February 23rd, 2008
Round 13
To see a preview of the Sth Perth Millers versus Cockburn Roosters click preview 13 on menu at right of screen
ROUND 14
Game of the round is Osborne Park playing Victoria Park in what should be a terrific game. Both sides were trounced by the PowerHouse over the past two weeks
Cambridge Knights who just got home against the bottom side Melville last week play second bottom side, the Bedford Bulls who have shown a little something in their last few games.
Kalamunda have a hard game ahead taking on the Doubleview PowerHouse who appear to unbeatable at the moment
Wanneroo Express host the Sth Perth Millers and must win to keep their very remote chance of making the finals alive
Cockburn need to win and could find the Melville Magic as much a handful as they did in the first round
delivery
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----ROUND FOURTEEN 23rd FEBRUARY 2008
----------------GAME OF THE ROUND
OSBORNE Pk SAINTS v VICTORIA PARK REDS
G. Caffell (sk), D. Rankin, G. Nicol,D.Adam .
J. Jaworski(sk) G. Evans, , F. DiGuiseppe, P. Ker
D. Trewhella (sk), P. Caffell, D. Guelfi, J. Coleman.
J. Goddard (sk) B. Galloway,G. King D. Appleton,
-------------------
-------------------------versus
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G. Wishart(sk), T. Mitchell, D. Florence , G. Hiskens
R. Hughes (sk), R. Gilbert, J. Finlay, G. Quann
R. Butler (sk), K. Beaglehole, S.Knott.G. Faulkner
J. Mitchell (sk), C. McNeil, E. Martin, D. Patterson
Osborne Park Saints would be licking their wounds after copping a good one from the PowerHouse.
This loss gives them to opportunity to reflect on their season so far. It does appear that the chemistry of last season is not there for the Saints. I feel certain that the side of last year would beat this current side. They had the passion, the skill and the will to play outstanding bowls, they were a team on a mission.
We are not saying the current Saints side are a poor side but something has to change after the PowerHouse sent them a message they have some way to go if they want to repeat the chance of playing in the Grand Final.
Good news for the Saints actually comes from the PowerHouse who said that Gary Caffell's rink were brilliant against Jon Sharps rink where they went down by just one shot 18/17 in one of the more outstanding game of bowls that are played from time to time.
James Jaworski's rink will have to lift after 6 games, they have 3/3 - 8 shots. Those who saw this brilliant young player well know that you write him off at your own peril and we here are not doing that. It is a 4 man rink and they are only just breaking even after 6 games.
John Goddard's rink are down on the stat sheet compared to last season when they were in great touch to help the Saints make the grand final. Last season his rink came home with a wthering burst to make sure of a place in the finals. Maybe this will occur again.
The rink of Daniell Trewhella can do no more than what they have acheived to this stage of the season 10/3 + 98 . Last season Daniel had 10/8 + 11 so we can see how important his rinks contribution has been for the Saints this season
Victoria Park have done well up to date but they like the Saints were well beaten by the PowerHouse, well I probably mean in their case, smashed. However in their first season back in the bigtime the Reds would be very happy with results up to date, they know that they are one of the better sides in the competition but lack depth and skill in comparison to the PowerHouse.
The other aspect for the Reds is they have a move or two that would give them that extra bite that might enable them to at least play in the Grand final.
Russell Hughes's rink copped a beauty from John Slavich's rink in their last game 7/33. To be honest Sherro cannot recall Russell Hughes ever having that scoreline against him.
The stat sheet shows Russell Hughes is the best Skip in Premier League over the past 3 seasons, he will be keen to see a reversal of that result.
Rooster Wishart went down bigtime against Bruce Urquhart and I suppose that will happen from time to time for all rinks. The rink needs to regroup in such a vital game.
6/2
-----CAMBRIDGE KNIGHTS v BEDFORD BULLS
T.Smallacombe (sk) N. Lewis,W. Maher, B. Kiely
The Jones Boy (sk) T. Walsh, N. Bolton, R. Bolton.
R. Stockton (sk), C. Lander,G. Kane, H. Christensen
B. Katunarich (sk) M. McGann, A. Heal ,C. McKenna
----------------------Versus
C. Graybrook(sk) B.Donovan, P. Healy, A. Mayer
S. Bainbridge(sk), N. Watson,K. Hough , P. Turpin
D. Scott(sk)N.Minchin J. Gupanis,J. Winship
S. Rushforth(sk)Paul Hunter, P. Hunter, R D’Souza
--------------------Nicky Lewis
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Nick Lewis has been an intergrel part of Trystan Smallacombe's rink and is enjoying a very succesful season playing in his favoured role as a three
After last week's narrow win against the Magic where they won by just 5 shots, the Knights will be singing a new song "Take me home Country Roads" Cambridge are very comfortable being back home at the Fort where they haven't suffered a loss to date and will be keen to keep such a record intact.
They have three solid rinks that have shown the way all season and it will be very hard for any Bedford rink to beat them.
This game is the last game that the Knights will play against sides outside the four apart from their last game home and away game and would be keen to make the most of it. Their next three games are going to be as tough as they will get, DV,VP,OP in that order.
The knights are now a settled side and we don't envisage any changes to their line up
Bedford would be very happy with their performances in recent games and do appear to have a new found enthusiasm that has been missing for much of the season. There is a lot of confidence in the camp because of the way they are traveling at the moment,
Bringing in new players has been a positive, John Winship and Barry Turpin have both shown they can mix it with anyone and gives Bedford hope for the future and we see a new addition to the side, Richard D’Souza who is a very promising player and plays his first ever game in the Premier League and is well worth a place in the side.
