The annual Robran/McInerney shield played at the weekend between North and West was a big success for both clubs as not only was there a huge crowd in attendance, it was a fantastic game of football.
I would describe it as one of the best I have seen in Whyalla for about three years, with the Magpies getting home by three points.
The shield is an annual event between the two clubs named in honour of two great legends from both clubs in Barrie Robran (North) and John McInerney (West), who were both in attendance and were introduced to all the players and umpires prior to the start of the game.
As stated before it was a great game to watch, with players from both sides throwing themselves into it and producing some great football as well.
The medal for the best player on the day was won by West's mid fielder Leigh Symons who is having a great season and could be considered as one of the favourites for this year's Whyalla News Medal.
Both clubs had plenty of support on the day with a big contingent of former Westies players who were there to start off celebrations for their 1959 and 1969 premiership reunions, while North's also had a tent at the ground for invited guests, which I believe was well patronised.
Westies Reunion
As stated in the previous item West Whyalla held a reunion for its 1959 and 1969 premiership sides.
It was well attended by many former players, who gathered at the Memorial Oval to watch the game against arch rival North, which kicked off a big day of reminiscing for all the old players.
Unfortunately the present day side could not get them a win, but I believe that would not have mattered much as the former players would have had a great time later in the evening at the Dragons' clubrooms.
Some of the former players who were in attendance for at the game and for the reunion after were Trevor Selby, Jim Feetham, Geoff Peterson, Graham Hawken, Brian Harvey, Graeme Fargher, Brian Norton, Kevin O'Donoghue, Royce Munn, Geoff Smale and Kevin Zilm.
Crowds slightly up
According to league president Jim Hewitson, the crowds this year are slightly up on last season by about five per cent and with the race for the finals still in the balance we should hopefully see big crowds for the remainder of the season.
In the race for the finals North have edged out Souths in third position, while Weeroona Bay are two points and about 3.72 per cent back in fifth place and if any of the clubs above them falter in the race home, they will pounce on them and snatch that vital fourth spot.
Under 17 Youth Championships
Last week saw the under 17 youth championships play in Adelaide throughout five days with Port Adelaide Magpies being represented by the 25 players selected from the recent Kinlough Cup carnival.
Whyalla had five players in the squad and they were Scott Clark (South), Josh Ackland (North), Cameron Edey (W/Bay), Brannan Everett (West) and Shaun Taylor (North) was an emergency.
The first game saw Port defeat the Eagles by 28 points on a soggy Woodville Oval, with both Edey and Ackland playing very well, while both Everett and Clark were mentioned by coach Darren Smith for their efforts.
In the second game at Unley oval, they defeated Sturt by 37 points with Everett kicking three goals with both Clark and Ackland playing well.
They were defeated in the third game against Glenelg by 16 points at Thebarton Oval, with Edey outstanding, while Clark played a solid game in defence.
The team finished second in division one and while all the other clubs had a mixture of country and metropolitan lads, Port only used the country lads.
Player Milestones.
Last week saw Weeroona Bay's captain Johnathon Kroll play his one-hundredth senior game for that club, while this week we have the Bays' Josh Parker (86 League and 13 reserve games) and Centrals' Brenton Nelson (56 League and 43 reserves) play their one-hundredth senior games.
Also this week South's captain Ryan Baker plays his one-hundredth league game.
Bakes came to Whyalla in 2004, making his debut that same year coming from Adelaide.
Spider's Selections
Last week my guest Peter Calliss picked two winners, while I did the same, but differed to Peter as he won with North and Weeroona Bay, while I went for Roopena and the Bays.
This week my guest is former Whyalla resident and proprietor of Whyalla Travel Bob Roll, who emailed his selections and they are West, North and Roopena, while I am also selecting West to defeat Central, North to beat South and Roopena to defeat Weeroona Bay.
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