Sorell & Rosny advance, who will be King of the North? (or Queen)
After Burnie & Latrobe had qualified from the North West Coast, it would be Rosny Park and Sorell that would advance from the South. There were some great battles at the Howrah Bowls Centre but the Rosny Park team of Rick Ormerod, Mick Sweeney & Lee Schraner outlasted the teams in their section, whilst Sorell, who play in Division 1, defeated Beltana in the last match of the night via a tiebreaker. The team was Leona Smith, Bill Butler and Simon Butler, who used their knowledge of the indoor centre very well and simply outplayed their opponent throughout the night. To see all the score from the South head to;
https://sportsdesq.sportstg.com/portal/index.cfm?fuseaction=competition&CompetitionID=17343&OrgID=16266#draw
You can also see a live stream of the final two matches Sorell vs Beltana & Rosny Park vs Buckingham on Facebook via the following link;
https://www.facebook.com/groups/270124123080721/ (You may need to scroll down the page to find the video).
Now the attention turns to the North of the state. Who will be the last two teams to qualify for the State Finals? Let’s have a look at the four quarters of the draw and see if I can predict who might be playing who in the last two games of the night.
The North Launceston team looks very strong to be the first semi-finalist but have two teams standing in their way. Cosgrove Park will be their first opposition followed by Westbury if they are successful but I’d say the team of Brodie Baker, Andrew Whitmore, Jarrod Howard & Wayne Ogden will prove to be too strong.
Their opponents don’t seem to be as clear cut with the toughest section of the draw seeing Longford play East Launceston & Invermay play Trevallyn. The Longford team have named 6 quality players but may struggle to fit them all in on the night, so the combination they settle on could be key. Interestingly their opponents, East Launceston also named 6 players, but seeing as though Sam Springer names himself twice, he could be playing 4 of the 6 bowls. This East team features Springers, Bowermans and only 1 Lewis but I think Longford will sneak over the line. Invermay will feature new players Gene Ayton & Candice Hodgetts who will be joined by Kim Saunders. They take on the Appleyards and Rae Simpson which should prove to be a very even battle. Will probably come down to a tiebreaker with Trevallyn just getting over the line. I think Longford will then be the team to take on North Launceston.
In the bottom half of the draw, a Southern team, who didn’t play in the Southern qualifying, Dover RSL are travelling up to take on an Invermay team featuring World Champion Rebecca Van Asch. The Dover RSL boys will thrive on the challenge but will need to be at the top of their game if they want to win. Maybe some South vs North bias from me, but I’ll say the Dover boys of Allan, Carver & Mazur can get the win.
The final quarter of the draw sees Trevallyn go in as very strong favourites. The Sims’ are joined by Simon Morrison and currently have the Bye before facing the winner of the West Launceston and Westbury battle. Whichever club gets through will have the advantage of having played a fair few bowls on the surface before taking on the big guns but I think Trevallyn will be too strong for whoever advances.
That leaves us with Longford vs North Launceston & Dover RSL vs Trevallyn. If the cards do fall this way, it will prove to be 2 cracking matches. My prediction will be North Launceston & Trevallyn qualify but with the BPL Cup format being so cut throat all teams will need to ensure they don’t suffer a short loss in concentration. When you call your Power Play will be crucial and stopping your opponents winning their Power Play can often be the key to success.
Good luck to all teams playing and if you’re not, get along to the Kings Meadows Indoor Centre to see some great bowls being played!
By David Genford
*Please note, some Byes may be eliminated due to late entries, current draw accurate at time of article*
Edit – My apologies to the East Launceston team starring Rob McMullen, Adam Gurr, Peter Zoon & Victor Goss and the Kings Meadows teams featuring Peter Marincic, Wendy & Dennis Page, Tony Gurr & John Borg. The winner of this match plays the winner of the Dover RSL/Invermay matchup. I think East will be too strong in the first round, which would see Rowdy McMullen face his old club Dover RSL. I’d fancy East to win that one too but I’ll stick with my overall pick of Trevallyn to win the bottom half of the section.
