Semifinals Preview

There has been a lot of hype surrounding this week's round of games as teams vie for a spot in the Grand Finals. A poll on the Facebook group has hinted that the league thinks Seagulls and Tie Dyenosaurs will be facing off in the Grand Finals. However, if this season is anything to go by, we can never be too sure about predictions as some teams have the ability to toss up a few surprises!

Semifinals Game 1 - Seagulls VS Django Unchained

It's light against dark in this one as the white Seagulls take on the black Django Unchained. Seagulls have shown fantastic form in the second half of the season and have not dropped a game ever since their loss to Fluro Fantasy. The fact that they have beaten most teams by a comfortable margin should also be an indication of the threat they will bring to the field. Seagulls also have a slight advantage in physical prowess with a number of tall players on their team which will certainly prove to be an obstacle to Django Unchained.

Although Django Unchained have not been as remarkable as Seagulls during the regular season, they have shown tremendous form in the first round of the play-offs. Not many players on the Django team can say they have Rob Dehollander's height or insanely long arms, but what they lack in physicality they make up for in athleticism. Daniel "Jonesy" Jakob was in good form during play-offs week and if he continues his form he will certainly bring heat to the game.

Semifinals Game 2 - Fluro Fantasy VS Tie Dyenosaurs

In their last meeting, Fluro Fantasy narrowly beat out Tie Dyenosaurs 13-11 and although they still managed to win, it was by no means a walk in the park. Fluro Fantasy missed out on the minor premiership with a surprise loss to Purple Haze in the last round of the regular season but managed to exact revenge in their play-off game with a narrow 7-6 victory over the purple team. Captain Ash has done well to nurture Fluro Fantasy into a team capable of playing Ultimate at the top level but will they be able to handle the pressure of the semifinals and make it a double over the Dyenosaurs?

Tie Dyenosaurs are another team that have come together well. In their 13-2 loss to Django Unchained it was painfully obvious that at that time, they were a one-man team (ala Finny) but the Tie Dyenosaurs that played in the playoffs last week showed some incredible synergy and teamwork. The Dyenosaurs will be itching for a win after narrowly losing out to Fluro Fantasy in the regular season and it remains to be seen if they will make it to the Grand-finals.

Losers' Bracket

While the top four teams battle it out for a spot in the Grand Finals and ultimately, champions, the bottom six teams are at the other end of the spectrum fighting to NOT win the infamous Wooden Spoon. Rumour has it the captain of the team awarded the Wooden Spoon has to take a paddling to the ass but that rumour remains unproven. Match-ups for the losers' bracket will be announced tonight at the fields so make sure you get there early!!

Notice that the games have no predictions and that's because they are too close to be called! This is by far one of the most exciting semifinal rounds the league has had to date. If you feel like you can accurately predict the score, leave a comment or tweet @TsvUltimate on Twitter with your predictions! Let's get keen for some Ultimate and see you guys on the fields!!

Semi Final Review!

Another week of Frisbee passes, with the finals race now down to only 2 teams!  If you told me that the team that came 6^th would play the team that came 8^th in the Grand Final, I would have seriously doubted your ability to function as a member of society.  But this is what has happened! The Green Goblins and 100 Shades of Grey have defied the odds and shown that finding form at the right end of the season is what this game is all about.

Firstly though, there were two games that decided who plays for 5^th and 6^th and which teams would fight for the coveted wooden spoon.  Unfortunately, the Mite-y Discs had some prior engagements, something about commitment ceremonies I don’t really know, but Dr. Peter Roach was for a while their lone representative!  Either way, the Gold Diggers had an easy passage through to the 5^th and 6^th game, where Captain Stretch Armstrong-Dehollander will look for 5^th place 2 seasons in a row! 

Game 1: Gold Diggers  vs Gold Diggers 

Conveniently for the Gold Diggers, they have enough players to fill 2 teams.  So, they played each other.  Don’t really know what the score was, but I’m sure that it was a great game with a lot of frisbees thrown/dropped/caught/potentially don’t care.  Mite-y Discs presence in the game was later filled by 1 player, I don’t know his name, but he is tall and was wearing a red shirt.  Was good to see the Gold Diggers managed to make a game out of this, well done! 

Final Score: Gold Diggers take the victory over the Gold Diggers, I’m gonna say 73-41.

Game 2: The Highlanders vs More Smarter Than You

More Smarter Than You, missing backhand specialist Zane Quinn, were looking to avenge my lack of predictions in their favour.  The Highlanders on the other hand were looking to finally back me up in tipping them.  The concensus: I am terrible at tipping.  This game was a great watch, with both teams going end to end with some great offence, fantastic defence and some clutch plays.  Only managed to see the last few points but all reports from this game suggest it was close all the way. 

Final Score: More Smarter Than You show that predictions count for nothing, forcing the Highlanders in to the wooden spoon game 13-11.

Semi-final time!

Game 3: Black Magic vs The Green Goblins

Seriously, terrible at predictions.  In potentially the biggest upset we’ve seen all semester, The Green Goblins knocked out the UNDEFEATED Black Magic.  Green Goblins looked strong from the start, jumping out to an early 4-1 and never really looked back.  Unfortunately for the Magic, former world #1 high jumper James David injured his ankle in one of the early points (I think someone inserted a golf ball in to his foot).  With Dee Finn already missing, the Magic struggled to keep up with the tempo of the game.  The Goblins controlled the field and were never really troubled.  A sad end to a great season from the Magic, but they’ll come back next week and look to seal a 3^rd place finish!

Final Score: The Green Goblins step up and take the win, 13-4.  On ya Leo BUD.

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

Without captain Finny, it was always going to be hard for the Dream Discs to find their rhythm.  100 Shades came in to the game on the back of a couple of upsets and were looking to keep this going.  Even without Finny, the Dream Discs were strong with the likes of Andrew, Rachael, Bevo and Damo dangerous in every position.  100 Shades exploded out of the gates, racing to an early 4-0 lead before stand-in captain Chris Ende took an extremely tactical timeout.  The Dream Discs got a couple back straight after this timeout, but the Shades took the half 7-2.  The second half was a much different story, with the Dream Discs working over the 100 Shades defence through the middle.  However the Shades looked to scoring machine Lena to get a couple of crucial points and Aggie Dehollander again taking some great catches.  Captain Duncan Webley was in complete control of the disc, throwing many assists and hardly any turnovers.

Final Score: 100 Shades of Grey provide the second upset of the night, taking down the Dream Discs 13-5.

Next week is it. The Townsville Ultimate Frisbee Grand Final! Come down and cheer on your favourite team wearing grey shirts.  Every team has a game next week to determine the final positions.  There’s also free food! So come down! Until next time, I’ll leave you with a quote…

Frisbee isn’t about winning or losing, it’s about having a great time and enjoying the game.  It’s also about respect for the game and respect for your opponents.  If a game is tight or even if you’re losing heavily, you should always play in good spirit. So shake hands after the game and appreciate if the other team plays better than you on the day.  Because after all, you don’t command respect…you earn it. – Matt Stoffels

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)