Hosted at the Victorian Croquet Centre, Cairnlea, Victoria Australia, video 02 of play on Sunday 16 May 2021
Almost straight onto the eastern boundary so now we need to clear the blue he didn’t stalk then and he does great shot Gary and he moves red great shot Gary moves red I think a little way up so Red’s no longer in any kind of position for nestling inside the
Hoop some great shots on this hoop Kate yeah absolutely and before beautiful beautiful block beautiful clearance great great clearance on Gary and Robert assuming a very strong position there Gary’s going to have none of that saying yep you can be there for a couple of seconds but now you’re off
And the side he angled that very nicely so that his ball is still really in align with the hoop but blue is well over to the was right on the side boundary So in theory Gary has a a hoop running shot there with that red but I
Mean Young new zealanders he would take that hoop running shot he would he would think that’s a shot and that’s a beautiful lag Ah that’s so nice and it’s just trickled past hasn’t dislodged it so what’s What’s Happening Here what red here or is he going to
Just put a little lagger in it’s it’s certainly that’s made Red’s job less easy so I think he still can see though can’t he he can still see the black yeah no oh no well well that he hit the blue instead and that now gives Robert a chance for a
54 lead and also to push the black ball further up towards hoop 10 so that’s quite quite a pivotal moment in this game failing to clear the black from uh six yards or so six met is could cost Gary quite dearly here so maybe the land has gone well through but
He I think he hit red so he progressed red so Gary getting away a little bit with that losing the hoop but not losing the advantage of being next at hoop 10 so if he can play a good lagging shot here then he will make amends for that little error earlier
On so and it’s not a bad shot it’s about it’s about 3 m out from the from the hoop so not an easy one by any means 3 m is quite a distance goodness me yeah yes well your Club player that you’re talking about would think three met I don’t well they
Wouldn’t even be bothering now he’s touched now he’s touched on actually made it slightly easier so little a small error there from Robert um and Allison’s game has gone from she was gone Gary contemplating an interesting maneuver here he’s actually contemplating he was looking at the black thinking shall I just block the
Black but no he’s actually thinking I’ll be a little bit more a bit more aggressive than that and I’ll put up another runner for myself perhaps even blocking the black’s trajectory on the yellow maybe so this is uh this is now a big shot for Robert he’ll probably be
Looking to clear the yellow he wouldn’t want to he wouldn’t want to give Gary that shot he’s even if he doesn’t even if he thinks Gary’s only 50% at making it he’s not going to want to give him the opportunity to take it so black onto
Yellow no no red does its job so Gary beautifully played the red up into a sort of blocking position and it was enough to to lure Robert towards it so one of the things that happens when there’s a ball which is even not quite a great play really really good recovery from
The the little mistake at Hoop N and really taking control at hoop 10 in a an extremely nice little set of Maneuvers and one of the things I was saying when you have something which is not quite a block nevertheless you do find sometimes that
The ball will hit it on its way through because it’s distracting the it’s distracting oh yeah it’s it’s an absolute Beacon isn’t it so Robert very nicely placed in front of the hoop Gary thinking I can’t leave it there I’m going to have I’ll have two shots at
Getting getting this away and he’s Tak the first one and that was a miss and it was missed so now Robert thinking about can he block yellow can he protect it can he protect that blue that blue can he put the black onto the line between
The blue and the yellow and at the same time Kate I think maybe even putting the black into a hoop running position but not tucked behind the hoop so that if blue gets it and he’s actually chosen to go quite long so this does give Gary an
Opportunity to shoot his yellow ball at the blue but it is it’s a long way away it’s you know we’re looking at at 12 M or so and there’s the shot and he oh he was going for the hoop he was going for the hoop and he nearly got it he did it
Might have been a six of one half does under the other of course we’ll have to ask him that would be another one to ask that’s another little another little talking point there but Robert this is very very strong now for him because not only can
He make this he can get down to hoop 12 not just 65 but a commanding potential 75 uh game Victorious position and there it is and that’s gone a little bit steamy uh got more of the wire than he thought sending it at an angle and he
Hit it harder than perhaps he he needed to to make the hoop and that’s now meant although he’s 65 up he he hasn’t got first ball to 12 so Gary has first ball and plays it nicely not quite sure where Robert’s blue ball ended up uh probably about 7 m to the
