Clubbed to Death

Prague is vaguely on the horizon of quite a few groups of players.

Among the rumours I have heard concerning how many bids in which divisions Australia will be allocated and which teams are interested, a thought occurred to me.

We haven't yet reached critical mass in the player limit of Australian ultimate. There are no defined 'mixed' players and there are no defined 'opens' players.

The playmakers who dominate in Opens or Womens ultimate in the first half of the year, go on to dominate in the Mixed side of things six months later. This is all well and good (well, actually, it isn't, but that's another blog post) but it does leave some clubs in a bit of a pickle when it comes to competing in the World Ultimate Club Championships in the Czech Republic next year.

Where will Chilly be, if Gack plays for Vintage? (or vice versa)

What will happen to Kaboom if Max and Jonno play for Fyshwick?

What will happen to HoS if, say, Rueben and Owen play for the spookily mysterious second Victorian mixed team wishing to compete at Clubs?

Just something to think about. 

So, What Now?

Hooray! As everyone knows, or should know, I hate Opens because it makes me feel small and insignificant, Womens because I'm still somehow not allowed to play it, but my statistically average height makes me feel bigger when there are three women on the field so Mixed is my niche.

What is everyone doing for the Mixed season?

Firstly, the venue: Hobart. As a player I would love to avoid the 'it's too far, it costs too much' excuse that having Nationals in Perth gave us. Frankly, if you didn't go to Nationals in Perth, you are probably the only people who can actually afford going to Tasmania in October, and you have no excuse. Flights (return, admittedly from Sydney) are sub-$200 if you book smartly.

So now. Let's take a look-see at who is going.

Vintage: As defending champions, they have an obligation to attend. Victoria is close to Tasmania, and they want to go to Prague. I'd say they'd be coming back in 09.

FAF: Nobody tells me nothing.

Kaboom: Are these guys interested in Prague? With three full teams last year, I'd say there are bound to be at least two teams from the ACT this year.

Spider-Pig: If the casual league rumours about Tim Gee forming a team are true, I would say Spider-Pig are back. Whether or not they use this moniker is up to them.

Smurf: Who knows? Not I - if they are back, they've lost Pottsy (probably a boon) but maybe also Erin Wallis (would she be playing for Canberra?). How is Joel's shoulder?

Great! Sugoi!: Last year, the Northern region played host, and had their quite considerable (ie, proven ability to make the finals) talent diluted across about five teams. It will be interesting to see what sort of combinations arise.

YOOOUUU!: Definitely the people having the most fun all through last year's tournament, I hope they reform. They may (or may not) have trouble getting the same amount of interstate support, if JmcN is tied up playing for someone else and JD is playing for WA. (see below)

Western Australia?: Sublime surprised everyone with a devastating, speedy game at Nationals, and Kaos, Perth's second women's club, finished the tournament unexpectedly high. WA didn't represent at mixed nats last year, but with the kind of talent they have floating around now, they'd be silly if they didn't show up.

Friskee: Who?

Save the Environment

Courtesy of Nathan Stacey

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/oct/29/features.environment

Make sure you read through to the end.

Party On, Wayne!

So the Nationals party.

Wasn't great. Or was it? Depends who you ask, really.

Basically, there was a great big main chamber housing the dance floor, toilets and bar. The only lights were the strobes from the DJ set, and the only sound you could hear was the extremely loud music. This made it pretty much impossible to do anything other than get really drunk and dance. It was essentially a rave in a prison that got shut down early.

So, naturally, every Sublime player I talked to said the party was great fun.

Others outside the functioning alcoholics and JD (who I'm guessing, based on Sublime A's 17-3 loss to Firestorm the morning after, was by that point non-fuctioning) have different priorities in a party. 

And for most tournaments - uni games/mixed season tournies, youth nationals, open tournaments - it's pretty easy to cater for the crowd that you know will attend. Nationals is a bit different. With the vast amount of different players coming in - Masters players who all have kids, injured players (or straight white males) who can't dance, juniors who can't drink - there really has to be something for everyone. 

Ultimate players are generally pretty easy to satisfy, though, and catering for everyone really can mean just having dinner, a dance floor, and ample seating. And lights. And heating if it's cold out. And cheap beer. But other alcoholic options too, some of us don't like beer. 

Maybe we aren't so easy to satisfy after all.

Chicks Mate

I left out the Women's division of my Nationals preview because I don't really know any of them well enough to make jokes.

Sporting Team Box Athletico United

Are looking very good this year, coming off ridiculous (15-2, 15-3) victories over a split Wildcard team (and everyone else) at Into The Wild earlier in the year. However, this is also a team that lost to Honey at Southern Regionals (edit: I stand corrected, see comments section for further details). If they play to their capacity, they will win Nationals this year. Either way, Hussey and Joy are still the cutest couple in Australian ultimate, and I wonder what the Hillsong fanatics from the Hills club make of their immoral, sinful union.

Wildcard

Wildcard are pretty boring to write about. Of course they'll make the finals, of course they are an odds-on favourite to win, of course Rachel or Tom will read this and treat me with (yet more) hostility. They should rename themselves 'The Eastern Australian Firetails' and just be done with it, really. 

Sugar Magnolias

Now that Pottsy isn't coaching them, this team should perform admirably. They will definitely improve on last year's 9th placing - and not just because there are only 11 teams. They have a good mix of superstars in Lisi Jarrott, Katie Bradstock and some fighting-fit Kings, not to mention a solid backline of uni and junior standouts. By my reckoning, if they don't party too hard and aren't too buggered having the second smallest roster at 14, they should place around 3rd.

