2021 Brian Reither Association Croquet Challenge Sunday 24 October 2021 video 02

Hosted at the Victorian Croquet Centre, Cairnlea, Victoria Australia
video 02 of play on Sunday 24 October 2021

Wonderful stuff yeah he certainly um provides the the highlights G does the way he plays so fantastic Alan are you taking this yellow to five or you rushing it up to Red I’m taking it to five yeah and Callum follows your instruction and he takes it to five

He oh dear yes Ken would uh would bristle it at following my instructions but still oh no I’m sure he wouldn’t um so he’s he’s actually got a Pioneer at uh one back now of course that red ball is Ser serving as a beautiful Pioneer at

At one back always tricky go oh he’s left himself with a difficult one didn’t see how how angled that is what I don’t he can’t make the hoop he can’t shoot at Red he would have liked to have shot at Red because he because the yellow’s in the way now oh

He will have to lur now yep back to lurking halfway oh oh he could take a wide position take a wide position yeah take a wide Position St would have to move the yellow and he couldn’t really hit it towards red because that might give too

Much away to um yeah to Callum when that’s what he’s doing he’s taking a wide position so yellow can’t shoot at him he’s threatening to run the hoop on his next turn Steven can’t possibly leave the yellow there he can’t really he can’t shoot at his own really either because

Uh if Callum came through the hoop with Force Callum would have quite an easy shot at the red and the yellow afterwards yes so Steven I think will go to Corner four or just to the eastern boundary yeah so last time went Steven sat out from the boundary line a little

Bit he was hoping that he would get the opportunity to move his other ball towards it and then set up a rush back lawn next and this is kind of what he’s done here even though he hasn’t sat outside when red joins up with yellow eventually you know hopefully soon

Enough he’ll get some kind of Rush up alwn so he’s giving himself an option there by not going right into the corner well Callum will slam this through hope to get near the red yes or maybe make two hoops at once that’ be nice it has happened it has happened

I’ve seen it happen it has happened yep yep now callum’s got to be a bit careful here because the red is the danger ball isn’t it the red is the ball that hasn’t made all of the the hoop oops for Steven so this is dangerous shooting at this one he hits it beautifully

Wow yes fantastic um dangerous but not too dangerous with where the yellow was the yellow was out in the middle of the Court dangerous because the yellow was on the band line not so scary all right so Callum now of course needs to make hoop seven or one back now normally

When you go through one back oh he hasn’t made six yet I’m sorry yep I’m sorry make six he’s going do the big roll big roll to to six which is not going to be is going to be oh oh dear just too angly isn’t it yeah it is a bit

Angly it is a bit angly it’s you think he’s going to do the same is gonna go is he GNA lag in front he’s he’s gonna go for some top top on it oh well the the clip nearly went through but but not the but not the

Ball well yeah okay so oh geez now interesting here interesting here Alan would you if you were playing red would you go for blue or would you go or would you just go back down to your own partner ball um if I could see the whole of blue

I would go for blue if I there’s a little bit of wire in the way I would be a bit scared and go for yellow so see what Steven’s presented with looks like he can see the hole of blue so he’s going for it yep now there may be a time Factor

Here as well Alan because of course these games are timed uh I’m not quite sure what what time this actually started and whether or not it’s critical at this stage but but just note the fact that these aren’t time unlimited games okay well that can start influencing people’s

Decisions this is a great view of this shot and a great view of the roko now a very difficult to do yeah but what’s the advantage of doing it because he’s not going to make a break with this ball now is he he’s he’s not going to I

Mean if you just went to your own your own partner ball and I suppose he’s got a chance of what what are your thoughts on okay so firstly he stopped K from making one hoop which as you said time could be an issue but now he can set it

Up like the way he wants it to so he will what a bit of a trap for Callum now so if Callum shoots at his two balls and misses Steven should have a three ball break but but by but by picking Callum up he’s now responsible for the position

Of the blue ball which means that he’s got to be very careful not to wire Callum otherwise that will give Callum a lift that’s right but he will give Calum an option that says if you shoot at me and Miss I’m probably going to uh you

Know have a very good chance of getting a break going so right if Callum Callum will either lur now or shoot at Steven it’s a it’s a hard decision if if Callum thinks he can get a break going it’s worth shooting at him but if he

Thinks that if he misses and he um and Steven will definitely get a break going he wouldn’t I probably would shoot in this situation it’s not you know you’re not giving away too much I don’t think if you miss well one one thing that I

Was going to say there Alan is that uh when Steven comes through one back he will be giving Callum a lift so there may be an option to remain patient that’s true oh that was close that was close it’s a really good effort wasn’t

It it was a good effort and so he didn’t miss out much by missing that shot and he sort of also said a little message to uh Stevens saying hey I’m going to shoot at you you know no matter what I’m shooting at you so so they can both sort

Of adjust their tactics accordingly Ste stepen Steven probably had an inkling that Callum would be shooing knowing him as he does yeah yeah he’s a good judge of character he’s aware of gum’s tactics okay well it’s useful for everyone to know now that uh Steven is responsible for the

Position of the the blue ball so if he doesn’t finish his break on this turn if he doesn’t finish the game then he has to be careful about where he leaves his balls in relation to the view that callum’s blue ball has now he he’s

Shaping up here to to rush to hoop six wow good Rush it’s a good rush and he will then obviously be on his way to to to start to start maneuvering the the break but he has left calum’s ball behind so he hasn’t got a three ball break going

Yet no but he’s yellow is perfectly positioned for a a rush to uh one back so he might just be able to do with two balls until he can come around to the corner to include the blue again so the key thing to bear in mind

Here as he comes through that hoop and he gets a beautiful Rush on the yellow towards one back is that once he’s made one back he will be giving Callum a lift because he pegged Callum out yes Callum doesn’t give away this because he was pegged out you are

Correct so I’m reliably informed there’s about uh 12 minutes left in this game so time might start to come into it that’s a very handy thing for Steven as he’s in front yes because it means that once he gets in front sorry Alan you carry on no no no

You can go yeah you you go uh I I was just going to say that um once Steven has got his nose in front on the scoreboard he he really can just hide he he can just take wide positions and not touch callum’s blue ball at all so he can be very very

Patient and then with about a minute to go he can Peg out the forward ball as well and get an extra point and make it very hard for Callum to catch with only two balls yeah yeah C callum’s task becomes really difficult once there are only two

Balls on the lawn uh or or whoever’s behind their task becomes very difficult once there’s only two balls on the lawn he’s having a really good think about this because I think he’s very very cognizant of yeah well what if I go through here I’m I’m G to be giving

Callum the lift and and where would I want that lift to be whereas if I just go for a leave here I’ve got at least I’m putting a lot of distance I’m putting a whole diagonal of the Court between me and Callum and it will be thinking about

Setting a big trap so that if Callen shoots Steven’s got a definite three ball break so you’ll see the yellow out from the corner a fair bit and the red in the corner I suspect no he’s going for the ho oh he’s yeah no I I was with you I

Thought he’d be Ling the trap in the in in the corner but looks like he’s going for the hoop oh he’s exposing himself here he’s really uh putting his balls out into the open and that’s not worked out brilliantly I don’t think Alan because he can’t make the hoop now and now no

It’s although it’s gonna be a big TR it will be a trap I think he went for each bet he said if I don’t do this I can still set a reasonable trap he’s quite confident um C go for and of course with only 12 minutes

Callum kind of has to Spring the Trap that’s what he has to do yeah okay so Steven D just working out what what line of trajectory Callum had and making sure that he doesn’t commit the worst sin which is to give a double to Callum which would be terrible uh so

What he doesn’t want to do is is play a shot is put his balls where Callum would would be able to see both the yellow and the red almost in line so he’s going to instead he’s going to put the red sort of up here so that there is no double

There’s no double shot for for Callum with the blue ball yep that’s a very very strong position he’s got now it is because what what’s going to happen is that Callum uh if Callum shoots and misses then red will be able to pick him up really easily if Callum doesn’t shoot he’s

Still going to have the opportunity of a lift shot later on I I think Callum would be unwise to shoot here I think Callum would be better to L yep but he’s gonna be he’s gonna lur aggressively and put a lot of pressure on Steven’s next shot because it’s a awkward distance it

Is a very awkward distance I don’t I’d be be really nervous about the distance that Steven has to play this next shot but having said that playing with red shooting it at yellow if the red will end up on the if if red shoots and uh

And misses the yellow then it’s going to end up um in a position down on the South Boundary which well I suppose if Callum shoots blue yellow then suddenly that red is in where wants it well well only yeah I mean off if it’s on the boundary line that’s pretty

Good yeah you definitely want to shoot it with just I I I think yeah again it’s pretty okay when you set a trap like this and the distance you’re leaving yourself is a shot you should be confident of hitting so if Steven misses this he’s probably should have been a

Bit closer does that make sense yeah like he should be I’m G to hit nine times out of 10 I mean this is an easy distance for me I’m going to nine times out of 10 all right well here he goes and that was one of those

Times yeah really good but but he’s definitely not going to now try and roll up to the hoop he’s he’s going to go off and hide somewhere correct but if Callum were to go and sit in front of his hoop he would give away too much so now he can do wide

Position so it’s it’s good now he can actually do oh he might even try in the middle of the Court which is brave it looks like he is going to looks like he’s really looking at hoop six and the trajectory from Blue to so we just mark

This on the map um this line This hoop here is is in the could be in the way if imagine if if Steven was to place his yellow and red there then Callum can’t see it at the moment the yellow dist and Wire yeah distance and

Wire so so so instead Stephen’s going to roll the balls all the way down the court and that that looks lovely doesn’t it y he got two HS to high B now so it’s really good yep so so the line well oh yeah look at that well if I have the blue

That right couldn’t I that’s that’s that’s sort of what we’ve got isn’t it now Callum is not entitled to a wiring lift because he’s responsible for the position of his own ball correct correct and stevenh can spend six or seven minutes lining this up he won’t

But he Co if he wanted to to make sure it’s 100% right and gum would just has to sit there and wait that’s right and the interesting thing is the score is 18 all but this is where Steven is really in the box seat because he can he could now

Hide with 30 seconds to go and then just Peg out his the uh the peg ball couldn’t he yes that’s great if if he really if he really wanted to do that that’s uh that that would be that would be an option but look he’s just absolutely he’s so hidden from Callum

Yes now would need a canly lawn turn well well funnily enough there is a turn at this hoop there is a big turn in fact if Callum was to shoot directly in the line of of um you know about a meter to the right of where we’re looking it

Could well curve in and hit those that would be an incredible thing he’s not going to risk that of course but about say that would be very brave that’s even even braver than Kell so he’s looked on a um it’s known as a what I call the small wire rather than

The fat wire or the narrow Wire yeah so it’s harder for Steven to hide behind a hoop because he’s only got the the horizontal rather than the of yeah yeah no good point um that’s a great Point Alan that that when when you’re looking north south on these

Lawns the the the Hoops are fat and wide but when you’re looking East West the they’re they’re very narrow so Callum is going off to the western boundary there so that there’s M much fewer places for Steven to hide now Steven hiding at callum’s hoop is is a little bit more risky isn’t

It uh yes but I think Callum is at the other end at Hook six still oh he’s yes that’s right yes he is yes you’re sorry you’re right I I was back in the past think I was back in the past thinking we were Callum was still on hoop four interestingly Steven’s giving

Himself a rush up the lawn so he must have a pretty good wire there yeah if he’s thinking about the rush up the lawn that’s a good point good for Sten not not not so good for but good for Sten well the and he’s still going to give a

Lift shot away after he’s made one back so Callum can afford to be quite he can afford to be patient he’s going to have a free shot at some stage he doesn’t need to take this shot now even if he even if he can see some

Of Steven and and he’s is and he looks like he’s gonna shoot at it by the way he’s looking looks the moment puts these balls down he’s gonna leap up and shoot but I I think he I think I can’t understand why you wouldn’t wait a little

While I I think the 12 minute time thing is now down to about five minutes or six minutes oh yeah oh in fact I think it’s even less now I think it’s 12:42 it go I think we’ve only got two minutes now yeah okay so well I mean the break’s

On now for Stephen if he wants it so so that was yeah yeah maybe maybe you’re right Alan what uh Callum was thinking was that the time was ticking quite quickly and that he would have to and he’d have to make a uh a play yeah I think he had no choice which

Is a shame it’s fall into st’s lap nicely now it it is a shame because the beauty of the 2V1 is when there is unlimited time and uh and you you get those those two lift shots um but Steven now will look to make uh the

Hoops the he doesn’t in a sense he doesn’t need to do it because with one minute left he could just put the the forward ball onto the P put it this way winning by one is nice and is good but when you’re playing Callum Callum could hit you and then

Beat you you know me whereas if stepen takes his 26 then he’s one Callum doesn’t get another shot even though run out callum’s good enough to make a two ball break he could do yes two or three crazy shots and then he would it’s possible you know you could lose the

Game if you give him another chance so unfortunately and also Steve Steve when you’re as ice cool as as Steven in these situations you’re you’re not going to be worried about making a three ball break now you know your your opponent has given you a three

Ball break and you’re going to take it I mean you know you you’re you’re good enough and you’re and you’re composed enough to do it so there’s no point in hiding away and and just trying to sneak that little um front ball Victory it’s it’s now yes you don’t get into the max

Squad by uh not not not brave and not taking opportunities when you get them yeah yeah absolutely then again he might be going conservative here um yeah well he’s I don’t know whether the Bell has gone maybe it has maybe the Bell did go and it’s just a matter of getting

