Report by Jodi Tiver

The Greenough Polocrosse Club held their annual tournament over a beautiful weekend on 25th & 26th July after a little scare they might have to cancel due the large amounts of rain that had fallen recently. This was only a concern as the Northern Zone Championships and first National Selection tournament will also be held at this venue in 8 weeks time. But with plenty of sunshine during the week leading up the grounds turned out to be picture perfect with plenty of good green coverage.

There were 36 teams nominated and it was good to see a Kojonup Team, who endured a 10 hour trip, competing at this time of year. The grounds are located in Walkaway which is about half an hour south of Geraldton and 5 hours north of Perth and generally there are 2 tournaments held there each year between the Greenough and Walkaway clubs.

Saturday morning dawned a little grey and drizzly but had cleared in time for the first games to kick off at 8am. Thankfully the weekend was fairly event free in terms of any spills but there was most certainly thrills!! With 6 teams in the A Grade there was some fantastic fast action games played which also saw the return of PJ Hall and Matt Welsh into the Perth side!! On paper it looked as though it would be a Perth v Walkaway final for Sunday afternoon and even though both those teams were pushed and tested by some of the lesser manned and horsed sides, although Trish Jones and Jane Cooper looked to be the strongest 3’s of the weekend, they didn’t disappoint. The final was one of the better and closer A Grade finals in quite a few seasons and with the score wavering between 1 or 2 goals for most of the game, the very well horsed Walkaway team came away with the first big win of the year!!

RESULTS

A Grade

Walkaway d Perth
Score: Walkaway by 3

Walkway Team: Trent Cooper, Doug Brown, Wayne Woods, Aiden Thurkle, Dean Ryan & Ray Miller
Perth Team: Matt Welsh, PJ Hall, Michael Semmens, Rob Sibley, Sharna Hall & Jason Stowe

Champion A Grade Horse: ‘Springbrook Hightide’ ridden by Trish Jones of Moonyoonooka

B Grade

Moonyoonooka d Walkaway

Moonyoonooka Team: Alana Clohessy, Rick Smythe, Lauren Cant, Hayley Smythe, Pete Howden & Nicole Howden
B Grade Champion Pony Award: ‘Micro Mouse’ ridden by Pete Malady of Kojonup

C Grade

Moonyoonooka d Greenough
Score: 18 – 17

Moonyoonooka Team: Paul Simkins, Sharon Wundenburg, Emily Walton, Brian Wundenburg, Dan Cransberg & ?
Greenough Team: Aaron Cole, Pippa Bain, Joel Harcourt, Dean Levett, Jana Dillon & Hannah Criddle

C Grade Champion Pony Award: ‘Chantelle’ ridden by Tia Hall of Perth

D Grade

Walkaway d Mullewa

D Grade Champion Pony Award: ‘Tudors Minx’ ridden by Teneille Crabb

E Grade

Murray – won all games in round robin

E Grade Champion Pony Award: ‘Bayley’ ridden by Darryl Morris of Walkaway