OH! SO CLOSE!

Boasters League first half results

Last week, I mentioned that the Wardogs were pretty much a shoe in to take the first round honors. At 9 points back of the Fire Birds who had the last round bye, all the Wardogs had to do was turn up and get a handful of matches in. Simple enough task that they almost failed to complete.

The Fire Birds, however, must be commended. In makeup matches they picked up 39 points – a remarkable effort that left them agonizingly short by one solitary point. (Actually, it would have 2 points since the Wardogs held the tie break with more bonus points had it ended up a tie.)

Essentially, just about all teams deserve a round of applause as oodles of makeup matches came pouring in. The Winky-Dinks and Space Geckos both picked up 59 and 56 points respectively in the final week and were definitely within arm’s reach of top spot. I am sure the results are a lot closer than what was expected. The threat of removal for not playing a 4 match minimum worked a charm as only 2 players of the 153 failed to meet the quota.

I am expecting excellent stats for the first half of the league… let’s have a look shall we!

•  84% of all the matches were completed. That is by far a league record! Applause all around!

•  Round 1 had all but 4 matches completed. Again, what a great stat!

• The top 7 teams scored more points than the team that ended up on top of the standings at the end of the second half last season.

• 2 teams played the most matches with 90% completion: Fire Birds and Mongoose.

• Lowest playing percentage goes to The Nicker Ballers with 76%.

• Bonus points. Always a great indication. Leading the charge this half was Space Geckos with 105. Bringing up the rear was The Nicker Ballers with 69. The top four teams led the way with the most, the last four teams had the least.

• All 17 matches in any one round were completed 5 times this half. That is pretty good!

• Most points scored in any one round was the Fire Birds in round 5 and Winky-Dinks in round 2 with 45. Least amount of points in any one round was 13 in round 9 by Paddy’s Dropshots.

• 18 players picked up all 8 bonus points. 5 players did not pick up any.

• 50 players completed all 8 matches. Wow. Super impressive.

• Of those 50, only 3 were undefeated: Han Peng (Butter Nutz); Tom Pierce (Winky-Dinks) and Chuck Doyle (Space Geckos).

• Two players scored the most points for the first half: Chuck Doyle (Space Geckos) and Ryan MacVoy (Wardogs) with 29.

• Every player on Winky-Dinks scored at least 10 points for their team. The only team to do so.

Definitely a record breaking half. It is normal for the second half not to be as strong, but we can try to turn that around. Teams will be rearranged a little based on the first half results, some of you may find yourself on a different team altogether. It is all in the attempt to make the league as competitive as possible. In the end, it all comes down to playing your matches and turning up on Wednesdays. Teams that fail to keep up in those categories will miss out on the play-offs where the top 6 teams advance at the end of the second half.

And as for the 4 match minimum? Again, this is a priority. All players will need their minimum 4 matches in order to be eligible for a prize in case your team goes all the way. We get going on January 6, so until then, Happy Holidays and psyche yourself up for a tough winter season!