After threatening to do so on a number of occasions, Eastern’s men broke through for its first win of the season, defeating early pace-setters Southern at the Cage.

The Mavericks set up an early 12 point lead with a blistering 29 point first quarter. The Tigers eroded all of this by three quarter time, but Eastern, led by Shane Breheny, Jye Watson, and Ben Dearman managed to hold on for a 2 point win. The team enters the second half of the season with the news that it will be joined by Rudis Dancis, son of Olympian Mike Dancis, who is returning from a pre-season ankle injury.

After round 9, the top 3 men’s teams (Norwood, North and Forestville) are ranked as most would have predicted at the season’s start, and things won’t get any easier for the other seven teams. Norwood has successfully reintegrated Andrew Webber and Sam Grantham from US college stints, and Scott Lampshire from injury, all of whom are in good form. Forestville will introduce Pero Vasiljevic this weekend, with Trent Fildes and John Wernham likely to follow shortly.

The next two positions on the ladder (South and Woodville) may have been more difficult to foresee. The Panthers lost to Forestville, but previous wins over Sturt and Woodville leaves them in fourth place. Similarly, Woodville’s victories over Sturt and West sees it in the top 5.

The women’s ladder is top-heavy, with four teams sharing a tie for first place on 7 wins and 2 losses. Sturt’s victory over North sees it in the box seat for the minor premiership, but any slip could see that title taken by the Rockets, Bearcats or Tigers. Jo Hill resumed with the Rockets last week, so expect North to be even more impressive in the 2nd half of the season. The Bearcats are currently without the services of Lightning captain Sam Woosnam, who is coming off ankle surgery, but still have the depth to beat anyone in the league. Injuries contributed to Southern’s slight stall in the last few weeks, but with Tracey Beatty firing, the Tigers will always be a threat.

Of the teams outside the four, South and Forestville already have scalps of top 5 teams (North and Southern respectively), and the Eagles will be bolstered by the return of Tara Robinson from US College duties this week. Norwood is also a just a game out of the 5, and will be elated to have Jess Foley return in a week’s time, fresh from a WNBA try-out.