Attitude Reflects Leadership: Grand Final and Finals Week 4 Preview!

Welcome to the final of week of Ultimate for Semester 2, 2012!  By the end of Wednesday night, we will know the team that can claim bragging rights as Champions and of course all the other positions as well.  Our Grand Final sees two surprising contenders, but I’ll come back to that.  First we’ll preview the other 3 games happening Wednesday night.

Wooden Spoon: Mite-y Discs vs The Highlanders

Let’s be honest, no one really wants to win the wooden spoon.  I really wouldn’t even call it ‘winning’ anything…but one of these two teams will have the honour of taking home this coveted prize.  Both teams were Top 4 contenders coming in to the finals, but have had a tough finals series.  Interesting strategy last week from the Mite-y’s, giving themselves a bye week to better prepare for this game.  Mite-y Discs strength is their speed and familiarity with each others games.  Look for Captain Mattie Hamilton to fight until the end to avoid with his ridiculously low centre of gravity.  For the Highlanders and their superior height, it’ll be about exposing the Mite-y’s in the aerial contest.  Professional holidayer Rob Davies needs to get his hands on the disc more in attack. This will be a fun game I’m sure, with lots of turnovers, plenty of throw-aways in a deserving wooden spoon battle.

Prediction: Honestly I’ve picked Highlanders enough times and they’ve lost every single one, so I’m picking the Mite-y Discs because I like Mattie better.  Let’s say, 13-11.  

5^th and 6^th: Gold Diggers vs More Smarter Than You

Last week’s games saw MSTY take out the Highlanders in an epic contest, while the Gold Diggers spent a couple of hours playing with their own discs.  The question here is which one of these preparations will prove to be the best?  Rob Dehollander is an expert 5^th vs 6^th captain, leading his team to 5^th last semester (surprisingly enough beating a team in yellow).  MSTY showed last week that even without Zane they still have the offensive and defensive skills to take down the best teams.  While still being a fun contest, I think this will be an extremely competitive game.  To be honest I don’t know which way it will go, but the winners of mini-battles between Chris Palazzi vs Kramer and Stretch Armstrong vs Your Heiness (Johannes) will go a long way to deciding the outcome.

Prediction: Battle of the girls here is the big decider, with MSTY having arguably the best female group of the league. But I think the Gold Diggers girls will step up, led by bartender extroardinnaire Ashleigh Gibson, to take the win 13-10.

3^rd and 4^th: Black Magic vs The Amazing Technicolour Dream Discs

I think someone got the numbers wrong, because we find the teams that finished 1^st and 2^nd battling it out for 3^rd and 4^th?  Both teams are coming off heatbreaking losses in the semi finals and will look to rebound in the best way possible; a victory.  Last time these teams met Black Magic got the better of the Dream Discs, switching their defence until the Dream Discs just could not break through.  However the Dream Discs showed they can put in a good fight without their #1 handler.  The return of the Finn’s here makes this an even more exciting match.  Both of these teams move the disc around quickly and have some great aerial talents.  Should be a great game to watch!

Prediction: Black Magic to be too strong, as Gibbo (with or without shoes) helps seal the victory 13-9.

Townsville Ultimate Frisbee Semester 2, 2012: GRAND FINAL

In potentially the most surprising grand final matches I’ve seen in my time, the 6^th placed Green Goblins take on the last placed 100 Shades of Grey for the championship.  In a game that shows finding form at the right end of the semester is what this game is all about, these teams have essentially come from nowhere.  The Goblins have been on somewhat of a run coming into these finals, taking down any team that has stood in their way with consumate ease.  100 Shades however, let’s be honest, weren’t great all season.  They only had the one victory during the regular season, yet have managed to rattle off 3 in a row to make the decider! 

For the Green Goblins, the key is the guy they call Mike.  He’s a perennial finalist and champion, so he knows how to get it done.  Captains Ryan and Liss have done a great job bringing the team together, with some excellent comradery seen throughout the group.  But it takes more than friendship to win the title.  The Goblins need to be at their best in every aspect, and these two captains need to lead from the front with their play and their attitude.

100 Shades of Grey, the surprise packet, are pretty strong all over the park.  Decent handlers, great receivers, excellent girls and a genuine want to win for each other.  This team knows what it feels like to lose and through some great teamwork and quality play have been able to perform at their absolute best for each other.  This same attitude will need to be present here as the 1% plays are what make all the difference in big games.  They’ve got to want it, not just individually, but for their team. 

Prediction: I really don’t like predicting my own games, but I’ll leave it to everyone out there to decide who you think will win Wednesday’s grand final.  I’ve been to a final once before and lost…..I don’t want it to happen again.

See you all on Wednesday!        

My Predictions...Hugh

My predictions:

The reduction of the length of games will wreak some havoc on those teams not prepared for it. It will mean a change in playing style for a lot of teams and potentially an unexpected end to the games. If we use a cap in which once the buzzer goes off, that point is played out before declaring last point after that, it may allow some of the close games to be properly decided. If the game ends on the buzzer, havoc will ensue.

