Sport
13 August, 2026
Spot secured for Farmers in first final
Out in their home among the gumtrees, it looked as if an easy night was to be forthcoming for the home side when Jake Male eliminated Ben Pell at the top of the second round.
ROUND 16, the final round of the 2026 season of the Inter-Hotels Pool Competition, was played on Wednesday, August 5.
While there was considerable frivolity and a predictable result in the home derby of the night at the Farmers’ Arms Hotel, the celebrations were to transgress the bewitching hour when the boys from the Pub in the Scrub, embarking on their long trek homeward after their match with the Country Club Two, decided to deny Alayne an early retirement by calling in for “one for the road”.
Out in their home among the gumtrees, it looked as if an easy night was to be forthcoming for the home side when Jake Male eliminated Ben Pell at the top of the second round.
This would give the Rollers and Floggers a four games to one advantage.
Earlier, Will Jackson and Simon Elliott had opened their accounts against Stephen Rodger and Shaun McNaulty while Jacob Vanrenen had been the Avoca Foresters’ lone ranger, gunning down Grant Doyle.
The home side then suffered a hiatus at the midpoint of the second round as Stephen and Shaun rallied to square their matches against Will and Simon.
But Grant was to arrest their decline when he levelled his match with Jacob then Will and Simon advanced their team to an unassailable seven games to three lead by chaperoning Stephen and Rodger to the bar. Flushed with their contentment of impending victory they relaxed, thereby allowing the languishing Loganites to regroup.
Jacob closed out his match against Grant and they went on to obtain success in both of the doubles encounters.
They departed on their now-infamous trek homeward bound, which was to include their incursion upon the unsuspecting warriors and non-combatants in the Parisian quarter of town.
This left the minor premiers with a seven games to six victory.
They will next confront the RSL team at the Country Club in the Second-Semi Final with the winner of this match advancing to the Grand Final and the loser vanquished to the Preliminary Final.
The Country Club One team was also to be involved in a close contest when they visited the redoubt on the ridge to engage in combat with the Sporting Club combination.
It had been an even first round after the Sporties’ Mitch Glidden had opened his account against the Meanies veteran captain Paul Mullins.
Jesse Cook had overcome Des Moulday, who was still recuperating from the Magpies recent capitulation to the Cats.
However, Troy Shields and Dan Harkin had squared the ledger in their encounters with Dayle Pitt and Gerry Merrin.
The home side put their schnozzles to the fore when Mitch eliminated Paul at the top of second round.
But there were to be no further exultations for them as Dan accounted for Gerry and Des recovered sufficiently from his mental Magpie meanderings to demolish Jesse in three sets.
Unfortunately for Heckle, this mindset was not to continue into his partnership with Jeckle as they surrendered the opening doubles to Mitch and Gerry.
Paul and Dan were to follow suit against Dayle and Jesse to fall over the line by six games to five.
They will next play the Farmers’ Arms One at their hotel in the cut-throat first semi-final, the winners of which will progress to the preliminary final and the losers will be eliminated.
Any implications that the Farmers’ One team may tank in the home derby to allow their number Two team to relegate the Sporting Club side to the kitchen cutlery position were greeted with howls of denunciation and proved to be unfounded.
Ones’ Ned Gorrie, Geoff Watts, Hayden Perry and Shane Cross swept through the hapless Twos Jack Swanton, Bianca Cannon, Jack Hodges and Luke Pole respectively in the opening round.
Jack Swanton was to evoke a cessation to the carnage at the top of the second round when he levelled his encounter with Ned.
Luke was equally successful in his match against Shane while in between these frames Geoff and Hayden had retired Jack Hodges and Luke.
Ned and Hayden partnered up to take the first of the doubles against Jack Swanton and Alayne Cunningham,
But Geoff and Shane were to go under to Bianca and Luke as the Farmers Arms One finished the home-and-away season with the local bragging rights by nine games to three.
Ladder
Country Club Two 198.2
RSL 209.6
Country Club One 117.1
Farmers’ Arms One 132.9
Logan 83.1
Sporting Club 49.1
Farmers’ Arms Two 35.3
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