Southeast of of hoop 12 but we’ll be able to tell in due course for the moment Robert looks like he’s thinking that black that red is a threat I think I think so he does oh look at that it’s no problem is it at all you know you’re I think so he
Care 13 MERS away and you just you just hit it as if it’s 3 MERS away Richard Parks has gone 2-1 up on Peter frier in their second game Peter friia has won the first one but Richard is 2 one up in the second one so I’m not sure
If Gary Gary’s yellow ball is slightly hampered here it doesn’t look like it is but he’s coming down to have a look at where all the other balls are because of course as soon as he puts the the yellow into the position of in front of hoop 12
It’s going to have a Target on it and he takes it over to that side uh perhaps you wouldn’t say that was in front that’s yeah no I it could go into the hoop but not through I think that’s makeable is it hidden from Blue I don’t it’s not hidden from the
Blue no it’s definitely not hidden from the blue so about 8 m away Robert shoots and he misses to the right now that’s a big moment that’s a very big moment it now allows Gary to to take some control of this hoop uh where did
Where is the black ball oh it’s to the right you said it came through the hoop and went over to the right the black ball is seen is going to be going to have a chance to dislodge the yellow oh don’t think it can see the yellow I
Think Gary played that earlier yellow ball shot so that it was wired what a shot what an amazing shot that would have that was from Gary to actually from 10 m away put the the yellow ball where it’s Wired from the black and Robert’s thinking
Well I’m just going to oh this is this is a a hoop 13 play is it okay no I don’t think so I think he’s he’s in the way of red towards the hoop but if yellow’s making the hoop why would that be I don’t know that yellow’s going to
Make the hoop yellow might go in I don’t think it’s going to go through oh it did go through well it hasn’t gone through it hasn’t gone through so this is really intriguing it’s it’s absolutely inevitable now that Gary will win this hoop because Robert’s two balls are on
The uh the playing side so they can’t possibly stop it um the black could jump it black could jump it if red is clear but surely but I don’t know that blue can even see red no there’s a bit of well that’s right yeah you’re right Kate if if if blue was
Managed to clear the red then black has a jumping chance amazing amazing I wonder if there’s thought of hoop 13 here because of course the the really vital thing is that you get the first good shot up to hoop 13 if it’s going to be six all and you go to the deciding
Hoop it becomes very important to to get the best possible shot up to hoop 13 so I wonder if Robert’s thinking yeah okay I I I is it better for me to clear this red or is it better for me to think of the next hoop because the yellow is is going
To be hard for me to stop the yellow from scoring okay just Strokes that down he’s not trying to clear’s not trying he’s not trying to clear the red he’s not trying to do anything with the yellow he’s just getting his ball into position there now clearly and he hasn’t put it
Anywhere where red can take advantage of it to go down to 13 amazing little passage of play clearly the Reds pushes the yellow through so Robert will have first first shot up at hoop 13 we’ve gone to six all Robert will have first shot up to hoop
13 and both Gary’s red and yellow balls are a lot further south he’s got uh he’s got about eight more meters on both balls in addition to what Robert has on his shots so Robert clearly with the advantage not only the first shot up there but
Also deep with his balls a little bit closer to the action now that’s quite deep that’s deep but it’s the next one isn’t it that’s really important because wherever Gary puts his his yellow ball oh he’s gone down to the boundary he’s going right down to the boundary okay
I’m willing to take a seven Y at this if Robert if Robert puts this in front of the the H he’s thinking where exactly do I want to put it up he may be wanting yellow to be marked in so he knows exactly where yellow is you’re right
Yellow needs to be marked in first because if he doesn’t know where yellow is he can’t see and he’s saying I can see where it went out just I’ll just show you yes yep yep so he’s looking to well the yellow of course will play before the the
Blue gets to have a go at the hoop presuming the blue is going to go into the into hoop running position so let’s see what Robert does strokes the ball up towards 13 and and ends up in a strong position but certainly not blocking yellow from the hook inevitable uh hoop scoring
Shot makes it easy for black to block the yellow well they fairly level black would be going for the hoop if blue were going to yeah yeah that’s true okay and that’s gone not quite on the boundary as Kate said there’s no reason why you would just
Dilly dally here you’d you’d just go for this so this is for the first game of this best of five Robert has earned himself the first shot no touch of the cap he’s forgotten that from his routine here everything else is concentration oh clangs into the left hand leg and that opens the
Door Gary now seven y to take the first game or clear blue or clear the blue surely surely what will he ah agonizing choice I think you what would you do I know what you do at a club level I know I know I know what you do
