---------------------THE OBSERVER-----------------
April 1, 2009
Mosman Park have achieved promotion to Premier League, however their loss to Stirling at home would have been disappointing.
Stirling’s victory enabled them to finish 2nd and give them a double chance in the finals that will be played at Mosman Park.
Stirling, minus Mark Pasalich are now favourites to gain promotion ahead of Morley, into the Premier League.
North Beach 2nd Red
division were second on the ladder and 1 point behind Stirling, needed to win their last game of the year to gain top spot and automatic entry back into 1st Div. Blue.
With a big 8-0 win, their first of the year, over 5th place Warwick, The Beach gave themselves a chance. Stirling could only manage 6 points at home against Doubleview which gave North Beach top spot and promotion.
With their greens closed for most of the year and the majority of their home games played at Sorrento this was a tremendous result for the club.
During the off season North Beach will be putting in an artificial surface and all looks bright for 2010.
Was it a case of history repeating itself for the Victoria Park Premier League side in the last game of the season against Cockburn, though for different reasons ?
A few years ago Victoria Park were beaten by the then bottom side Safety Bay, who had not won a game coming into the last game of that season.
The Park were odds on to win that game and save themselves from relegation but lost and were demoted from the Premier League for the first time in their history
In what should have been an easy victory for them at home last Sunday to Cockburn, they were badly beaten and lost their opportunity for the double chance.
Osborne Park White side are in the finals, illustrating the depth of that club. Thornlie finished well and saved their own bacon, whilst assigning Bedford into Blue where they will be joined by Melville, Hilton Park and Leeming.
Melville ended with some glory defeating Morley on their greens and making promotion for Morley more difficult from 3rd place.
Blue North saw Bassendean do a Mosman Park and also lose their final game in Blue before their promotion to White.
Sorrento’s thrashing of Bassendean saw them finish 1 point ahead of Cambridge and South Perth and earn the right to host the promotion play-offs.
South Perth’s 3 shot loss to Doubleview denied them the opportunity to finish 2nd, however Doubleview’s number two side are into 2nd division next season.
It looks like another Doubleview V Osborne Park grand final in One Red making it three in a row if it eventuates.
Are the other clubs in the premier League making up ground on the these two clubs. The short answer is no!
Doubleview’s second sides demotion from 1 Blue, as also happened to Cockburn, has connotations for next season in comparison with Osborne Park, Victoria Park, South Perth, Wanneroo and Cambridge, who will all have the advantage of a back up to the Premier side by the presence of another 1st division to draw upon.
Doubleview One Red have won their last 8 games to make it to the second semi. They were written off by most in the know at one stage.
This is a comeback to be acknowledged, the View came back from 8th position on the ladder at the end of the 10th round, from that point on they never lost a game and will now play in the second semi final and would favourites to win the Grand Final if I was a bookie.
Gosnells 1 Blue South 2 shot loss but 3 rink wins enabled them to avoid demotion by 1½ points ahead of Mt Pleasant who only recorded ½ point playing home to Manning.
Gosnells stood tall when it was most needed, their big moment late in the season was their win against second placed Victoria Park
at Victoria Park, from then on it was all go for the Gosnells players.
The top finishing 2nd division teams headed for Blue are North Beach, Thornlie, Midland Morrison and Safety Bay who have all been there before, however the match committee will be severely tested as this will put two Safety Bay teams in Blue.
However I remember that Osborne Park had two blue sides last season, Their best 1 Blue side was sent to play in Blue South and won promotion to One White
Those teams hosting the promotion play-offs and favoured for Blue are Stirling, Hollywood Subiaco, Yokine and Warnboro.
Wanneroo One Red will be licking their wounds after what should have been an easy victory.
How could they have lost to the bottom side Dalkeith ? A whole season down the drain
It was a good thing to see the bottom sides playing their part in One Red to make life difficult for the other sides trying to make the final four.
That is one of the good things about sport, nothing is ever absolutely certain when a ball is used (bowl)
One of the more interesting results of the season came in 7 white where opponents South Perth and Mills Park both forfeited.
The honour for top point scorer of the season goes to the Thornlie 2 White with 120½ points. With three 2nd division teams, they certainly had plenty of players to choose from.
One team up to Blue, one remaining in 2nd Division and the other back to 3rd Division should see Thornlie doing a little less traveling.
Their 1 White just avoided demotion, however another 1st Division next season should help.
Enjoyed listening to the State Sides broadcast and one message coming through loud and clear was the need for an experienced ‘motivator’ to be available to get the best out of the team.
It is an old saying that people at the top level shouldn't’t need any motivation but they can gain benefit from a level headed experienced competitor giving them advice.
If we are to believe the commentary team who did the broadcast of the Sides Series then Thomas Mitchell was a certain winner of the Alan Eddy Medal.
Other West Aussie's who attended the carnival I have spoken to felt the same. Interviews by Mike Zusman with players from other States were full of praise for Tom's performance in games played against them.
I suppose the question is, do we really need to have a best player medal, there is too much variation and interpretation with players voting for one and other.
Perhaps a best rink medal would at least make it clear cut and the players from that rink would each receive an Alan Eddy medal
It was generally agreed the Men’s fixturing turned out to be a shambles for the Premier League over the last few rounds and must be avoided in future.
The ladies also had a round disrupted due to State dispensation and three games were re-scheduled, all on different days.
One game was cancelled due to temperature forecast of 37 degrees on the day and 3 points awarded to each team as for a drawn game.
Fortunately this had no direct effect on promotions or demotions however a problem could have easily arisen under these circumstances.
In Division 2 White, Hollywood Subi are not hosting the promotion play offs. they are being held at the Carlisle Lathlain club.
The top four teams in the Ladies Premier League playing for the pennant next week are
Mosman Park (71), Manning (69 1/2), Yokine (63) and Osborne Park (61)