HEXAFINALS
Heavyweights will match up again in a repeat game of the one they played last week against Motherhuckers. The motherhuckers are once again plying their physchology PhD captain’s phychological mind manipulation tricks or PMMTs. Wanting the Heavyweights to think it’ll be another walkover game, the Motherhuckers have been mentioning how the result of this game once again doesn’t matter to them as they’re through to the Semis anyway. This is just a front. The result does matter because it decides who they’ll face in the Semis, they will play hard. Not wanting to face off against a harder team early on to end up with a weaker finals they will do their best to win this game (why have we employed this structure Zane?). They will employ everything they’ve got including COBRA!, PMMTs, and even a no-hands point! The Heavyweights will come into the game thinking they’ve opened up the flaws of the Motherhuckers offense, and that they will just apply all the countermeasures they can. The Motherhuckers, still wanting to play COBRA!, all night will be just waiting for the taller defenders on the Heavyweights to come away from the deep area and take on handlers and such. This won't eventuate straight away and the Motherhuckers will be left twiddling their thumbs waiting for the chance at COBRA! all the while still manipulating things with PMMTs and other magician-type tricks. The Heavyweight's track record will get them off to a good start, with lots of points early. This lead will fade towards the end of the hour time limit, COBRA! will be played and bring the scores close to level. It'll be a close match. Heavyweights 10 - Motherhuckers 8.

Hard Force will then play Yellow Fever. Yellow Fever being ranked under Hard Force will be giving it all they have. If they lose their heads the game will go to the cool and calm Hard Force, though they have the talent to beat them. Duncan’s braces are coming off soon so will he be smiling pre-emptively or in lockdown? That is the real question. If more pressure is created it will cause Yellow Fever to implode. I predict a win for Hard Force. Hard Force 9 - Yellow Duncans 6

Pink BAMFs, always the fun team will be looking to take a win tonight. Their past record has shown they're capable but will occasionally succumb to a loss. The relaxed nature of their team and unshaken confidence will give them an advantage going into this game. Captain Dave however could freak out and pull out some dumbass ninja moves and get them in trouble. The Blue Sharks, with their doubtful captain (see predictions below) will be hard pressed to match some of the receiving talent of the Pink BAMFs. With lots of unanswered points scored by a few players on Pink, the Blue Sharks will flail and fail to come back and will probably go down after the quick lead made on them by Pink. Pink BAMFs 11 - Blue Sharks 5

SEMIFINALS
The Semi Finals will follow this game almost immediately. It will be the Motherhuckers facing Hard Force in a Semi that they both wish could be the final to enable bragging rights at home. Once again disappointed but not ready to miss out on another finals, Simon and his team will really bring it. But they don’t call him the General for nothing. Leading from his armchair in the backfield he’ll be sending out the privates for the beach landing, that is, smashing away Hard Force for some easy early points. Slightly demoralised and shaking their heads, Hard Force will attempt to fight back. Eventually they’ll lift their heads once they realise they have a chance. Timecap will be forgotten with both presidents competing and play will continue till almost lights-off. Mike will "suddenly" remember this and using some more PMMTs will yell “Next point wins” if his team is behind and on “O” in that next point. If he’s in front a simple “last point, lights out soon” will suffice. I predict a win for the Motherhuckers, there’s no way the General will be missing out on his first final in 2 years let alone, losing his first final, but it could still happen. Motherhuckers 8 – Hard Force 7

The other game will be almost like a wooden-spoon off version of a semi-final with the Pink BAMFs facing the Heavyweights. Having only planned up to winning against the Motherhuckers, the gameplan of the Heavyweights will be slightly confused causing them to slip behind in the points stake. Not wanting to see this happen again, captain Hugh will have to really make sure his brain and team spirit are working tonight! Pink BAMFs win with timecap 8 – 4

Woodenspoon winners will be the toughest match to pick. Who wants to win the title of Wooden Spooner by losing their last game? Who knows? This match will be more rigged than a sailing boat. The Blue Sharks will probably do their best to win, but will miss out on the Wooden Spoon which will go to the mentally exhausted Yellow Fever, who having now missed out on making something of their winning streak, will be happy to finally get to let things slip. Blue Sharks 11 – Yellow Fever 4.

What will happen tonight...Zane

What will happen tonight…

The Motherhuckers although guaranteed a semi final berth due to their number one ranking will be still fired up to see off the Heavyweights. If they lose they will end up playing Hard Force in the semis, thus ending the Mike /Simon final run. Motherhuckers will dominate, Heavyweights implode. Game one to Motherhuckers by 5.

The second seeded HardForce would expect a hard game from the fight for your lives Yellow Fever (previously the Yellow Duncans) but this won’t eventuate with Hard Force easily going through again by 5 (Would write more but no ones cares about Yellow Fever). Finally the Pink BAMFs will trash the Blue Sharks (10-2) in the final hexa-final game although the Blue Sharks will go through as the highest ranked loser.

In the semis continuing their great run the Pink BAMFs will destroy Hard Force by 6 goals while in the upset of the round the Blue Sharks in a massive turnaround will beat Motherhuckers 10-8 with the game being stopped due to the lights going out. This of course sets up the final next week between the Blue Sharks taking on the mighty Pink BAMFs leaving Mike, Simon, Duncan and Hugh to man the BBQ.

Cheers Zane

Round 6 Predictions and After Game Comments!

Until I get to add the actual results I thought I'd have a crack at predicting the winners for the next games and mention the idea of getting some after game comments happening.

PREDICTIONS
The Savages over The Last Surviving Dragons (please let this come true)
Hammerheads over Pink Panzies
Racist Dropbears over Redcoats (I'm making Mike's team the underdog so that people feel more inclined to cheer for them)

AFTER GAME COMMENTS
What the other point of this preemptive post was, was to give people an opportunity to post their comments on the teams, their opponents, teammates, and any great performances from people worth a mention, with the opportunity to begin immediately after the game. So let's try and make this particular comments section a bit more of a good wrap section. Begin from this post and we'll see how it works out. It'd be great to hear from individuals in the games. Thanks.