Down To The Wire: Final Week Sees Multiple Teams Within Reach of Season 1 Crown

The last round of fixtures in both divisions of open grade will be staged this week at the Leichhardt Park playing centre and plenty of interest will be focused on most of the matches as the premierships will be decided on the first team past the post system. With two teams currently tied in the top spot in both sections and a couple of others not far off the pace any surprise results could tip the scales.

The second division draw will provide most interest as only two weeks ago four sides were sharing the top place but with the single round remaining the combinations Chris Leitner and Hilton Kane and Pam Clarke and Jeffrey Jordan are now tied in the top spot while only one point in arrears the pairings of Warun Wilkinson and Oliver Wright and Julien Wright and Patricia Green will be ready to pounce on the leading contenders.

Another major point of interest will be that Leitner’s and Clarke’s outfits are down to play each other so effectively a ‘true final’ can be the situation with this match-up. However, both of these sides can be leap-frogged via a one-sided result from the matches involving Wilkinson’s and Julien Wright’s teams as the side with the most points at the conclusion of the competition wins the flag.      

In the top division the teams lead by Joel Coughlan and Matthew Pettett are sharing first place after many weeks of alterations to the leaderboard as the season has unfolded. The third placed outfit consisting of Dane Coughlan and Glen McDonald sit three points behind as things stand so it’s highly unlikely that the gold medal will be awarded to anyone other than one of the two sides currently sharing the lead.  

In the last round of fixtures there were some very good individual performances and quite a few of the players who returned impressive efforts were backing up from the annual Bundaberg Open Championships that were played out a few days earlier. Warun Wilkinson obviously kept his solid form going when he upsurged the tough plays of Geoff Geddes in a classic encounter 8-11, 14-12, 5-11, 11-9, 11-8. On the same table Oliver Wright also showed the benefits from the comp in Bundy when he put together some good points when pitted against the might of Geddes and then created a good win over the more experienced Helga Leitner over five long games.

Julien Wright, who also put in some competitive performances at Bundy, downed Hilton Kane in convincing fashion before going down to another veteran with more experience in Pam Clarke in a five-set battle that featured plenty of fine rallies.

Whilst fixtures in top grade and beginner junior coaching sessions go into recess during the school holiday break other activities at the local club will continue. Monday morning’s Bat and Chat session for over-fifties is proving to be quite popular with people looking for some moderate sporting exercise. The Wednesday morning practice session continues to attract solid attendance records while the Top Table competition on Thursday nights offers an opportunity for players to improve their skills as does the Saturday afternoon practice session. The Thursday afternoon junior session can easily cater for additional youngsters who are keen to try out the sport. All details of these activities are available on the Rocky club’s website and via Facebook.