He’s he’s going for the hoop he’s got to take the hoop he’s see the hoop go for the you’ve got to you got is that what Trisha was saying yesterday if you can see it go for it okay oh yes well played sir my goodness well played takes the first game Robert
Has been defeated this is the second game he’s lost in his whole competition against against the uh against things after after the the hoop 12 where Robert not only had first shot at hoop 13 but also uh had both of his balls much much closer and that’s a
A fantastic victory in the first game for Gary so just an update on on the other games in the Allison the Allison sharp game against Owen Dickinson um Allison is 63 up and in the game between Richard Parks and Peter frier where Peter won the first um the first game Richard is 2-2
So he’s drawing against um drawing Fairly level with Richard Parks um now we See Robert a replay of of that wonderful hit out and now another replay Robert going for the hoop settling himself self and a beautiful beautiful hoop and this is the jumping clearance jumps blue uh hits yellow and pushes the yellow right out of the way it’s a lovely lovely ball
Going up to take position on hoop six and that is a beautiful block I did we didn’t have much time to see that block but it was a beautiful block and that was the moment when he put the red through just recapping the yes just a few amazing events from that first game
What a what a brilliant game Kate it was and it swung between one and the other yeah it wasn’t it looked for all money like Robert would be would be uh winning at the the 13th hoop but Gary just with a totally brilliant piece of aggression from seven yards bravely going down to
To the boundary and then running the hoop from the boundary putting his money oh so that was the the little Jaws that Gary got there and then Robert I think had a go at the jump here at H six so the the jump shot uh an amazing piece of
Power play in in this game isn’t it I mean it’s it’s an opponent can feel that they’re they’ve got an advantage because they’ve got their ball in the Jaws and and you come along and and just pop over the top but in this occasion we might see Robert slightly overco compensate over
Overdoing it and hitting the the bar of the hoop and that enabled Gary then to play this amazing shot this was this was a really fantastic shot this is one for all the club players to watch the the hitting the ball through the hoop but at
The same time getting your strike a ball over to hoop seven and that which you are allowed to do because it’s part of the hoop shot and that that’s so often they say don’t try and hit the ball through because your ball gets stuck in the hoop your the ball coming behind
Gets stuck in the hoop and you can’t get over to the next to but in this case he went right across in the same moment it was a very good strategy so here’s the action at hoop 7even which was a a hotly contested hotly contested hoop and it
Was here that I thought that maybe Gary might have had a a go at the hoop uh but instead he chose to do this this clearance which ended up as a a double clearance and that was uh that was pretty effective uh and then a a
Beautiful clearance here at hoop 10 uh a really fantastic shot Robert then stroking in at at um sorry hoop nine that previous one hoop eight sorry it was and then this was this was the block that you like so much amazing block this was the this such a long distance so
We’re talking 18 M here and look at the way that the ball just slides in and falls directly in front of the yellow look at that just gently what a shot oh that’s slow motion really held the tension for us and then an incredible clearance
Uh so we had some really good action at hoop 10 we was looking for was in control of this game yeah we had a great clearance from uh from Gary as well this hoop but but that was the one where things fell apart for him a bit because
He had to clear the black and instead he cleared the blue watch this so he’s actually taken the wrong ball he could have got lucky and actually his red ball could have gone through the hoop could or could have misplaced red black it would shut it a for a moment it turned
Out he then uh oh no this is the final shot and that’s when he had a go at the hoop at hoop um 11 okay we haven’t got to the end and uh and then Robert trying to clear the the yellow and now we’re off on the second
Game so because um Robert lost blue goes first again yep so blue has played off well if this this next game is any bit as good as the first one we are in for a real treat we’ve already had our money’s worth from the first game we have and I
Won’t be asking for my money back there are Western Australian fans there may be some who got up at 6:00 because they thought this game was going to start at 8:00 um but if they got up to watch it at 7:00 they will be feeling very happy
With the progress of their Champion so far because he has taken a game off Robert Fletcher and he is only the second person in this I think only the second person in the championship to do it all right so Robert thinking about the hoop thinking about the clearances looks like he’s