Hoops yeah so you think that maybe just picking up these two hoops and and then well yeah I’m not sure not sure whether the Bell has gone and oh no he’s missed it oh wow he’s missed he’s missed a one yard rad he’s he’s giving away a oh my goodness I can’t believe

It incredible stuff that’s amazing i’ i’ wow so Callum can pick up the blue ball and he has a free shot now amazing turn it into a double to make sure yeah ah you just wouldn’t imagine that would you okay I just want to

Check so I can hear Kate on the on the line so yes I’m here Patrick our our producer and need come in a very exciting moment Kate Callum shoots oh abolutely Oh well a bit of Fortune for Steven there oh my goodness yes this is the most exciting day going so there’s still time hello Kate so Kate do we know how long there is you said 12:42 the Bell would go he must have one more shot yeah okay

Well he is uh well it’s it’s oh might be golden hoop no I think he’s got because he’s got seven uh he the scoreboard is not quite correct is it because stepen Steven came through one back so I think it might be golden hoop you think so I don’t

Yeah and well if it was golden hoop is won now if if if the time has gone we’re not quite sure whether the time has gone yeah doesn’t look like time gone if time hasn’t gone the referee will need to the referee will need to come out and referee coming

On hampered shot going on here so this is the Victorian coordinator of refereeing Brian Foley marking the Red Bull because Stevens shot is really quite hampered I think what we’re a little bit confused about now Kate is if the Bella’s gone and Stephen is ahead and Callum has had his last turn

Why why we’re still going I guess he can make nice shot Nice Shot very nice shot anyway we just have to wait and watch adjust the position of the balls on here the markers are hard to see and blend into the surroundings well certainly an exciting

Game anyway oh it’s a two a 2v one battle is always fantastic it’s always always brilliant uh such a lot to talk about with respect to the tactics the strategy yeah I suspect the game is is over because stepen wouldn’t be bothered taking a hoop like that in this

Situation if if it wasn’t but we’ll soon find out whether or not there’s just a so so well played well played I’m just going to leave you for a moment uh k i hand over to you uh for a second it’s okay do you know who which game we’ll be watching

Next oh okay all right so um they just going to clear the lawn now and uh ready themselves for the next game um they’ll all be talking about how they played each other and what they could have done differently usually very good sportsmanship show at the end of a cro

Game uh and what Brian’s doing now is checking all the Hoops to make sure they are still ridiculously tight um the uh the ball is usually 1116 of an inch less wide than the hoop in these competition matches so really is quite hard to run a hoop looks easy from the

TV quite good from our point of view so my co-host is um having some connection issues but uh we’re doing very well looking out seeing what’s going to happen next um that’s okay Kate we’re doing well from a point of view of the um the tournament I’m not sure what that result

Will mean just see if we canum jump onto the excellent cro scores website on our computer or my little mobile phone and see what’s going on with that to see how that affects the tournament I suspect um Robert Fletch is in first position but the battle for second must be pretty pretty tense

So just um refresh the cro scores website um Steven forer was on three wins so that’ll take him to four wins and Callum was on four wins before that one so that was from a tournament point of view a very good win for for Steven um callum’s last opponent will be Kevin

Beard I believe and Robert will be playing Steven forer so that win will help uh help uh Steven’s case becoming second good result for Steven excellently done I wonder which game we’re going to go see next one versus two Steven forer versus Kevin beard maybe even possibly um Kevin

Beard versus Callum Highland I’m not sure which one we’ll get to see in the next coverage but that will happen soon and we’ll go from there uh welcome to all the people out there watching us whether you’re first time viewers or whether you’re um seasoned cro players um

Gareth’s um innovation of the uh playing map has been very helpful from a commentary point of view I hope you found it interesting does a good job tracking the ball and talking so finding it well so um being a victorians um Steven forer is an avid Collingwood supporter as am I and there

Was a brief period where I had entertained the concept that I might be the only Collingwood supported supporting good player of cro until I met Steven and then I was unfortunately found out that he was Callingwood support which is great from a Collingwood point of view but uh for my

Ego not so good anyway one of those little things you like to do so soon I’ll be um passing the comment over to haran Orbin um who C people will know very good uh well my partner um and she’s actually an excellent cro player in her own right um having uh successfully represented

Victoria and New South Wales in the state teams I’ve only ever done it for one state but K’s luy done it both States um well sounds like we might be getting some other people commentating again soon which will be good my ability to pad is being stretched but I’m I’m working

On so uh hello Alan I’m I’m back again and uh you you’ve been you’ve been given Fillin juices for the last couple of minutes yes sort of trust upon me but that’s okay it’s quite tricky isn’t it well I think now would be a good time to

Chat about about the person who is uh who’s who after whom the competition is named uh Brian writer uh who we all know as cro players for the amazing work that he does behind the scenes to run tournaments uh I don’t know I don’t know whether you can see

This picture on your screen Alan but amazing a couple of the a couple of the Suspects on there young yeah yeah isn’t that amazing to think that Robert was already uh most accomplished most accomplished player with at that tender age and of course Brian had a big part in Robert’s

Development uh so in this particular photo I believe this is of um their the the team that the three of them uh made back in the day the uh the regional AC championships in 20 06 uh and as you say the other players there were Robert and Malcolm as very

Young players so um Brian that led that Ballarat team uh to to success in 2006 with those those upstarts and he’s seen them grow seen them grow into the incredible players uh that they are so um I said you know Brian Brian has served in

So many uh roles over the over the years and it’s uh incredibly fitting that uh this tournament is named after him he’s actually doing the behind the scenes organization and his own tournament as well so he’s managing the tournament is he uh well I I believe so he’s he’s

Managed um world championships in 2009 2012 and 2017 uh he he’s but he’s not just an organizer he’s actually got uh an extremely extremely uh resp respectable ranking um he he he was yeah I mean he was up to uh 64 um in 2010 before his tournament

Managing duties took over so uh you know we we we mainly know him as uh as this in Tor force of tournament choreography but in fact uh he really is a very accomplished player in his own right I like the term tournament choreography that’s it is it is it is choreography organizing

All those uh those those demanding cro players and uh and and cro is also because the the games themselves are can can finish early can drag on for ages after the Bell to be able to to organize a croquet tournament it is really quite taxing so Brian does that um you know absolutely

Uh beautifully so I believe that we’re g to go and have a look at some uh some in in uh some of the play from yesterday um I’m not sure whether that’s coming up on the screen for us to to talk about but it was a very successful day for Robert

Yesterday uh he had uh this I think this is now a replay of yesterday so Alan maybe uh you mentioned actually that caran might be joining us for a stint in the commentary box yes yes I’m about to hand over to K Anne the knowledge of the game is okay

Thank you very thank you very much for your lovely to have you with us and uh and welcome keran thank you thanks Ellen hello Gareth hello all yeah good morning oh I should say good afternoon K and it’s now it’s now the afternoon what we’re do what we’re doing here is watching uh

A repeat of the game between uh Robert and Josh Wilson from yesterday uh we’ve got to sit this will allow us to take our viewers through some of the the interesting little fine points of of break making and strategy uh what’s uh did did you manage

To catch this game yesterday Kian or is this uh will will you be seeing this for the first time uh I’ll be seeing this for the first time I’m unfortunately I uh couldn’t catch it h play C myself on the lawn yesterday H how did it go uh pretty [Laughter]

Good still warming up and loosening those muscles after covid well I know it’s uh and it’s and it’s funny because it’s not just the the shop making that’s a bit Rusty but also I I’ve just noticed with the commentary that that your sort of um appreciation

Of some of the patterns and the the strategies are a little bit Rusty as well I I found when I was going over that with um uh Allan just just now the 2V1 with Allan just now I was thinking oh yeah of course that’s what they

Should be doing and it it was it was only occurring to me a little bit uh afterwards because it’s slightly out of out of sync but but what we’ve got here is the oh we I think we flick back over to today have we we’ve now got no we’re

Yep I think we’ve stopped doing the replay and now we’re we’re looking at a game now a game on about to start on court one uh do you recognize who that is keran coming coming on there forer playing against Robert Fletcher aha it’s step against Robert okay so um Stephen

Has I I’ll update my little map and see if we can get that going and it is Steven against Robert Okie do so Steven playing his first ball into a fairly traditional spot do you think Robert is looking for a a Duffer here or is he looking for a corner two do you

Think I think yeah Corner two there you go just outside corner to yeah okay so Robert playing which I think is the black ball over to just outside corner two and was it yeah St he is yeah I’m sorry so it’ll be the red I couldn’t I couldn’t pick up the

Color but yes I should have I should have known it was at least the red should have known it was at least the red or the yellow good that’s okay so Steven uh hitting from Bor North Boundary shooting at his own ball yeah long way down the eastern boundary

Shoot looks good oh looks good yes hit good shot well it was a good shot because of the position of Robert’s ball he doesn’t really get a tremendous return from it though does he carry out no not really um but pretty sure he’ll take off to Robert’s ball in

Corner two and then move Roberts ball in court and maybe s not too sure yeah so it becomes a bit like this the position you see after a lift shot or just before before a Li shot is taken yeah so this is quite difficult because uh hoop two can be in the

Way yes you just have to judge the speed of the court and the lot of factors to taking consideration so as car saying the hoop two can get in the way he manages to navigate hoop 2 and vles up next to Robert’s red ball so very nicely executed and as

Keran said what we might expect to happen now is for that red ball to be pumped into the center of the lawn uh long way away from Robert’s next shot but in beautiful position for Steven to be able to make a break so I suppose I was I was wrong to

Say that there wasn’t a big advantage in Steven hitting that R earlier on because of course he can actually engineer quite a nice situation for himself that’s the name of the game hitting you can’t cro if you don’t r no so the red ball exactly where you’d

Expect it after setting a leave sort of a couple of yards in from the western boundary and now the blue ball played over probably ideally to give himself a rush in court and even more ideally a a rush at that red ball yes nice rushing Court st’s

Got so we’re literally in a position now where it’s like Steven have made a break and Robert has chosen to pick up the yellow ball and has got to decide whether he’s going to take the lift shop from a bulk or B bulk what would you do here

Car oh depends on how you’re feeling but um how confident and how well you’re playing conditions well he’s chosen to take what we call the shorter shot yeah yeah correct so shooting from the South Boundary from aook to one of Steven’s bows because if he hits this he can he’s got a

Break that’s right so as ever pacing stalking very deliberate shock routine is always the same if you doesn’t like what he sees he just steps back and does it again it’s all about the routine to make everything seamless all you have to concentrate is hitting that ball not you know what are

My legs doing what are my melt doing what’s my hands doing that’s all just set that’s just all muscle memory oh and right in the middle oh yeah fantastic absolutely in the middle of the ball absolutely perfect so now we’ve got a situation where Robert has the distinct Advantage he the the lawn

Is absolutely in a sort of Regulation position that he would have practiced and executed many thousands of times before so maybe an opportunity for us to say something about these two players uh Robert as we know is the world number one uh previous world champion Steven an exceptionally accomplished player has

Played for Australia at the highest level on many occasions and of course most famously as part of the winning MC Robertson uh cup uh a few years ago and you’ve played both of these players I’m sure many times keran in the in the past and of course you would have been on the

Same state team as them for several years as well yeah and that’s a yes to both uh question questions um but don’t ask how many wins I’ve had off them um it it it must have been incredible for you to have um to have been on the

The same team as these guys and and for them to have sort of given you tips and and for you to have you know experienced the just just you know their their energy and their passion rubbing off on you yeah definitely um and watching them play You Learn by osmosis you watching

Their ball movements the way they carry themselves on the lawn the way they do each um shot um you get an insight into their psychology because you’re in the same team so you’ll um preview to what you know they’re thinking so I guess another thing that must have

Been fantastic for you is that both of them are just masters of the the the sort of 2v one game that sort of tactical thing we just saw in the last game Steven against Callum and so you know that’s that’s something that a lot of cro players take quite a long time to

Experience but you would have had exposure to that uh you know by by Dent of of working with these these players at a much at a much earlier stage uh yeah definitely and exposed to that in their state practice um training weekends and Robert nicely through and he gets a

Forward rush so things could not be going better for him at the beginning of this break so Robert playing with um what looks like a more oldfashioned Mallet that than most players are using these days do you know much about it ker I believe uh Robert actually made it

Himself so it’s not as old as you think um ah he’s converted to a wooden Mallet because of the new balls um he’s Bing the brass ends or the newer mallets um you can’t really fill uh the ball through the Mallet if that makes sense you getting reaction

Yeah and he’s sping wooden Mallet now you can sort of get the feel of the balls better okay right well that’s yeah I can I can see that there’s uh for these players at this level the sort of tactile sense that they they get uh from that Mallet ball contact uh

Obviously plays a big part in the way that they finesse things so yeah really interesting yeah so so Robert now with a regulation break ahead of him playing the ROK to approach Hoops three now playing the cro shot that will place his yellow ball in

Front of the hoop and the red ball just beyond it and the aim of the game is to get up nice to the um hoop so you can just have more control and look for the rush out well through there very nicely and he can Rush this red to whever he

Pleases it looks like he’s going to take the blue that’ll generate him a little bit more space won’t it yes the top players if as you said before like to play with all the balls in court but sometimes you can get quite too tight Too Close yes so hitting it a

Little bit further out enables you to move the two balls the pr ball and your stckers ball at the same time into different positions well he’s played that shot leaving the blue sort of almost in the jaws of six um obviously not an issue for him at the moment but it’s the sort

