On Cue: Geraldton shows improvement at 8-ball country week with five top-three finishes

Players from the Geraldton 8-ball Association showed big strides in last week’s country week tournament claiming five top-three finishes among the seven divisions they entered.

After a disappointing campaign in 2022 when they finished last with zero wins in the top division, Geraldton finished with two wins from five games finishing in fourth above both Bunbury and Hedland.

Individually Graeme Tuffley and Jayden McGlinn were the standouts with 9 and 8-frame wins, respectively, with president Adrian Lancaster pleased with the improvement even if Geraldton didn’t come away with overall wins.

“We just lack the depth that some of the other associations have,” he said. “But it’s a work in progress and great to see Jayden do so well.

“On average, we won 44.6 frames per division which is a massive improvement from last year’s average of 38.7 and getting closer to our 2020 & 2021 averages of between 46 and 47.”

“The depth of our association was tested but the results were really promising.”

In division six, a highlight was the performance of Nathan Blake, who almost pulled off a perfect weekend before falling in his final frame of the weekend to finish with a 14-1 record and was named best player as they finished third.

Geraldton’s second division also had a third-place finish in a tight bracket with wins against Albany and Peel and a draw with Narrogin.

Division three had a terrific start winning their first three games on day one but tight losses to Bunbury and Karratha saw them settle for third place.

The eighth-division squad bounced back from two opening losses to with wins against Narrogin, Katanning and Goldfields.

Division nine had an all-female squad and took home the best result finishing second with two wins and a draw before being outclassed by champions Bunbury 12-6 in the final.

Geraldton’s fifth-division finished bottom with five losses but were unlucky, losing four of their matches by a tight 10-8 margin.