With all but the final round to be played in the 2021 MGEBA season things have tightened up even more on the ladder.
Division 1 sees defending premiers German Club Underdogs now at the top after thrashing the Victoria Hotel 13-2 in a match that saw the much improved Chris Stupple take two frames off yet another top tier opponent.
German Club Gatecrashers had their hopes of another big win taken from them when opponents True Blue forfeited the match.
The Gatecrashers are currently shown as ranked second on the ladder after being credited with a 15-0 win but will drop to third – behind Aussie who sat out the round with the bye – with their average winning score being 10.95 will only be given a 10-5 win once rectified.
Commercial Club Saints and German Club Meerkats both had big wins and retain their respective positions of third and fourth on the ladder.
Meerkats will qualify for fifth in the division no matter the outcome of next week’s match while both Gatecrashers and Saints should finish second and third respectively should things go to script and they both manage wins over their much lower ranked opponents in the final round.
The top of the table clash between Underdogs and Aussie will likely see one finish as minor round premiers and earn a rest the first week of finals with the loser dropping to fourth with the risk of being eliminated from the competition by 2019 runner-up premiers Meerkats in the first round of the finals series.
Linksview is guaranteed to finish top of Division 2 after chalking up another win last Wednesday night and will enjoy a rest in the first week of finals, they will face either Linksview Crawlers, Commercial Club Lakers or RSL the following week in the 2nd semi-final depending on final round match results while German Club Nemows are now locked in to the division, which along with Lakers, is an improvement on 2019s efforts when both teams met in the Division 3 grand-final.
Commersh Chaos currently lead the way in Division 3 but with the next three teams – Commercial Club Cavemen, Jens1 and German Club Shooters – all equal on wins with them the top spot is still up for grabs.
JT Sportsbar will likely remain in fifth unless German Club Outlaws can pinch a win from Jens1 which would see the latter elevated from the top of Division 4.
As alluded to above, Outlaws sit atop the Division 4 ladder and coincidently cannot drop any positions unless they have a 0-15 loss and Eastern Allsorts (currently second) have a 15-0 win in which case the latter would go above them on head-to-head countback which is never going to happen.
German Club TNT and True Blue currently occupy third and fourth spots respectively and will likely be no positional changes with both teams facing probable losses against higher ranked teams.
German Club Chokers are in fifth spot but will lose that position as they have the bye in the last round and Eastern Rangers and Commersh Comics who are both equal on match wins with Chokers will play each other which will see the winner up into the division and Chokers out.
To give all players and teams the chance to experience the rush and pressure of do-or-die finals the association has decided to have a fifth division this year to allow all teams to participate.
These teams will include the Chokers, Eastern Rangers or Commersh Comics, Victoria Hotel, German Club Bandits, and Pines Lumberjacks who currently occupy the wooden spoon position but now have a chance to relinquish that honour to either the Bandits or Victoria Hotel.
