Onto the football
Div 1- Dummoyne picking up the draw and bonus point in a double points round against an under strength Waverley who still ran out 7 grades plus Newports deduction will be enough to keep them in Div 1 next year. They’ll finish 100 points clear of Newport and just clear Lindfield unless there’s some upsets.
Div 2- UNSW dropping the ball to an under strength Irish have opened the door to Petersham to not only jag the minor premiership in Barraclough but also the Club Championship. It will all come down to the final round but depending on the result next round Petersham could have it in the bag. The finals format for this division means 2nd place will come up against an unpredictable Briars who could beat anyone on there day.
Div 3- Hills have the club championships locked up even though they have 1 less team and the fact that Knox is 2nd despite having forfeited twice this year is a bad sign for this division. Same as above 1st Grade will come down to the last round with 2nd place up against a strong Hornsby who have pushed both sides recently. Hills and Knox are $1.01 favourites in Farrant and Nicholson assuming Knox get some players back after the break.
Div 4- Top 4 are pretty much locked in with Mac Uni in colts only needing a couple of bonus points to qualify and 2 out of 3 games remaining against teams below them. However Balmain are $1.01 favourites here. 1st grade is a 3 horse race and could go to anyone, but final positioning means 1 team will go out the back door in finals. Club Champs will come down to the Wakehurst Balmain match up next round.
Div 5- Hard to see Valley dropping the club champs after a strong performance against Redfield for double points. Epping refuses to go away and after an upset win vs Raptors they will be relying on Harlequins or Raptors dropping the last game and upsetting table topping Valley in the last round. 2nd Grade will likely see Canterbury take the minor premiership (and not winning a game in 1s all year). If Convicts choose to forfeit again in favour of playing Halligans (tactical forfeiting…
@Heavyd ) it’s likely Raptors will be the unlucky side to miss out.
Div 6- The question everyone wants to know is can The Emus keep the role going and qualify for the finals after back to back wins against a faltering Harbour they are in the box seat but a final round matchup against the undefeated Manly will be make or break. Unfortunately with a game in hand George’s River and Harbour are likely to finish over the top of them.
Joy Johnson- Not sure on the finals structure for this one. It it’s hard to see anyone beating Norths after a clinical win over Hornsby (insert comment about Shute Shield club playing in Subbies comp). Newport are a $1.01 favourites in the Blue comp. Hard to see how they were drawn in this comp when they were inaugural Premiers in this comp and they numbers of first time clubs in the Yellow comp.
Halligans- The quirkiness of this competition means that of the 4 teams below Colleagues 6th grade only 1 has played them during the season. Hills are in the box seat for the minor premiership with games booked in and Colleagues struggling for games. But give there 2 losses have come against teams in the top 5 there position may be biased by who they’ve played. Crazy that Barker hasn’t been able to find more games but it would be good to see Subbies run a 4 team finals series with these clubs or at the very least a top 2 shoot out.