Shaping with the hoop here interesting choice Kate I think I think pretty much every Club player would be thinking of clearing the red um Robert Fletcher looks like he might be thinking I’m good enough to take that hoop on and it’s it’s quite a highrisk one isn’t it
Given the position of the red given the position of the yellow given the the fact that black probably can’t see all that yeah it’s interesting you would have thought he’d go for yellow onto red really he’s this is a very highrisk aggressive isn’t it really interesting and that’s why you’re Robert
Fletcher that is what happens when you have the ability you just TR yourself take the shot what a and what a brilliant way of responding to that little loss in the first game as well to come out and say to your opponent I’m I’m up for for now
Taking this up to the next level that’s really inspiring stuff okay Robert going off onto the left hand side what we’ve been calling the short side and that’s the sort of shot that people love to play the lag right up to the to the very throat of the hoop so
Ellison has just won the second game 74 so clearly Allison doesn’t want to come into the commentary Booth as much as I thought she did all right and that’s the the blue going away but uh you can now see the worth of the short side play you can now see how
Players like uh Pete landre and Allison sharp love to play the the ball onto the short side so that they can clear any any assumptive ball in front of the hoop is is dispatched uh Robert was perhaps a little bit far away to be able to get
Good control on that but certainly job done in terms of taking the yellow away Gary of course will just stroke it back in bit short and yes quite a lot short so here’s blue I think we’ll see blue going over to the short side if if
Robert is playing in the same sort of way so he certainly won’t be putting the blue directly in front of the hoop and what do I know he’s putting it absolutely plum in front of the hoop so so there we go I thought he’ I thought
He’d be going short side again but he’s uh chosen to put himself in front red not such a good stop shot because he has no moved quite he’s moved quite a bit and he’s now level with well not quite level with hoop but not in a running position you wouldn’t have thought
Robert just coming a bit deeper and we should get a nice little tactical battle here at hoop 2 so for those of you who just joined us uh we had an absolutely brilliant first game uh it went to the 13th hoop uh Robert had a had a good go at
The hoop from about 4 M uh Gary followed up with uh a shot from seven and and managed to get it through to take the first game and it was all made particularly more interesting by the the sort of passage of play at hoop 12 which got quite
Tactical uh partly to make the hoop and partly to prepare for hoop 13 so it’s uh was it was a great conclusion to what was a a really fascinating game and now we’ve entered this game where Robert did a very aggressive hoop run at hoop number
One and now oh no is he going to try and sit in the hoop do you think I think he is yeah he was just that’s far too acute the angle is he was contemplating it he thought no I’m sharp angle I’ll just clear blue and away he goes and of
Course he doesn’t get an awful lot of unless he can stop this dead which he doesn’t which he doesn’t do he’s his stop shots are not as as effective have not been effective from that distance so here comes Robert back in front of the hoop that’s a beautiful
Lagging shot in front of the hoop now of course the red is not very far away from that black uh the yellow not it’s seven yards nearly oh a bit less than that about not about 3 or 4 MERS yeah well and so it’s a no you’re right it’s only just over
Halfway between the next ho and here’s blue quite a fair distance away so coming across to take position do you think or yes cuz he wouldn’t be trying to clear the trying toit yellow he just coming in coming in maybe protecting the black in between no no he’s just got a runner
Okay do you think that’s close enough to the blue to up uh to to to the black to upset it but I don’t think the black will be there anyway will it I mean the black is the black won’t be there the black will be going for red of for
Yellow in in due course it’s a matter of where it gets put yeah yeah Gary looking to see where he might be able to put the black here I think if if we can put it so that it’s it’s uh Wired from the yellow that would be really good but it
Hasn’t been so Robert should still be able to pick the yellow off so obviously marking the position in and now looking to make contact with the yellow and send it as far away from the blue as he can good contact with it we’ll give Robert the upper hand in the
Hoop oh and that isn’t good contact and a miss that is very unusual that’s a very significant event because I chances are Gary will go for this hoop what do you reckon well yeah given the given um given the the uh given the fact that this is a great
Opportunity I think he will take it rather than try and prolong the hoop and we saw that he can shoot from seven yards he can certainly shoot from one yard to so that’s one all in this G so there’s a nice lovely lag from so it’ll be uh it’ll be really interesting
To chat to Robert about his shorts side tactics at that previous hoop uh it’s it’s possible that of course that he was actually just putting in a a little distract a ball for for Gary to that Gary was forced to move uh because if he hadn’t done that then uh there was
