December 6, 2007
Round six brings us another interesting set of pennant games
Cambridge Knights versus the Doubleview PowerHouse in the game of the day This game features three undefeated rinks
Sth Perth Millers are going great guns having won against two premiership contenders play a vastly improved Melville Magic
Kalamunda play Vic Park Reds at Kalamunda, this game will give them an indication as to whether they fit into the big picture or not. The Reds are a force to be reckoned with and improvement still to come.
Cockburn Roosters are the Mean Machine no more even tho they occupy 3rd place on the ladder will play the Bedford Bulls who were way below their best last week.
Wanneroo Express play the Osborne Park Saints in a game that will see the loser on struggle street to make the final four
---Jon Sharp , in action at Cambridge tomorrow
State Skipper Jon Sharp will be looking for victory in his game against the Cambridge Knights.
-----------ROUND SIX 7th DECEMBER
----------------GAME OF THE ROUND
CAMBRIDGE KNIGHTS v D/VIEW POWERHOUSE
T.Smallacombe (sk) N. Lewis,W. Maher, B. Kiely
The Jones Boy (sk) T. Walsh, A. Heal, R. Bolton
R. Stockton (sk) C. Lander, G. Kane, H. Christensen
B. Katunarich (sk) M. McGann,C. McKenna,D.Irvin
-------------------------versus
J. Slavich(sk) K. McIroy,R. Dempsey,J.Wholohan
D.Katunarich(sk),P. Buller,B.Gearing, C.Dunstall
J. Sharp (sk),L. Thorn, R. Barns, M. Mitchell
R. Ball(sk), B. Urquhart, J. Bausor, C. Slavich
Cambridge Knights who were impressive winners against the Bedford Bulls last week should be able to mount a challenge to take on the PowerHouse. They have two undefeated rinks and one rink that has won its last three games straight. The powerful rinks of Trystan Smallacombe and the Jones boy should be able to take it up to any PowerHouse rink and win. They are good enough to do this. However if these rinks lose, Cambridge will lose. The main problem is if they win Cambridge can still lose the game.
Last week the Brian Katunarich led rink had a poor day (not all players) and won handsomely. A couple of games back they were extremely good in a high standard game and lost in a photo finish.
If the rink can produce that effort, it is quite possible they can win for the knights .
The PowerHouse have been the dominant side in the competition so far and their stars Dennis Katunarich, who has not lost a game this season and Robbie Ball have been in close to their best form in the past few weeks.
The John Slavich led rink continues to power on and has a 4/1 + 26 to be the leading rink at the club.They will be very hard to beat in this game
There is no doubt that this is the challenge that the PowerHouse are looking for and they will make the focus in this game not only to win but send the Jones Boy and Trystan Smallacombe rinks back into the club house without a point
There is another interesting possibility and that is Dennis Katunarich might draw brother Brian.
6/2
WANNEROO EXPRESS v OSBORNE PARK SAINTS
C. Adams (sk) W. Heldt, M.Hulbert, P.Potts
G. Ellis (sk), R. Humphreyson, P. Knight,S.Wright
N.Stevens (sk), Ron Bates, J.Carter, Russ Bates.
S.Davies(sk), T.Alden,D.Griffin,L.Johnson
-----------------------Versus
G. Caffell, D. Rankin, P. Ker, J. Coleman.
B. Galloway. G. Evans, G. Nicol, F. DiGuiseppe
D. Trewhella, P. Caffell, Daniel Guelfi, D. Adams.
J. Goddard, I., Payne, G. King, D. Appleton.
Wanneroo were all at sea on the carpet at Sth Perth last week should have no such problems on their own grass.
One noticeable stat about the Express is they have played 5 games and won on only 7.5 rinks yet occupy 6th place on 19.5 points, boy ! that is good economy, it must be remembered that Wanneroo have played the harder teams in the competition. And this game against the Saints is also a hard task for them.
Neville Steven's rink got taken to the cleaners last week against Sth Perth Millers in difficult windy conditions will be looking to comeback to their previous form.
Osborne Park have won 12 rinks and are in 5th place on 20 points.
Osborne Park Saints have been very close to winning three of their last three games for a combined losing tally of 14 shots. It shows how important it is to win these close games and it is almost a must they win tomorrow. A loss would be a huge setback to make the final three places available to the rest of the competition
Daniel Trewhella and Gary Caffell continue to be the rinks that are leading the way for Osborne Park, one might feel that if they get beaten maybe the club will lose
Bill Galloway's rink have lost their past two game since defeating the then leading rink in the competition John Slavich. Word is the rink has been playing well with out winning
John Goddard's well balanced rink haven't been able to bring up a victory in their past two games must start to win soon. Of course it will not be an easy task at Wanneroo.