Can Bedford win? I would like to say yes but better sides than Bedford have come and gone without taking home the big end of the points at Fortess Cambridge
7/1
--KALAMUNDA v DOUBLEVIEW POWERHOUSE
N. Payne (sk) S. O`Neil, R. Hutchison, R Pringle
B.Brandsma(sk),M. Clancy P.Natalotto T.Natalotto
N. Griffin (sk)J. Rollnik , R. Payne , J. Morss
M. Biglin (sk) F. Anderson, J. Wardrop, M. Douthie
-------------------------Versus
J.Slavich(sk)K.McIroy,D. Slavich, A. Deleporte
D.Katunarich(sk),P. Buller,R. Dempsey, C.Tunstall
J. Sharp (sk),L. Thorn, R. Barns, M. Mitchell
B. Urquhart(sk), R. Ball, J. Bausor, C. Slavich
------------------Steve O`Neil
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Steve O`Neil down from the country to play his first season of Premier League for Kalamunda
One change for the PowerHouse is Boomer Gearing to One Blue and Aaron Delaporte to stay in the team for the rest of the season.
The PowerHouse will be too hard for Kalamunda to beat and the main interest in the game will be how much the PowerHouse will win by.
Over the past two games the PowerHouse have squashed their nearest rivals by considerable margins on good greens, word is Kalmunda hasn't got the best grass to play on.
Bruce Urquhart has been busy and what a great third he has to help things along in Robbie Ball who has every shot in the book at his disposal and is one of the best draw shots in the business. His front end players certainly know where the jack is and it is a great rink
Kalamunda who have beaten the PowerHouse on the odd occasion seem to have tailed off somewhat after looking promising earlier in the season.
Billy Brandsma had a win last week and his rink are usually hard to knock over while Neil Griffin's rink hasn't had the best of seasons.
Neil Payne's rink has trouble winning at home while Mitch Biglin's rink seem to have run their race but we are not under writing their endeavour.
8/0
---WANNEROO EXPRESS v Sth PERTH MILLERS
C. Adams (sk) N.Stevens, G.Cox, P.Potts
G. Ellis (sk), R. Humphreyson, P. Knight,S.Wright
Ron Bates(sk), P. Knight, S.Alden, S.Donohue.
S.Davies(sk), T.Alden,M.Hulbert,D Griffin
-------------------------Versus
R Bresland(sk), Antonio, F. Carbone, D. Stewart
S Walker,(sk) R Bandy, S Kelly, J Cunningham
Nic Reagan (sk) S. Lunn, T. Percival M.Hughes
G White (sk),K.Pride, N Rees, D Lyons
"Take the Last train to Clarkesville" as another song goes, applies to the Wanneroo Express. If the Express can win all their remanining games and things go wrong for sides above them well who knows !! a loss here is definetly curtins for season 2007/8
Their last game provided a surprise victory against Cockburn and as in the past Wanneroo seem to be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat when least expected.
At home and on grass the likes of the Wanneroo Wizard, Geoff Ellis, Stein Davies and Ron Bates will put everything into this game and would be favoured to take the honours.
The Wizard and his rink had their finest victory this season beating the highly rated Daniel Brown and his rink 26/12 While Stein Davies had a complete reversal of the previous weeks form to crush the life out of Matt Kurta's rink 34/ 8
Sth Perth Millers definetly seem to have tailed off will play Cockburn on Friday night at Sth Perth then front up again Saturday afternoon at Wanneroo. Their track record away from home is pretty poor and that is an area the club will have to improve on if it is to become a power in the Premier League.
Last week we saw Nick Reagans rink take a hammering 10/36 so it will be interesting to what the rink is made of on the rebound. I have a lot of faith in the rink to come good and show that last week was all wrong.
Ross Bresland's side can be hot and cold, if the hot side turns up it will increase the Millers chances
Geoff White hasn't done much wrong since is appointment as a skip is another who's rink could make life hard for Wanneroo. But as we have said previously, away from home the Millers are Lambs.
7/1
----COCKBURN ROOSTERS v MELVILLE MAGIC
S. Srhoy (sk),J. Galipo, D. Penman, S. Vassallo
D. Brown (sk) L. Richardson,, M. Sokol, P. Novak,
L. Strahan(sk) M. Kurta, J. Ravlich, M. Musulin
G. Carberry(sk), S.Cerff, M.Zusman S. West
----------------------versus
C. Girvan (sk) A Keating J Andrew Birch
C. Fleay(sk) R. Kennedy G. McCormack, G. Oakley
S. Hughes (sk), J. Hall, J. Spdaro. H. Mosford
N. Briely (sk), K. Cousins, R. Ireland, Murray.
Cockburn have been disappointing lately and there must be some change in direction. Very strange to see a rink as strong as that of Matt Kurta being smashed 34/8 and Daniel Brown's rink going down by 26/13 in such an important game against Wanneroo.
The loss against Wanneroo will prove to be costly for them but a loss here is the end of season 2007/8.
A bit of breathing space for Cockburn since that hiding but will play Sth Perth in a night game this Friday and that is no certainty, many sides have found how hard it is to win at the home of the Millers.
Melville did a great job last week against The Cambridge Knights failing by just 5 shots.
I haven't any idea what side represents Melville these days but what ever side they have presented it has been going very well and they almost won their game against The Cambridge Knights.
The way they are going they could be a problem for the Roosters bearing in mind the Magic lost by only 2 shots in the first round
Cameron Girvan's rink keeps on keeping on while Colin Fleay has beaten some goodies, beating Trystan Smallacombe was a great one to add to his tally wins this season.
A hilite could be a possible clash between Lance Strahan and Cameron Girvan
Depending on the result of the Sth Perth Millers versus Cockburn on friday evening I would select Cockburn to beat the Magic if they win the game against the Millers.
7/1
