New skips on the block

Who's going to be playing with who next season? Let's look at the Juniors first of all. World Junior Champion third player Eve Muirhead (photo above) will skip her own team with Kerry Barr at third, Vicki Adams at second, and Eveleth teammate Sarah Macintyre at lead.

Anna Sloan, Lauren Gray, Rhiann MacLeod and Caitlin Barr were Scottish Junior semifinalists last season and will stay together. Claire Hamilton, Claire MacDonald, Linsey Spence and Jennifer Priestley are another confirmed lineup, Kerry Barr's front end joining forces with the two Claires.

In Junior men's, Jamie Dick, Andrew Williamson, Colin Dick and Andrew Noble stay together, as do Greg Drummond, James Dunn, Tom Pendreigh and Kerr Drummond.

Scottish Junior Champion Glen Muirhead takes the head with Scott MacLeod, Scott Andrews and former teammate Gordon McDougall at lead.

Teams for the Gold League include the Scottish Champions - Kelly Wood, Jackie Lockhart, Lorna Vevers and Lindsay Wood. With Rhona Martin having announced her retirement, Claire Milne will skip a new team with Lynn Cameron as third, Jacqui Byers at second and Rachael Simms as lead. Edith Loudon will be back with the same lineup as before, Mairi Milne, Judith Marshall and Katie Loudon.

Too old now for the Juniors, World Junior Champion skip Sarah Reid has teamed up with Jennifer Morrison at third, Alison Black (Jennifer's number three in the juniors last season and fifth player for Sarah at Eveleth) at second and Barbara McFarlane (who played two at the Worlds) at lead.

The Men's teams for next season have a familiar feel:
David Murdoch, Ewan MacDonald, Peter Smith and Euan Byers
Warwick Smith, Craig Wilson, David Smith and Ross Hepburn
Tom Brewster, Hammy McMillan, Ron Brewster and Colin Campbell
Duncan Fernie, Gordon Muirhead, Graeme Prentice and Richard Woods
Alan Smith, Ross MacDonald, Neil MacArthur and Sandy Reid

Now too old for Juniors, Scottish Junior Champs Logan Gray and Alasdair Guthrie have teamed up again with Ross Paterson at second and Keith Duncan Millar at lead for the season.

With a new 'National Academy' setup in place at the Royal Club and the Scottish Institute of Sport continuing to support several of the top teams, funding and support issues are complicated. More on this next week as I get my own head around it all, plus other team lineups as Curling Today hears!