Of thing that if I’m if if if I ever do that I start that starts to prey on my mind think oh I shouldn’t have done that but of course it w have well it’s the ability to change from a four ball break to a three ball break without even thinking about

It that’s the skill there sliding the red over to hoop five is the Pioneer and then coming in to finesse the position of the black in front of hoop four the uh The Greens at kley have certainly got a bit of character keran um we’ve

Seen a few Wiggles over the last uh the LA this weekend uh this hoop in particular has got some character uh the players though uh seem to be finding it a bit easier now that the rain has stopped and the uh the the conditions seem to be quite quite nice there

Now well wind has dropped so it’s one less um factor that you have to think about um I think the Lawns have been scarified recently like within the last month or so so um that is a factor yes well uh uh Fortnight ago we were here for the Owen Edwards golf

Croquet challenge uh which was also broadcast on KO and the scarification in The Lawns were fresh and the balls were were literally following some of the channels it was really challenging for the players uh at the moment though the um the grass has has grown into those

Troughs and we there’s now much less of a less of a problem so the the hoop approaches they can be a lot more confident with they can get within six Ines of the hoop and uh and they they’re finding that to be quite routine one thing that our viewers who

Joined us for the golf croquet uh might be wondering is uh the difference between Association and golf croquet in the way that the the players view the hoop running in the golf cro people are taking shots from 5 M 6 M 7 m out and in the Association you very rarely see that

Happen the the the players like to have the ball uh sort of just a few centimeters off off the front of the hoop it’s because uh in golf croquet if you miss the hoop it’s not uh um as disastrous as it is in AC um and also in association C that

We’re watching now um um you’re wanting to run a nice smooth controlled hoop um and at an elite level like this that enables you to get a rush out of a hoop um which continues makes your break continuation much easier well Robert is going to deal with

That blue that was slightly misplaced by being nicely on the Northern side of it and he’ll be able to chip it out and that will immediately Rectify that little problem and he chips it through the hoop so it’s now on the right side so all going very well for him at

The moment so he’ll be thinking of the the leave that he’s going to engineer he’s got his own partner ball the red ball down at two back which is uh what perhaps gives him the most options to to think about keram we saw Robert doing uh a mainly um new standard leave

An NSL leave uh in on the first day uh but uh he had he he got slightly uh into into a little bit of unlucky sort of collisions in the first game we C covered today and he sort of ended up doing a bit more of a uh a sort of a

Sort of thing that I would do a sort of an an OSL so uh let’s see what he does now do you have a particular Le that you like to to do um I generally do a diagonal um spread or diagonal Leaf um which means leading the opponent ball around um south of

Hoop two and the other ball at the peg so they’re wide through the Peg and then my two balls on the East boundary with a rush into the lawn um either that or two four lead so leaving a b opponent ball at hook two and the other ball at hoop four and then

Sending up on the East Boundary again um so yeah generally those two leaves well this one certainly looks like what you were saying before one of the opponent’s balls on the western boundary that’s the black ball and the blue ball will be sent over to three

Back and then it will become a question of whether Robert uh decides how Robert Engineers the position of that blue ball after he’s been through three back of course as we know he’s going to be playing the yellow to near the red on this shot because that’s the hoop he needs to

Make next the blue ball on its way to three back see the clips on top of the Hoops there those clips indicate which hoop is the next in turn for each player and generally you’d make uh tuac which is this hoop Rob is going for off your partner

Ball this enables you to make three back off the opponent ball which enables the Le to be um carried out easier you want to make three back off your um opposition ball your opponent ball so you can use your partner your partner board the last at the last thing that’s

Right so the very last sort of rush and croquet shot that you take you really want those to be off your own part in the ball as part of the process of just engineering the subtlety of the final placement you you want to make sure that the the the position of of

Your opponent’s balls has been well established before you get to that stage now the way this is going at the moment it looks like Robert’s going to try what we call a a new standard leave which will leave the blue ball uh against or very close to the leg

Of this hoop in such a position that it cannot take a swing at either of Robert’s balls but in a position that it can be rushed to hoop one later on so it all gets very fine in the placement here the blue ball goes off to the right crucial that the yellow ball

Doesn’t touch the red going through there otherwise that limits your opportunities a little bit so maybe if we could have the um the mini map shown on the big screen I I can just show the viewers what Robert is attempting to do just before he does it

He’s he’s attempting to leave the blue ball against the the hoop in such a position that the the blue ball cannot swing at the the red and yellow because there’s no move room for the Mallet to move so this shot that I’m showing with the the the line is not possible for the

Blue to do so that’s what Robert’s attempting so let’s see how he manages to maneuver the blue into that position so we can put the mini map back to where it was thank you oh oh that’s a great shot isn’t it yes that would have been me I would have

Rade yes if it would be me i’ would have red the blue so it would have ended up directly south of the hoop and therefore absolutely impossible to put into a hidden position so this is now where yeah he’ll stop Shot Blue onto the leg or just sitting

Outside not outside just off the leg and then he’ll turn around and go back to Red I believe that Robert has a a cheeky option in his repertoire which actually involves putting the blue into the hoop which means that it’s not rush but but he can then engineer near it out as part

Of the next sequence of play so but we’re not going to see that on this occasion we’re going to see the blue just beautifully placed in a position where Steven will not be able to to uh to attack the yellow and red balls and uh and yeah perfect look at

That you cannot you cannot attempt to take a shot on the blue at the red because the wire of the hoop is in the way nice camera that was yeah I was just about to say that beautiful camera work so the other the other little

Subtlety here is that the red has a rush on the yellow towards the black so the uh the Red Bull has has a shot along Ong that trajectory towards the the black so Steven whatever he picks up is going to be uh a a challenge so Steven has an option um

Shooting down from the North Boundary from Bor through red or he can shoot at his own um Ball but I definitely take this shot through red well yeah so this this shot I think means that Robert has to do a delayed triple peel and uh which is slightly slightly

More tricky than the standard but it does mean that um uh Steven has a longer shot yes but she unfortunately has not giving y the immediate break away so stev ball will be replaced in corner four and Robert will Rush the yellow ball over to the western boundary

Now one of our viewers uh asked why Robert would have stopped after Hoop N why why why would he do that well we saw a good example of that in the previous game where uh in the previous game one of the players Advanced their their ball

Beyond hoop nine and it was seized upon by their opponent uh who pegged it out uh so that was one reason why you of to you wouldn’t do that the other reason is that there are two Hoops on the lawn which are what we call penalty Hoops

That’s one back number seven and four back number 10 and if you go through one of those Hoops you give your opponent a lift shot but if you go through two on the same turn then you give your opponent something more severe something that we call contact and contact is where you

Can pick up your ball and place it next to any other ball on the lawn so players will generally choose to stop their break at hoop after hoop nine uh but for players of this standard that’s not an impediment for them finishing in two turns because they can do a maneuver

That we’ll surely see Robert try now the triple peel a beautiful rush to hoop one justed Perfect Isn’t it perfect position look at that wind in the background you can see Flags yeah and that little clanky click of the balls sending the black towards hoop one and Robert now to start his second

Break so now what we’ll be looking for Robert to do is to pick up that blue ball in the bottom right hand corner of the screen the what we call Corner four and Robert has been playing with some Pace all weekend carer and it’s been quite interesting to see uh particularly

In the first game against Josh will Wilson how fast he was playing he’s normally considered to be an extremely thoughtful and careful player who take really takes his time but he’s been playing with some amazing moment uh Cadence and momentum uh a sign that he’s really feeling very confident about his

Play yes um Robert and I have played I think might been our first game and I think it the whole game was over within about 36 minutes so I didn’t do anything wrong I put my ball on first he did he hit he did nine he set the three little ducks leave

On the west boundary I had to play my other ball that wasn’t on the lawn yet hit it from abok aiming it at the three little ducks missed and he just proceeded to go around with a triple peel and finished so the games usually are timed at two

And a half hours but um that only took 36 minutes so there you go yes and of course Robert holds the record for the world’s fastest triple PE albeit in rather contrived circumstances they uh there was a little unofficial competition on YouTube some of the most

Exciting cro players in the world all VI to do a a triple from a a set position and and Robert did his in just a few minutes so uh that was uh just just goes to show how quick it could all be um if when they when they have to do it that

Way now with this next shot caran he’ll be looking to load um hoop four but probably a little bit long I think when they when they uh come out of hoop for they because they’ll be picking up that blue they they want the um the yellow to

Be a little bit further down so I’ve preempted that on the little mini map by by showing where I predict the balls will end yes because as you as Robert makes hoop comes out of hoop three after making the hoop he may I’m just predicting as you do um do a takeoff

This is what I do a take off down to Blue to the corner then doing with a croquet shot loading five going to the yellow um B the hook four let’s see where that yellow goes it’s uh just gone off our picture now so I’m not sure sure where it ended up

I’ll just leave it nebulously floating around hoop four but I think it I think it might have gone a little a little bit further oh there it is that’s uh not a bad guess yeah very good give myself eight and a half out of 10 for that oh come on we’re about nine

Well okay should be able to get a little rush down with the black that’s what he really wants cuz we don’t like playing that that takeoff shot do we carryer that’s a bit of a nervous shot to to take off to Blue he’d rather have the rush down there which he’s

Got yeah I gen think thinking yeah is he he’s going to play the rush down there yeah there it goes that certainly makes the the next shot a little less knee knocking uh because I think probably the one of the most nervous shots in cro is to take off

From hoop three down to Corner for uh because the you’re either worried that you’re going to leave it short or you’re you’re worried that you’re going to go out but this shot is a a lot more easy to handle he gets just a standard split shot sending the black to hoop

Five and the red ball uh to near Corner four and then he’ll R Corner sorry blue in corner four and then stop shot it back up to um four back is the so you’ll have noticed uh our viewers will have noticed that when the ball either goes off the

Court or goes to a position that is just a meter away from the line it’s actually marked on to an imaginary line that we call the yard line so every player knows where a yard is on their Mallet and they know that when a ball needs to be marked

Back on they know that that where that ball is marked on too so as keran said what’s going to happen now is that the blue ball is going to be sent up to hoop three and that will be a ball that Robert will use as the Escape ball so he

Has hasn’t sent it all the way up though I don’t think carad it’s only gone about halfway up that’s okay your main priority is to get that Rush on yellow to make C fall um so with any um triple pel um turn your main priority is um keeping your brake going so not

Breaking down yes it would have been quite easy to have got a bit greedy there and tried to get the blue all the way up uh at the risk of getting a perfect position on the yellow but as keran said the important thing is to get this hoop and

To get the rush on the yellow back up the park in fact even better really caran because now he can he doesn’t have to rush the yellow so far does he he only has to rush the yellow up about 10 met or so because then he’s placing the

Yellow with a cro Shop with a a sort of straight drivey shop yes and um you you get more accuracy in a after cro shot than a um Rush loading yeah yeah so he’ll be able to put the yellow exactly where he wants it um put the blue exactly where he wants

It I think that Rush up the lawn with yellow just spray Just a Touch think it would have been um ideal if it was a little bit straighter you can always tell when Robert’s in super concentration mode because they he touches his cap and yes that yeah everyone’s got their own

Little uh habits and ticks or you know little so yeah little tail yeah what what is what is your particular little uh tell that you’re super concentration mode on on the cro lawn I don’t know you tell me yeah that’s right we we you’d have to ask somebody El wouldn’t you yeah that’s

Right we’d have to ask somebody else what our own little uh little mannerism was when we were that’s the word mannerism really really really concentrating so Roberts is definitely the touch of the cap and also I’ve noticed the occasional turning round to look at the ball ball

That didn’t go quite in the position that he was expecting it to go as if as if he’s admonishing the ball and saying you know you really shouldn’t be there I didn’t plan to put you there maybe that’s one of mine I don’t know yeah so he’s left yellow his peely up

There with thecate ball blue that’s right that skateball is also nice hoop approach in front of the hoop nice and straight and just like in snooker there’s nothing that the opponent can do while while while the player is on the lawn you just have to sit there and

Watch and either admire what they’re doing or secretly hope that they that they stop oh you have a Mana my turn to hit my turn yes that’s right sending the black over now to the eastern boundary and then he’ll use the black to load one back getting a position on yellow

So depending on the the position that he gets uh for the peel we may well find ourselves discussing the subject of pull and the the effect that the grooves on the ball have on the on the trajectory of the PE but this really at the moment is

A a model in how to do a triple peel I it’s it’s hard to see any shot that hasn’t been played to textbook description standards and that’s what AC and AC C is about is learning the patterns working the patterns and using the patterns to your own strengths so Robert getting down and

Checking the trajectory the ball that he he actually had five goes at at making this this hoop yesterday uh it was really interesting because he had a slight angle each time and he was he was having to adjust for the pull of the balls and each time the

Striations in the lawn and the the wetness of the balls were were giving rather unexpected results I think the conditions are a lot more consistent now just this wind that we’ve observed and uh now he plays into the jaws and now he will Rush the blue ball towards poop six

Again he’s sort of looking at that yellow and going I don’t I’m not sure that you should be there but that’s perfectly fine being in the Jaws is okay isn’t it carad yeah I’d be happy with that yeah I don’t think he was but I would be yeah I

Mean I think that there’s I don’t think it’s a disadvantage to have the ball in the Jaws at all no because once he’s make hoop six you can have a a rush out of the hoop towards yellow again or probably a rush to Corner three promoting um blue back in while

