NSW State Major Billiards Point Score Report 2022

We have a new state billiards champion for the first time in 13 years; Roger Farebrother.

In the final Roger defeated Michael Pearson in a dogfight . 500-421. Rhonda Knight refereed her first state title Billiards event and did a wonderful job in a tense and edgy match.

For all of those 13 years there has been a duopoly in Billiards with either Michael Pearson or Joe Minici engraved on our two trophies ( Timed and Point Score) . Roger has been banging on the door for the last ten years, having been runner-up in 4 of those events, sometimes beating one or the other of Joe or Mike but not the other.

He is good enough that in any other state and in any other era he would have collected multiple titles, but such has been the dominance here in NSW that Roger has been the perennial bridesmaid....but no more. This title completes a resume for one of the greatest cuemen that NSW has ever produced as well as one of the most admired and likeable players on the circuit. Roger is already a Hall of Fame inductee, earned by winning more than 5 state titles, but only the most versatile players can do that across both disciplines of Billiards and Snooker. Roger joins that prestigious band. Even amongst the elite Hall of Famers there are perhaps only 5 people who have ever done that. Roger deserves to be in that company.

In truth Michael was below his glittering best. This year with staff shortages he has been working double nightime/daytime shifts and has picked up a cue exactly three times. He was hesitant on shots which at other times he would make on auto-pilot. It is a credit to his amazing natural talent and previous practice efforts that he even made the final. In his quarter final match to 300 against Peter Tankard he scratched about to be level pegging at about the 190 mark before finally finding his rhythm and show his superiority with two breaks around 50. He looked a little better against regular semifinalist George Chammas and managed to prevail in a cagey and scrappy encounter.

Likewise Roger was pushed in his QF against another local Hornsby player Dave McMahon, who played at his best to keep Roger very honest. Dave led for most of the match until Roger found some form to close out a long drawn out encounter. The players took more than 2 hours to score 300 points, about half the typical scoring rate in state finals competition.

Roger found his fluency against Dave Walsh in the other semi-final with a more dominant performance winning 400-191, despite a creditable 54 break by Dave who still plays under the Irish flag despite residing a few kms from the Hornsby RSL Club. This was Dave's first state Semi-final, but there will be more as time is on the side of the younger man. Dave made the semi-final by beating Andy De Haan , his Hornsby team mate by playing reliable all round billiards mixed with a little "luck o' the Irish"

Dirk Hellenbroich made his first state major Quarter Final and put up a great fight against the experienced George Chammas.

The best performances at billiards are those which exceed your personal bests and so for Dirk, Dave Walsh, Dave McMahon and of course Roger this was a tournament to remember.

Our thanks to the Hornsby RSL Club and GM Mario Machado, great supporters of our game and of course our hard working officials.

We had two volunteer referees from the club on the weekend, Rich Hunter , President of the Billiards and Snooker sub-club and local stalwart Kepu Olivetti, out thanks to them for their time and their good company.

Steve Cowie runs a great tournament and loves the game and the players. He is efficient, hard working and reliable. Everyone feels a little better knowing Steve is in charge. Our other Steve, Steve Fabian is developing his own reputation as Mr Everywhere, streaming video, taking photos, playing and organising. Both generous with their time and input...they do it for the love of the game.

Thanks to all for a great tournament and hopefully we will get clear air next year without the calendar disruptions.