Sport
15 May, 2026
Tie breakers and close encounters
The match at the RSL between the home side and the Farmers’ Arms One side had all the expectations one would expect from these two combinations.
ROUND three of the 2026 season of the Inter-Hotels Pool Competition was a complete contrast to the previous week with two of the matches being decided in tie-breakers and the final match also being a close encounter.
The match at the RSL between the home side and the Farmers’ Arms One side had all the expectations one would expect from these two combinations.
However the Diggers were behind the eight ball from the opening break, having had to replace two of their unavailable veterans, Sam Postlethwaite and Dave Russ, with players who were totally unfamiliar with the looming field of combat.
The match was even at the end of the first round after Diggers’ captain Mitch Phillips lost his opening frame to Ned Gorrie.
His teammate Kyle Postlethwaite had retaliated against Hayden Perry before the first of the replacements, Jarryd Kell, succumbed to Shane Cross.
It was left to the second of these, Daniel Needs, to showcase the prowess that netted him the 2023 David Harvey Shield, against Farmers’ skipper Leigh Watkins.
At the top of the second round, Ned ruthlessly eliminated Mitch, but Kyle quickly produced a command performance to send Hayden to join Mitch at the casualty clearing station.
Jarryd and Leigh each fought back to square their respective matches.
In the third round, Jarryd was to kick a goal against Shane while the Welsh wizard produced his magic wand against Daniel to have the match all square at the end of the singles contests.
The Diggers of Jarryd and Daniel were to take the first of the doubles against Ned and Shane however, after a controversial but fair decision according to the rules, the Farmers were awarded the second of the doubles thus propelling the match to a tiebreaker.
Whether this unfortunate occurrence had unsettled the Diggers or not is debatable but the combination of Leigh and Ned successfully bombed Mitch and Kyle to take the match by seven games to six.
The other tiebreaker was to occur at the Farmer’s Arms hotel when their number two side hosted the Sporting Club and the teams could not be separated at the end of the singles combats.
For the home side, Jack Hodges was to outplay Dayle Pitt then the Club’s Tim Wright was to retaliate against Luke Pole.
In the battle of the belles of the baize, Bianca Cannon and Cheyenne Vogler, Bianca was to succeed against Cheyenne.
However, Alayne Cunningham was unable to replicate Bianca’s triumph and fell before the cue of Jesse Cook. Jack Hodges and Luke Pole were to extend the Farmer’s proboscises to the fore when they won the opening doubles frame against Cheyenne and Dayle. Tim and Jesse were to return the contest to an even keel against Bianca and Alayne.
The Sporties continued on to win the tie-breaker and exit the Parisian end of town with the points by seven games to six.
Out at the north, where the verdant tinge is becoming more evident, the home derby of the Country Club teams took place. After the C1’s Steve Atkinson lost the opening frame against Harley Durward, they responded confidently with Dan Harken and Troy “Jeckle” Shields scoring against Will Jackson and Jake Male respectively whileDes “Heckle” Moulday opened his account against Grant Doyle.
The second round was to belong to the Twos apart from Jake who was to be their only failure, going down to Jeckle while Harley eliminated Steve.
Grant was handed the frame when Heckle, now nervously contemplating his beloved Magpies upcoming clash with Geelong, fouled on the black then eventually fell off his perch in the third round.
Will had also despatched Dan in the third round to give the Club Two a six games to four lead at the completion of the singles rounds and a share of the doubles saw them over the finish line by seven games to five.
Ladder
Country Club Two 183.3%
RSL 176.9%
Farmers’ Arms One 157.1%
Country Club One 150.0%
Sporting Club 59.1%
Farmers’ Arms Two 37.5%
Logan 31.3%
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