Last season's grand finalists Ballarat are already staring down the barrel in season 2021-22, now having dropped its opening two matches of the season.
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Ballarat's poor start is coupled with a resurgence of Linton which has opened the season in fine form with two big wins to sit on top of the ladder.
Ballarat was far from disgraced in its loss to Webbcona, but the two-rinks to one defeat has left it with plenty of work to do in what will be a shortened season of just 14 rounds.
Webbcona was led brilliantly by the Ben McArthur skippered squad, which was too strong from the Paul Slater skipped team, winning the rink 29-14.
McArthur's big win was enough for Webbcona to get enough shots to put a gap between the sides in the overall result, despite the other rinks being shared.
The impressive Linton, also won two of its three rinks against Mount Xavier, but it was the impressive win of the Peter Wilson skippered team, who proved too strong for Phillip McGrath's squad with a comprehensive 27-8 win that was the difference.
Linton scored 66 in the 20 shot win with Brandon Williams defeating Paul Forrest 22-15. Mount Xavier picked up two points when Chris McDonald's squad defeated the team led by Craig Grenfell.
Creswick produced a clean sweep of Learmonth, winning all three rinks in the impressive 67 shots to 44 win.
Travis Hedger (23-12), Stephen Hepworth (20-16) and Alan Annear (24-16) all would have been happy with how their teams gelled as the club picked up its first full points of the season.
Lurking though just quietly is last season's champs Victoria who won two, and drew the other rink, against Buninyong.
It was Shaun Clark's team that really did the damage here, proving far too strong for the team led by Brian Wilcock, winning 30-12. Buninyong were more than competitive in the other rinks with Victoria's Shane Pongho, just holding off Keith Chapman 20-17 while Peter Aldred managed to tie up the game with Craig Ford 14-14.
The powerful Sebastopol is another team that looks to have started the season in read-hot form, winning two of the three rinks in a comprehensive 64-41 shot win over BMS.
BMS Team One skipper Phillip Clamp got his team off to a good start with a 24-16 victory over Ian Warner, but that would be the only success for the visitors on the day with Murray Gannon's 23-11 win over Ryan Bedggood and Scott Roberts' huge 25-6 win over the squad skippered by Michael Storey proved the difference between the sides.
Linton and Victoria both have 62 points on top of the ladder but Sebastopol is just one point behind and with the best shot difference, an impressive +46 after just two completed rounds.
PREMIER
Linton 66 (14) def Mt Xavier 46 (2) Stewart Williams, Danny Pridham, Nick Pearce, Brandon Williams 22 def Pat Moran, Darryl Boyd, Daryl Lamb, Paul Forrest 15, Glenn Landers, John Hetherington, Brendan Vandenberg, Craig Grenfell 17 def by Robert Ockwell, Stavey Forrest, Malcolm Sargeant, Chris McDonald 23, Ray Wilson, Timothy Wilson, Rodney Hetherington, Peter Wilson 27 def Ray Bellingham, Lynden Henderson, Kevin McKeegan, Phillip McGrath 8
Ballarat 54 (2) def by Webbcona 62 (14) Lisa Tung, David Eastman, Dean Campbell, Zac Stewart 20 def Chris Steenhuis, Harrold Worsley, Scott McLean, Anthony Lange 12, Lionel Calf, Bruce Sutherland, Ben Horwood, Taylor Stewart 20 def by Rod Barton, Alistair Van der Ploeg, Sarah Braybrook, Nathan Mahoney 21, John Crawford, Mark Fothergill, Greg Stewart, Paul Slater 14 def by Ross Brown, David Anderton, Matthew Blackburn, Ben McArthur 29
Learmonth 44 (0) def by Creswick 67 (16) Gregory Ross, Mick Casey, David Ryan, Ross Powell 12 def by Dean Cooper, Bill Booth, Michael Booth, Travis Hedger 23, Addison Ryan, Timothy Griffin, Craig Findlay, David Kelly 16 def by Dale Chalmers, Trevor Booth, Geoff Antonio, Stephen Hepworth 20, Gary Moy, William Rowe, Fred Lennecke, Brendan Pym 16 def by Rebecca Cooper, Steve Pope, Jarrod Matthews, Alan Annear 24
Sebastopol 64 (14) def BMS 41 (2) Noel Sutherland, David Cassells, Paul Lovell, Ian Warner 16 def by Graeme Inglis, Craig Hurdsfield, Robert Dickinson, Phillip Clamp 24, Fred Reus, Gary Green, John Garvin, Murray Gannon 23 def Daniel Vagg, Lindsay Trounce, David Berry, Ryan Bedggood 11, William Matthews, Tim Beecham, Rob Baker, Scott Roberts 25 def Adam McLean, Keith Urch, David Schreenan, Michael Storey 6
Buninyong 43 (1) def by Victoria 64 (15) Norman Hand, Stephen Falconer, Graeme Nicholson, Peter Aldred 14 drew Kane Silbereisen, Marc Oswin, Sunni Haynes, Craig Ford 14, Ian McGregor, Kenneth Sergeant, Wayne Morgan, Brian Wilcock 12 def by Brett Harrison, Shaun O'Loughlin, Wayne Lynch, Shaun Clark 30, Patti McGregor, Terry McDonald, Graeme Simpson, Keith Chapman, 17 def by Paul Tudorovic, Darren Britt, Barry Clark, Shane Pongho 20
PREMIER LADDER
LINTON +39 shots, 62 points
VICTORIA +29, 62
SEBASTOPOL +46, 61
CRESWICK +4, 48
Buninyong -6, 48
Mount Xavier -17, 48
Webbcona -7, 47
BMS -26, 36
Ballarat -31, 35
Learmonth -31, 33
