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RING ERRON MARTIN 9274 3333
January 8, 2009
ROUND NINE
A round of opportunity for sides to inch closer to grabbing a place in the four later in the season or we might see a greater divide making it it very hard for some clubs to qualify for the finals.
Osborne Pk Saints have taken all before them since round three have an important test ahead of them in their game against the Doubleview PowerHouse if mooted changes take place who have been battling for much of this first round. A loss in this game for the PowerHouse will make it very hard for them to make the finals.
Kalamunda have taken care of business against the bottom three sides now need to push Cockburn out of the picture to climb the ladder, take on a resurgent Cockburn Roosters 16 who will be on their guard and needing to win this game to have a chance of getting the vacant 4th place for the finals
Sth Perth Millers have exceeded all expectations to be 6 wins and 2 losses after the first 8 rounds will be keen to put some space between themselves and the Wanneroo Express on the Premiership ladder.
Wanneroo have an opportunity to keep themselves in the race for a spot in the finals need to lift a gear or two
and use the home ground advantage which they have not been doing, and have been getting wiped out in their last two games at home.
Cambridge Knights have been woeful in their last two games will need to take a deep breath and look hard at what is going wrong.
They host the Yokine Doggies who have lost their way in this competition with some dismal performances in games where they had every opportunity to impress.
Victoria Park have lost just one game this year
play the Dalkeith Silvertails at home. Most would expect a Reds victory
Neil Payne (Kalamunda) is vitally interested in the result of this bowl in a recent game at Osborne Pk while David Rankin looks quite relaxed looking on
Neil Payne has been getting good results this season He and his rink are leading the way for the Tigers.
WANNEROO EXPRESS v Sth PERTH MILLERS
Adams (sk), R.Axford, D. Moore, P.Pott's
T. Alden (sk), R.Bate's, N. Costello, M. Hulbert
R. Humphryson(sk), P.Knight, G.Adamini, H.Ward
S.Davies(sk), D.Triffit, G.Adamini, D.Griffin
-------------------------versus
R. Bresland(sk), B. Bandy, D. Bandy S.Kelly
M.Elull(sk), F. Carbone, M.Trojack, M. Hughes
S. Walker (sk), K. Pride,G. Reagan , Lyons
N. Reagan (sk) S. Lunn, S. Hamilton, G. Pauling
Wanneroo are looking to reverse the losing trend at home
that has been in play for the past two games. A win here will see them end the first round in a better position than what was predicted for them at the start of the season, a loss is almost certain to see them slide out of the top four.
Sth Perth Millers have confounded the critics to be in a great position losing only to OP and VP. They have withstood all the pressures to date and have been impressive doing it.
This game is a further test to see if the carpet kings can play away from home remembering
they have played on two grass greens only so far this season, this will be the third time they have gone to battle on a grass green.
There have been changes to the Express 16, Perhaps a little overdue. Ron Bates has handed in his skippers role and will play three for new skip Ted Alden. As they say in the classics; a change is as good as a holiday
The Wanneroo Express won their last game against the Dalkeith Sivertails and a lot of the credit for that win was due to Phil Potts who from all reports played a blinder to give his rink (Skippered by Clive Adams) a great start which in turn led to a massive victory for the rink and for Wanneroo.
Reg Humphryson has 2 wins from 2 starts as a skip and his previous stints in the skippers role has shown that he is more than capable
of handling the role.
Stein Davies rink runs hot and cold, if the rink wins by 15 shots it is no surprise and the same thoughts for a loss. He has a new third, D. Triffit who has replaced Geoff Ellis who will not play for the remainder of the season.
Sth Perth Millers are cruising along nicely with all rinks putting in against the PowerHouse
to record an impressive victory. Big news for the Millers was the impressive win by Nick Reagan's rink and they will be hoping this rink has turned the corner which will make the Millers all that much harder to beat.
The Millers will find playing at Wanneroo is different and will have to very focused if they are to win.
As I write this preview the poll we are running shows the visitors having Wanneroo a smidge in front
6/2
D/VIEW POWERHOUSE v OSBORNE PK SAINTS
D. Trewhella (sk) ,R. Dempsey, A. Delaporte, P. Ker,
J. Slavich (sk) C. Slavich, R. Barns, C. Tunstall
P. Buller (sk), D. Katunarich, L. Thorn, J. Bausor
K. McIlroy (sk) B. Urquhart , M. Mitchell, G. Nelson
-----------------------versus
G. Caffell (sk),G. Evans, G. King, G. Nicol,
K.Pickering(sk)C. Fleay, DiGuiseppe,R.Couper
D. Rankin (sk),P. Caffell,R.Lawrence, J. Coleman
J.Goddard(sk)P.Pendergast,B.Galloway,D.Appleton
Osborne Park have exceeded their wildest wishes so far after losing 3 key players. They are on top of the ladder after meeting all challenges and they are playing an irresistible brand of bowls. All players are pitching in to help keep the momentum going forward.
The continued great form of David Rankin and John Goddard's rink has been a boon for the Saints while skipper Kevin Pickering has been a more than handy recruit.
7/1
KALAMUNDA TIGERS v COCKBURN ROOSTERS
N Payne, V Beckley, R Pringle, P Natallotto.
B Brandsma, F Anderson, E. Sydenham, P Coyle,
N Griffin, R Eddy, J Morss, T Della.