A possibility of Gary jaing at hoop two which Robert didn’t really want to happen so Robert certainly look like he he’s got the nice hoop Rudder on this one it’ll be all up for yellow to to remove that but it’s a question of whether black will also present a threat
And that is coming in nicely it hasn’t blocked the yellow’s trajectory on Blue so this is going to become very important now for Gary to hit the blue ball nice confident swing and he misses right past everything so so black is is um not going to be hidden by The Hoop if blue
Runs that’s not a problem yep everything has got a clear trajectory on hoop four of course Robert has the small matter of having to make this hoop which yes uh is not a formality by any means but you’d certainly be putting a reasonable sum on it and I One a reasonable Allison and
Owen are tied at one all and Owen has decided to retire oh so that he can he and Allison can watch the final maybe Allison would like to come up to the commentary Booth maybe she would I just get that score in the right place and here comes black beautifully
Down towards the hoop hoop not quite blocking red but in a very nice position on the hoop and blue has got a good clearance on red so where is yellow yellow is coming from the boundary coming down towards black or towards the hoop towards black not getting the getting black and blue is
Now aiming for red so if blue can clear red then black has got a good um view of the hoop yep very assured by Robert and of course where red has gone is quite crucial if red still has a following that up and putting his Mallet down
Where across the line going be very important where the red has gone whether or not the red has visibility of the black oh just nice camera angle you can see the the player the trajectory the hoop the black everything is perfect will this shot be perfect it’s good enough it’s good
Enough though red has gone very long way away and still traveling right down towards the northern boundary so a bit across to the short side quite um yeah quite interesting that he’s he’s put it there it means that when Gary cleared is Gary’s not going to be able to
Maintain much of a position although look at that g Gary’s managed to keep his yellow ball on a nice trajectory up that line do you think Robert will just come in front of the the hoop here or do you think he’ll play a little bit of bit
Of a block on yellow maybe let’s see and he Strokes it just in front yeah little bit of a block on yellow the black ball is over to the uh right hand side of the screen and so he in a position to clear the yellow away and that’s coming close to the hoop
It’s je just squirting melted past the hoop well that would have been Sensational wouldn’t it it would just stopping if it had stopped half a yard in front of where it was so I keep saying yards we are a very non-metric I’m trying very hard to say
You’ve been saying I’m trying very very hard in but C is not a metric sport every every bone of my body is is screaming to say yards but I’m very very conscious that uh we need to we need to be able to communicate this to the the wider audience and
Uh and therefore we we should start using the meters a bit more but I believe the new rule book for Association croi has got meters as well as it really and it’s renamed the Hoops so they no longer have their say well they do but they have have their special
Association croaky names as an alternative the Hoops 1 to 12 oh no really they they they don’t call them penelon Rover no unbelievable well they still allow you to call them penon I’m going to stick with penon r i like penultimate okay big shot from from Gary’s got to dislodge the
Blue is no it’s squirting between the hoop and the blue and I think that opens the door for for Robert so Robert’s been waiting well off the line just waiting quietly over by the sidelines and he comes down measures up stalks his ball as he does he always stalks his
Ball I think we’ve seen Gary play without stalking but but um yeah he Robert does stalk and the hoop shakes in the ground 31 3-1 to Robert he must be pretty determined to win this game having first he came out all guns fir that his his attitude at hoop
One uh showed how he means to take this game going forward he not being shy did not bulk at the opportunity that’s a beautiful shot isn’t it from Gary just just that says come H me it’s the Target on its back he were saying now Robert has two possibilities of of
Of hitting the red away he’s not taking the first he’s just tickling it up he probably was going for it there but not but not hard not with not at PACE no uh because he would be imagining that his blue ball will be able to clear the red
Although the blue ball has a shot of some distance on it Gary brings his in possibly thinking about the block but I think moreover just trying to make sure that he’s got a nice Runner and now here’s the big shot this is the important one blue has to clear the
Red Robert goes through his routine stalks rests didn’t see any cap No Cap touching no there was no cap touching there and instead he settles for the shot shoots and he gets enough of it yes he away he doesn’t look happy does he you can tell even though you can only see