Going to Yellow to have another go heing it yes so certainly it was in fact in the first game he did have the ball in the Jaws but he found himself on the his Striker ball on the wrong side of it so he couldn’t peel it

Through so that was one of the reasons why he took five five turns to do that so anyway let me just adjust the position of these things on the map here so just a few cenm out of hoop six through it goes and as you said he’ll get the rush over with the

Blue or maybe even decide to to just touch it and leave it there and take off to the yellow let’s see what he does he knocks it over and as keran said the important thing now is that he needs to put the red into such a position that it can

Knock the yellow through the hoop what uh a rush peel as we would call it so he probably send blue back over to hoop six which is um then the Escape ball for a potential um peel on penot so he’ll hit yellow through so peeling yellow and then in a croas

Shot he’ll put blue sorry yellow to pin up going to the black ball at one back okay I hope well he yeah so he could either he could either decide to put the Yellow by P alt or he could send the yellow down to two back because he’s got plenty of

Time to do the penal peel so yeah true yeah could be could be uh either either either way but whatever the the red ball has to go by the black because he’s now dead on both the blue and the yellow ball so whatever happens here the red ball is going to where the

Black is in the top leftand corner of the screen I think he’s shaping to put this down to two back it looks like uh although no he’s getting down low he’s getting down low no he’s hit he’s he’s hitting it well again that just shows you need

To um load a hoop ahead to keep your break going yeah because he can once he’s made um two back you can Rush yellow back up into the p position yeah he’s got a Nice well we saw Robert do a death roll in the the first game today so uh we might have another opportunity to show our viewers what we mean by a death roll uh where the the peel ball is peeled through penultimate at the same time as the striker ball goes down to

The Pioneer at two back but at the moment we’re not quite sure what Robert’s plans are running the hoop I think running the hoop running the hoop is certainly the priority and through he goes and he’s managed to come out spit out to the side which means that he doesn’t

Have a rush down the lawn but instead a rush up towards the blue now this is quite interesting uh classically in a break you’d want a Pioneer at three back you’ll Rush blue down though uh to two back and then uh stop shot it two three back as the Piney while stopping at

Yellow and the position of that black there gives a clear indication that he’s planning to peel penultimate uh around the time that he’s going to make fullback okay so the the blue down in the corner just makes it look so easy doesn’t he yeah beautiful to

Watch well it is but you you always just get the impression that because it looks so easy that it must be easy so when you go down on the lawn yourself and you think oh well I can do that you suddenly realize it isn’t as easy as it looks but like all great

Experts they just yeah it’s it’s seductive isn’t it it’s like oh you look so good on the lawn it’s like yeah you don’t know what was going on inside it’s the duck syndrome you know lighting calm presentation but underneath you’re paddling for your life yep absolutely so Robert’s uh loaded three back

Just as you said yep yep nice Heap approach in front of the hoop so he’ll be looking for a rush out of this hoop on yellow to rush it up back up to the lawn to Black yep just gets a little kiss on the yellow which means that he doesn’t get

The luxury of that Rush that keram was predicting uh but he he can roll it up there he can he can split shot it up there going to to the the blue what do you think you’ll do caran um let me have a look okay so he’s going

To roll them both up going to roll them up yeah yeah and that’s a pass you see how the acceleration of the red ball there was was just that little bit extra it’s gone a little bit further than the yellow ball very very important skill to have it’s what we call a pass

Roll and very difficult to do over the 25 yards or so that Robert has just done it but it does it with such Grace and ease now clonking the the black down and as K observed earlier the uh as she as she mentioned earlier the the players at this level

Will often choose to do a a rush down the lawn so that they can replace the ball with a Croco shot because that gives them more Precision than than a rush and and and also is better than doing a takeoff so it is interesting isn’t it keran that when you’re learning the game

You tend to do a lot of takeoffs but these players at this level they like to rush and then re reset with a with a with the sort of Drive shot that that uh Robert’s about to do now if you can get your rushes uh nice and tidy such a powerful shot because

This has allowed Robert to come up to Blue in instead of um doing a takeoff when you have to come down pass blue to hit it in this shot he’s allowed enabled himself to reposition black as you just said into a better position then rolling up to Blue nice and um close

To hit blue and to make a nice hoop and there it goes so it will appear to the viewers that that black is almost going to exactly where it was a couple of Strokes ago but as all of the things that Kenne said are are absolutely true

He’s been able to completely refine the position of the black so exactly where he wants it and he get a better approach on the blue as well well caran it’s been fantastic to uh have you in the commentary Booth we’re going to be joined in a minute by Rosy

Landry um someone who has been uh would have been a fierce competitor with in your battles of Victoria and New South Wales in the past but now you find yourself on the same team yes it’s an interesting uh turnaround but um it’s all good it’s fantastic um playing States and

Different people you learn so much yeah I mean it must have be but we were talking earlier about how lucky you were to play with step Foster and Robert here of course but but now you’ve also got the extra bonus of uh the land Drees and

And and Co so uh absolutely amazing I must I must move into State myself sometime you should try it I highly recommend it all right right well we’ll we’ll say we’ll we’ll say goodbye to you and we’ll we’ll welcome Rosie to the commentary box good afternoon Rosie Rosie hopefully joining

Us as Robert uh prepares to to come in with this this roll shot so good good afternoon Rosie well Robert rolls the red to Striking Distance of the yellow but keeps the blue well out of Harm’s Way and now his job is to try and put

That yellow that yellow so that it ends up in front of penultimate it ends up in front of the hoop so slightly tricky uh yellow a little bit more out of position than Yello Rosie thank you for joining us yes okay so you’re gonna laugh I was on mute

Thank you very much in the background for everybody it’s I’ve got Zoom artist I think like most people yes that’s right so hi hi are you yeah good so Robert not being able to get in front uh get the yellow ball directly in front of penultimate for uh here so he’s just

Going to have to take off to get ideal position on the black to make fullback and then he’ll be coming back uh but we’ve been watching a textbook triple peel Rosie I hope you’ve been enjoying it I have absolutely gorgeous and and what we’ sort of expect particularly the positioning now where

He has that uh that yellow as you see he’s got in a nice handy position for to do a double if he wants to do it and P at penal so that’s lovely has he already sorry is he already at uh has he done the appeel at

Penal uh no he’s he’s about he’s hasn’t done that yet so you’re yeah so we just we we’ve just got the uh the the the ladder up you can see here that Robert even if he was to lose this game uh would not lose the overall

Lead and those net Hoops that he has at the moment are are pretty awesome aren’t they they’re 130 Plus on the on the hoop difference so uh but yes but don’t you find that he will also want to win this game in the best possible way he can and

I think that’s what most of these players are about regardless of their position in on the ladder Robert will be um using this as technique and warming up and all sorts of things for his next uh foray so yes you’ll find that his concentration level be super tight um in

Anticipation of you know making sure that he finishes this whole event in the best way again well like all true Champions as you say uh Robert takes every single stroke in every single game as seriously as if it is the the peg out in the world

Championships he does he he does um that doesn’t mean he’s uptight either which is really interesting if you were to walk out onto the lawn now and say to Robert do need a drink of water in the middle he go oh yeah whatever no yes whatever it Bren doesn’t upset his

Equilibrium he’s uh amazingly focused on the job at hand but not so not so to the point where he’s you know got anxious about it or anything it’s uh it’s lovely patterning which is what he says it’s a beautiful pattern to play yeah and a and a sign of amazing

Confidence and concentration that you you can actually have that multitasking thing happening as well that you’re so you you you’re able to dedicate some op some of your operating system to to just work on the cro 100% he he you know and I think that

That is a a thing of a true champion and we talk about it a lot is the ability we talk a lot about focusing and and focusing hard and not having your focus interrupted but the true sign of mental strength I think in the game is that if

You’re able to do still be as focused and as patented as Robin is Robert is but be aware of what’s going on outside I mean you don’t have to be but it’s just a discipline to show how well you can concentrate um when you need to even

If you’re in the zone even if you’re in the zone as they say so Rosie uh faced with this penultimate peel here what what would you do you looking to Irish peel this you looking to to to knock the yellow ball through first and then pick up well

How do you do you go about this well it’s giving the position and and it’s great to see Robert down doing his peels I know he wasn’t doing it yesterday Pete told me so much so it’s love to see him down but as you can see most people would have loaded Rover or

Think thought of loading Rover with one of those pools Robert’s getting trying to get I would assume yellow as far down as he possibly can into a really good position near Rover because it’s obviously going to be a Rover Rover peel and coming through himself in in

Almost in a stop shot so he’s close enough to play this as a stop shot if he wants to he doesn’t need to play it NE necessarily as a a roll or an Irish because of the proximity of yellow to the hoop there’s going to be very little

Drag other than the drag he wants to have on it so he’s going to play as a stop shot by the looks yep and the yellow does exactly y yellow careers down yep lovely look at this he he it’s not that he makes it even look easy he makes

Makes it easy the choices he makes are not heroic choices unless he has to pull it out of the bag they are the simplest and the most sensible choices so that that’s another great reason to watch his choice of stroke play um and ball placement or ball movement as we say

Yeah so he’s making his own percentages isn’t he he’s uh he is yeah he’s creating the environment for Success every time well his AIM now is to get the black so that it’s near the yellow so that he can get the perfect Rush on yellow towards Rover and that’s a beautiful

Contact doesn’t like it I don’t often see emotion from Robbie so that was no I I didn’t a little bit close mean he can’t yeah he can’t get the side ball now correct that’s exactly right so in this setup as we know is ideally we want

To have black either well in this case on his left of um Rover but left or right of Rover is neither here nor there just clear of the hoop but almost parallel because there’s always a chance that you will grovel through as we call it um in the Irish if he chooses to

Irish here um he may again if he woke his yellow so nicely down and land see where he’s trying to pick beautiful then he won’t need to run the risk of doing too much of an Irish because the red can be jawed and then he just hits the red um

C sorry the black of the blue yeah I mean he’s he’s certainly given himself an absolutely straight Rush here so and oh it’s deviated off oh wobble wobble wobble into the St so a little bit more difficult for him now Rosie yeah it’s just because we got

To do a little bit of drag but again I mean I know we can’t over compliment him all the time but he has done it lots of times but it caught the striation as you say from the um scarification which you know that that gives a lawn character um

You’ll find that although it might have been a bit annoying on the whole they prefer to play on lawns with character not on dead straight Lawns so um this is always interesting here he really needs to make sure yellow clears and you have to be tempted then to run it sometimes a

Bit hard which then makes the next bunch of shots a little bit harder as well but you’ll see that Robert will take the the most sensible and the most practical and easy way to do this finish so yesterday Rosie Robert was faced with a similar position and he

Cloned the the yellow through with some Pace um and the yellow actually went off so it was it was quite unusual yes he was having a bit of a frustrating day yesterday from what I was from what I was watching so um I think he’ll have he will have in the

Back of his mind that accumulated knowledge oh my goodness yesterday I went off and that might be because I didn’t spend the time on the ground like I am now doing what I normally do I mean Robert’s um pre-shot routine is very self-evident you can see what he does he

He makes things just so until he feels comfortable with it and then he just stands up and does the shot so um there there were learnings from yesterday no doubt Gareth which have definitely passed through his mind while he was lying down on the ground so do you think

Rosie that the fact that he took quite a long time lining the balls up there now indicates that he’s going to try and Irish this through that if he or I can’t quite tell how far out is now he’s strong enough to not have to Irish it um

He doesn’t appear to be taking yard yeah right um oh perfect beautiful yeah perfect um the trouble again with bullying it through is yes that lack of accuracy sometimes yeah so that that worked out very well so for the benefit of our viewers if he had we were talking about

Irish peeling that would have been where both balls went through on the same stroke uh and it that obviously needs a lot more coordination because instead of just sending one ball through you’re having to send both balls through and there’s a lot more that can go wrong particularly at an

Angle so this game will now be coming to a close that although one of the great things about cro is that it’s never over until the pegout has actually occurred you would not be putting too much money on Robert messing up from here so we

Would so we will so we will uh sorry oh you’d probably get quite good odds I mean well I was gonna say that if you look at if you would get but if you look at the fact that he’s touched the idea is in when I first started to play they

Used to say after Rover make sure you touch every ball and sometimes you see players do it to their detriment when when they really don’t need to do it but in this case he much prefers to approach Yello rather than run the risk of doing a crazy take off or something from over

Where blue was he’s much easier to just take off land somewhere north of the black push it down so that he can really control this shot um because the last thing he wants obviously is a to have an uncomfortable see that’s not perfect either um he’s going to have to cut it

Fractionally probably and you can see his body position showing where he’s addressing the ball um you can see he actually lines up the line with the um back ball on the front ball to show you where the Cut’s going to and that’s pretty delicious in

The terms of a pig out it is isn’t it yeah so hopefully we’ll be able to go over to lawn 2 where Callum is playing Kevin Callum Highland is playing Kevin beard uh but we will uh just see Robbie do the pegout and that was another Master Class

There and well played sir and uh straight seven wins out of seven for Robbie and amazing amazing stuff to watch and he’s smiling there having a chat with Stephen of course these two played together in the uh MC Robertson Shield winning team couple of years ago uh very very

Long standing friends and uh combatants on the lawn so uh popping over to lawn 2 now I I think uh just waiting for that to happen uh this was a uh for those of you who missed it earlier this is the the the Brian writer uh Association cro