M Biglin, S O'Neil, T. Price, J Wardrop
-------------------------versus
G. Carberry(sk), S. Cerff, J. Trewhella, S. West
S. Srhoy(sk), G. Catterick , M. Sokol, M. Muslin
D. Brown(sk),K. Cousins,W. Tepania ,, M. Trewhella
M. Zusman (sk), S. Perica J. Galipo, Perry Sardelic
An important game for both clubs. Kalamunda Tigers wanting the progress up the ladder and Cockburn Rooster won't want to stumble here after a 3 straight wins.(2 wins + 1 draw)
Kalamunda have shown up to this stage of the season they are a better 16 than Yokine or Dalkeith and have already beaten the Doubleview PowerHouse who are placed just above them on the ladder.
Kalamunda have shown in the past they can go with Cockburn having beaten them twice in the last two seasons.
The strength of Kalamunda is fairly evenly spread over the four rinks when we look at the skippers stat sheet
however it also shows that Kalamunda can be very erratic with sides not just getting beaten, but taken to the cleaners well and truly and this is holding the Tigers back somewhat.
Over the xmas period many Kalamunda Tigers showed out in the State Fours so we could expect them to be
in top form this game, but there is one glaring fact and that is the Tigers can't win at home so far this season. Their 3 wins have been won away from home.
Cockburn have come back from the dead and buried to win their last three games (one was a draw) and now once again command respect as a genuine final four prospect.
The lift in performance of the Steve Srhoy led rink has helped Cockburn get back on their merry way
Gary Carberry who played magnificently in the State Fours has his rink going well having won their last two games While Mike Zusman is doing a great job since taking over the skippers role.
The form of Cockburn Roosters is hard to go past on their last three games and suggests they will win this vitally important encounter.
6/2
CAMBRIDGE KNIGHTS v YOKINE DOGGIES
T. Smallacombe (sk)N. Lewis, S. Rushforth, B. Kiely
The Jones Boy (sk) , A. Heal,T. Walsh, R. Bolton.
P. Harris (sk), C. Lander,R. Stockton, W. Maher
D. Opie (sk),M. McGann, B. Katunarich, G. Kane
-------------------------versus
R. Heaton,(sk) , Farrell, Sloan, Coffey
S. Edmonds (sk) J. Carter, I.Coghill, P. Turpin
E. Dodd(sk) A. Davis, M. Lemos, J. Lorencs
A. Durrant(sk), D.Kellond, B. Donovan, Hickman
Where to for both these sides. Both were big losers in their last games.
Cambridge were given a reminder from Osborne Park Saints how far away they are from being a top side, and also the standard you have to play at if you want to be the best 16 in W.A.
The Cambridge 16 have some way to go if they are to be taken seriously as a flag winner, they do appear to be a final four contender but improvement is definitely needed
Yokine were let down badly by Scotty Edmonds rink when they lost a spectacular two 8's in succession followed by two successive 4's, going from 8/8 to be 8/32 within the space of 4 ends. At Premier League level this is unheard of . They have left the side as is for this game.
Rod Heaton's rink is going from strength to strength and has made up ground since their disastrous start.
Eddy Dodd' s rink have won only the two games but the rink has been super competitive, losing two of their games on the last bowl of the day and another by 2 shots to be the best rink at Yokine .
Jamie O`Keefe's rink have won 3 games and seem to be off the pace a little. This week Jamie O`Keefe is not available for selection due to family commitments and Adrian Durrant will take over the skippers role. If Adrian can play to the very high standard he presented at Osborne Park the rink will go close to winning.
Cambridge did well on two rinks in their last game and two of them got clobbered. Obviously Pieter Harris and his rink are capable of better than they presented on good grass at Osborne Pk and will be looking for a better performance this week.
It was all over by the time it got to be Trystan Smallacombe's turn to bowl in their game against John Goddard, it was a day of not enough close bowls too many drives missed.
His rink will really have to lift their game, the stat sheet shows a miserable 2 wins -20 shots from 8 games..
I would favour Cambridge to bounce back against the second bottom side and more so because of the home ground advantage.
7/1
VICTORIA PARK REDS vD/KEITH SILVERTAILS
G. Wishart(sk), T. Mitchell, C. Hayes, G. Hiskens
R. Hughes (sk),S. Bainbridge, C. Hayes, G. Quann
R. Butler (sk), S.Knott. J. Jaworski, G. Faulkner
A. Provost(sk), J. Mitchell, C. McNeil, D. Patterson
------------------------versus
M. Krajancic(sk)J.Morgan,P. Maynard,R.MacKenzie
J. McIntosh (sk), M. Lindsay, J. O`Meehan, V. Colley
L.Richardson(sk).T. Skoric, J. Brown, J.McCormack
T.Williams(sk),V.SantostefanoR.Donald,R.Mitchell
State skipper Russell Hughes has been a great player for the Victoria Park Reds over many years was in great form in the State Fours
Victoria Park have been beaten only once this season will be far to good for the Silvertails.
Anthony Provost and Russell Hughes are the two best bowlers at Victoria Park and their rinks are the reason for VP's position on the ladder.
The Rink of Rhett Butler doesn't have a good stat sheet to show for their efforts this season
had a close game against Cockburn and just maybe they have turned the corner.
The Dalkeith Silvertails are certainties to be relegated have only 9 rink wins for the season out of a possible 32 and all skippers stat sheet shows they are in the red on their shot aggregate generally play better away from the green green grass of home.
The major interest in his game will be who ever draws Marko Krajancic. Marko and his side have given a very good contest
in their games this season and Marko himself has been the standout player this season for the Silvertails.
7/1
