High stakes football will roll on tomorrow with the final qualifying round of A-Grade matches.
The permutations of winning and losing could be quite stark, but for North Beach there will be no dramatic impact one way or the other. For its opponent, however, the match against Whitford at Charles Riley Reserve it is a virtual elimination final.
The O’Rourke Realty A-Grade team is unlikely to improve on fourth position, win or lose. Should it lose, then it will face Whitford again the following week in the true elimination final. Should it win and its likely opponent in a knockout final will be Mt Lawley.
Right through the competition, there will be a rippling effect from results.
If North Beach beats Whitford, as planned, then Mt Lawley can vault into fifth place by beating North Fremantle. And if Mt Lawley beats North Fremantle, the Maggies will, almost unbelievably, be heading to B-Grade.
If North Beach beats Whitford, it can get to third position, but only if Collegians lose to bottom placed Hamersley-Carine.
Trinity-Aquinas hosts Swan Athletic, who could also drop back to B-Grade, if they suffer a significant loss and North Fremantle gets over the line. The result is that clubs all over the metropolitan area will be looking at results at all other venues on Saturday evening to see how they have fared.
There are some certainties at the end of it all: (1) Trinity Aquinas and University will finish in top two spots; (2) Maddington will miss finals and probably stay in seventh position at the end of the round; (3) Hamersley-Carine are on the slide back to B-Grade.
For the other six clubs there will be a range of possibilities which will be determined sometime around 4.30pm tomorrow.
North Beach will go in with Sam Palm, Matt Irvine and colt Nic Reid, who will play his first senior game.
A-Grade ladder
TEAM P W L D B FF For Agst % PTS
Trinity Aquinas 17 14 3 0 0 0 1391 966 144.00 56
University 17 13 4 0 0 0 1431 1076 132.99 52
Collegians 17 11 6 0 0 0 1275 1139 111.94 44
North Beach 17 10 7 0 0 0 1342 1188 112.96 40
Whitford 17 9 8 0 0 0 1133 1080 104.91 36
Mt Lawley 17 8 9 0 0 0 1317 1202 109.57 32
Maddington 17 8 9 0 0 0 1171 1373 85.29 32
Swan Athletic 17 6 11 0 0 0 1180 1273 92.69 24
North Frem 17 5 12 0 0 0 1119 1266 88.39 20
Hamersley Carine 17 1 16 0 0 0 809 1605 50.40 4
The Credent Financial Services A-Reserves will be looking to finish the qualifying rounds unbeaten when they host Whitford.
Michael Pratt and his team has created an unblemished record, will finish at the top of the table and earn a week off in the first round of finals as they prepare to cultivate the maximum result from their wonderful work in the preliminary rounds.
The Nuchange Phil Scott Colts, unfortunately, will finish their season against the Warriors and will be looking for a positive end to their campaign.
The Townley Group D1-Grade has earned a week’s respite and will train tomorrow morning before having a look at the action against possible finals opponents while Pana’s Pool Supplies E2-Grade will play an elimination final against Wanneroo at Kingsway at 1.50pm.
