Finals Week 3 Preview!

Well after a few surprises and some great ultimate, only Black Magic, The Amazing Technicolour Dream Discs, The Green Goblins and 100 Shades of Grey remain with a chance of taking home the title of Semester 2, 2012 Champions.  But before we get in to these games, let’s not forget that the battle for the wooden spoon is very much alive!  Winners of Game 1 and Game 2 will go on to play for 5^th and 6^th next wek while the losers will have the pleasure of playing for the Wooden Spoon.  I am told that there will actually be a wooden spoon also, so get excited!

Game 1: Mite-y Discs vs Gold Diggers 

Both of these teams showed a great deal of promise throughout the semester, unfortunately for them this promise has only got them battling for 5^th – 8^th.  In the game I’ll call, “The Battle of The Teams Beaten by 100 Shades of Grey”, look for Gold Diggers captain Stretch Armstrong Dehollander to shine.  Rob has been in some great form the past month, and with the imminent return of older brother David is looking to make a name for himself as the better Dehollander.  The opposing captain Mattie Hamilton and his team/employees will look to play some quick disc, using their speed to get around the Gold Diggers defence.  Mite-y’s will hope to bring back some of their early season form.  Look out for Matt Stoffels on the Gold Diggers to score 1000. 

Prediction: Despite finishing the regular season behind the Mite-y’s, I think the Gold Diggers will take the win here, 13-8.

Game 2: The Highlanders vs More Smarter Than You

I think it’s a bit of commentators curse for the Highlanders, I thought they would win their first game…they didn’t.  I tipped them in the blog to win their second game…they didn’t.  Despite being rolled 2 games in a row, The Highlanders do possess a very strong offensive line, height, speed and how they haven’t made it further is beyond me.  More Smarter Than You will control the disc and defensive cohesion is their strength.  Look for former 100m sprint world record holder (possibly not true) Michael Kramer to run rings around anyone that marks him man to man and the MSTY girls to dominate the offence.  For the Highlanders, I think their real danger man is Stefan and those pants…. 

Prediction: I think third time is the charm for The Highlanders, relegating MSTY to the wooden spoon battle, 13-10. 

Now the race for the championship!

Game 3: Black Magic vs The Green Goblins

Form and placings say Black Magic should win and win easily.  But as we’ve seen this finals race, form and regular season placings aren’t counting for a whole lot.  Undefeated to now, Black Magic has a very strong roster including perennial ‘he should have been MVP’ captain James David.  They’ve played great disc, mixed their defence up and controlled every single game they’ve played.  However, Deanna ‘MVP’ Finn is a big loss for the Magic.  The Green Goblins on the other hand, had a slow start to the season with an inexperienced line.  After the acquisition of Leo BUD in a trade for potentially worst player in the league Ashley O’Sullivan, and picking up some guy named Mike, they have only lost one game.  Members of both of these teams have been to the finals before.  James has been to 3 grand finals and is yet to walk away with the main prize.  I think this want to win the title will get his team there.

Prediction: I’ve talked to many people about this game, and no one knows who the favourite is.  My pick is Black Magic, in a very close game.

Game 4: The Amazing Technicolour Dream Discs vs 100 Shades of Grey

Form is a strange thing, sometimes you can go a whole season without it and then all of a sudden in the finals you find it.  I think everyone would agree that this is the way that 100 Shades of Grey have been, taking down the 5^th place and 3^rd place in consecutive weeks.   However, taking down 2^nd place is a whole different story.  The Dream Discs have had a ‘dream’ run, only losing the one game throughout the season (to 1^st place Black Magic).  With attacking weapons like Damo, Bevo and Rach(o) no wonder they’ve had no trouble scoring points.  Unfortunately for the Dream Discs, their captain Finny is unable to play this week as he is flying to Perth to start a new life as a fisherman.  The question is can the Dream Discs play the same attacking frisbee they have been with their leader off the field, or will the likes of Brandon, Ed, Erik, Anne and Nickers of 100 Shades of Grey be too strong?

Prediction: I think fun will be the real winner in this game.

So come down Wednesday night, play for you r team and cheer your favourite team on in their finals match!  With the games this week, there are sure to be some great contests, individual rivalries and good times had by all. 

Did You Know? An ultimate frisbee holds approximately 1630 ml of liquid. That equals approximately 4.34 cans of beer, 1.42 jugs of beer, 2.86 pints, 3.83 schooners or 5.71 pots.

Arrive first and leave last...Finals Week 2 Review!

Firstly I’d just like to throw it out there and say that my predictions couldn’t have been any more wrong.  But I don’t think many predicted the one sided outcomes of this week. 

First big news is that Black Magic suffered their first loss of the season!  The Gold Diggers took it to the Magic, with some great throws from Stretch Armstrong Dehollander and a couple of sweet grabs from Stoffels.  The turning point(s) in the game was every time that the Magic opted to throw to their star receiver James Queef, who just couldn’t seem to get the hands going.  I’m told of the 100+ throws (possible exaggeration) that went to Weise, he only managed to get his hands on one…..and still dropped it.  Well played from the Gold Diggers, who despite being only able to go for the minor placings now managed a spirited effort overall!

I’m also told that Finny, perennial throw-away-erer for the The Amazing Technicolour Dream Discs sat out the games this week to better prepare his team for next week.  For those of you following at home, Finny is away next Wednesday…..interesting strategy there everyone, we’ll see if it pays off.  With Sean ‘Bevington’ Beveridge sure to fill in as the primary handler, was good to see him make some excellent decisions.  Not sure what the scores were, but I’m sure fun was the real winner.

