What a game we had at Basso where South Perth had them pinned against the ropes & were swinging wildly looking for the knockout punch & got it late on but only for the Lions to somehow rise for the 10 count & dealt a fatal last bowl to save the game & the Agg.....brilliant & very hard fought contest by both teams.
The Lions are now sitting very nicely in 5th with a fair distance to real trouble in 8th but isn't it super tight for that horrid 7th spot. From 5th to 7th there's 1.5pts separating 3 teams & we can't see this changing as it surely will be an absolute dog fight for all 3 teams to stay out of that position. There's a few 16pt games still left between those 3 teams so very interesting to see what happens in those games.
The Lions started well against the Miller but never really got the run on them & by half way suddenly South Perth were up on the Agg & the sense of game on was present for the 2nd half. And this only built & built after each end as Millers covered that lead & started to extend it slightly near the end. This was most evident with Dinnison v Havercroft where the Millers just kept the foot on the gas & didn't look back in the 2nd half as they went on a dizzy 10 end winning run to give the Agg a real chance. As much as the front ends try, losing 10 in a row probably sits more on the back end to execute those conversations. Front ends were pretty even but edged by South Perth (McDonnell/Percival) but the real damage was done on by the skippers where Dinnison just couldn't get the conversion where Havercroft nailed everything in sight to record an important 13shot victory.
Rocket had Kelly in another great contest where it was neck & neck for most of the day but the Millers pulled the difference on the last end grabbing the minimum win by 1 shot. Basso fired back with a strong O'Sullivan side against a very experienced McRae rink where they cruised to an 8 shot victory & always looked in relative control all day. And to bring it home for the Lions was Joe Krstic. Now I could say Krstic's rink but the reality was it was simply Joe, from the first end to the last cracking drive into the ditch, he nailed everything all day & rolled back the years. Not to take away from Durrant's side as they probably felt they should of got more out of this game but Durrant & Krstic had a cracking battle all day which was a credit to both skippers. This was the last rink on the last end where Millers were holding game by 1 shot before the end started. Millers started by holding 1 shot for game on the front end, then Basso sat them out holding for a drawn game, then Santostefano played a depth trail to give Millers 2 shots & the Agg by 3, then Krstic plays an upshot, grabs the kitty clean & plum into the ditch for 2 which gives them a 1 shot victory. Durrant missed the last bowl to cut the damage back to 1 & salvage a draw but unfortunately just missed after playing superb all day.
Real Finals type bowls by 2 teams giving it their all, while played in great spirit, so credit to all.

What an incredible performance by Warwick to come to a tough venue & pickup a huge 7pts while given the Kats another shock home defeat. So that's only 2 home wins for the Kats this season which seems incredible & certainly puts them in a pickle & with a tricky few weeks ahead. The Magpies were quietly confident during the week as they know they took them handy at home in R2 but what they felt was a better confidence booster was recalling the same game last year where they also went to the Kats to grab a huge 15shot win & beat them at home too by 12shots, so that's a tidy bit of wood (4-0) over the Kats.
Fewings hosted Ledingham & Brian's rink bounced back very well after the last few weeks to record a strong 6 shot victory over Fewings to start the bi day & get 1 point on the board. Knapp v Hill had a similar feel but Hill put the knife in late to push it out by 12 shots & really gave the upset some serious momentum. That's 2 in a row for Hill & now 3 from 10 for Knapp's side. Then it came to the rink that the Kats normally rely on for momentum & scoring & this is where Borkowski had wrapped Yates up by 2 shots in a huge win & if any rink was to get matched up then this is exactly what the Magpies needed was getting Borkowski on Yates. The 2 shot win was probably just the bonus as keeping that rink at home to such a low score was the real winner to give the other rinks a chance to capitalise. Kats had 71 on the scoreboard & did have 70 shots on the Saints loss but that's a serious effort as they averaged about 86shot per home game last year.
The valuable point for Kardinya came courtesy of Stokes v Post where they cruised out to a 10 shot win to get some black on the board but the damage was already done & Warwick head back up the freeway feeling a lot better about their next few weeks ahead & will need that momentum next week for Wanneroo at home.

