The Men's Team Report Week 9, by Justin Hanrahan

The second to last round of the season was not one of the best for the men's team and much of the blame should be attributed to the manager.

After eight undefeated rounds, I can say that I would now really like to go through the season undefeated. How I then went and forgot to enter the two 110m Hurdlers is beyond me. To see Nfa and Aaron tear down the straight not being able score any points caused many expletives to come out of the manager's mouth!

Beyond that there were some good results and the team managed to win again despite a team that was little light on for numbers.

The 200m runners performed up to their best although Aiden was unfortunate in that he drew a soft-ish heat and had no one capable of pushing him to a faster time. Nfa and Justin just keep on keeping on.

The 800m was without the familiar face of Neil Brennan although Adrian, Ev and Todd all put up good performances. Ev ran the best race of his season and Todd showed great initiative in leading the field through 600m.

Clint Perrett returned from a pretty frustrating couple of weeks to run a great PB in the 5k, breaking 15.00 for the first time. Behind him Anth ran a really solid race, just missing his PB and Dean Lane returned to the big(gish) time and qualified in his first 5000m for the season.

Simon Baker is Mr Reliable and his efforts on the track are only matched by his outstanding efforts in coaching Australia's best walkers of the moment.

Poor, lonely "Disco". Fancy Bayside having just one 400m Hurdler! I can only remember it happening one time before and it was left to Stu to pick up the early points.

In other early events, Cameron Grant threw mightily in a quality laden field. Not many get to see Cameron throw often, but you can be sure that Hans, Cameron and this week, Paul Peulich are always out there competing hard. Paul threw very well in the Shot as well, but the manager stuffed up a bit and missed the opportunity to give Paul a throw in competition. My fault, Paul.

Matt Brown, however, did throw and performed as one would expect to - like a big man with heaps of talent. Matt Woodruff began a weekend of eventful long jumping nationally by pulling out three fouls. Que sera sera! You obviously spooked Jai and "the mailman", Matt and they couldn't perform either.

Mr Bayside, Jason Hinkin scored the big points for us in the vault and after a slight injury, appears to be back in good form. Jason will be vital to the finals chances of the team and this is a good sign.

Dave McCaffrey - Unbeaten. Bayside - Unbeaten. Coincidence? I think not!

No relay team went around as the thought of seeing Mr Manager, Andre, Matt Brown and Matt Woodruff trundling around was just a little too frightening.

9 rounds, 9 wins. Great work team.

Justin

The Women's Team Report, by Andre Sammartino

With Matt Hanrahan off doing skooly stuff I had to take over the reins for another week. But given as Matt does a whole lot of telephoning and Ms.Idaho has all the throwers sorted, the job doesn't extend much beyond cheering and convincing folks that relay running might be good for their souls.

Starting in the field for a change, we had our usual evening. Bec Neilsen continued her point-racking with a first in shot and second in discus. Siobhan Taylor confirmed our assertion that we have the best depth in women's jav in the state, while Gabrielle Neighbour continued her Mccaffrey-like winning streak. Say the word "jumps" and I say "win, win, win". Sarah Wiltshire, Emma Cochrane and Tessa Densley were all too good for their opposition, Tessa jumping a season's best (i think).

Out on the track we were a walking powerhouse with Megan and Shirley scoring us some big points. Katrina Steward was back and motoring in the 200m. Michelle Reed ran a handy 2.14 800m, Helena Montgomery scored her first points and Sue Piper battled bravely against a leg injury.

While it's hurting us not to have a non-plaster-covered 400mH runner (something we hope to have sorted by finals - any volunteers?), we scored two wins in the shorter sticks races. Jeanette Bowles was then convinced (by a stunning set of arguments if i do say so myself) to tackle a relay leg and along with Katrina, Helena and the fresh Tara Gleeson scored a nice victory to finish off the night.

End results? Bayside 167 points, Western Suburbs 139, Doncaster 91 and Yarra 68. The team is sitting comfortably in 2nd and plans are now being made for our finals campaign. Expect to hear from Matt (or Megan) over the next couple of weeks.

Results are here.

Read last Round's report