The Best are from the West

Western Australia grabbed both the Boy's and Girl's Teams titles at the 29th Formula Australian Junior Darts Championships at Inala Darts Club in Brisbane. Two years the
Boy's team finished in last place and the girl's in fifth with just one win. Last year they turned their performances around completely to win both titles and in 2010 they have backed up that performance to be the best junior teams in the country winning again in 2010.

Competition in the Teams Event started Tuesday when three games were completed in the Girl's competition and four rounds in the Boy's. The remaining two rounds and three rounds for the boy's were completed today.

West leads the Westerners to victory.

Western Australia Girl's Team has retained their Australian Junior Girls Darts Teams Champions they won back last year in Adelaide with a dominant performance from them. They took on every State and managed to defeat all of them. And they did it by coming through winning most rounds comfortably. An early first up victory over New South Wales 5 - 4 was their only close match on the scoreboard. The other four contests were all won losing just one or two legs giving them 8 - 1 or 7 - 2 victories. The victories may have looked comfortable on on the score board but they were still hard fought wins.

Captain Kerry West was back in charge of this team in 2010 after she missed the Championships with a broken leg last year. Lisa Dann whom replaced Kerry as Captain last year was there again to assist the team. The Team (right) was made up from Jucinta Dann and Krissy Smith who are fairly experienced players at this level and Edwina Dryden and Lee-Anne Watkins who were first year rookies.

"The WA Girl's have played some great darts throughout these Championships. Having a first up game against NSW was a great opener for the girls to settle in. The two rookies Lee-Anne Watkins and Edwina Dryden although very nervous threw great darts - especially when needed. Kris Smith playing her last championship wanted to go out a winner and she has done just that. Jucinta Dann has gained an enormous amount of experience and maturity from playing at national senior championships, qualities that she has brought here to Brisbane. As a unit the girls have melded well both on and off the boards and I have been so proud to have been their Captain" said Kerry West

Second place went to the Queensland. They lost just the one game to Western Australia with their other round matches appearing to be relatively comfortable. This team came into this year's championships with mixed amount of experience from last year's team coming in with two "rookies" and two second year players. This team though showed how strong junior darts are in Queensland with four of these players eligible again next year; they may be very tough to defeat next year. Those players were Rebecca Webster, Elle Ward, Cassie Brackin and Toni Kanui (above). Team Manager was Rosemary McLeod.

Captain Leonie Campbell said after the final match, "With two "Rookies" in this year's Team, it was a big challenge for them. This year the Queensland Girls have played really well together over the two days of the Teams Games. Four wins and one lose put us in second spot place to Western Australia. I am very proud for their effort they put in. The future looks good for us"

New South Wales placed third with three wins and two loses to Western Australia and Queensland. Fourth place went to South Australia (2 wins), fifth to Victoria (1 wins), and sixth to Tasmania (0 wins).

Western Australia wins back-to-back title

Western Australian Boy's clinched the Australian Junior Boy's Teams Event going back-to-back with a Team that included three Rookie darts players in their team. Western Australia junior boys have struggled a little over the past few years, but 2009 saw the boy's from the west dominate the event by winning all but the last round of competition against Tasmania. 2010 saw exactly the same scenario.

The Boy's Team Championship is a hotly contested event with all teams virtually capable of winning any match. Queensland has dominated the event for a number of years as has New South Wales. Now it looks like Western Australia is about to have a strong period at the top of boys darts in Australia. As they did last year they went through the whole two days of competition without fault until the last round to only lose their last match - this year to Victoria. Up until this match they had had comfortable wins although Tasmania did push them.

The players representing Western Australia (left) were Conan Ugle, Alex Jones Blake Hatchett and Dylan Dunster. Western Australian Captain Betty Hislop said, "When we left WA my expectations, with three rookies in the Team were not high. All the players had improved since the trials so I was hoping they could hold their own. The results show they held more than their own. I am glad we had it won before the last game because the boys were suffering from the heat and just could not fire up. The four boys have been a treat to work with and I am very proud of them all. Every game was a tough one and there was a lot of new talent to create a great competition. With new talent like this the sport of darts must progress."

The battle for second place was ever so close. Three teams were in contention coming into the last round. New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria were all around the mark. Tasmania was defeated by Queensland finishing their run. New South Wales had a bye in the last round so their competition had finished with 4 wins and 29 legs. Victoria played WA in the last match of the competition and had to win to take second spot. They did win inflicting the only lose on the Western Australian Team and in the process winning enough legs to see them tie with NSW in second spot after the round robin was completed. This meant a tiebreaking leg of 1001 was required to separate these two teams. That decider saw Victoria away first and they grabbed the advantage early, Eleven of their first thirteen throws were 60 plus scores with Jacob Seidel hitting a couple of 140's the best. The high consistent scoring by Victoria left NSW way behind. This was great play by a Team of boy's that included three rookies and one 2nd year player. Sam Ballinger who had scored 85, 85, and 97 coming down nailed double tops with his second dart to give the Victorian boy's second place.

Ken Penberthy captained the second placed Victorian Team (left) and the players consisted of John Tuhi and rookies Matthew Francois, Sam Ballinger and Jacob Seidel. Penberthy was overwhelmed by the player's performance and could not express how proud he was of this boy's at the end of that tie breaker and how they had played over the past two days. Manager of this team was John Plucinski.

New South Wales (4 wins 29 legs) (right) ended up in third spot after the tiebreaker were represented by players Luke Sipple, Guy Holland, Richard Rangi, Shane Wilson and Dominic Faulkner, Captained by Mark Munro and Manager Tony Sica with Tasmania finishing in fourth place with 3 wins and 30 legs, Queensland finishing fifth with 3 wins and 27 legs highlighting how close the competition was. South Australia and the Northern Territory finished up with one win each.