2025 AUSTRALIAN MASTERS

Twenty of the top players will play the Australian Masters as a round robin in Victoria on Sep 6-7. At the same time, teams of three players from each of seven states or territories play the State Team Challenge as head-to-head matches.

Rule variation

Masters section has 5 point penalty for each word challenged but correct.

The contenders

The table below shows the teams according to qualification criteria set by the Council of the Australian Scrabble Players Association. A player must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. Temporary visa holders are not eligible.

IMPORTANT: Selection processes will now give priority to Australian players who have told CASPA that they will attend or might attend. Send an email to barry.harridge@gmail.com with the subject line including AMSC25, and an indication of YES, NO or MAYBE. Any Australian ASPA member may ask to be considered, not just the ones listed as contenders.

Australian Masters

The selection comprises the best twenty active players (those players who have played at least one game during the qualification period) ranked by Q statistic.

State Team Challenge

Each state team will comprise three eligible players who have not already been selected for the Masters event and are the next best three from their state, ranked by Q statistic.

If insufficient eligible players are available …

If insufficient eligible players are available, the state will not be permitted to participate in the State Team Challenge for that year unless a maximum of one stand-in can be fielded before the tournament from any state (generally, but not necessarily, that state in which the tournament takes place). That stand-in must also meet the above criteria.
An eligible stand-in may also be fielded in the event of illness or other unforeseen circumstance during the tournament.

Selection by ratings

The primary criterion for ranking candidates is the Q statistic

Details

Subperiods are Jun to Sep 2024, Oct to Jan and Feb to May 2025.
The Qstat: The qualifying statistic is Q = (P1 + P2 + 2 x P3)/4 , which is a weighted average of peak ratings in the three subperiods.
Third peak: You cannot earn the peak in the third subperiod until you have played 40 games rated by ASPA in the qualification period.
Penalty: If you do not earn a peak in a subperiod , your peak in that subperiod is equal to the last rating minus 200. This may be applied more than once.
Incomplete tournament: If you miss a game for any reason other than an assigned bye, you cannot count a peak attained in that tournament for any qualification purposes. Games played will count towards games quotas. Ratings will be calculated as usual, with byes and forfeits not rated.
Games: You must have played at least 40 games in the qualifying period.
Tie breaker: If two players have the same Q statistic, the one with the greater number of games in the qualification period is ranked higher.

Players may appeal to CASPA for a special dispensation in exceptional circumstances. In the event of any unforeseen issue the decision of CASPA is final.

The Qstat is Q = (P1 + P2 + 2 x P3)/4 where P1, P2, P3 are peaks from Jun to Sep, Oct to Jan and Feb to May. Extrapolated Qstat is shown, together with the peak(games) in each period. 40 games required.

Selection has now finished. Carol Johnson will be finalising teams.

Australian Masters

Contender	Q Stat 30.05.2025	Games need 40	Peak (games) Jun to Sep	Peak (games) Oct to Jan	Peak (games) Feb to May
YES David Eldar	2140.75	97	2130(41)	2139(32)	2147(24)
YES Edward Okulicz	1926.00	91	1949(58)	1903(33)
MAYBE Cameron Farlow	1911.25	140	1899(24)	1914(50)	1916(66)
YES Trevor Halsall	1846.00*	115	1880(58)	1680(0)	1912(57)
YES Joanne Craig	1814.50	146	1682(25)	1820(58)	1878(63)
YES Esther Perrins	1787.00*	61	1829(37)	1629(0)	1845(24)
YES Josh Watt	1782.25	198	1613(49)	1810(91)	1853(58)
YES Bob Jackman	1710.75	189	1688(25)	1697(102)	1729(62)
YES David Vanzyl	1705.75	79	1678(44)	1717(28)	1714(7)
MAYBE Adam Kretschmer	1687.00	113	1641(42)	1607(17)	1750(54)
YES Carmel Dodd	1686.00	179	1635(61)	1683(46)	1713(72)

No intention received: Andrew Fisher, Naween Fernando, Daniel Piechnick, Russell Honeybun, Ryan Sutton, Max Mason, Tony Hunt, Rod Talbot, Geoff Wright