Challenge uh named in honor of uh one of C’s long serving and really highly respected uh Servants of the game uh Rosie the work that Brian does behind the scenes to make tournaments happen is unbelievable isn’t it extraordinary um support to uh not only cro Victoria but cro Australia

Really too he’s and apart from just being a stward he’s somebody’s got an exhaustive knowledge um of how to manage very large events and very large venues and as well be able to adapt to smaller more more um intensive style events as well um as you know Gareth when you play

In a world there’s an awful lot of players and coordinating to make sure that the Lawns are used at all times that we never have a situation where there’s a lawn going um unused is important but it’s also you know dealing with the personalities and whatnot of

Players and Brian not only is very Adept at doing those things he’s also such a great guy in terms of fun great laugh with Brian I know every time we see each other preco we’re always having a bit of a hug and whatnot he’s just um one of

The best people you’ll meet in cro one of the volunteers particularly Y and uh hopefully this challenge be become part of the regular uh cro calendar now we’ve got uh uh this situation here with Kevin uh looking like he’s uh approaching hoop one his yellow clip

There is on hoop one he’s got a Pioneer blue at two he goes through one and that’s going to sail all the way up towards that Pioneer ball that was at ho two so he I think interesting to see he thought it was do you think he thought

It was two weekends ago and that was a bit of a golf croaky shot looked a little bit better it did didn’t it three yard hoop and a run up to the next hoop yeah so we seem to have lost the picture from oh there we go we’re back onto

There now back again so so Kevin gives himself a nervous little ret on the the blue that’s at hoop two which he gets quite nicely but it means that he’s pushed the blue a little bit further away from hoop 2 than he would have liked so the uh the mini map is updated

If if that wants to come on I’ve uh I’ve sused out the position of the red and the black balls uh there they are so that’s what that’s what we’ve got Rosie wonderful well Gareth I’ve actually got Pete here as well at the moment so I might also include Pete is

That all right with you of course of course he doesn’t look as if he he’s not Tak he’s not taking on the The Hoop he’s gone back to his partner ball well that’s interesting wasn’t that far out of position now what’s he doing oh he must have hit it he must

Have he he must have just he must have just tapped it as he came through now a Big R oh that’s going to be enticing for Callum to have a go at isn’t it yes and depends on considering his injury I’m very impressed yes well of course Kevin uh

Only a few days out of hospital after some major surgery uh Stitch is out only earlier this week so we’re very lucky to have him playing uh of course unlucky because otherwise he’d be in the commentary Booth along with us but uh we’d much rather see him on the lawn strutting his stuff

There so good afternoon Pete afternoon gck yeah um joined in and it looks like Kevin’s live on black ball so he headed the boundary which would maybe a wiring spot on the red bll and then possibly if he sto did you say he’s for hoop to then he may just have a long

Ho so then a long takeoff back into position for the hoop two hoop run so he he let it to go to re instead of just taking off to the hoop and hoping that he thought he had enough room to get behind the red to get a rush back up

Field and have a a stronger chance of continuing the break I think the thing is Pete that uh if I’ve got the position of the balls right on the on the mini map the callum’s blue ball is awfully close to the red and yes R certainly fell fell short but he’s

Um is he he’s scrambling as we like to call it break about yeah so he’d like to keep the break going so he’s trying a few things and uh he’s uh now he’s got one retiring shot and we’re probably thinking cornerish whereas um blue shooting through red would give yellow a seven

Yard Contin break and if he has got the wiring spot on red black then blue is the ball that’s going to be moving just g a few options even he may he may even go a yard s of corner three and really put the pressure on black to

Think well am I taking on the short R and leaving the blue near Kevin 2 so what Pete is uh saying is he believes that the red and the black is are wired there like I’m showing on the on the diagram that they can’t see each other um so

That yeah there so obviously black and uh red are open so the yellow was a bit of an each way B I’m sure which which Callum was going to do and he wanted to be handy enough to be able to shoot it himself and so callum’s left the blue near the

Near the well South north of hoop 2 but it should be a break for Kevin as long as you can connect with this I want to read and it was a a quick decision from kvin to take the shot because you know this this is appeeling tune for Kevin

Lying in front of him if he can make you know one solid rap yeah well it is this is this this could be red medium pace and then he can put it back towards three while getting some sort of cro shot on black and then that black can

Rush along the Northbound towards the blue and it’s plain sailing it’s kind of what you put them out the balls out for a bit of a practice to chest yourself out for St a triple and a few random position well Callum C Callum uh did come out awfully quickly uh to to take

That shot and considering the what he W he was giving away by by by missing because as you say Pete he is this is almost a routine drill now for for for Kevin once he’s once he’s got the blue off the boundary and and heading towards

Hoop two he should be he should be in the box seat he’s got his pely over at fullback so it’s interesting that Callum really just leaps out of the Off the Bench and and you know a lot of players would be really taking their time over

That well taking the time over the shot I think the decision probably was he was always looking this is too short to turn down my black balls on penol I can make two hoops and set a killer of a leave and it’s you know should be my match as

Long as I can connect with this ROK but I think the quickness of the actual taking the shot once he got out of the lers you know you he may want to think oh a few seconds long help I think he’s got lucky isn’t he he’s walking like well go and have a

Look this is so there’s a really interesting technicality here for those of you who are not Association cro players Kevin is obviously going to take cro from the ball but whether he’s allowed to take it from a particular position depends on the position of that blue ball now he

Having to take it from the side that makes things a little bit more tricky that’s a tricky shot there that’s that the rush where Kevin rushed the blue to is you know one of the trickiest ones to handle and another few millimeters and he might have been able

To take cro from it from the non and I have to have a jump and it’s worthwh y he does it oh that’s a great shot and controlled as well you know yeah many a time you’re you’re having a return R from the boundary and it’s a iry seven yard

Shot so he’s played that very well yep he did and uh he might even be able to dislodge the blue from the leg of the hoop as well apologies I’m sitting here with my mask on Gareth talking and uh it gets me a bit disorientated I’m probably

Galloping and talk talking too fast and I I’ll slow down a bit with take my M secluded room well uh you you are you and Rosie in the same spot or you in different spots we’re we’re we’re kind of doing some work so we’re alternating between getting the work oh alternating right

Okaying y the good things of Life commentating on cro with the Y man well well the referee coming out now Pete to uh to have a look at at this situation Kevin calling him out because you know the the blue ball might move simply because Kevin hits the leg of the

Hoop but that wouldn’t be the Roo yes that that right leg is is open to been hit and the blue shaking so certainly needs this one watched well done no problem there so Pete although the uh is the idea here now he he’s got to have a a Pioneer at

Hoop four but he’ll also want to get that black off the boundary uh so what’s the what’s the way that you do this um exactly that that blue is a very good Escape ball for after the peeling movement and black is simply going to hoop for while he’ll go to Red which is

P and this is pretty standard stuff gar for a standard triple pel and a standard triple pel meaning that the peels are on time you peel fullback after hoop free and you peel penal after hoop sits and if the pills aren’t happening on those two occasions then it becomes a delayed triple pill

And there’s a significant difference in the players percentages of completion between delayed and standard triple pills even though our statistics don’t show that and uh Kevin’s capable of peeling from from all positions and certainly capable of um finishing delayed triple pills but if you hand them a standard triple pel like this I

Would put K up in the High 70 to 80% chance of finishing this turn well he’s uh completed several hundred maybe a thousand oh oh dear are we able to see the replay of that Kevin I wouldn’t mind just seeing if that ball dropped significantly is he look looked certainly in disbelief is

Where the yellow ended up oh gosh that is tight oh that’s very tight oh he does it well that’s one for the highlights reel amazing unfortunately for him he’s hit the the blue ball yeah I think the shake of the head wasn’t for the yellow heading the blue I

Think the shake of the head was how did I get myself in this position from full control he’s still wondering what happened to him there well for the benefit of our viewers uh as Pete was saying earlier if you want to do a a classically in a ontime triple

Peel you’d be wanting to peel the Red Bull through on this this sort of area here but because he’s hit the blue it means he has to slightly readjust yeah slightly interesting thing here Gareth um as I say a delayed triple pill I think brings this completion of

This turn down by you know could be 10 20% somewhere in that range so he’s electing seen his black balls not a great load for hoop four he’s putting a bit of break safety into this play and red is going to hoop five and giving him

Some control on Blue uh black to hoop four so it’s not a banding the triple but it’s it’s putting some safety into the break to make sure that he has some some control by the time he gets back up towards hoop SS yeah because that black

Ball was was sort of in the middle of the lawn rather than a tip Pioneer at four y yeah so we saw a replay there of that that that fantastic jump shot that was such a such an angle it’s hard to believe that the ball could could squeeze squeeze

Through he he’s so who two and three he’s both had to play a little delicate jump shot so you don’t want too many of them in your break and he’s hopefully got them out of the way you’ll be thinking uh so a good time to Bunker

Down and get The Brak under control and then and come back to the peling turn a hoop or two later yes because there’s plenty of time to do the peels uh obviously the longer it goes on the less likely the less time time you have so to speak but Kevin very very

Experienced at triple peeling and certainly will not be frightened of the delayed version put in the black quite close to hoop six and then getting the roket on the red to make this hoop now the rush out of here would be quite important Pete yeah it is a strength of

Kevin the ability to get rushes out of Hoops he’s got a nice controlled swing on the hoop run and that Red’s looking very good it’s plenty of room there to fit the yellow between the hoop and red and it’ll be a nice line for to control

A rush towards hoop forbat slow down a little bit yellow a little bit long yeah didn’t get the rush that’s the hoop was a slight angle so you’ve you’ve got to put enough into it to make sure you run the hook first and foremost and sometimes you you take what

You get after running the hoop and that one’s just overcooked a bit uh to what extent does Kevin like to chase the triple PE is he where where do you think he draws the line between continuing to try and do it and then just or just finishing with a nice leave

Yeah I’m not he is certainly capable of peeling four back going to one back and I have seen him set that play a few times I haven’t seen him set what we saw Robert Fletcher doing yesterday trying to peel fullback with a rush to two back

And so he might fall us and try that but uh I have certainly seen them peel four back going to one back enough times and it’s not an easy procedure but he’s all movement he’s capable of well he’s put the red up there for as a clear indication that he wants

To keep going with the the peeling turn and when I say peeling four back going to one back there’s two two ways about that you can play it as a cro shot sending your yellow all the way across to one back while you’re appeeling or you can play leave Blue where it was

Near the Hub and rush it across the one back if you eled to put blue towards one back and this this shot is an easy shot but he’d like this a couple of yards self uh a couple yards north of one back and a couple yards east of one back you

Don’t want to be playing a Croco shot and I think that’s he’s pushed that one a bit far he’s he’s I think the Mallet flattered out as he came through on that and the Blue’s gone probably four yards too far so’s he’s putting himself under

A bit of pressure to get this turn turn finished and this this is a difficult one too and he actually has sprayed that slightly off off center uh he left himself you know a four y there uh which you can’t really control as much but the position of the blue ball

Pete uh I mean is at least north of oh he’s come up short he’s done it again it it is nor but it is uh it’s very West GFF you yeah but I don’t I think he’s actually left himself with a with a shot that can’t be made at hoop

Six I think we fought that at hoop two and three though so we him out well no he’s not looking happy so I think I think he probably needs to hit this red with a bit of a half ball and clear try to clear both balls I think oh

Yes good shot what a shot what a great shot that that is golf crack skills to the four is it able to hit what side the ball you’re a with the ball’s 10 yards away from you he got that absolutely perfectly protect that was a great save yeah that

Really freak yeah yeah well Callum will be quick off the block striding onto the lawn uh he well I mean I guess he’s already made he’s already um his his black ball has already gone through forb back he going to play with that little Flex of the hips and shoots and

Misses so look close Kevin yeah yep well if Kevin hits now he’s well he’s back on he’s uh and that that rather Westward blue is not really so much of a problem anymore no it’s no he at least your your mind won’t be thinking too many things at the

Moment Kevin I won’t be thinking the ball movement of the triple P we be thinking make sure I hit this yellow onto the red and then make sure I play the next few shots quite accurately you can get get the break under control so when when it’s as simple as that oh

Makes it a little bit easier well you won’t be happy with that that that one didn’t really challenge the red and Callum has a reasonably easy tap on now to continue well what would you do here Pete would you play with the black or the red oh the black or the blue

Um Kum likes to peel so I think he’ll be backing himself to be able to uh play with the blue ball and and possibly finish the game this turn uh and the other other the route to take is to play the Black and make the

Two hoops and set a leave without a lift meaning that you’re not giving your opponent a 20 yard ret you could offer him 30 plus yard roket if you get the lead right which is you know very strong position but Callum always backs himself to get something happening with when

He’s got control of the balls and The Lawns so certainly a lot better for um the viewers on TV G to watch this this light of play yeah yeah no that was that was a nice shot too wasn’t it Pete it was a big big split shot the the black

Balls gone all the way down yeah and and of course Callum has a very very heavy Mallet as we were discussing yesterday he he doesn’t have to work too much to get balls moving around the court like that that that shots not in everyone’s range of ability to play but

For Callum that that’s a simple sh but count for two back I’m taking it isn’t he for with blue uh it looks like he is based on where that that yellow is careering down to and that’s that’s not a bad cup he’s got a it’s very good isn’t it it’s very

Good four to five yard rolling relatively straight yeah yeah it’s very good indeed only about three or four yards away from the hoop taking cro in front of two back and the uh the parody of the black balls very good because it’ll all be going to penal as well jar oh right yes

