOKINE


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

A report from a contact at Thornlie is as follows:

Mosman Park V’s Thornlie
“Back to school” is the message emanating from Saturday’s clash. When the game was up for grabs, Mossie’s did all of the grabbing.

Congratulations to Lester Mortimer, who appeared to have an excellent game, gaining the upper hand by 1 shot over Glyn Vaughan and his rink.

Steve Withers converted a 1 shot deficit to a plus 5, three ends from home to beat McKenzie’s rink by 4 shots.

The evergreen Rags Rainoldi maintained the wood on Paul Pohe’s rink for most of the day and at the 21st end Rags ran out 5 shots the better.

The “Rink of Reagan” with Terry McCormack having a blinder apparently, bought home The Ravens solitary point, collecting a 3 shot win over Lindsay Hicks’ rink.

The game was played on a tidy 15 second green, in windy conditions. There were a lot of good bowls played that went unrewarded and a few crappy ones that were rewarded handsomely. Given the flukey wind that prevailed throughout the day one could not have expected anything else. Thornlie need to learn how to win. Too many games have bolted over the closing stages this season and as a result Thornlie are sitting on top of the relegation pile.

Next Saturday heralds the conclusion to round one and with a four from eight win record, Thornlie need to take another step. Three losses at home and one on the road, might seem OK to some, however the 16 that step up on Saturday for the club are better than that and we all need to look inwards and dig a little deeper.

Excuses will never put points on the board that is a task reserved for good bowls along with strong team efforts and a little more desperation.

Look out Yokine, the only thing you will enjoy on Saturday will be the hospitality and the beer.

This Week:
No reported changes to any rinks for this coming Saturday.

SAFETY BAY

VERSUS

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

A report from a contact at Yokine is as follows:

Martin’s Prediction: Yokine.