Pennant Round 1 Wrap Up
Men’s and women’s pennant kicked off this weekend with some jaw dropping results. In a 2016 men’s grand final replay, Weston Creek turned the tables on QRSLM defeating them 63 -45 (2-1). Whilst the Creek’s team was largely unchanged from 2016, only missing the two Phil’s (Crowe and Black) but with handy additions in Will Penny and Jeff Bradley, the QRSLM team was barely recognisable from the 2016 team that took home the flag. Missing from the 2016 QRSLM team were Andrew Howie (Gold Coast), Adam Jeffery, David and Brad Thomas, Hemi Palmer (Belconnen) and Adam Hart (?). Offseason pickups, however, in Jaidyn Cartledge, Robert Craven and Glenn Morton (all ex Tuggeranong) promise to replace some of the fire in the side.
Having said goodbye to Ashley White, Jeff Howarth and Chris Godwin (as well as the three QRSLM –bound players) and with Rob Kyle “resting”, many thought Tuggeranong would struggle to maintain grade 1 form. They picked up Glenn Freebody (joining brother Barry from Canberra), and City stalwart Alan Taylor, giving Canberra North a shocking start to their season. Norths, too, lost a couple of former grade 1’ers, with David Lindbeck returning to the Canberra fold, and good old Bert Sheppeard retiring from the premier grade. Final results Tuggeranong 75, Norths 43 (3-0).
Yass welcomed back to the fold former players Peter Fahey and Breeze Howard and with a couple of other new faces, had a huge win over the largely unchanged City side. Although David Hill’s rink got up by two shots, the other two were soundly defeated, the final score being 80-46 (2-1) in Yass’s favour.
Another surprising result was in the Belconnen vs Queanbeyan match. Most punters would have predicted that Belconnen, with their off season pickups, would be the team to beat, but dark horses Queanbeyan took some by surprise coming out winners, albeit by the merest one shot 59-58 (2-1). Queanbeyan may have been lucky to meet Belconnen before Brad Thomas (family commitments) and Hemi Palmer (injured) return!
Canberra had the bye, with the absence of Yowani in Grade 1 this year.
In grade 2, Queanbeyan had another one shot win over Canberra 56-55. Weston Creek had a close one over Belconnen 55-52 (1-2). Norths had the bye.
Grade 3 results saw Belconnen 67 up over City 50 (2-1), Yass 58 over Tuggeranong 53 (2-1) and QRSLM 77 had a big win over Weston Creek 36 (3-0).
Grade 4 winners were Yowani 69 over Tuggeranong 50 (2-1), Belconnen 60 over Canberra 46 (2.5-.5) and Queanbeyan 74 big winners over the Creekers 48 (2-1).
There was great excitement in rural Bungendore as their Grade 5 team had a home ground win over Belconnen 70-60 (2-1). In other games Tuggeranong 69 got up over Canberra Men’s and women’s pennant kicked off this weekend with some jaw dropping results. In a 2016 men’s grand final replay, Weston Creek turned the tables on QRSLM defeating them 63 -45 (2-1). Whilst the Creek’s team was largely unchanged from 2016, only missing the two Phil’s (Crowe and Black) but with handy additions in Will Penny and Jeff Bradley, the QRSLM team was barely recognisable from the 2016 team that took home the flag. Missing from the 2016 QRSLM team were Andrew Howie (Gold Coast), Adam Jeffery, David and Brad Thomas, Hemi Palmer (Belconnen) and Adam Hart (?). Offseason pickups, however, in Jaidyn Cartledge, Robert Craven and Glenn Morton (all ex Tuggeranong) promise to replace some of the fire in the side.
Having said goodbye to Ashley White, Jeff Howarth and Chris Godwin (as well as the three QRSLM –bound players) and with Rob Kyle “resting”, many thought Tuggeranong would struggle to maintain grade 1 form. They picked up Glenn Freebody (joining brother Barry from Canberra), and City stalwart Alan Taylor, giving Canberra North a shocking start to their season. Norths, too, lost a couple of former grade 1’ers, with David Lindbeck returning to the Canberra fold, and good old Bert Sheppeard retiring from the premier grade. Final results Tuggeranong 75, Norths 43 (3-0).
Yass welcomed back to the fold former players Peter Fahey and Breeze Howard and with a couple of other new faces, had a huge win over the largely unchanged City side. Although David Hill’s rink got up by two shots, the other two were soundly defeated, the final score being 80-46 (2-1) in Yass’s favour.
Another surprising result was in the Belconnen vs Queanbeyan match. Most punters would have predicted that Belconnen, with their off season pickups, would be the team to beat, but dark horses Queanbeyan took some by surprise coming out winners, albeit by the merest one shot 59-58 (2-1). Queanbeyan may have been lucky to meet Belconnen before Brad Thomas (family commitments) and Hemi Palmer (injured) return!
Canberra had the bye, with the absence of Yowani in Grade 1 this year.
In grade 2, Queanbeyan had another one shot win over Canberra 56-55. Weston Creek had a close one over Belconnen 55-52 (1-2). Norths had the bye.
Grade 3 results saw Belconnen 67 up over City 50 (2-1), Yass 58 over Tuggeranong 53 (2-1) and QRSLM 77 had a big win over Weston Creek 36 (3-0).
Grade 4 winners were Yowani 69 over Tuggeranong 50 (2-1), Belconnen 60 over Canberra 46 (2.5-.5) and Queanbeyan 74 big winners over the Creekers 48 (2-1).
There was great excitement in rural Bungendore as their Grade 5 team had a home ground win over Belconnen 70-60 (2-1). In other games Tuggeranong 69 got up over Canberra 47 (2-1), QRSLM 57 up over Norths 43 (1.5-1.5), Weston Creek 55 had a one shot victory over City 55 (2-1) and finally Yass 68 defeated Queanbeyan 50 despite going down on two rinks.
In the Women’s Grade, Norths had a ‘baptism of fire’ meeting the City powerhouse team in the first round, going down to them in both rinks, 18-72. Across the border, in the Queanbeyan local derby, QRSLM34 was not quite strong enough against Queanbeyan 45 (0-2). Weston Creek took one rink from Belconnen but went down overall 29-37.
(With thanks to Weston Creek and J Beaumont for images)