Of course so it’ll be right for the peeling heing yeah CL clunk all the way through and a and a and a rush back up the park if he wants it rush back up yes he can well will want it yes he could he can set position at uh fall back a

Little bit tighter and get the break under control he’s got the power to rush as far as he wants with this Mallet you don’t want a half ball you want to be able to strike it nice and clean in the middle and get solid B to

This line of play oh that’s a great jot zooms up oh CLI he click P which is a bit unlucky ah oh he did oh well it’s a it still should be quite easy for him to tidy up the red at fullback and in fact uh ultimately I

Guess he wants the Yellow App penal for the for the peeling oh as long as that doesn’t go out as long as it doesn’t go out oh it doesn’t I think yellow to fullback was also an opt G going to red and then pushing red across on the takeoff going back

Down to uh three back it’s you you’re very seldom do you see a rush out of three back up to the N that’s peelable so you is a big shot get Ahad of time by setting I was going to say this is a this is a a pass

Roll which is quite tricky and he’s left himself a a good six yards to make here yep yep shows us in cro it doesn’t matter what line of you take as long as you execute the shots reasonably well you know it’s the right option for you while you’re out

There y a lot of nice distance on the black to act as the reception ball which will be thumped blue be thumped through which is yeah that I’m enjoy the sound effects of the Hoops on those little jump shots and when Callum had to clobber himself through Tac they’re well set solid Hoops

On the ground so well done to all the staff at ground staff at Kenley that’s it’s a bit of work to get the Hoops to to hold up very well for a full you know weekend to play and these ones are appear to be very solid and testing for the players

Did you see the uh the 2V1 battle that we had earlier Pete no I’ve come in uh a little bit in the dark it was good cuman Callum and Steven fer the previous well previous but one game had a a nice 2v one 2v one yeah I

Won’t I I won’t give you any spoilers because there will be no spoilers because if this game finishes quickly which I think it might now that Callum is in absolute motoring mode we might need another option and if we did have another option and that would be that

Would be the perfect one to show because I think your insight into the the 2V1 tactics would be would complement really nicely uh the things that were said at the time but I was certainly absolutely stoked that we got a a 2v one I was willing it to [Laughter]

Happen yes but the but the funny but the funny thing was that that once it once it happened uh it that what we realized was that that Co hadn’t just taken away our our practice on The Lawns it had actually taken away some of the the sharpness when it comes to thinking of

The options in the in the 2V1 battle so it was uh we were we were relearning some of the things as we were going patience is one of those things that if you’re out of the game for a little bit Gareth and you come back that

The art of been very patient in the game of cro especially in 2V1 takes a while to get back sometimes and you know you got to be willing to be out there for an hour not doing much yeah watching grass grow really some would say so you’re

You’re unique like that g not everybody enjoys the the 2V1 battle because something doesn’t happen sometimes for quite a long time all right so tum now to peel the black and get the blue through as well and the black is beautifully yeah yeah got a bit of a kick I mean it

Kicked onto the yellow um that showed what we were talking about yesterday that you always want that yellow out of the way so that that card happened so you you end up putting it a few yards east or west um but it the black slightly yeah I think it did two things

Actually it it slowed it down because I think it was actually going it was going to go beyond and secondly as you say it straightened it out a bit Yeah so I think it was actually quite a good thing for him that it that it hit but uh that was just an

Impression nice nice sideway skateb there be able to push this yellow up for a bit and nicely behind the c yep so nice engineering a nice Rush on the black to put the Black dead in front of the hoop is what he wants to do here

She’s and he’s elected to any play with one escap ball um to to to give himself the best chance of rushing the black into an easier position uh but red isn’t the perfect escapable but it’s still a ball that has to be no you have to be clear of the

Hoop and you know you don’t want to nerve you four Y at that stage that’s a nice shot that’s good isn’t it yeah beautiful so that’s what we call an Irish peel where both the balls go through at the same time and now we see the meaning of the Escape ball which is

The ball oh which is missed which is missed I don’t think it was a nervy four y I think he was he was ready to shake hands um amazing well this is this is fantastic Peete because this is a great example of how you can

Be quite a long way behind in a croquet MCH match and and yet the game is not over until the pegout has happened so Kevin has an opportunity here Kevin has an opportunity time may be left in the match GTH uh no but I’m sure our

Producer will will let us know about the timing soon Kevin has the opportunity of a lift shot here Pete he does and he’s four and one back isn’t he yeah so red is red is for oh no no he’s for uh yeah no he’s red is for four

Back four back four back four four back and and six but lots of time for 43 minutes um maybe yeah 43 minutes maybe we’ll see a maybe we might see a peg out here a 2V1 here because um although is it with your opponent on the peg you wouldn’t do that would you

No no it’s too you’re giving away to power yeah yeah yeah Kevin needs if he’s unable to peel out this turn his his requirements are to make a break and set the leave of the correct distances and and just hopefully Kum misses and he gives himself a second chance to make the last

Smaller break um you can’t really uh do much more than get it down to putting all your experience and skill of of of setting the best leave you can he is playing with the yellow ball so he is he does have a opportunity to

Peel out but it is it is very tough to start a triple from hoop sits and still have free pills to go you’re spending a couple of Hoops getting the balls moved around and then now you’re down to well the one we haven’t discussed yet is um a straight triple pel GTH we’ve

Discussed standard triple pills delay triple pills and then the straight triple pel from when both balls are for four back and you need to get the three pills through and in the threee three Hoops one after the other which it would be great to see Kevin attempt one

It certainly would but he’s he hasn’t quite engineered the the yellow ball the way that he wanted it here I I think sorry I haven’t updated the uh the mini map for a second or two but he he hasn’t he still going to have got a bit of work

To do to get the yellow into a position where it’s got to rush on the red up to hoop five up to hoop six well there it is so he’s got the rush but he’s got to hit it cleanly oh nice shot there a good shot okay so he could get the break

Going now he’s got a Pioneer at one back just needs a good shot here nice that is good that is good mly wouldn’t have been thinking you would have after Callum made the Irish peel at at Rover he would not have been thinking he’d be getting out of his seat

Again maybe slightly hemper here he’s not calling anyone so you may think he’s got enough room here to hit this yeah just enough still NE never never nice to be faced this no got the edge of it which is all you need well done Kevin okay so I think he clipped the red

On the way through so that was quite nice he doesn’t have a nervous return roko and he’s he had a hampered shot G yeah which he was able to and sending the red down nicely but little bit of an angle on the blue he’s

Got a little bit of work just to cut it up to one back and he cuts it nicely and he should be away here so the as Pete was saying the leave is going to be incredibly important Nice Shot absolutely plum in front of the

Hoop yeah it’ be nice to have a hoop that you feel fully in control of he’s had a few testy ones in the last 15 minutes so that’s good to be able to get himself back into uh controllable situations I’ve noticed when Kevin is quite pleased with the hoop run he just

Taps the ground with his Mallet once so as the ball comes through he just go he pops it on the ground it’s like it’s it’s his little yeah you watch what you watch it I will than for thats but that’s a good one yeah yeah yeah we were we were studying Robbie

Flet tells his touch of the cap and the slightly admonishing look at the the errant Ball but yes yes I’ve had a lot of hours on the sideline as some ponent watching Robert’s tails and when some of them come out you more or less think well I’m be a bit rude for

Me to go and pack my bag and go back into the clubhouse I’ll just have to sit here and take it but yes he has got the the the we t on the cap when he is very very pleased with things to go and the Sun is come out at Canen Ley

We we’ve had three seasons at can Le today uh we probably just need a snowstorm really to to complete the the the traditional Kenley mix as Kevin slides the yellow across the face of hoop five to end up with the rush on red for two back

Uh Pete he’s put the blue up at uh at four back what’s that signaling um I think he’s well he’ll be looking for a r on this red ball up to fullback and if you can peel it that’s fantastic um even draing it would be fantastic because

Then he’s it’s a an easy straight triple peel so he’s looking yeah so so what what you’re saying though is he’s looking for the straight triple yeah going back one hoop I think that was the importance of being able to run one back in a nice tight position

And now he’s looking even before he played the cro shot at two back of where he wants to rush this red ball to so he’s he’s thinking things are running quite smooth and he’s playing quite tight so this the straight triple’s fully on and uh one good cut

Here and he can set it up quite nicely especially if that blue ball up towards cor oh lovely Rush yeah and where did it go oh it’s Fallen a little little bit short but he can still cro that red into into the position that favors him whilst going to the

Blue yes and the blue is not too important that that’s just going to be the the working ball after three Bs as long as he gets red in a good position which he has um and he’s got a rush on the blue down if he wants it on yeah how

How good is his load at free can we remember well I think I’ve got it right right on the on the map I think it’s slightly out of position but uh we’ll we’ll see it must have felt good enough because he’s he eled not to rush anywhere he’s he’s preferring just to

Keep the blue up towards full back for this peeling movement and take off to the the black that’s take off so that generally means you got to add a little bit more to your yellow and he has come up a bit short um and while the the FI takeoff and

Getting blue across there is is Handy it’s not it’s not critical it’s oh good shot nice Cut well this is getting interesting we we’ve seen a lot of really great things happen over the course of this weekend we’ve seen triples we’ve talked about pull we’ve seen two ones if we saw a

Straight triple that would be very exciting I think that was good awareness Kevin had a bit of a communication with someone on the sideline and it was probably asking the time thinking I do I have to push these pills or do I have to make set a leave so he’s

Got a few bailout options he’ll be thinking now would be good would be good to to get a confirmation of the uh the time that’s still in the game it was 43 minutes when we last asked but I can’t remember when that was I’m having a guess at 12 13 minutes

Ago 15 minutes so I’m still think he’s well in 20 something minutes as a minimum 28 minutes or so to go he’s taking a lot of care he’s playing the the turn like this is the the the crunchy bit of the game and he’s going to um not hand these balls over at

All he’s going to hold on to everything he can and uh let Callum sit on the sideline uh wondering what happened and yeah well so the idea here Pete would be to to ret the blue and send it to the the um Eastern side North the northeastern side of the hoop whilst uh

Corre getting position yeah okay so that’s the really crucial thing here is to get the yellow behind the red oh little bit little bit on the side isn’t it yes he he didn’t have much room to get the blue up there so he he’s probably got maximum of everything he

Could just got it past the north of the and got enough cut it through the crucial decision though I mean is this a point of no return I mean or could he could he say oh no no no I won’t do the triple now I just said a

Leave um no well I think Kevin Kevin’s mindset looked like right from the start as I said once he got that control at one back on the hoop run soon as got the two he started looking where he wanted to play the red to the up court so he’s

He’s in the mindset I’m going to peel this out but I have some escape plans at my sleeve if I have to bail if I don’t get the pel pel going the the slight interesting one on this one is G it’s got a little bit of an

Angle and ideally you you’d be Irish this as well but seen it as a straight triple you don’t really want that peely to go too far towards the boundary you only want the the red to pop through by a you know a yard so you can run it play

The blue and then get some control on the red overal but seeing he’s got too much of an angle on this peel he may be forced into playing this as an Irish well this is this is this is the moment you can get a bit of Randomness

Out of this result oh he’s done it nicely I think yeah yeah he just needs he just needs to tickle through and not hit the red mustn’t hit the red when he comes through and now he can hit the blue yeah it’s great isn’t

It yeah this a few out I think that was close to an aspal pel when when the ball bounces and your other one catches up with it and oh well be interesting to see a replay yeah if there’s a replay Avail be great delicate Irish pills on a bit of

An angle there is some Randomness to it and so you you’ve um back your skills and confident that it’s going to come off and it has and he it’s got the slight rub of the green out of it all on now is he playing a bombard GFF this could be exciting oh

Okay yeah so the important thing is that the red ball has to get over to penel so but of course the yellow has to get over to p as well so it’s but yellow’s got to get over the black ball yeah somewh hit on the black pool with the

Yellow look at this powered it and they’ve all gone way over oh that’s quite that’s surprising oh my goodness so yeah oh well I think well that’s a CO peel G I think that’s yeah um it’s a shot that you don’t get to play very often and it’s all about

The weight of the shot and Kevin’s looked and think well i’ got to give this a bit of a thump I’ve got to move two balls and it’s just raced away from him which is yeah hasn’t it yeah he’s he’s put well he’s least he’s caught up on

That one thoughts enough to send a ball the black which is great he’s got a bit of work though now to himself into the the fullback position of finishing the turn he has because he’s now giving away his uh his yeah this is going to be tricky he’s

Got a come all the way into penultimate from here oh is he still live on red Pete no he’s no no uh he’s he’s still live on red yes bomed across right yes he could have played a takeoff he may he may be slip of concentration there G I think quite

Right I think he may have been better off doing a takeoff to that r a bit of room from the okay western boundary to to work with well Callum just has to head in now to uh to take the game and he has a lift shot but the

Shortest lift shot is is actually on his own ball so which is never great if you want to Peg out um both balls yeah good point well he’s having a look to see what everything what the the distances are the the distance from yellow to Blue would be quite short if

Blue can see it he’s actually picking up the black and he’s gonna go for his own ball yeah I think he looked up there and thought well blue can’t rush to the pig anyway so um oh okay even if I hit one of the opponent’s balls then I’m still

Having Tri a bit of trouble to finish this pig out so I might as well take take the shorter shot on the lawn and yeah again one here that could be watched GTH it’s got that yes leg that could be and and there’s a good reason why it should have been watched because

He’s claiming that he got it oh what’s Happ it was up straight away he saw the tickle on the ball and um yeah all F here but I think it is it shows you that they’re the ones that you do want to be have watched and not

