Three rounds left to play before finals as ladies’ teams split off into grades

There are now just three regular season rounds remaining in Narrabri Touch Inc’s 2020-21 summer season before the three-week finals series begins on Monday, March 15.

Men’s teams are currently two rounds into their five-round graded season, following the previous nine-round ungraded campaign.

On Monday in their second round matches, Grumley Builders and Platform X Studio were victorious in A-grade, and Stylies and Cougars were winners in B-grade.

In A-grade, Grumley Builders downed Win Or Booze 6-2, while Platform X Studio won via forfeit against Damien Chiplin Plumbing.

In B-grade, Stylies outscored Mowley’s Maniacs 6-2, and Cougars cruised past Ballbusters 9-1.

A-grade team Gee Bangers and B-grade outfit DTA Lumberjacks had byes in round two.

Meanwhile, the ladies’ 11-round ungraded season came to an end following Monday’s matches.

In round 11, Agies Ladies continued its undefeated run when it downed Xtra 8-0, the first draw of the season saw OneDay Gals and The Rippers locked 3-all at full-time, Phoenix Two390 outscored The Emasculators 11-0, Redbacks beat BPR-Tourist Hotel 8-1, Blue Birds defeated RSL Roulettes 8-4, and Specialised Civil Services kept a clean sheet in a 13-0 win against Hounddogs.

The 12 ladies’ teams have now been placed into three grades based on their final ladder standings.

Agies Ladies, Specialised Civil Services, Xtra and Redbacks are the A-grade sides, Blue Birds, Phoenix Two390, BPR-Tourist Hotel and Hounddogs are the B-grade teams, and RSL Roulettes, The Emasculators, The Rippers and OneDay Gals are the C-grade sides.

Each team will play the other three sides in its pool once. Ladder positions after those three rounds will determine the major and minor semi-finalists.

In both the men’s and ladies’ competitions, the teams ranked first and second will play in the major semi-final, while the teams ranked third and fourth will meet in minor semi-finals.

The winners of the major semi-finals will advance through to the March 29 grand finals, while the losers of the major semi-finals will challenge the winners of the minor semi-finals in March 22 preliminary finals.

The loser of the minor semi-finals will be eliminated.

Draw for Monday is as follows:

6pm – Canteen duty – Joan O’Neill. Field one – Grumley Builders v GeeBangers (Craig Gleeson, Jakeb Nipperess); field two – Xtra v Specialised Civil Services (Mark McLean, Tracy Warren); field three – Cougars v DTA Lumberjacks (Jonty Schwager, Dean Hancock); field four – Blue Birds v BPR-Tourist Hotel (Cassidy Staines, Pat Mowle); field five – OneDay Gals v The Rippers (Tianne Parker, Alice Woodhill).

6.45pm: Canteen duty – Tanya Nolan. Field one – The Emasculators v RSL Roulettes (Amy Baguley, Fiona Redfern); field two – Ballbusters vs Mowleys Maniacs (Dave Toomey, Jydon Hill); field three – Phoenix Two390 v Hounddogs (Mereka Gleeson, Makayla Elford); field four – Win or Booze v Damien Chiplin Plumbing (Todd Nichols, James Albert); field five – Agies v Redbacks (Connor Duncan, Sophie McFarland).

Bye – Platform X Studio and Stylies.