Brisbane GOLD win inaugural APL
Kerkow, Wild, Murtagh, Casey top of the world Hometown heroes Brisbane Gold claimed the major spoils at the inaugural $100,000 Australian Premier League live on Fox Sports 2 tonight.
The star-studded contingent of former world number one Mark Casey, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kelvin Kerkow OAM and local Pine Rivers lad Robbie Wild continued their rich vein of form at the $100,000 event, playing to the cameras during the finals rounds.
The Gold blasted their way past the New Zealand Blackjacks in the second semi-final encounter in straight sets, after the Adelaide Endurance narrowly overcame the Perth Suns in a tie-break hit-out to secure the first final berth.
The enthralling encounter, staged in front of a capacity crowd of vocally supportive Brisbane faithful at Club Pine Rivers, could not be split in the first set, with the two franchises halving it, 4-all.
Endurance were quick out of the blocks in the second set, surging away to a 4-love lead over the first three ends before crowd favourite Kerkow turned the game on its head with a massive 8-shot Power-Play-end to all but ice the match, and finish 4-4, 8-6 victors.
The Power Play ends, which teams are allowed to nominate once per set, doubles the amount of shots collected if the team scores.
The power play was utilised to perfection by Gold puppeteer Alex Murtagh during the four days of play and ultimately, it was what gave them the edge over the opposition.
A replay of the semi-finals and final of the Australian Premier League, featuring special commentary from APL ambassador Mick Molloy, can be viewed on Fox Sports 2 from 10.30am AEST tomorrow (Saturday Nov 23).
Brisbane Gold received a cheque for $40,000, runners up Adelaide Endurance $20,000.