Because um for the uncertainty it’s just that you want to be able to play your next shot without that praying on your mind oh I should have called someone all my opponent and think I hit that or didn’t hit that and all of those little bits and

Pieces well he’s going for the peg out now and he’s actually getting his opponent Kevin to uh to to judge the the validity of the peg out thing in cro isn’t it y certainly is your opponent is the person this is this is like your opponent decided to give a

Penalty kick in your favor they have a a winning p in a game of golf and ask them would you mind holding the flag for me RA this P all right so that’s a long way off but uh he’ll yeah well will

G we got a 2v one here we go a 2v one if he decides to Peg out he may not do of course but he’s having a look I mean well this this is very interesting he’s know he’s going over to his own ball hope he goes all right well if Kevin hits

Now then that will this is well this is a crucial shot isn’t it if ke if if if Kevin hits then he’s in the ascendancy if he doesn’t hit Callum should be able to rush the blue ball towards the Peg and pegal yes correct I thought Callum was going to

Play to of the cameras there for us yeah I know very disappointing yeah well he came out oh oh no I’m not going to I’m not going to get do any spoilers [Laughter] so but I just have so now Kevin can you see the yellow do you

Think with the red he’s he’s he’s electing to go for callum’s balls which is basically complete and utter death if he misses but mini map C he can see it g so yeah well the mini maps are a little bit exaggerated or he hasn’t got oh it’s

Coming back in it’s coming back in he’s got it oh he’s got it comment a long distance R in the wind going from yeah north south to North on the scarifications and managed to yeah incredible gamechanging r oh that was amazing because it it started when it started off it didn’t

Look as if it was going to make it and and it came back round and it was a complete do or die one wasn’t it because if he missed Callum would have had the easiest oh Kevin he’s clipped the black oh he’s just he’s just clipped it on the way

Through oh dear now what happens a pass roll to to yellow or yellow’s he’s full for penal and yellow’s for up near P isn’t it so P yeah yes it doesn’t matter if black goes out well past oh oh he’s fluffed that he’s what’s happened he’s thinking I think he thinks

He’s done some fault but I didn’t see the fault but he I don’t can you fault from from that is it possible to do a fault he could hit the red twice with the melad of is I as mallets come up or his head’s come up or something he

Hasn’t struck CRA shot really cleanly and I think he’s thinking his mallets might have struck that red twice a first a very faint hit and then the second one with a bit more but I didn’t see any fault in the shot I think it’s just you

Know hasn’t come out how he wanted and Mary’s just doing the the good thing saying to Kellum look I something went wrong there did you see anything in my shop Callum said no it looks fine to me you can have the 20 Y and he

Going well he had the 20 Y and he missed the 20 Y and the red has sailed by yeah doesn’t look anything wrong with that Pete I but as you say it’s a when you’re the striker and you you sometimes feel a double contact or you know you

You feel something that your opponent can’t see it was an extremely difficult shot GTH I mean Kevin’s cap playing it but I think it is the difficulties of not getting lawn practice playing tournaments regularly you know it’s you you test out that shock that you know

You’ve done in the past and you can do them but getting yourself down that position and executing it is you know it’s quite tricky so interesting position here now Pete uh Callum would would he try and Peg out would he try and Peg out from here would

He is he going to Peg out one ball what what do you think I no I think he’s going to spread these balls at maximum distance he can GTH and uh ideally red and yellow can’t see each other and he’s those kev’s forced to shoot the long shot down at

Blue and black and then Kevin can make the Rush from the free balls yeah so he can take a bit of time and uh trying to do this he’s is time will be getting down but you’re entitled to take you know a bit of time to sort yourself is

He wide on the yellow no no I think he can see the yellow quite quite quite well yeah okay so he’s just going to put the yellow up there and and knock the red down maybe so maximum distance between those two balls maximum distance

Is a bit short on both and uh it means whatever shot that Kevin’s going to be fac with is going to be seven eight yards shorter than what it possibly could be yeah he would have been unless he’s looked at that and seeing a very neat wiring position with red and

Yellow yeah and if he’s got that then that’s y he’s look he’s going over to look for it yep yeah and he Callum likes to wire you weren’t seven yards short you you’ve you’ve got it exactly right yeah yeah so the uh the just for the benefit

Of that that would be the wiring position would be where I’ve got the end of the line on on on the mini map right so that’s where Callum wants to put the red B now oh no he doesn’t like it it was too much been too far to move the ball to

Get the wiring position so he’s elected to roll well it’s a long for Kevin seeing yellow can see red and red can see yellow he needs to set himself a rush that’s not a double for any of the balls now just picking the spot which gives him a nice rush to the

Peg but doesn’t give Kevin any sort of double and he has to leave Kevin a shot he can’t see he’s used all the balls Kevin’s balls he can’t put Kevin in a position where Kevin can see see see nothing he has to leave Kevin a shot with each ball

Orbe it very long be his planned but he does have to off on the shot yeah well even even if Kevin was to miss it’s not a formality that that the rush towards the peg would be would be successful so still still some uncertainty here nice camera angle of the

Rush yeah nice work with the cameras great but I think well there a tricky rule to explain that uh if a ball is wide or not it doesn’t mean that you can’t hit it it’s just you’ve got to be able to hit both sides of the ball so

He’s looked at that yellow and think well I can hit that ball know he asking for left so so Pete um do you think that red can’t see oh Kevin well we won’t know now you think R can see yellow well I was wondering whether red couldn’t see whether red couldn’t

See yellow because I’m just thinking that yeah couldn’t see yellow otherwise Kevin would have been taking one of those two shots okay oh well that looks pretty good yeah that’s near enough the peg for a peg out but um yeah very very good shot very good shot wiring lift things are always

Quite good to um see on different and that was a good camera angle to see that one and um we we didn’t get to see the yellow to Red how what type of shot was on offer but judging by what given took on he um he must have realized yellow

Was open on the black so it a good win for Callum a very good win and uh very nicely done and there we go 26- 20 the final score so that was the concluding game of the the Brian writer AC challenge uh we see what our producer

Has for us coming up next there was some intriguing 2V1 battling between Callum and Steven Forster uh earlier and uh the uh the the eventual winner of the uh Brian writer tournament was uh Robert Fletcher who won all of his all of his games so this is a uh a replay Pete of

Uh of that it would be great to have your Insight this is uh Steph forer just uh doing the final pegout of the uh of callum’s black ball in that game uh the the red ball uh was right on the middle of the western boundary and

Uh so that was the that was the situation that we had at this juncture and stepen plays a sort of role to take the the yellow over towards Corner three so the the the black has come off uh the blue was somewhere but obviously it’s going to be picked up

Anyway so it doesn’t really matter and then stepen elects to put the yellow ball into Corner three now at this stage yes Callum is for um hoop four so C callum’s Blue Ball is for hoop four is it a contact um it’s a contact yes yeah it’s a

Contact uh so we’ve we’ve seem to have stopped that replay now we’re back to this one now we’re back to the a blank lawn and eventually we might go back to the 2v one battle so we will uh we will interview um Robert soon as well Pete so that will

Be uh that’ll be interesting maybe we can ask Robert uh a few things about the the pull on the the balls on that first day uh I know that you’d be interested to chat to him about that we’re back there with the oh I think I think coming from a

Fellow expert it would be uh it would be better but um so so anyway yes Callum is now uh he’s got contact he’s uh and he’s for hoop four so that’s the situation so what do you think Callum will do here um I think he will

Take cro from the red ball if he has contact he does and play that as a reasonably Fick takeoff going to the yellow and Corner three I’m not sure actually what um what K would do I this probably what I would do that’s what you do yeah yeah okay I

Would take a take off from the Red Bull and try to push that towards hoop five area yeah going to the so what you do I’ll show it on the I’ll show it on the on the map so what Pete would do is he’d he’d take cro from the red and he’d pop

The red slightly into the court whilst going across no towards H five Garrett towards H push across to Ho five yeah okay all the way yeah yeah as a takeoff so you’d end up in that sort of position yes yeah you could you could put red all

The way to hoop below south of hoop four but that’s a split and quite difficult to control the pace to get to the yellow ball so I’d be happy of getting red towards hoop five even if it’s a yard uh west of hoop five couple yards west of

Hoop 5 and give yourself that roll from corner three down to hoop four and that roll is is long but no matter what you do you generally will have a hoop shot and if you can run that one good hoop then you have both balls out on the

Court a ball near hoop five and it should be an opportunity to win the game on that one contact turn but you’ve got to give yourself a chance to win that game on that contact turn you don’t want to just play it reasonably cautiously and just make one hoop and then not have

Any any great reward so you can see that that what Callum actually did was that he took contact of the the yellow ball that was in corner three and he he actually did an ambitious role down down the lawn and then Steven responded just by going up

To to uh back up yeah up back up to Corner three he he ended up with the same role as we were always playing but by playing off red first it you know it’s it’s well was it is an opportunity to have both balls out out for for the the win and funly

Enough um the shot that he’s just played now Pete is exact puts him in exactly the position that you were talking about because he’s Now red the red ball up into the lawn and he’s going to be he’s he’s going to be able to play a shot

Which allows him to go for the yellow but now funnny enough the yellow is not in the corner anymore the yellow is off the corner the yellow’s about two yards in from the corner so the yellow is in the in the position that you can see on

The yeah yeah again I wouldn’t be changing much line of play I think I’d be playing a f takeoff red pushing it down towards the pig going to Yellow yeah but he’s he gets behind the yellow here oh sorry I okay so did did Steven

Not get it all the way to the corner on the retiring shot yeah that’s correct yeah that’s correct on the retiring shot he he left it a yard off the the line so that gave Callum an opportunity to do a rush uh but but it it didn’t um it

Didn’t eventuate because he got just got too much of a cut on it but now of course he’s uh he’s in a position where he can now let’s have a look at this shot you’ll enjoy this and he’s had one practice at it the previous he’s had a practice right yeah

He’s had a practice and look at that oh wow how good’s that what a shot a yeah and can power this through of the bad have any cut he likes onto the H ball to hook five or to theed that’s exactly right absolutely so he’s now he can

Power this through he’s got a rush on for hoop five everything’s looking really really nice and of course that Red Bull um is uh oh we’ve lost it again oh that’s a shame just as that was getting get get getting we were just getting into our Rhythm there on the uh

On the 2V1 but I’ll we back onto it now here we go so yeah so Callum now has this shot this Rush towards hoop five but he’s also got a Pioneer sitting up at one back as well so who are you backing now Pete well okay I am going to back Steven to

Win this game oh right but callum’s in the ascendancy here he’s got oh my goodness though look at that he’s fallen short the I mean sorry I backing Steven to win this game is purely an experience thing of putting yourself in positions to elect a triple pel opponent players out

Because you’ve been in that situation to handle the 2V1 and the change that it it can do to a player some players slow down some players speed up and the shots don’t quite come out the same but Steven’s been around for a long time and is a

Very good peeling opponent on a TPO um player and when it gets down to 2v ons I would tend to to back any of the players with the stats on their side and callum’s skills are multiple peelings um but not so much TPO peelings

So after all of that I I could be you know way off well I I I guess I I wanted to to off offer you the uh the odds when after cummer played that brilliant role and then after that fantastic Rush uh and he’s sort of sitting pretty in front

Of hoop five uh with a Pioneer at one back and and but then the game changes very quickly because he slightly under hits the approach shot to the hoop so so now Steven’s able to uh to to sort of run away but Callum is still in front of the hoop now with

Steven in front of one B so Callum comes through yes um now going back a few turns when Steven retired and didn’t quite make it up to Corner three mhm and Callum nearly punished him for it Steven Also may be thinking you know what I might have been better up to Corner two

Than Corner 3 and giving Callum that that role and to um to have got away with it and Kum not finish Stephen may have a good mindset okay I’m just going to have to get myself back into the thought process of the 2V1 and uh get myself in a position

Where Callum shoots at me and I have the control of the free balls even if it means I’ve got to chip the break out a little bit and do a bit of work to get it what what he’ll be trying to do but the difficulty with Kum is that he uh

He’s he’s predictable when that he’ll do something uh attempt to do something quite remarkable unpredictable sometimes of how many times it comes off but is always capable there from Callum that you only got to play a couple of good shots and in a matter of a blink and

He’s he’s he’s he’s belt to you but um Steven’s just looking there’s a tough Yep this is tough and it was tough so now the uh the advantage is back with Steven again being able to pair up his balls and and well yes yeah this is a good

Situation is like does r shoot at the blue near the hoop even though it’s red poop and the because okay A little bit of a production noise there Pete I’m sure what that was happening there uh I was interested in this position Pete that uh Steven elected to

Shoot at at um at the Blue uh rather than just go and pair up with his yellow balls yep yeah no again i’ I’ve got that one all wrong too I I as well clear of the hoop leg the D there’s no danger I don’t St tweaking

With towards the leg but it’s not a nice always going past the hoop is never nice no I I I mean really there was only a Ball’s width of between the the trajectory of the the line of shot and the hoop I it’d be quite easy to clang into the leg and

And then give Callum a two ball break he may be thinking look if I retire and don’t off for a shot callum’s got a bit of a Gallop up he’s hit the last ROK very clean and uh powerful I really got to put some distance on the lawn for his

Next shot and so I’m going to hit this blue I’m going to send it into a position where I can retire and really put the pressure on him yeah well that’s what he does now uh goes to have a look because if of course now he’s responsible