Some players listed below as State Challenge may shift up to Masters

State Challenge

Contender	Q Stat 30.05.2025	Games need 40	Peak (games) Jun to Sep	Peak (games) Oct to Jan	Peak (games) Feb to May
ACT1 YES John Spaan	1655.25	156	1657(50)	1696(50)	1634(56)
ACT2 YES John Hamilton	1646.25	126	1653(46)	1618(35)	1657(45)
ACT3 YES Noel Barrett	1620.50	149	1574(67)	1624(35)	1642(47)
ACT4 YES Tim Reddan	1447.25	114	1413(49)	1470(41)	1453(24)
ACT5 YES Caroline Scowcroft	1362.50	87	1353(23)	1372(64)
ACT6 YES Lexia Smallwood	1311.50	85	1316(53)	1278(8)	1326(24)
NSW2 MAYBE Garth van Vliet	1560.50	108	1589(25)	1543(51)	1555(32)
NSW6 YES Greg Pinchbeck	1473.25	172	1469(50)	1474(61)	1475(61)
QLD1 YES Paul Richards	1568.50	276	1543(116)	1621(77)	1555(83)
QLD2 MAYBE Jane Brown	1543.00	106	1568(50)	1528(23)	1538(33)
QLD3 MAYBE Julie Brice	1469.00*	51	1526(17)	1292(0)	1529(34)
QLD4 YES Sheryl Davidson	1461.25	138	1482(60)	1469(39)	1447(39)
SA1 YES Jane Taylor	1663.00	252	1622(74)	1710(89)	1660(89)
SA3 YES Antony Kimber	1505.00	166	1542(48)	1538(45)	1470(73)
SA6 YES Francoise Finlayson	1390.25	123	1385(33)	1366(18)	1405(72)
VIC1 YES Oscar Ivanovski	1631.75	184	1628(65)	1661(59)	1619(60)
VIC3 YES Dianne Davis	1488.75	103	1505(21)	1482(41)	1484(41)
WA1 MAYBE Ian Ting	1631.75	105	1619(56)	1638(21)	1635(28)
WA2 YES Sally Martin	1582.00	84	1568(18)	1552(21)	1604(45)
WA3 YES Benjamin Lee	1546.25	136	1486(56)	1531(28)	1584(52)
WA5 YES Geoff Shepheard	1516.00	107	1455(18)	1515(37)	1547(52)

No intention received: John Holgate NSW1, Rocky Sharma NSW3, Graeme Lock Lee NSW4, Phillip Hamilton NSW5, Martin Waterworth QLD5, Arnold Appelhof QLD6, Tony Miller SA2, Michael Vnuk SA4, Antonios Syrigos SA5, Jon Ford-King TAS1, Dianne Brumby TAS2, Martin Rose TAS3, Ros Wilkinson TAS4, Margaret Bishop TAS5, Jan Hill TAS6, Nat Podesser VIC2, Carol Johnsen VIC4, Kashi Thiris VIC5, Rex Shakespeare VIC6, Anne Zion WA4, Judy Godfrey WA6
Listed or not, please apply

Not going: Victor Tung, Nick Ivanovski, Karen Richards, Liz Blanch
Some worthies played too few games:

Peter Kougi (VIC) 23 games, (R=1922)
Sam Amarasinghe (QLD) 8 games, (R=1848)
Ayorinde Saidu (VIC) 12 games, (R=1833)
Michael Hornung (VIC) 5 games, (R=1782)
Mythili Rudra (VIC) 16 games, (R=1746)
Sumbul Siddiqui (VIC) 21 games, (R=1695)
Stephen Mooney Purse (TAS) 22 games, (R=1682)
Ryan Anderson (QLD) 5 games, (R=1618)
Ronnie Bennett (ACT) 8 games, (R=1616)
Alistair Kane (VIC) 11 games, (R=1610)
Rael Hayman (NSW) 6 games, (R=1609)
Chris Hall (WA) 19 games, (R=1578)
Dianne Ward (WA) 7 games, (R=1548)
Malcolm McAnulty (SA) 28 games, (R=1547)
Jeremy Yip (NSW) 9 games, (R=1541)
Guy Newsham (QLD) 34 games, (R=1528)
Howard Rayner (WA) 21 games, (R=1524)
Chris Scholten (VIC) 17 games, (R=1508)
Heather Long (VIC) 8 games, (R=1505)
Jyoti Chandna (NSW) 26 games, (R=1504)
Alan Burn (VIC) 7 games, (R=1500)
Quentin Abbott (QLD) 8 games, (R=1483)
Gwen Lampre (VIC) 21 games, (R=1458)
Lois Binnie (VIC) 16 games, (R=1455)
Helen Hynes (QLD) 13 games, (R=1442)
Edie Mueller (WA) 7 games, (R=1439)
Carolyn Watt (WA) 18 games, (R=1427)
Ray Alford (VIC) 14 games, (R=1424)
Marianne Bentley (VIC) 21 games, (R=1421)
Khen Meerding (TAS) 35 games, (R=1415)
Margaret Webb (TAS) 27 games, (R=1410)
Alex Lam (NSW) 32 games, (R=1409)
Adam Kauschke (SA) 4 games, (R=1407)
Tony Williams (ACT) 24 games, (R=1399)
Susan Rayner (WA) 21 games, (R=1396)
Lainie Mercieca (VIC) 32 games, (R=1387)
Jegatheva Jegathesan (WA) 21 games, (R=1384)
Roberta Tait (QLD) 12 games, (R=1384)
Madeleine Emerson (ACT) 16 games, (R=1381)
Kate Gullan (VIC) 9 games, (R=1378)
Kerry Constable (NSW) 14 games, (R=1377)
Neil McLean (VIC) 7 games, (R=1361)
Barry Harridge (SA) 10 games, (R=1331)
Maureen Gardner (QLD) 32 games, (R=1322)
Justin Moyle (VIC) 12 games, (R=1308)
Monica Dwyer (NSW) 22 games, (R=1255)
Mardi Healy (VIC) 23 games, (R=1254)
June Valentine (VIC) 22 games, (R=1243)
Katie Rowe (VIC) 14 games, (R=1239)
Maureen See (QLD) 9 games, (R=1234)
Kannan Sethuraman (VIC) 14 games, (R=1231)
Christie Godby (VIC) 22 games, (R=1216)
Noel Coulter (VIC) 5 games, (R=1208)
Margaret Griggs (TAS) 28 games, (R=1207)
Jeffery Lam (NSW) 32 games, (R=1206)
Khwanjai Thammaping (VIC) 8 games, (R=1206)
Pat Hudson (SA) 25 games, (R=1189)
Jean Noonan (NSW) 8 games, (R=1173)
Penny Wells (TAS) 16 games, (R=1171)
Marion Miller (NSW) 23 games, (R=1165)
Yvonne Edwards (NSW) 27 games, (R=1165)
Josef Peeters (QLD) 8 games, (R=1163)
Kim Grayson (NSW) 14 games, (R=1161)
Stephen Saunders (ACT) 16 games, (R=1161)
Sylvia Galloway (VIC) 11 games, (R=1153)
Wendi Symes (SA) 12 games, (R=1147)
Siva Sivapalasundram (VIC) 5 games, (R=1143)
Bernadette Donehue (TAS) 4 games, (R=1130)
Helen Jones (SA) 10 games, (R=1125)
Oliver Podesser (VIC) 33 games, (R=1121)
Vicki Russell (QLD) 24 games, (R=1119)
Michael Smitheram (VIC) 37 games, (R=1114)
Sandra Elliott (NSW) 31 games, (R=1111)
John Minas (WA) 39 games, (R=1110)
Jessica Richards (VIC) 16 games, (R=1109)
Kara Eddington (NSW) 7 games, (R=1106)
Jayanthi Viswanathan (VIC) 33 games, (R=1101)
Stephen Morrow (NSW) 16 games, (R=1077)
Marion Merickel (TAS) 21 games, (R=1074)
Sherie Brown (QLD) 8 games, (R=1068)
Andrew Smith (NSW) 15 games, (R=1062)
Suzanne Healey (SA) 33 games, (R=1056)
Rene Chelton (NSW) 16 games, (R=1053)
Mal Eden (VIC) 4 games, (R=1051)
Sue Fullerton (NSW) 35 games, (R=1049)
Pat Schuberg (NSW) 6 games, (R=1046)
Margaret Clifford (NSW) 7 games, (R=1045)
Anthony Radosevic (SA) 6 games, (R=1033)
Virginia Christian (QLD) 8 games, (R=1022)
David Eddington (NSW) 7 games, (R=1021)
Kathryn Tiffen (NSW) 6 games, (R=1019)
Glenys Dettmann (VIC) 10 games, (R=1010)
Al Thawer (NSW) 14 games, (R=1009)
Alex Timpano (NSW) 8 games, (R=995)
Valerie Beck (WA) 7 games, (R=962)
Megan Allford (QLD) 14 games, (R=863)