DojoMojo Blog: Good afternoon Jules - it's always a pleasure to share our gardens with a connoiseur of serenity such as yourself. Let's give some thought to our game last Thursday. You chaps were clearly on a mission right from the outset (you even arrived on time!). Had there been some harsh words said between our previous game and this one to get the team fired up?
Julian Sacre: Absolutely! No disrespect for what was a very impressive Dojo performance that night, but to get beaten by 6 guys was a very humbling experience. In light of that recent history and the fact that you’d had a few weeks to recruit for a full team, we knew it would require a big step up to get over the line. And yes, perhaps my turning up before the first point of the game for the first time this season was a reflection of that. Still not early enough to have a pre-game run and throw with the team, but I think JMac’s little incident is proof enough that the so-called “benefits” of warming up are a complete myth. Of course, from what I’ve seen of Dojo before a game, you’ve known that for years. I imagine some Sensei-led meditation would be your favoured method of preparation?
DMB: Indeed it is. It's no secret that the kenshi spend long seconds meditating over their weekly emails from the Sensei before each game and, thus prepared, simply step onto the field ready to play... But it seemed you had a real plan this time around. Passion went with a zone D pretty much all night - was this a deliberate strategy to contain the free movement of the disc we'd had last time?
JS: You obviously moved the disc with ease in that famous (infamous?) 6-man win despite the efforts of a poacher in the lane. So yea – zone D was the defence we chose from the outset, and based on its success throughout the first half, we obviously kept at it all night. I think Nat suggested that we switch to a man D at one point and got his head bitten off pretty severely.
DMB: That'll teach him for questioning your strategic brilliance Jules - and it must be said that you were wise to ignore Nat's suggestion. But enough about you - let's talk about us. How would you say the performance of the Dojo team you beat in the Semi differed from the team you lost to in Round 9?
JS: Apart from the obvious disadvantage of having not just 7 guys on the field, but also a sub (what the???), I thought your disc movement was much less free-flowing. Your handlers seemed to keep the disc in their hands for an eternity, allowing our zone to set and reducing your options up-field. Maybe it was also just one of those nights – everything you touched in round 9 seemed to turn to gold, but there did seem to be that little bit missing in the semi-final.
DMB: More than a bit - the video shows that we basically dumped-n-swung our way to the endzone all night! But that wasn't the case for Passion - it seemed that not having JMac this time actually brought more of your guys into play with the disc and made for a more (new)Dojo-like offensive setup i.e fewer long hucks and lots of solid retention. Will you be asking John to stay home for the Final as well?
JS: Yea, I’ve always thought his pin-point hucks were holding us back. Nah… seriously though, we may allow him to play – as long as he promises not to do that foolish thing called warming up. I guess losing his handling did force some other guys to come back, but I'm not sure it really caused us to reduce the number of hucks and change our style of play. I think your zone D covered the deep threats pretty well, so there were very few opportunities to strike long.
DMB: Fair enough. And lastly, how much longer until the Passion team gets some proper shirts? Some people are convinced that your faded pink look is the only thing stopping BPL getting primetime TV coverage...
JS: I don’t think I've ever read about Passion on the Dojo blog without a reference to the faded pink shirts. This actually makes me suspect that your consistent criticism is not out of dislike, but more driven by a subconscious jealousy? If you are looking to get your hands on one of the jerseys, I think there are a few still available in women’s sizes. I could see it as a very fashionable addition to Sensei’s office at DojoMojo HQ. We could even arrange it to be signed by all team members and framed? If the result goes our way in the final next week, it could turn out to be a pretty good investment.
But you mentioned TV coverage – I was actually thinking that your success in broadcasting games on your very own blog could be the start of something big. Perhaps you could upgrade your coverage to include all games and offer them on a subscription service? I would definitely be one of the first lining up to buy a platinum membership to “DojoMojo Blog Pro”. If our sense of style is what’s holding you back, we can try harder in future not to drop the bright red undies in when we're washing our whites (for the record, I can’t take credit for that joke – I first heard it from a heckling Buggers supporter during last season’s final and thought it was pretty good. Look forward to more of that next week!).
DMB: All good ideas there Jules - we're really looking forward to receiving that souvenir signed Passion shirt, and at the very least there should be some exclusive coverage of the BPL Final here on the Dojo Blog (pay-per-view of course). Thanks for your time, and feel free to let yourself out the front gate once you're finished wandering...
I have to say it was a pretty intense game. And as for shirts pretty much everyone has one and wears except for john and buzz who are far too cool to wear a pink shirt with a unicorn on it which is understandable.
ReplyDeleteBut I think some new shirts for passion might not be a bad idea, the club's been looking at designs lately for the mixed nats shirts and there were heaps of good designs that could go on.
Everyone knows the cooler your kit is the better you play!
Is there going to be some video review of the Final tonight?
ReplyDeletePresumably of Dojo drinking on the sideline of course ... "Look, Lee's dropped his stubbie again ..."