The back of his head he he’s thinking I should have got more of that yeah he didn’t hit it firmly enough it should have gone where his ball has gone and now red is left where it can easily clear black yeah and this will put Gary
In control of this hoop with both of his balls in front of the hoop and both Robert’s balls scattered around the lawn so is he going for yellow or is he going for the hoop uh you’d have to take yellow the the he he’d be a very high percentage
He’d be he’d be 90% chance of hitting yellow he’d be 20% chance of getting the hoop so I think so I think that’s uh that that’s certainly the case so now we have a change of commentator I’m going to leave you thank you very much Kate we welcome
To the commentary Booth Allison sharp it’s just come off the lawn after a quick cup of tea Robert went for the hoop you were completely right Kate he went for the hoop did he get the hoop it was an amazing shot he I really really
Did not think that he would go for the hoop he didn’t make it but it was it was incredible that he went for it from that distance so we Allison you join us at a a really interesting moment I’ll just make sure we get your your name we could I could have spelled
It a and then the hashtag though couldn’t I really you could certainly have done just that so you’ve had a all right you’ve you’ve just come off The Lawns yourself so I’ll let me Orient you with this so thank you so so what do we see Gary is one game
Up and we’re now on hoop five of the second game Robert is 31 up in this in this game he’s come out all guns blazing he’s shooting it he’s shooting from distance he’s shooting with aggression how we know Robert and um and Gary is responding brilliantly with some
Fantastic touches of his of his own uh let’s see what Gary does here to deal with this threat while he’s making his mind up I can tell you that Peter frier has taken a 6-3 lead in his game against Richard Parks So the plan here is for Gary to
Then clear blue with his yellow ball leaving the red leaving the red in position to make that’s right the hoop so Robert now playing the black from a long way away from the north eastern corner of the lawn Big Shot you can see there the angle bringing the ball
Down and dislodging the yellow look at that with a perfect block and isn’t that isn’t that just incredible not quite not quite getting enough of the the yellow surely ho y the option for yellow now surely surely You’ got to take the hoop uh to go for the hoop surely because you
Could run that hoop and go through to through through the six yep you’ve surely got to be doing this is a more aggressive rather than defensive um play is to go for the hoop and if you’re the I mean I mean sorry to bring this up Allison but yesterday you had a
Fantastic game against Barry Jennings who was very much the underdog in your game and he went for everything he was very aggressive he felt he had nothing to lose that’s right if you’re the underdog you have to you you have to go um you have to take your chances that’s
Exactly right and that’s what Gary will be realizing he needs to be aggressive and needs to go for everything that he can believing he can get the hoops and and make these great clearance shots so Gary obviously Peter and Richard Park’s game Peter is now up up 64 in the other
Game great yeah great position nice little lag for there would would you like to take that a bit closer yes I think perhaps but but the black ball is maybe stymy behind ho five but the distance that tell me about this shot oh he was yeah was trying to
Promote yellow BL to then clear it y um but blue being that uh far in front of the hoop Robert will be feeling very comfortable making a hoop from that distance yes yes he’s and what you didn’t see earlier was that at hoop one Robert had a a choice
Of doing a very easy clearance shot or taking on a very difficult hoop yeah he took the difficult hoop and he made it yep yep so a lot there’s a lot of self belief in these guys lot of self oh Gary goes for the hoop for the hoop and goes
For the hoop I think he might have got it he’s not although he’s not putting the clip on and Robert no he missed it but again very aggressive Play by Gary to decide to go for the hoop blue um gosh he’s uh he’s obviously feeling quite confident yeah at the moment well
The game’s here for him to win he’s W one game up in the series imagine taking a two game to nil lead over Robert Fletcher that would be right this would be uh quite significant but he’s going to have to work a bit harder because that’s now 4-2 to Robert at the
Turn and now Gary’s red ball uh which he tried to promote the yellow one now finds itself in an offside position so Gary will have to pick his red ball up and bring it over to the the naughty Corner the naughty Corner as we call the penalty
Point to be played and then we’ll be very keen to to land dead in front of hoop seven this is a shot you practice a lot Allison from that’s right cuz I’m often sent to the naughty corner I right even if you haven’t gone offside you should be sent to the naughty corner
So so we uh that that’s a pretty good shot for Gary it’s running it’s on it’s on the short side right Gary should be very happy with that he will be um the plan would be for Robert to position his ball dead in front and then
