Nationals Division Two Men's Open

Townsville Ultimate! Sorry there has been no previews/reviews this week. Things deviated from the norm when the league decided to play two games on Wednesday instead of the usual one and it was just too much to keep track of all the games. Plus I had to go down to Melbourne to cover Townsvillains in the Nationals Division Two Men's Ultimate Tournament. This tournament saw a fair few Villains veterans participate and it also featured rookies Riley Smith and Josh Mcintyre in their first tournament. The Villains team also had the opportunity, and luck, to recruit players from Brisbane like Ashley Donaldson, Dan Cohen, Brenton "Moto" Mottershead, Luke "Staarky" Lynch, Tim Webb, Keegan Miskimmin, Tyson Buhagiar and Slamtown veteran Alistair Don. All in all the Villains were packing a pretty strong line-up and were ready to bring the heat to grey and windy Melbourne.

Day 1

Game 1 - Townsvillains VS Funny Duck
Townsvillains win 11-9

The first game of any tournament is always testy. Teams will be fresh on the field and looking to assess their opponent's ability and this game was no different. Funny Duck started strong enough and took two points right off the bat and left the Villains pondering their chances in the tournament. Thankfully it was just a sluggish start. The Villains quickly hit back and managed to tie the game up 2-2. After that it was a point-for-point rally between the two teams as they tried to pry the downwind break point from the other team. The Villains managed to hold on to a slender lead and went into half-time 8-7 up. The second half saw more of the same rallies but the Villains ability to switch between a vertical stack offense and a horizontal stack offense kept Funny Duck guessing and prevented them from getting into their groove. Although a little hesitant at first (maybe because of the wind), the Villains eventually started looking for open long puts and managed to stick them. It was an exciting point-for-point exchange until the Villains managed to pull away at 10-8. It looked like victory was within grasp but Funny Duck somehow managed to steal a break point and had the advantage playing offense downwind with the score at a nail-biting 10-9. However, the Villains  managed to keep their wits about them and were able to take the game 11-9 at the end of the time-cap.

Game 2 - Townsvillains VS Head of State (HoS)
Townsvillains win 12-10

Townsville once again started extremely sluggishly in this match. Maybe they let their first victory get to their heads and allowed HoS to go 6-1 up within 15 minutes of the game. Morale was low in the Villains camp at this point and the players thought that the match would be over soon. However, Finny decided to make a radical call and play a puppy-cup defense. It was a bold move cotton, I can tell you that, but it certainly paid off. HoS, perhaps getting a little too complacent with their early lead, crumbled under the pressure put on by the puppy-cup. The tides were turned and the Villains soon had complete control of the game and put in point after point to lead 8-6 at half-time. The second half saw more of the same plays with the Villains' puppy-cup forcing turnovers from HoS. The match should have been over when Tyson managed to intercept a swing pass from HoS handlers in the end-zone but he failed to convert a two-handed Callahan grab (he tried to grab it but it slipped out from his grasp). If he had managed to do that it would've been morale-crushing for HoS and the Villains would've stomped all over them. Although HoS managed to score four more points, the Villains were in too comfortable a position to lose and they were able to win the game at the end of the time-cap.

Game 3 - Townsvillains VS Karma
Karma win 15-7

Game 3 took place after lunch. Everyone was feeling a little sluggish, lost 15-7. Villains played hard but just couldn't come away with a result. Nothing much else to comment on.

Day 2

Game 4 - Townsvillains VS Duff Punk
Townsvillains win 13-12

As usual, the Villains started this match slow and allowed Duff Punk to score some quick points to go 4-0 up. Villains tried different set-ups but were unable to to catch up to Duff Punk and ended up trailing 8-3 at half-time. Chins were pretty down at this point but Finny and Al put in a good half-time pep-talk to light the fire in the team once again. Villains put on a tight man-mark and went mongrel on the Duff Punk boys to really pressure them into throwing away the disc which the Villains gladly capitalised on. Duff Punk held the lead by one point for most of the point but Townsvillains managed to draw the game at 12-12 to bring the game to universe point. A forced turnover and a good put saw the Villains take down this match to win 13-12. A lot of bold calls were made in this match which went in the Villains's favour but still, they took every chance they had and played extra hard to earn this victory.

Game 5 - Townsvillains VS Wild Chilly
Townsvillains win 15-8

This was an important one for the Villains because it determined if they would make it to the semi-finals of the tournament. The Chilly team are a pretty well-known team in Melbourne and their first team recently came second in the Brisbane-Canberra Invitational. So despite this being a third-string team, the Villains were still cautious going into this match and had to make sure they did not get overly complacent. The game started in a surprising manner as Townsvillains went up 4-0 before Wild Chilly called a timeout. For the first time in their tournament, the Villains were not the first team to call a timeout and morale was high in the team huddle and everyone was sure of themselves. After the timeout, the Villains came out looking to score another point but Wild Chilly surprised them but putting one on the scoreboard to make the score 4-1. Townsvillains were still pretty confident at this point and thought "hey no big deal we've got a decent lead". The Villains managed to put a few more points on the board but Wild Chilly managed to get a few break points of their own. Townsvillains then decided to put on a strong offensive line to close out the game. An easy game and a well-deserved win to earn a spot in the semifinals.

Semifinals - Townsvillains VS Nova
Nova win 13-8

The semifinals of the Division Two Nationals Men's Open saw Townsvillains go up against a Kiwi team from Wellington. The Villains wanted to bring the heat against a Kiwi team that were used to the wind and rain and cold. That was, however, not the case. They put an extremely hard mark on Finny who had a been a beast as a receiver in previous games. Maybe they scouted a few of the Villains games before and saw Finny in action, we'll never know; all we know is they had their best defender not more than a meter away from Finny all game long. Nova managed to establish a lead and the Villains had trouble catching up and eventually lost the semifinals.

3rd/4th place playoffs - Townsvillains VS Ballarat Ultimate
Townsvillains win 13-8

The game of truth. Will the Villains go home with a bronze medal or empty-handed? When the horn sounded to signal the start of the match, both teams were still finishing up their lunches so it was perhaps fortuitous that the Villains weren't going to be the only team that would start the game without warm-up. The Villains started the match strongly by scoring two points to take a 2-0 lead but Ballarat quickly evened up by scoring two after. The match then went point for point with Townsvillains keeping the lead but the Villains eventually managed to snatch a break point to lead 8-6 at half-time. The second half saw more of the same exchange until Ashley Donaldson, who injured himself in the first game and had to sit out most of the tournament, made a surprising comeback into the lineup. Some swift passing saw the Villains move the disc to the edge of Ballarat's end-zone before Ashley Donaldson made a cut to the back left corner and Al Don hit him with a backhand huck. It looked like a sure turnover as the huck was floaty and two Ballarat defenders converged on the disc but Ashley managed to jump over both of them and grabbed the disc one-handed for the point. He proceeded to spike the disc while still falling and the sideline erupted in cheers. That play might have given the Villains the extra momentum they needed as they raced away to take the game 13-8!

Villains take home the bronze in an amazing, frisbee-filled weekend that was fueled by jagerbombs, jars, buckets, and buffalo wings. Finny was awarded tournament MVP and Alistair Don was the first runner-up in the MVP awards. Kudos to their amazing performances on the field and congratulations to both of them. Townsvillains would also like to thank all Brisbane players for joining the team, as well as an unforgettable weekend!