I Dont know of any changes to the Saints team
The overall strength of the Saints should see them prevail
6/2
---Sth PERTH MILLERS v MELVILLE MAGIC
C. Girvan
C. Fleay
S. Hughes
N. Briely
----------------------versus
----------------
K. Pride (sk), Max Petrich Troy Kinnane ,T. Antonio
R. Bresland.(sk)G. White,F. Carbone J Cunningham
Nic Reagan (sk) S. Lunn, T. Percival M.Hughes
Scott Walker(sk) B. Bandy,Reg Neindorf, D. Stewart
Sth Perth Millers would be over the moon with their great win last week and rightly so. They should be too good on their carpet
There are two rinks, those of Nick Reagan and Scott Walker who have done best for the Millers, while there have been changes aplenty for Ken Pride's rink (who won his first game last week) in an endeavour to find balance, we will have to wait for coming games to see if this has been achieved.
Ross Bresland's rink also is one we will have to wait and see if they have struck the right formula to be a force
.
A resurgent Melville showed their best form for the season when they almost toppled the Mean Machine Cockburn. They have the very much in form skipper Cameron Girvan and his rink being the main force at Melville and they should have no fears for any Sth Perth rink.
Steve Hughes who along with his rink have been terrific for the Magic and certainly pose another threat to the Millers and can see no reason they cant break thru for their first win
Neville Briely has plenty to smile after last week
--------------
. 
Another highlite last week was the rink of Neville Briely who put in a great performance to push the well performed Matt Kurta rink all the way. If Neville's rink can continue with performances like this it will great for Melville and the competition
7/1
-----KALAMUNDA v VICTORIA PARK REDS
N. Payne (sk) S. O`Neil, R. Hutchison, R Pringle
B. Brandsma (sk), J. Rollnik, T. Nattalotto R.Payne
N. Griffin (sk)B. Tie, M. Clancy, P. Nattalotto
M. Biglin (sk) F. Anderson, J. Wardrop, M. DoutHIE
--------------------VERSUS
G. Wishart(sk), T. Mitchell, D. Florence , G. Hiskens
R. Hughes (sk), E.Martin, J. Finlay, G. Quann
R. Butler (sk, K. Beaglehole, S.Knott.G. Faulkner
J. Mitchell (sk), C. McNeil, S. Holt, D. Patterson
Kalamunda lost to the PowerHouse as we expected last week, however it was good to see the rink of Neil Payne come home with a point against the competition leaders while the Mitch Biglin rink have shown they are the real deal with a good performance to lose by only 5 shots against John Slavich's rink
The Kalamunda crew will face a strong challenge from the Reds, however there is too much inconsistency to be able to have confidence that they can win
Victoria Park won a very tight contest last week and after the rink changes they had for last weeks game we will see them getting better, and there is still room for improvement for the club, they haven't found their best combinations just yet but are not far away from doing so
6/2
---COCKBURN ROOSTER v BEDFORD BULLS
S. Srhoy(sk), N. Fitzgerald,I. Jakovich, S. Vassalio
D. Brown(sk) L. Richardson, M. Zusman, P. Novak
L. Strahan(sk) G.Carberry, S.Cerff, J. Galipo
M. Kurta(sk), G. Carberry, M. Sokol, J. Ravilich
------------------------versus
C. Graybrook(sk) J. Gupanis , P. Healy, N. Watson
S. Bainbridge(sk) S. Rushforth, K. Burke, A.Mayer
Paul. Hunter (sk),N. Minchin , D. Scott, P. Hunter,
B. Fullagar (sk), B. Donovan, B. Radford, J. Carlsen
Changes for Cockburn are Mike Zusman moving from three for Matt Kurta now playing two for Daniel Brown. Gary Carberry back, Johnny Ravilich playing lead for Matt Kurta, Steve West dropped.
Cockburn will carry to many guns for the Bulls in this game. While it true the Roosters are in third place they have not been convincing to me and are not like the great Cockburn sides of the past. It is not happening for them like it used to happen.
The changes might be the way to go to get a bit more grunt in the front end for the Roosters.
Lance Strahan and his rink continue to shine and is the leading rink by a touch from Matt Kurta's rink will be the main thrust of any victory for the Roosters.
Bedford were very disappointing last week and will be looking to rebound. Unfortunately playing Cockburn at Cockburn has yielded poor results over many years for the Bulls. Victory seems remote as ever down there for the Bulls
7/1