He will attempt to clear reded and again another brilliant block by Robert and this is uh all partly because of his understanding and feel of the pace of the lawn okay but that’s that’s nice bringing that so where’s the blue the blue are the blue went through the hoop
So the Blue’s directly north of so so Robert Robert the clear red here do you think robt I think will clear red y he will so he’s always very focused on preparing for these shots and uh let’s see and byebye and does it perfectly off to the boundary Robert’s blue is a long
Way away now of course so we might just want to remember that the blue has come all the way down yeah Robert’s always looking that’s right Robert’s always looking to put pressure under and the pressure his opponents pressure now on Gary there is a lot of pressure now for Gary seven
Y seven meters we have to keep saying meters remember met yes that’s very true and you can see there is a bit of a breeze flapping of Gary’s shorts comes into place sometimes just giving us an idea of just how much uh and oh he
Nearly got the off near got the off that would have been impressive Sensational that would have been very good well he hasn’t quite got the black far enough away Robert will not be too daunted by no that’s right Robert will be believed that he has a shorter shot now on
Removing yellow from the front of still seven yards still seven meters still 7 m yep but no this not an issue again and off we go so now we’re starting to develop a bit of a blank canvas in front of hoop 7even that’s right and now we get really
Although Yes red sitting there as a bit of a bit of a gatekeeper I call it and it does allow Gary to to have both of his balls dominating hoop seven uh that’s a pretty good shot yep that’s very very nice and Robert remember the blue ball all the way down
In the southwestern corner so Robert will be thinking hard about where to the placement of his next ball that’s coming in blue um and okay that’s interesting because yellow is a very strong Runner if Gary can block the the black from hitting yellow yes that’s right but he’s
Actually going for the blue instead yes because if yellow look because yellow I think if it had jws blue would have been been it would have been a jumping ball I think cleared blue I see of course the power of the jump that’s exactly that’s right the power of the jump yep yep
Yep so Robert must clear this yellow yep yeah and and does very successfully it is but it has left the black way away fortunately okay so in the playoff for the fifth place uh Peter frier has vanquished Richard Parks in a 74 Victory so well done Peter and Peter is someone
Else we might be seeing in the commentary Booth a bit later on let’s hope this game between Robert and Gary carries on for the the full best of five because it’s an incredible an incredible battle very exciting for the spectators watching okay a pretty good placement by by
Yellow bit of an angle bit of an angle so he could be thinking of jaing the ball instead of going for a clean hoop run itself again Robert sees this as a a good Target is this all just waiting for the red to come into play because we we in the the previous
Game Gary played a beautiful shot from the boundary to win so he’s he’s clearly of of a mind that he can he can shoot from there and Robert was mind that he needed to block wasn’t he Robert he’s just got the the he’s understanding the Robert is really understanding the pace
Of the lawn so well and he’s getting some perfect blocks in and particularly difficult there where there’s that sort of little little circle of fungus that that yes exactly right which makes it uh the lawn more uneven and uh well not as easy to deal with Robert
Quite a long way away with his black ball he the yellow one is of course the one that the target Ball but red is is blocking black from uh hitting yellow away so this is not an easy shot for Rob 20 25 M away for Robert but just Strokes it
In so I think he’s going for a block because he couldn’t see yellow o well going for a block it’s not often you see all four balls in front of the hoop like this at this level yeah and this is very interesting yellow can’t really Jaws in the hoop because
Both the like blue needs to get the right angle on this blue now needs to send the blue all the way over to the right hand side of the screen and he’s done it does it very nicely’s the and it might the black may even be blocking the red here but we’ll
See so Robert fair fair distance away but very important now that Robert makes a good contact on this shot so you can see he’s really doing his long stalking you know how Robert when he’s yeah that’s it because that red is a hoop running position and Robert knows he’s under
Pressure to to clear really needs to clear the Red Bull so shoots oh just get adult’s past it there Parallax as it went through there just made it look as if he’d actually got it didn’t it yes that’s right there was a bluring yeah that’s it there was a bluring a
Bluring and we for a microsc I thought he’d got it yeah now the problem here for Gary I guess Allison is if he doesn’t get the red through cleanly Robert’s in perfect jumping position correct so it just puts a little bit more pressure under Gary to make this
