Round 20 Results
The bookies' market was pretty much spot on with all favourites saluting for the first week of the Finals.
QF#1 - Beasts FC wins by 383 points
When your lowest of 9 PODs scores 99, including 3x150+ to none, only one outcome was possible...a comfortable win to Beasts FC. In doing so, they recorded their highest score for the year, whilst Ricky Bobby in contrast haven't been this low since the MBRs. Coach James will no doubt dust off the week that was in readiness for his SF opponents. They have never had consecutive down weeks and didn't finished minor premiership without having a 'ticker', so expect them to bounce back with vengeance next round.
QF#2 - Blaze of Glory wins by 59 points
As predicted, this went right down to the wire with Blaze of Glory needing Kelly and Shaw to score a combine 223 points on Sunday to get them across the line. I don't know what coach Tom says to Kelly, but he almost singlehandedly put the result beyond any doubt with his masterful display against a hapless Blues' outfit. With only 5 POD players, things were always going to be tight and the consequence of a poor score would be huge in this contest. Jibrangers would've thought his chances were gone after sub-par performances from Hurley, Beams & Rockliff. Sho was praying for a Buddy's special on Saturday night, and with Grundy netting him a +14 points advantage for Captain coupled with JPK's 75 points, he excitedly exclaimed, 'Over to you Tom!'. What unfolded in the first game on Sunday was there for everyone to behold as Tom's joker in Kelly went about in amassing 41 possessions and 205 SC points!
EF#1 - NaughtonWittsDusty wins by 161 points
Any hope of FLYING HORSES pulling off an unlikely upset was quickly extinguished by Murphy's 'rookie' output and Guelfi's late withdrawal. To further rub salts into the wound, NWD proceeded to execute on 2 trades to further strengthen his team! Despite a valiant effort by coach Thanh, Brett had all the answers with Kelly adding the final touches to his successful weekend.
EF#2 - Philzsay wins by 189 points
With his Port players failing to make an impact, GV Vikings was always on the back foot in this matchup. Coach Phil proved that his recent form was no fluke, notching up his 2nd 2,600+ score in the past 3 rounds. Philzsay never relented on his promising start, gradually extending his lead throughout the weekend, finally hitting their crescendo with Kelly on Sunday.
Congratulations to our first two Preliminary Finalists in
Beasts FC and
Blaze of Glory, we unfortunately wave goodbye for another season to
FLYING HORSES and
GV Vikings. The remaining four teams will battle it out next week in what should be two hotly contested SF's.
In other PL news...
The 8 finalists are breathing a collective sigh of relief after seeing
Goodie's Guns (2,741),
Jaca's Attackers (2,731),
Caleb's Kings (2,693) and
The Darkness (2,692). All four coaches recording their highest scores for the year and would've won against any of the 8 finalists!
With coaches putting their best foot forward for the start of Finals' week
***cough, cough***, we managed a healthy average of 2,534 for the round putting us on the cusp of the Top 10, currently sitting in 11th spot.