vs Thornlie at Thornlie

Talking point of the day:

Manning’s resident Welshman Nigel Rees drove down to the club from his new residence at the Old People’s Home in Salter Point (Also known as Dun Rootin), then drove himself to Thornlie, but while taking his coveted man bag with him, left his bowls bag at home, forcing him to bowl with Paul Smith’s bowls and Ken Jolly’s Fremantle Dockers towel, which he never looked at.

As Sir Alex Ferguson would say:

Has been noted and passed on to selectors for unprofessional conduct – Former Manning fines master Steve Withers will be consulted for comment and shaming.

Second-worst performance of the day:

Thornlie’s 3G network was down at the bar, and so we had to pay everything in cash.

It was like living in the ’70s…

Because who even uses 3G anymore?

Performance of rinks:

Quairading legend Billy Fraser’s country rink of Darryl Hudson (Dowerin) and Don Jones (Wongan Hills), even with Nigel playing with stolen bowls, were quite adequate first up, being level most of the game and eventually going down 15-21 against the Mark Separovich rink, the margin blowing out thanks to going down 4 shots on the final end chasing shots for a draw.

A performance you could work with and build on during the opening weeks of the midweek season, although in future we will make sure Nigel remembers to bring something other than his man bag during road trips.

The middle rink featured the returning Sam Perica against Mick Yates, and you could tell it had been a while since Sam played at Manning, because he wore a pennant shirt Manning hasn’t worn since 2021, but the man with more clubs than Greg Norman returned to Manning a winner as his rink of Ken Jolly, George Bradley Hogg and Joe Angel ran out the game well, going from 12-12 after 18 ends to winning 22-12, as the sheer quantity of quality bowls from all four players proved too much for Mick Yates to splatter across A Green.

Big welcome back to Sammy, and to Ken Jolly after a season away traversing the continent, and dishonourable mention to Brad for dogging the boys and leaving early, no doubt due to having to make some comment about Australia’s inevitable crapping on by South Africa at the Cricket World Cup.

The final Manning rink featured Man of Mukinbudin Paul Smith, Floppy Herbert, Mark Potente and JT against Thornlie’s settled Thursday rink of Eddie Gollan, Glyn Vaughan, John Thorn and Tony Williams, and Gollan was fresh off a big performance for WA in the Para Bowls National Championships (Semi Finalist in the B7/8 Singles), and back it up again as his bowling arm (Alternatively known as The Claw) sent down rockets and turned heads around at will, although his best bowl was a draw that caught the lip of the green and stayed in to turn 4 down into 1 up, after Smithy had drilled the jack into the ditch.

The ultimate difference between the teams was a decisive 11th end (The score was 8-7 Thornlie) when Vaughan whacked out JT’s bowl that was contending for shot, leaving Manning with FAITH (F*** All In The Head), and when Smithy couldn’t draw shot twice, it coulda woulda shoulda been 8 to Thornlie, but Eddie obviously felt sorry for Paul and sent his bowl 3 metres through to leave it at 7.

The final score being 22-14 the way of Thornlie, and across the board JT performed soundly as lead against his opposing manager Williams, as both players seemed to get a rise out of their little duel, Potente needed the run in his legs for his new club after crossing from Kalamunda and shouldn’t be judged too harshly, Floppy’s draw bowling was top draw material (At times), especially having to play as a back ender, and Smithy will most likely appreciate not having to skip when the top side is back at full strength..

Which is me getting arsed down to the seconds.

One final special mention: To Michellie Wooltorton (A new addition to Manning’s womens team), partner of Mark, for driving with Mark and supporting him during an entire midweek trial game at Thornlie in mid-October, especially when he endured (By his own admission) one of his poorer games.

The most outstanding piece of support and commitment I’ve encountered at Manning since Ian White drove to Cockburn on a 40-degree day to watch me play in the State Singles in January.