10/10/2026
No matter how much you plan during the off-season, Round 1 always seems to sneak up on you and catch you off guard. Yesterday was no different.
The sandwich roster hadn’t quite been sorted and so for the second year in a row it was the Prez and Vice Prez joined in the kitchen by Graeme A being well supervised by eagle-eyed Lyn. CLG take great pride in our sangas and so the construction of these is written in a manual thicker than what is currently being used to build the T2D project.
The uniforms for our new members had been delayed but were now ready for collection and so the Prez decided shoot off early to pick these up from the other side of town. Reckon he flogged a couple of sandwiches for the drive! The VP had forgotten to order the meat trays and so after a quick panic call to our amazing sponsors Cimarosti Butchers these were quickly wrapped and collected.
The club is clearly in good hands…
Andrew E was outside putting up a couple of new grab rails, sponsors signs, washing some windows and setting up for the day. Brother Grant and Greens Keeper Willie (real name Brendan) were putting the finishing touches to the most important part - the playing surfaces!
Those of you who have followed the Cobras know how passionate we are about our little club in our leafy surrounds of CLG - BUT we are not so much little any more. Our club has worked so hard in recent years to improve the facilities and grow our membership. As I have said before, when I joined 9 years ago, we had just 15 pennant members.
After an extremely busy off-season which saw the club hand-deliver 3000 flyers to homes in our area, sponsored Facebook posts and the Prez again stopping people in the streets, supermarkets and traffic lights - we now boast 63 full and part-members. That is something to be super proud of and shows the commitment and resilience of our playing group.
Right - enough of the back-story and on to the games as we now have 3 x Saturday sides and 2 x Wednesday sides to write about. I’ll keep this succinct!
Div 4 were playing away and had the lengthy and boring drive south to Port Noarlunga. After filling up at $2.39 per litre we tried to pile everyone in to the one vehicle but that failed and so we all passed that hat around to get a few more in the convoy.
We had our regular skippers from last year in charge again today and after a group photo and pep talk, the bell was rung. Many of us have fond memories of PN as we played here 3 years ago against Edwardstown to win the Div 5 pennant - so we tried to channel those positive vibes.
Team Empen - out to a real flyer but got the poisoned sandwiches at halftime. Momentum swung to PN and couldn’t wrestle it back.
Down - 15 - 23
Team Lawson - a steady and low scoring start was replaced by some strong bowls through the middle part. Got a bit wobbly at the end due to lack of cardio work in the off-season but held on.
Win - 18 - 15
Team Phillips - started well but got pegged back through the middle section of the match. But with good bowls in the head pulled away late.
Win - 22 - 17
Team Fraser - just like team Phillips, they started well but couldn’t quite put the Porties to the sword. It was all square on the last end with PN taking the choccies.
Down 18 - 15
So it was two rinks up and two rinks down and an overall loss to CLG by just 3 shots 70 - 73 - sitting 6th on the ladder.
Our promoted Div 6 squad were at home with our newly formed Div 7 squad as they welcomed Trinity Gardens and Prospect Broadview to the Snakepit.
Some fresh faces were interspersed with experience as both teams assembled on B green to kick start their campaigns for 26 / 27.
Team Barron - seemed to have things well under control from go to whoa with everyone putting in some good bowls.
Win - 25 - 14
Team Davies - with lots of player experience they had to fight hard throughout the day in what was a closely fought game played in good spirit.
Win - 22 - 19
Team Scherer - some wise heads too in this team saw another tightly fought game with both sides not giving any quarter.
Win - 21 - 16
Cobras taking all three rinks in a confidence building start - 68 - 49 and sit atop the ladder. Well done team.
Div 7 had a lot of our new members playing but with some wise heads in amongst them for support. One of those wise heads was the Prez who would have no doubt passed on some key tips in his pre-game rant…I mean speech.
Team Harwood - with 7 of the first 10 ends to CLG things looked to be going swimmingly. They then dropped 8 shots in three ends to be staring down the barrel. But diamonds are made under pressure and with heads down and bowls up in the head they got across the line.
Win - 18 - 16
Team Anderson - new to the skippers role Graeme A and the team gelled well. Being a bit slow out of the blocks probably hurt them the most being down 5 - 17 after 11 ends. But the nerves settled and they fought back well including picking up a 6. In the end the gap was a little too big.
Down - 29 - 18
Team Heath - a wiser head you could not wish for as he ably led the rink to a big win. A commanding performance saw them pick up 15 of the 21 ends with a stand out couple of orange bowls by Gayle S on one end cuddling the kitty and showing the Prez how it’s done - see pic.
Win - 33 - 14
Two rinks up and one down with an overall win to the Cobras 69 - 59 and sitting 4th on the ladder.
Round 1 down - 17 to go - great start Cobras.
