Still Number 1 by name, Number 1 by results.

After coming off last season’s Thursday Premier League South flag, the Manning 1 team managed to get even better with WA state representative Scott Walker transferring from South Perth and big Macca (Adam Macpherson) getting a leave pass from his boss to play Thursday pennants, and with those additions joining an already damn good team, the defending premiers duly performed as such by winning the minor premiership with 14/18 aggregate wins, ranking No.1 in both Shots For & Against (Their For/Against of +313 was +149 better than 2nd), finishing 2 games clear on top of the ladder, and having our 3 regular rinks (Skipped by Scotty, AJ Heal and Bill Fraser) all finish in the Top 8 best-performed rinks in the division, led by Bill Fraser’s rink topping the charts with 13 wins and a draw from 18 games, a great turnaround after being 2-3 after 5 games.

The only blemish on the season was that out of the 4 aggregate defeats, the 1s had been well and truly belted the Manning 2 team in our two Manning Derbies in November and February, an issue that came up again when the 1s finished on top and the Manning 2 team finished 2nd on the ladder, giving us both home green advantage for the Semi Finals, and both teams duly won through to the Grand Final as Manning 1 defeated Willetton 59-45 in an arm wrestle, while Manning 2 defeated South Perth in a 69-48 clean sweep to set up a historic moment for Manning Memorial Bowling Club, as we had 2 Manning teams playing off in a Grand Final after 69 years, and not only that it was a top grade Grand Final, albeit a midweek one.

And come the final on the last Thursday of March, with a baying crowd watching on and Cyclone Narelle baring down, the 1st Half was a violent arm wrestle as expected, with the Manning 1 team starting off far better than they did in the first 2 Derbies to hold a 3 shot lead after 30 of the 63 ends (28-25), until the halfway stage of the game between the Fraser rink and the rink of Allan Taylor (Which was ranked No.4 in the division), a game that had been neck and neck until the decisive 11th End, with Fraser leading 9-7 and down 3 shots with 1 bowl to play, and having already had a bad result with his first drive, the big man known as ‘Scuffla’ decided he was going for another runner, knowing that if he missed ‘Tails’ had a simple draw for 4 shots to take the lead…

But this time around Billy absolutely smoked the jack into the ditch and turned 3 down into 3 up, and from there his No.1 rink of Hudson, Cliff and Titheradge soared to life and went on a massive run that turned the tide of the Grand Final, picking up 12 shots in the next 4 ends as part of a 7-end stretch that saw the score blow out from 7-7 to 24-7 after 15, which put Manning 1 9 shots ahead on the aggregate, wiping out the deficits from the other 2 rinks as Heal and Mike Carey were trading shots while Sam Perica’s rink (Who were ranked No.2 in the division) got on top of Scott Walker’s rink in the 2nd Half of their game and kept the aggregate alive, as the margin was 6 shots (54-48) in favour of Manning 1 after 51 of the 63 ends.

However, the carnage on the Fraser rink continued almost unabated as they picked up another 13 shots in the final 6 ends (Balanced by Taylor making 3 shots with his last bowl twice), including holding 3 and 4 shots on the final 2 ends of the game to win the rink 37-13, a massive win in a pennant final and a glorious end to the year for the best-performed rink in the division (It was also their highest score for the year), and with the lead at 13 shots with 3 ends to play once the Fraser rink had finished, it proved a hurdle too great to overcome for Manning 2 as Carey’s rink ultimately defeated Heal’s rink 23-21 in an entertaining contest, and Perica’s rink defeated Walker’s rink 23-13…

But the aggregate is the only thing that matters in Pennant finals and those rinks for Manning 1 had done their job in ensuring Manning 2 didn’t pick up a big haul of shots in the closing stages, as the defending premiers went back to back in Thursday Premier League South, and not only that regained bragging rights at their own club on a day that’ll live in the memory for those that witnessed it.

Manning 1 71 (4) defeated Manning 2 59 (2) at Manning Memorial (Manning 1 designated home team)

Skip: Bill Fraser, Darrel Hudson, David Cliff, Jason Titheradge (manager) 37 defeated Allan Taylor, Shane Adams, Steve Salamon, Quentin Davies 13

Skip: Scott Walker, Paul Smith, Joe Angel, Andy Lill 13 defeated by Sam Perica, Glenn Lynch, Merv Shemeld, Glen O’Brien 23

Skip: AJ Heal, Adam Macpherson, Phil Herbert, Nigel Rees 21 defeated by Mike Carey, Greg Hogg, Don Jones, Ian White (manager) 23

Interesting fact – The Manning 1 team only won 2 out of the 9 rinks (Plus one draw) contested against Manning 2 this season.

Other fact – At Manning, a traditional drive is known as a Quairading Draw in honour of Bill Fraser.