For uh callum’s blue ball so he has to be careful not to provide a wiring situation and step will be working on what we I was talking about before on predictability he’ll be wanting Cal to be predictable that he won’t turn down the shot at him yes so he’ll be thinking

Whatever I give him callum’s going to shoot at me yeah yes call Callum was telegraphing very early on that he was all for shooting and you’re absolutely right he’s he’s predicting putting maximum distance between himself and Callum and I mean extremely difficult finish from for if Kellum does hit uh if Kellum does

Miss it’s an extremely difficult finish from Steven in this position but but that Steven well aware of that and he’s he’s saying to him look all I’m going to do is keep control of this lawn I’m going to make my ball through hoop sets and now I’m going to reverse it and be

Up in control and Corner two and if you shoot at that one yes I will finish the turn next turn for finish the game I wonder if we’re shaping for the presentation ceremony now uh the we’ve stopped looking at that replay so we we might well be uh

Handing over to our Master of Ceremonies for the the presentation to robbert Fletcher it’s becoming quite a tradition for for us in these KO cro tournament coverage to end end proceedings with a an interview with the Victor Robert Fletcher uh and today will be no exception to that so I guess there looks

Like Steven forer strolling out onto the Lawns there Kenley has served up all manner of weather for us Pete we’ve had we’ve had driving rain we’ve had we’ve had Sun we’ve had wind normal the normal menu um so um not sure that we are going to the ceremony uh people are moving the

The pipe um the the new Temple in the background of K Lee there I think that’s a just been up about a year or so produces quite an elegant backdrop to this fantastic facility oh no yeah the the the suburb of kle is absolutely fantastic G of um uh very Multicultural um suburb

Uh great if you’re looking for something to eat of of all varieties great Vietnamese restaurants around and uh yes that’s right every time I um go out to the western part of Melbourne you know going back 15 years there wasn’t a great still there but come out here now and

It’s there everything on off it the Fantastic part of Melbourne yeah and to have the headquarters here with the 12 Lawns and and uh be away from the the bustle of the city is is a nice treat to go away to so this is the final standings Pete you can see Robert Fletcher

Undefeated uh with an enormous net Hoops uh in his favor uh and uh and Chris Grant there from Ringwood he had a great start uh defeating Kevin beard in the first game uh we didn’t get to see Chris play at all in the in the in the

Tournament which is a shame because he’s a a great player to watch uh Josh we saw in the first game against uh Robert and he he showed some real class in coming off the bench to play a beautiful nine nine uh ball uh a nine nine hoop break uh and it

Was just a little bit unlucky with a with an a sort of unintended Ro R near the end of his break which made the leave more attractive to Robert Uh Kevin has had two wins he uh he’s been extremely Brave in competing in this tournament he it wasn’t it’s only a week

Ago that he had quite made major surgery uh so fantastic to to see him here Andrew won after a long absence from the game really getting back into things and he’ll be very pleased with his two victories against pretty class opposition Steven we saw yeah yeah very good indeed

Stephen certainly looked capable when I saw him um the last time in Melbourne but to to feature in this uh Invitational way to end get the results there he’s he’s it’s a great result yeah yeah it was really really great to see him and uh Stephen of

Course we we saw him in that a few matches this weekend but uh particularly in that intriguing 2V1 battle against Callum uh and Lan Berman must be very pleased with his performance five wins yeah great yeah really amazing show strength in Victoria isn’t it is even though Lin’s been around a bit like

Andrew com coming back into it another top player pops up and gives everyone else something to think about so another thing that we could just reflect on from yesterday Pete is this opening that you called the superhop opening that uh we’re seeing now Robert playing a ball into the

Middle of the lawn and that’s something that that uh sort of ordinary cro players wouldn’t think of doing uh very much is it they normally think of playing the ball to the side of the lawn what’s so what’s the purpose of the super shot well the the primary purpose at the

Very top level of uh Roberts playing another top 10 or 20 player in the world is that you recognize each other’s talent and skill of being worldclass players and you feel that your best opportunity in this game is to only give your opponent one crucial shot so if you

Can make the first break with only the three balls on the lawn uh then your opponent only has that one crucial shot and if they miss you could wrap up the game and if you don’t do the super shop they would likely do it to you so so on good Court conditions

And uh two top players squaring off it’s becomes it’s reducing it to the least amount of turns possible that you want to give your opponent now slightly different because well Josh is an accomplishing very strong player he he he’s not top 10 in the world so for

Robert to do it against someone of Josh’s um ranking of 250 in the world is partly he’s doing it for himself to set himself up for the event where he’s wanting to get something happening and he’s uh wanting to put himself under a bit of pressure straight away by making

A tough first R and a tough first break and and he’s capable of doing you know it’s been a line of his play for quite a few years of doing super shots for third turn nines um he’s also can flip this around very quickly and play defensive openings

And he’s he’s got a amazing knowledge of and understanding of the game and generally picks the the right tactic and an opening for the right reasons and so when Robert put the super shot out I I was very pleased thought all this is good Robert Robert’s arrived to uh not

Ease himself into the event he’s he’s arrived to to get things happening and get the season going and kicking off and uh uh get himself back to well he’s never not moved away from being close to number one in the world he’ll be wanting to to start the the season of play

Coming up ahead of us and we’ve got a lot coming up ahead of us in a good frame of of attacking cro so that’s my yes that’s right he he uh and also in that first game he had a tremendous Pace about him didn’t he his momentum his

Cadence was was really really flowing he he was moving moving along might have been cold I’m not sure what I gotta keep War out but the slight uh difference in Robert subot he he’s meticulous in where he puts that t ball it looks like it’s just I’m stroking that ball up into the

Middle of the Court somewhere but it’s not it’s usually got a spot he’s chosen north of hoop five by two to three yards you might have pushed that one the four extent of that three yards and then it’s usually a yard to west of the line of

Hoop five and and it’s a deliberate spot that he’s chosen by thinking of where his opponent May respond to it and uh Josh decided to uh put it just outside corner too but it’s a strong position Robert starts off with that and it’s uh it means you’ll see some players play the

Super shot a lot longer than Robert’s one and it goes up towards the pig and it means that you’re in the danger of someone pairing up with you in the middle of the lawn and putting the pressure back on you to hit yes with the danger of missing into

The B lines the yeah yeah um but and if they don’t take that shot on then it’s just about advantage to you that you have you have tically play them they turned down their opportunity for the F turn nine by well they may not turn it down but they

They’re not hit with full power and on a lawn with a few dimples like this one at the moment you you need to be playing your r with actually full okay see the subtle differences between what the players are doing with the super shot and where Robert’s got that

Black ball is as I think is just about the strongest position you can play well it looks Pete as if we’re going over to the presentation Cy there is the the man himself and then afterwards I think we’ll have a chance to interview Robert uh and it certainly be good to quiz him

About the super shot tactics that you were talking about earlier uh so uh Brian waiting anxiously there to uh take his queue to uh start the ceremony and we talked about Brian’s amazing role here he goes well we’re at the end of uh two Glorious Days of great

Cro I’d uh firstly like to thank Lester and his team for preparing the courts and the condition there in very very good big thanks to them thank you to my my sport live for the job they’ve done with the videoing it’s been great and thanks to our programmer Kate who’s a

Supported them in their role to the players who made himself available for this event tremendous effort under some what appeared to be going to be trying conditions and restrictions of a couple of weeks ago and a special thanks to Kellum for coming coming down to fill the eighth spot well

Done the play over the two days has been tremendous and uh we’ve finished up with some great results and some great some great shots for you all to watch the replays over the next space whatever as far as far as the results went Big C congratulations to Lan

Barryman who with five wins and plus 17 came into third place well done lman in second place with five wins and plus 37 was Callum thank you and of course the winner with seven wins Robert before Robert comes forward I’d especially like to thank the uh the

Group of corts of mine working on the events that seemed fit to uh put my name forward to be honored on this great event and it’s a a great honor to have had that happen so without any further Ado I will ask Robert to come [Applause] forward congrat congratulations Robert

Thanks Brian great effort and uh great to see you uh back in Victoria and getting plenty of practicing ready for the big events that are ahead of us well done all around so Robert it’s a great pleasure to me to present this to you thanks Brian [Applause]

Thanks very much Brian um yeah I guess firstly yeah thanks very much to uh Lester and Steven and Kevin and everyone else who’s um prepared The Lawns um yeah fantastic uh as always um and thanks to mysports live for doing doing the um uh the live streaming and to Kate for uh

Doing all the organizing for c Victoria uh in particular so thanks very much and uh yeah thanks to all the players who made the uh made the tournament it’s great to be out um yeah playing cro again uh so I think yeah that’s Echo echoed by everyone it’s been uh

Particularly in Victoria pretty tough uh couple years so yeah nice to be playing some cro again um and yeah big thank you to Brian uh firstly for managing the tournament um and uh uh also um uh for yeah it’s um uh is a real uh honor for

Me to play in the play in this tournament um particularly being the inaugural uh uh version of um uh what’s now your event and um uh yeah I think we’ve just been very blessed to to have you um uh managing and uh just um volunteering and dedicating all the time

Uh that you have to uh uh to this sport um and particularly here here in Victoria um yeah it’s always a pleasure to be at the events that that you’re running um and uh of course you’re uh you’re a great person as well uh which

Is which is awesome um and uh also to um uh where um club members as well because I’m a member of Ballarat Alexandra so um yeah it’s it’s certainly uh I think um yeah speaking for everyone at the club um yeah we’re just uh super excited to

To see um an event uh in your name and uh yeah hope it uh uh continues on in the The Same Spirit that it was uh played here um over the last couple of days so yeah awesome thanks [Applause] BR all right thank you just a little reminder that uh in

Four weeks time we’ve got the AC men’s and women’s championships so look forward to seeing you all along with a lot of others here then oh and a special the post was in the road before special thank you to Brian and Mike for their refereeing [Applause]

And thank you all right safe trip home and uh we look forward to seeing you all soon thank you well fantastic to see uh Robert again Victorious uh and there joined Now by uh Robert just for a couple of quick words uh yet again Robert we we meet to uh congratulate you

At the end of another televised victory hey Gareth how you going yeah it’s good so we’re making a habit of um chatting at the end of one of your victories on uh the uh the KO coverage and today is no exception uh fantastic play uh must have really enjoyed it out

There yeah yeah certainly did uh certainly did Gareth um uh yeah it’s uh been a great tournament and yeah The Lawns were in uh in great Nick and um yeah it’s just great to be uh uh playing uh playing good players um playing cro full stop um and uh yeah please please

Who have made it a h yeah talking to yourself so so the um one of the things that was really obvious on in your first game was the incredible Pace that you were playing at you you are really flowing we’re used to seeing you taking your time and and being very thought

Thoughtful about things but you were really motoring I it was was that deliberate or were you just eager to get out of the blocks um yeah I I think um yeah yeah definitely definitely deliberate um yeah I when I can I try to play uh try to play quickly I mean the

The conditions were weren’t um you know super uh I guess you know they weren’t difficult or anything like that um weren’t super tricky so um you know I help to play with a bit of pace and Rhythm yeah no it was it was amazing

Because I was trying to keep we we we we had a little mini map view of the the the court we were trying to place the balls as you were hitting them and I couldn’t keep up it was it was they were really moving very fast so uh we noticed

Uh on in that very first game uh you were the the pull on the ball seemed to be very challenging uh you sometimes it was going left sometimes it was going right you had about four or five attempts at peeling uh fullback in that very first game did did you learn a lot

For about The Lawns after that experience yeah yeah um for for me it was uh it was mainly mainly the blls um so um uh yeah they kind of there are a lot of um uh um new sets and old sets kind of floating around at different

Clubs at the moment uh in Australia um and um yeah the pool’s kind of um radically different depending on um yeah whe they’re it’s kind of neop plastic or all the plastic and then um in terms of age of the of the balls as well um and uh

Yeah so so after the first game I kind twigged which which ones they were and uh my feeling was feeling was a bit better after that yeah you were you were certainly on the second day you were certainly getting down onto the ground a lot a lot more than you were on the

First and it was uh it was quite a big difference in the in the rhythm of your game between the the two days the uh the Mallet that you’re using at the moment this is this is one that you’ve had for a for a while I

Believe uh yeah yes I’ve had that one For probably 13 14 years um yeah and I I played played with it for a while um and and um yeah went through uh kind of trying all sorts of different mths um and yeah now I’m back to this one yeah well look I mean it’s been another fantastic weekend we’ve really enjoyed

The incredible uh skills that you you bring and the entertainment that you bring to the viewers and and hopefully it’s inspired a lot of people to take up the game and a lot of uh you know golf croquet players who were AC curious that that hopefully they’ve they’ve got a bit

Of inspiration uh from your example this weekend so uh I’m sure that I’ll be interviewing you again since the uh the winner of a future tournament as well so we we we should probably uh get a script going for the next one but uh but but

Thanks very much Robert and it’s uh been been fantastic as usual uh so that’s uh you know really great thanks Gareth really appreciate it thanks thanks very much for doing all the commentary and uh yeah as always and um yeah uh we we’ll see hopefully I can continue to make it

Happen all right well that’s the end of the uh the broadcast now and uh we just like to thank everybody at home for for watching and uh please do check out your local croquet Club if you’re inspired by the Fantastic play that you’ve seen over the weekend but otherwise we’ll see you

For the next uh KO coverage which will be announced soon so that’s a so goodbye from me and goodbye from Robert and the rest of the the Team