Honey

This is the Honey team we (eventually) had to have; one that is capable of breaking into the top of the table. The usual Honey Worlds folk will duke it out with some imported skill (Gretchen Sites) and gangly uni talent (Bec Wallbridge). This has been a big season for Honey, with a lot of their members playing Kaimana, as well as multiple lead-in tournaments. Let's hope it works out well for them.

Factory Girls

Vickie Saye is one of the most impressively watchable players in Australian ultimate. Erin Wallis, too, has either really stepped it up to become a quite dominant handler this year or possibly she already was one. It's at this point I cease really having knowledge about teams besides one or two big names... Good luck to the Factory Girls next week!

BUSH

Combining Southside and Tasmania, this team is solid. The combination of Carlie Ryan and Ash Martens is enough to put this team inside the top eight: their subsequent depth could see them rise further.

One Week

So, Nationals. Here is what I think about every team I know about.

Heads of State

Pros:

• Size of roster. There's no denying that sheer legs can make a massive difference come crunch time.
  
• Sweet pick-ups, including Tim 'Raging Bull' Booth and Michael 'Stout for Callahan' Stout.
• Rueben will probably be the only person at Nationals who knows the rules.

Cons:

• HoS implosion factor. You all know how this goes - the Chaddy Paddy crew start believing their own hype, play like ass (down 4-1 against Fakulbee? Really?) and wonder why they aren't playing a final.
• Hotheaded, emotional team. There is only so much calming influence Owen and Rueben can provide.

Chilly

Pros:

• Gack. He's back.
• Rest of the roster are probably capable of throwing to him.

Cons:

• While they do have the depth expected of a top-tier team, they are obviously reliant on Tom. If he is shut down, or injures himself, or is still a little on the unfit/ineffective side, what then?

Fyshwick

Pros:

• Dream roster - some of the best names in Australian ultimate at the top, and tail end that is, relative to some other teams playing Nationals this year, far superior.

Cons:

• That's exactly what everyone thought about Barefoot last year, and they came 12th.

I-Beam

Pros:

• The two Lavis's have the same haircut now, it's impossible to tell them apart when you're calling the line. Not sure how this will work in their favour.
• Besides their usual big names, their peloton of not-yet-big-names (Rhys Clenton, Shaun Hardy, Chris Hill) are really pulling their weight this season.
• Picked up Gav. Well, that's handy.

Cons:

• Tats is playing, but from what I have seen he is playing in a pretty diminished capacity. It will be interesting to see how the team adjusts to this.

Karma

Pros:

• Large (19) roster.
• Have the two players most likely to elicit 'where did THEY come from?' moments from the opposition - Alec Deslandes and Alex Britten-Jones.
• Lots of creative (and I suspect false) middle names on their AFDA rego.

Cons:

• Robbie Andrew.
• Lack of faith - none of the three Karma players I spoke to had any hopes of making the semi's.
• By the standards of the teams they are competing against, their teams lower end will struggle against tough opponents.

Sublime Antisocial

Pros:

• Home ground advantage.
• JD.
• Assembled the hugely-underrated cream of the West's crop.

Cons:

• That 'crop' has 11 players. That's gonna hurt.
• If you're looking for a Messianic pick up to save the day and win the final for you, Cupcake ain't it.

Firestorm

Pros:

• Some say John McNaughton has the best throws in Australian ultimate.
• John McNaughton says Buzz has the best throws in Australian ultimate.
• Solid receivers (Julian Sacre, Dan Young, some Neild guy) to catch what are arguably the best throws in Australian ultimate.

Cons:

• Could crack under the pressure. While solid players, there is a lack of big game experience in a lot of the roster.

Fakulti Y

Pros:

• Kenny.
• Sweet Danish pick ups.

Cons:

• Injuries and sickness are effecting roughly half the team, only a week out. Let's hope this clears up.

Fakulti X

Pros:

• The two Petes - Gardner, and Blakeley.
• Some of the most promising young blood in Australia in Max, Calan and Phil White.

Cons:

• Injuries currently taking out a lot of their top tier players.

That's about it from me. See you in Perth.

Static

Taking stats is becoming an increasingly important part of the game of ultimate.

Statistics (generally - goals, assists, turnovers, blocks) are used for selection, as well as areas to improve on once teams have been selected - to a defender 'we want to see more blocks', a handler 'less throwaways'.

In Vancouver last year, the scorekeepers took stats, so by the time the tournament reached the finals stage, it was pretty obvious to any teams who had an internet connection who the main throwers or receivers were (as was the case with Japan or Terra) in the teams they were going to play against.

Stats by themselves aren't the be and end all. I'm sure everyone knows that one player who might not throw the goal, catch the goal or get the block, but still contributes incredibly to the team. Is this more to do with the limitations of the quantifiable, or rather insufficient data?

Who knows.

Here, though, are some stats I would like to see taken more in Ultimate. I've probably plagiarised some of them.

• Type of score: forehand? backhand? overhead - hammer or scoober?
• Number of breakmark throws/number of times mark is broken.
• Throws upfield vs reset (dump) throws.
• Average time disc held per possession (we could find out who all the disc hogs are).
• Total time played per game.
• Number of dump engagements (or lack of dump engagement before a preset time, the standard for most teams seems to be 4 or 5).
• Throws upwind/throws downwind.
• Average stall count achieved on defence.
• Distance gained (cuts).