Sport
10 October, 2025
Tartan, Dunolly Blue star in opening round
The first round of the new Midweek Pennant yielded varied results, with several teams attempting to establish themselves as early front-runners.
Highland Tartan got their premiership defence off to a flying start, taking a dominating victory away to Talbot 96-41.
Tartan seemingly didn’t develop any rust over the off-season, winning all three rinks comfortably against a team that qualified for finals last pennant.
Gregory Shay got the better of Barbara Crossley 28-11, Garry Coburn overpowered Peter Fletcher 36-13 and Harvey Pearce completed the sweep for Tartan with a 32-17 triumph against Chris Crossley.
Tartan’s grand final opponents last season, Maryborough Golf, had a much trickier time in their opening round match against a valiant Carisbrook, yet still claimed all 16 points with a 67-54 triumph.
Carisbrook, who finished seventh last season, were highly competitive throughout the contest, with all three rinks decided by less than eight shots.
The battle between Golf’s Francis Smith and Carisbrook’s Patricia Stancombe was the highlight of the match, with Smith edging out Stancombe by the narrowest of margins to win an entertaining rink 20-19.
Kort Gay and Graeme Orr did the rest for Golf, with the former holding off Denise Matic in a 23-18 victory, while the latter defeated Roy Pickering 24-17.
In the closest match of the opening round, Avoca began their season with an away victory against Dunolly Gold 62-54.
Loralee Field gave Avoca the early advantage with a 29-14 victory against Wayne Stephens before Charles Spiteri clawed one back for Gold by getting the better of Christine Bearpark 25-15.
In the deciding rink, Ann Loosmore sealed the victory in a low-scoring affair against Justin Ritchie, 18-15.
After falling just short of a pennant triumph last season, Dunolly Blue made their intentions for this pennant known with a 99-30 win against Highland Gold.
Blue wasted no time taking control of the match, with Chris Williams taking care of Corry Moss 30-9, Alan Weir dominating Jeanette Oliver 45-6 and Tony Galofaro vanquishing Tilleke Wadeson 24-15.
Despite being extremely early in the season, the second round of the midweek pennant boasts some intriguing matchups across the board.
Highland Tartan will hope to follow their dominating performance in round one when they take on a Carisbrook team looking to prove they can hang with the best in the competition.
Following their hard-fought win against Dunolly Gold, Avoca will look to make it two wins from two against Dunolly-based teams as they host Dunolly Blue.
Speaking of Dunolly Gold, they will be involved in a golden clash next week when they take on Highland Gold away from home.
Closing out round two’s proceedings will be a semi-final rematch from last season as Talbot travels to play Maryborough Golf.