Another Round, another Agg for the Swans as they travelled to the Roosters who needed a win at home but could only manage 1.5pts. Although in taking that 0.5pt, Sokol takes Lander's winning run to a close at 10 in a row but still leaves enough for an 18 game unbeaten record to be achieved. Unfortunately for Cockburn that's not 6 losses in a row & only 1 win from the last 10 games. With Warwick pulling away to 41pts, nearly 2 games ahead, you would now be thinking that the Roosters are in real trouble of automatic demotion or at best playoff chances to stay up.
It did start positive to the Roosters as Sokol played very well to keep Landers on a tight lease & only gave him 15shots all day, which I believe is his lowest score all season so congrats to the Sokol rink & Zusman back in for 3rd seemed to play the part very nicely. Unfortunately Brotherson stepping in as skipper didn't go as planned as Rixom had 3 Murrays in a hurry again, as they romped out to 30shots & won by 22 shots in the end.
The shining light for Cockburn was having Marevich back & it showed as they grabbed a very valuable 1pt against a solid Butler side who were unbeaten since R2. That's 6.5 from 8 over the last 8 Rounds for Joe as he cruised to an 8 shot victory. Loftus bounced back after that big loss last week & rolled Musulin by 11 shots & was pretty comfortable for most of the day.
Only 7 games left now for the Swans with 4 of them at home & 3 of those games against bottom sides, so even just winning those 3 games gives them about 100points which gets them back to PL in a hurry & in style. Although what they might need is a few more big wins as even though they are unbeaten they still don't have the highest home For scoring which you would expect against other teams who have lost maybe 3 games. Although playing Away they are averaging 92.8shots which is well above their average Home scoring which is very impressive.

We saw a savage performance by the Roo's this Round where they made a massive statement against the inform Saints by cruising to a 22 shot victory & picking up the FULL 8 pts against the 2nd placed side. We heard the Roo's were up for this one & didn't that show as everyone stepped up when required to put in a full team performance across all 4 rinks. This result isn't just significant for 1 White but now the 'live ladder' has the Roo's finishing 2nd by 1.5pts which mean whoever finishes 9th in PL could now get relegated. Now 3 of the top 4 teams do not have a PL team which means the bottom 2 in PL will be extra concerned now over the next few weeks.
Turra added to their winning ways v Carter in a tight game where they held on for a 2 shot victory to get the initial points on the board. That's a +40 for Turra's rink over the last 7 games where they are running a tidy 6 from 7. Wardy needed something big & they delivered in spades against one of the best rinks in 1 White. DiGiuseppe's side just couldn't maintain the bowls in the head as they struggled on the surface where the Ward crew played very well all day. Buchholz was impressive again for the Roo's against a very good Fleahy side & covered the margin by 2 shots in a hard fought win. Thats now a +39shots over 4 winning games on the trot for Buchholz side, very impressive. Denny settled in well early v Dewson & maintained the solid lead for most of the day, winning by 8 shots to grab the perfect score for the Roo's with the full perfect 8. That's 3 losses from 4 for Dewson & 2 in a row for DiGiuseppe which is not alarming but those show that the Saints can be beaten when you play like Wanneroo did but most know it's not that easy against a well balanced Saints side.

Morley came back to earth with a little thud after the River Rats ran through them for a 30 shot victory but they did grab 1 point which was the same as most of the others in the bottom 3 so from that viewpoint it still leaves them in the same situation which is good for them as they still get to play both teams on the run home. Rossmoyne now jump into a clear 2nd spot on the ladder while putting a 6.5pt spread on the Saints in 3rd which is pretty big at this stage & then there's 10pts to 3rd. Plenty to play for but considering the noticeable gap to the mid table teams it looks very possible that the River Rats will get a chance of Finals & maybe more.
Mitchell had it tough when he drew Gollan where the hot rink won very comfortably by 23 shots & that was close to the final Agg in the end. Sanders was the shining light v Petchell where they grabbed themselves a huge scalp by winning by 7 shots in a superb performance, so congrats to Jones/Hinchliffe/Lowry/Sanders. The few changes to that rink seems to working a treat.
Dawson v Jervies was a close affair with the Jervies rink just getting through on the last few ends by 3 shots to grab the victory. That's another well needed win for the Jervies side. Barker found it a little difficult against Lang's side where the Lang side ran out winners by 11 shots.
Thats 4 in a row for the River Rats & continues their best unbeaten run of the season so far. They have bottom side next week but then a tricky run with Sorrento & huge game v Osborne Park but could have a clean run home from there.