TXT Versus Talk

It's no secret that Liam "Wetnose" Gillions is deep in preparation for his imminent nuptials at the moment. What might come as a surprise to many, however, is that Liam has chosen the Dojo Gardens as the venue for his big day. At least it'll certainly be a surprise for his delightful fiancee Grace, when he gets around to telling her.

So while we were looking over the Dojo estate, inspecting the various teahouses and pine tree groves for their ceremonial suitability, we managed to also quiz Liam about his views on the game between DojoMojo and his Cobras team last Thursday night at the AJFC fields:

DojoMojo Blog: Liam, let's divert ourselves from talk of ritual kimonos for a moment and discuss our game last week. Firstly, we were thinking of inviting new Cobras spokesman Reece around as well for a chat today, but it seems he's having a difficult enough time just keeping his own media outlet up to date. What's going on there?

Liam Gillions: You know how kids are these days - so fickle and flippant. He probably got distracted by something shiny and ran outside to play in the rain or something. In all seriousness though, it has been good to offload that duty to Reece. With my duties on the highly prestigious BUB and running the Firestorm books, it was good to have one less thing to do while I'm at work, other than work which tends to get left till last.

DMB: Hmmm - perhaps we might hear from Reece in the comments about that? And speaking of intra-Cobras communication issues, there were lots of Cobra discs going to ground last Thursday night due to what appeared to be a lack of communication or even just thrower/receiver eye contact. Do you think this is a problem, and if so do you have any plans to address it?

LG: There was a bit of a lack of peripheral vision from the players. Often the disc was thrown correctly and to the right player, but either the thrower didn't see a defender, or the cutter was only making a fake and was not aware of where the disc was. That's probably more a result of the youth and inexperience of some of our players - it will come with time.

DMB: Well time is certainly something your youngsters have plenty of, along with that classic youthful combo of individual confidence and collective misdirection... Any truth to the rumours that you're having to implement a special series of face-to-face communication seminars to assist your younger players deal with the problems of talking to each other in person rather than just sending a txt or tweet?

LG: I dnt no wat ur tlkn bout.

DMB: Indeed. Let's continue. Plenty of big Pete-to-Leon and Leon-to-Pete connections for the Dojo, especially when you were playing man-on-man D. Your late change to zone seemed to improve things a little from a Cobras perspective - reckon you'll be developing this option into the future (for instance against the huck-o-matic Bugs)?

LG: That Leon-Pete combo really hurt us. The switch to zone was more out of desperation against what is generally regarded as a very strong handling team, and it worked quite well. I think against the youth of the Bugs we will just need to keep switching things up to not let them get used to things and get into a rhythm. Will be an interesting game.

DMB: It sure will be - I'd say nearly as interesting as this week's much-anticipated Dojo v Slamtown grudge match... Sticking with our game last week though, is there any moment from the game that sticks in your mind as the "play of the night"?

LG: There was a shocking foul call from the Dojo player who "claimed" to be stationary whilst attempting to catch an equally shocking hammer. That sticks pretty strong. Also, one of the afore mentioned hucks from Pete to Leon (as seen on video) was pretty sweet. It was inch perfect and needed to be, because Leon was outnumbered 2-to-1 and would have had to work for it if it had floated or been slightly off line.

DMB: Ahh, the highs and lows of Ultimate... Which brings us to the highs and lows of the BPL ladder. Based on current form, what teams are you currently tipping for the semis, and who do you think is going to pick up the wooden spoon?

LG: I'm going to put Passion, Dojo and Slamtown in the semis. Lovers to finish 6th with Heroes 7th. Bugs and Cobras to fight it out for the 4th spot with a late season absence from Mr Neild giving the edge to Cobras.

DMB: Liam - it sounds like you've got it all figured out. Now we'd better get you fitted up with those Geta sandals you were wanting to go with your flying-crane kimono...

Sensei (right) discusses wedding arrangements with Wetnose (left) and Grace (centre, and clearly grateful that You Only Live Twice...)