Western Australia State Championships and Presentation Night
Report by Jodi Tiver

Well what a fantastic weekend of polocrosse both on and off the field! With 47 teams arriving from all over the State on Friday this was one of the biggest tournaments held in WA for quite some time. The fields and facilities were once again immaculate and the Perth Club members and volunteers are to be congratulated for their superb efforts through the entire weekend.

There were only 3 teams in the Open competition this year but this grade certainly provided some of the best polocrosse of the year so far. Perth, South Midlands and Walkaway played in a triangle on the Saturday with the 2 winners to play the final on Sunday, and the action kicked off right from the first game between Perth and Souths with the 6th chukka bell sounding with scores level. This put Jason Stowe, Ralph Lyster and Michael Semmens back on the field against BJ Thomas, Scott Gurney and Ben Thomas. The ball went in and a good off hand pick up from the back of the line up by Michael Semmens and then a good delivery across the line to Jason, it looked like Perth would have the winning goal, but Ben Thomas was brilliant in defence once again pushing Jas back out over the line and in to centre field. A foul was whistled against Souths and Perth had a free throw from just outside the area. But the throw went too long from Jason with Ben coming in, snapping up the ball and taking it down the field to BJ who put the winning goal on the board! From there, Souths were just beaten by the well horsed and fired up Walkaway side who also came away with another win against Perth. This meant a Souths v Walkway final Sunday afternoon.

The Open Mixed competition also provided some fantastic competition throughout the weekend with 6 teams playing 2 triangles. Foothills came away with 2 wins against South Midlands and Kojonup with the games being quite close and the hotly favoured Greenough team also did away with Moonyoonooka and Walkaway.

The final between Foothills and Greenough was really intense with both teams desperate for points on the board. Foothills lead the game for most of the way game and finally came unstuck as some of the younger horses in the side started to tire and Jane Cooper coming up with the goods at the back of the line up in the 5th chukka. Foothills were one down going in to the 6th and gave it everything they had but Greenough got hold of a couple of balls and sealed the victory winning by 4 goals.

The Open final got underway with South Midlands making a couple of team changes and slipping Jeff Martin back in to his familiar position between BJ and Ben Thomas and I think they threw 5-1 in the first chukka getting a dream start. The chukkas of Adrian Cobley, Bruce Smith and Scott Gurney for Souths and Jeremy Thurkle, Trent Cooper and Doug Brown were a little more even and as the game progressed this Walkaway chukka really put their foot on the pedal inspiring their other section of Aiden Thurkle, Dean Ryan and Wayne Woods who pulled their chukka back and had a blinder in the 5th to put Walkaway 2 up going in to the last. A quick goal from Souths put them right back in it but Trent Cooper came up with some really 'hard gets' from the ground out of the packs and Walkaway after being down for 4 and a half chukkas ran out the deserving winners by 4 goals. What a game!!

The Intermediate and Junior comp was also a highlight of the weekend and the bits and pieces I got to see of these finals were really impressive and I can certainly say the WA Women's future is looking very bright with both these grades predominantly featuring girls!!

Well done to all the winners and players, the results are as follows:

OPEN
Walkaway d South Midlands
Champion Pony: 'Pokemon' ridden by Doug Brown (Walkaway)
Best No 1: Jeremy Thurkle (Walkaway)
Best No 2: Bruce Smith (Souths)
Best No 3: Wayne Woods (Walkaway)

OPEN MIXED
Greenough d Foothills
Champion Pony: 'Edenhope Scoop' ridden by Jared Martin (Greenough)
Best No 1: Jeremy Marriott (Greenough)
Best No 2: Vanessa Freeman (Moony)
Best No 3: Jane Cooper (Greenough)

INTERMEDIATE MIXED
Kojonup d Moonyoonooka
Champion Pony: 'Berragoon Smiley' ridden by Sandy Corbett (Foothills)
Best No 1: Hailey Martin (Greenough)
Best No 2: Claire Parker (Greenough)
Best No 3: Matt Adams (Moony)

JUNIORS
Perth d Moonyoonooka
Champion Pony: 'Edenhope Elphin II' ridden by James Lester (Perth)
Best No 1: Tennille Crabb (Greenough)
Best No 2: Jana Dillon (Greenough)
Best No 3: Tia Hall (Perth)

B GRADE
Kojonup d Foothills
Champion Pony: 'Spook' ridden by Mick Keightley (Koji)

C GRADE
Kojonup d Perth
Champion Pony: 'Balwyn Lolita' ridden by Adrian Lester (Perth)

D GRADE
Perth d South Midlands
Champion Pony: 'Balwyn Kenny' ridden by Barclay Day (Perth)

E GRADE
Foothills d Perth
Champion Pony: 'Sarky' ridden by Tao Jordan (Walkaway)

JUNIOR A
Perth d Margaret River

Overall Champion Horse of the Tournament: 'Edenhope Scoop' ridden by Jared Martin (Greenough)

Champion Australian Stock Horse Awards
Men's: 'Edenhope Smash' ridden by Wayne Woods (Walkaway)
Women's: 'Springbrook Hightide' ridden by Trish Jones (Moony)
Intermediate Men's: 'Edenhope Scoop' ridden by Jared Martin (Greenough)
Intermediate Women's: 'Teronalie Tigeress' ridden by Hailey Martin (Greenough)
Juniors: 'Edenhope Elphin II' ridden by James Lester (Perth)

Saturday Night also saw the presentation of the Champion Clubs and Horses for the year running from State Championships 2008 to State Championships 2009. The above results will be the first points recorded for the 2009-2010 year.

Champion A Grade Club: Walkaway
Runners Up: South Midlands
Champion A Grade Horse: 'Teronalie Tigeresss' (Martin Family-Greenough)

Champion B Grade Club: Foothills
Runners Up: Moonyoonooka
Champion B Grade Horse: 'Fable' (Greg Rodwell - Foothills)

Champion C Grade Club: Kojonup
Runners Up: Foothills
Champion C Grade Horse: 'Spook' - this horse won these awards while being ridden by Emily Walsh and is now owned by Mick Keightley of Kojonup.

Champion D Grade Club: Kojonup
Runners Up: Greenough & Walkaway
Champion D Grade Horse: 'Tudors Minx' (Tennille Crabb - Walkaway)

Champion E Grade Club: Perth
Runners Up: Murray
Champion E Grade Horse: 'Flame' (Katy Smith)