GARFIELD Swamp Rats will be the side to beat in the South West Gippsland Darts competition after they smashed 2010 premiers Boss Hoggs 12 games to three.
The Rats will start odds-on favourites to win the flag.
Pine Grove Hillbillies suffered their second defeat of the season, this time at the hands of the Gembrook Warriors. In a tight tussle, the Warriors won 8-7.
In the other game, the Cockatoo Brookers started their season with a good win over the Gembrook Bushrangers, 10-5.
Pakenham had the bye in this round.
The match of the round this week will feature the Garfield Swamp Rats and Cockatoo at the Garfield hotel.
Garfield Swamp Rats lead the ladder from Cockatoo, Gembrook Warriors, Boss Hoggs, Pakenham, Pine Grove Hillbillies and the Gembrook Bushrangers.
HALLAM Senior College will square off against Essendon-Keilor in the SSV Premier League football final on Sunday, as a curtain-raiser to the AFL match between Melbourne and Hawthorn.
It will be a rematch of the 2010 VSSSA final, which Essendor-Keilor won. And expect to see a few future stars running around, with Dandenong Stingrays players Piva Wright (who also captains Hallam), Nathan Wright, Ryan Morrison, Matt Rennie and Damien Johnston part of the team who will get to run out on to the best football ground in Australia.
Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats said “it will be fantastic for them; it’s exciting. They get an opportunity to play on the MCG … and they’ve earned it.”
NEARLY 400 budding netball stars took to the court at Cranbourne’s Life Be in It centre last Sunday as part of the Cranbourne South West Netball Association’s (CSWNA) annual 11 and Under Super Tournament. The girls played six or seven mini-netball matches before Melbourne Vixens mid-courter Madison Browne presented them with participation certificates and show bags.
UPPER Beaconsfield Cricket Club has pulled off a major recruiting coup, signing former first-class player Shawn Flegler for the 2011/2012 season.
Flegler, who lives in Upper Beaconsfield, will join the club as its professional player for the upcoming season.
He is also the coach of the Victorian High Performance Academy, and has recently signed as assistant coach for the Big Bash League franchise, the Melbourne Stars.
Upper Beaconsfield president and captain Scott Pitcher said the club was over the moon with Flegler’s signing.
“Shawn is the perfect recruit for our club,” Pitcher said. “His knowledge and experience in the game is second-to-none.
“As a club, we realised we were lacking an experienced top-order batsman as well as another spinner … and Shawn will hopefully fill both of those roles perfectly.”
Flegler, who bowls left-arm spin, said he was looking forward to bowling in tandem with Pitcher, who is known as the best leg spin bowler in the competition.
“Everyone knows of Scotty’s ability with the ball, but he’s had to go it alone over the past few years, so hopefully we’ll be able to work together a fair bit this year,” Flegler said.
“And I’m also pretty keen to get out there with the bat and score a few runs.”
Flegler played first-class cricket for Victoria and Queensland.