Hoop you got to make it cleanly you can’t get into the Jaws on this car you got to go through far as he can you got to not do that because and he turns around and he knows he’s made a mistake with that one because Robert can now jump Robert will jump leaving
Red against the leg of the ho no no this isn’t disaster Gary at all disaster it’s a disaster because it’s let not only is he let Robert in Robert can get down to the next hoop and the red ball is blocked against and there he goes and
He’s going down to the next hoop well slight smile on his face he’s very happy with the result smile that’s exactly right gosh how quickly it can turn if that red ball had gone through only a few minutes ago we felt that Gary had the hoop only a few
Minutes him he got he’s got a ball that’s completely styed against the leg of hoop hoop seven he’s right up against the Northern boundary and Roberts all the way down to hoop number eight in all because of one little bit of indiscretion there incredible so I think
Gary hit that more softly than he wanted to I like to see I’d like to see where the yellow has landed than you I’d like to see where the yellow has landed that’s right okay all right I’d got the impression that Gary had hit the yellow quite
Softly and not far enough towards the H but in fact Gary has done a great job he has and I thought that the the black ball looked like it was perfectly paced to get down to the hoop but in fact it’s gone um it’s gone a lot further no
Gary’s done very well with that uh with his getting his yellow ball down well he had to squirt the red out from from the side of the hoop that sort of cost him a shot but Robert conscious of the position of the yellow can Robert
See yellow I think he can just can just see it I think he can slightly off the line of the hoop let’s see no I believe no he couldn’t he couldn’t he couldn’t see yellow he couldn’t see he was trying to block yellow from making the hoop are
The blue and the black close enough to annoy the shot taker here oh no he goes straight through the gate goes straight through theate they’re actually they’re actually guiding him they’re not they’re not impeding him the referee isn’t even on now Gary must make this he’s Gary’s yeah that’s it oh no
He’s you can see there’s a bit of a breeze the shorts uh give us an indication bit of a breeze out there so it can affect the swing if you’re not careful oh oh what a great hoop that’s the way to do it so that makes is this is this a
Promotion opportunity so this is an opportunity perfect opportunity do a promotion although if you’re going first to the hoop is that is it really worth it if blue is hampered from going to the next hoop and he can’t see the front of the next hoop Robert will take that opportunity to
Therefore promote instead Robert can Rush a ball reasonably well as well can’t he let’s raise it let’s raise it if this was a if this was Association cro he would be rushing the he would be rushing that ball this is interesting that he’s choosing not to promote well that I find that
Fascinating well iort I think that being first to the hoop anyway is enough of an advantage yes exactly right okay so Gary bringing his ready in that’s a beautifully paced shot isn’t it look at that look at the great smashing shot great Pace I mean a bit too good
Really because Robert will be thinking now I’m going to get but funny enough on hoop number one Robert was presented with that opportunity and he chose to go for the hoop yeah he didn’t choose to clear well given how good that ball is he’ll be choosing to clear the red I
Think that’s exactly right well maybe not because he’s he’s just playing with such yeah confidence that’s exactly we’ll see just how much confidence and Robert has either he’ll go for the hoop now with his blue ball or he’ll choose to clear red um I feel Robert may take
The choice of clearing red to because the black is so strong the black is in such a strong position yep you called it right Allison slight Danger of dislodging the black isn’t there either from the Roch aware of that so he’ll just need to cut perfectly oh what happened to the blue
Look at the blue oh the could have been the intention by Robert that he’s uh look such an accurate player trying to get the perfect angle that well this is really difficult now for Gary because he he’s got two completely threatening balls in the shape of the the both the U the
Black and the blue what was he planning on do he was looking down the line there yeah looking down the line towards yellow not sure not sure why he was doing that well that that oh this is this is agonizing because to try and extricate
That it’s not easy oh he did it he got he got something on it but it wasn’t enough it had to be a very very accurate shot and uh Gary Gary made it now just lodging it slightly um well slightly enough to make it a target for the for
The yellow yes so enough to to say okay should I jump y should I take the jump shot at this hoop because I can’t afford to leave the blue there as a target for the yellow no you’re right but he won’t CH black won’t choose to jump because it leaves blue
Hampered I think Robert might try and just block yellow from oh he it through oh look at that we didn’t call that at all that was the one thing we didn’t call we I think we thought he was that Robert was going to Jaws it perhaps Jaws it and he could
