After managing the Manning 2 team to victory in the epic 2023-24 Manning Derby…

On the last day of October 2024, JT made history as the first team manager in the history of Manning Memorial Bowling Club to manage the Manning 2 team and the Manning 1 team to victories in the Manning Derby in Metro WA Thursday pennants.

Look at me, just making people and bowlers be better than what they think they can be… explains how I somehow manage to get decent rink draws all the time when I manage teams – On that note, today was the first time I’d ever played for Manning 1 in a Derby, and it goes from an arm-wrestle to a clean sweep.

If I could compare this to any sporting triumph in Australian history, this is like when Steven Richards won the 1998 Bathurst 1000 in a Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon with Jason Bright, then jumped over to Gibson Motorsport driving a Holden Commodore in 1999 and won Bathurst again with Greg Murphy, making him the only driver in history to win consecutive Bathurst titles for different manufacturers.

As far as I’m aware, no coach has ever coached both West Coast and Fremantle to wins in the Western Derby, nor has any coach done the Showdown double in Adelaide, but I’ve done the Manning Derby double.

So for those of you wondering, the first Manning Derby was played in 2022-23, and the aggregate record now stands at 2-2 between Manning 1 and Manning 2… I have an entire Excel spreadsheet of the results.

10th November 2022: Manning 2 (4 points) defeated Manning 1 (2 points) 65-57.

2nd February 2023: Manning 1 (5 points) defeated Manning 2 (1 point) 74-46.

9th November 2023: Manning 2 (5 points) defeated Manning 1 (1 point) 60-56

31st October 2024: Manning 1 (6 points) defeated Manning 2 61-45

You will also notice a common theme across those games – It took me and some mates coming on to Billy Fraser’s rink to get Billy a rink win in a Manning Derby, making his journey back to Quairading much more enjoyable.