Now on to the elimination finals!  Game 1 saw the The Highlanders take on the Green Goblins and Game 2 saw Mite-y Discs vs 100 Shades of Grey.

Game 1: The Highlanders vs Green Goblins

With some mixed fortunes last week, this game was sure to be a close contest and in some ways it provided this.  The Goblins exploded out of the gates, taking a commanding early lead and the half 7-2.  As ever, the Goblins had a well constructed offensive line and gave nothing to the Highlanders early.  After half time, the complexion of this game changed completely with the Highlanders producing a strong comeback to bring the game to 9-6 at one point.  I warned the Goblins that Cade would be a force on offence, and his quick give and go offence proved to be the spark the Highlanders needed.  With some quick girls and the two Robs causing problems, this is how they should have attacked from the start.  However, execution let the Highlanders down at some points, with the disc going to ground near the endzone too many times.  The Goblins through defensive confidence and some great throws managed to pull ahead once again.  It seems the Goblins structure was just too much for the Highlanders to contain.  Special mention for the Goblins goes to Matt McIntosh who scored about 100 and Leo BUD for being a great guy.  Special mention also goes to Liss, for once again getting injured.  

Final Score: Green Goblins keep up their good form and bring the Highlanders down, 13-9.

Game 2: Mite-y Discs vs 100 Shades of Grey

I’ve been wrong plenty of times…..not that I ever like to admit it.  But this game I honestly didn’t expect what happened at all.  With the Mite-y Discs looking to bounce back after a pretty heavy defeat last week and the welcome return of Dr Pete, the last-placed 100 Shades of Grey had their work cut out.  The Shades won the flip and took the pull, and to be honest never really looked back.  Mite-y Discs started well, with Mattie Hamilton working some great combinations with his handlers.  Unfortunately, tonight just wasn’t the night of the Mite-y’s. 100 Shades lead by their 8 foot Captain Duncan controlled the disc, set up a great defensive structure and executed most of their plays.  I predicted that the 1% plays would be the difference here, and they were.  100 Shades just wanted it that little bit more, and stuck to their plans very well.  Special mention for the Shades goes to Lena for taking an amazing catch to score and Rob Luke for being a dominant force in the end zone.  100 Shades played probably their most complete game of the season, with a great whole team performance.  Shout out to Scott Hamilton for being the better looking of the Hamilton brothers.  

Final Score: With the hammer out in force, 100 Shades of Grey took the victory 13-3.

With semi-finals next week, make sure you’re down supporting your favourite team that wears a grey shirt!  Also, there will be games next week for every team as the battle for the wooden spoon still rages on.  Until next week, I’ll leave you with a quote that I apparently said a couple of years ago…

“The best Ultimate player is not the fastest, fittest, strongest nor tallest. The best ultimate players are the ones who are the smartest. The player with the best strategies, mental attitude, motivation, awareness and overall knowledge of the game, are the ones who make it the furthest. For ultimate is all about being in the right place at the right time, so practice your throws and catches, but always be aware of the mental side of the game. Like in all games, the most successful players are the ones who arrive first, and leave last.”

So if you get there early and leave late you’re sure to win! Villain out.

Results of Semi Final Round, Semester 2, 2009

The Semifinals Commence!

The Semifinals commenced this week with some different than expected matchups. The Fraternal Order of Red played against 2nd/3rd placers Hammerheads due to confusion with the team rankings. The Hammerheads had to start off their game without team captain Matt Esser who was off fraternising with other sporting codes for the first hour. The arrival of this ultimate dynamo came too late however with a comeback bringing the final score to The Fraternal Order of Red 13 def. Hammerheads 6. Good luck to the team powerhouse Redcoats in the final.

A handblock from Katie "Eugoogley" Gilluly on Simon "Bob Fossil" Urquhart shook up the big zookeeper pretty good in the later stages of the game. However the dominant display by Simon's team of "Racist Dropbears" made sure to keep the not-so-white Pink Panthers from entering their Zoo...

Bob Fossil - great guy

Racist Dropbears 13 def. Pink Panthers 6 to move ahead to the finals.

The game everyone was looking forward to on this finals night was the wooden spoon game of The Last Surviving Dragons against the wooden spoon minor premiership team The Savages. The Last Surviving Dragons showed up late numbering only five or so minus their captain Matt De Witt who's still off living the dream (ie. not being in Townsville). Meanwhile The Savages surely shook them to the core with their full squad looking pretty intense during a number of warm-up drills. Alas the organisation was to end so soon with the fateful decision to hand over their two superstars 6 foot something-taller-than-most-people Adrian Sullivan and Cody "Quick Hands" Hall to provide numbers and apparently even up the game.

The Savages got off to a dominant start scoring a number of quick points and taking the lead which they held for most of the game. For many of the points the whole team was playing their part helping them to victory while the dragons looked decidedly pick-up-y. The Dragons got their scramble on and took things back with little Matty and southern ring-in Sara Cargill utelising their team and throwing lots of things including a few frisbees to Heather in the endzone for some goals.

Now realising there was a chance they could win a prize this year, albeit the wooden spoon, The Savages were torn apart to go down in history as one of the greatest frisbee teams ever!!! Steve Jamieson has now been on the wooden spoon team both semesters he's played in Townsville. Thank god he will be leaving Townsville in a week or 2, I'm sure this is the same reason he had to leave Adelaide. Good luck though Steve, maybe next time your luck slash frisbee skills will improve.
The Last Surviving Dragons 13 def The Savages 11 (Wooden Spoon winners Semester 2, 2009)