The Five Rings of Ultimate with Al Don

It's been raining since Christmas here at the Dojo Gardens, and the sound of the burbling creeks can be heard even from under the deep eaves of our delightful southern verandah. The outline of the ancient pine trees can be made out only as a faint, distant silhouette amidst the constantly changing mists. Indeed, it is only when one hears the primal screech of black cockatoos passing overhead, and realises that those ancient pines are actually Bunya pines, that the illusion of living in Heian-period Japan starts to fade.

But then out of that very same mist emerges a figure with all the fierce athleticism of the great Musashi Miyamoto and you're right back there in the feudal golden age. The approaching figure bounds over the arched bridge, leaps over the stepping stones (set just below the surface of the pond), and vaults straight over the timber balustrade and into the vacant seat to our right, somehow leaving the steaming pot of green tea by our side completely undisturbed.

And in fact the only difference between our guest today and that legendary double-sworded duelist is that the man on our right is wearing a Doughboy Allstars shirt. It's the only shirt he owns, and his name is Al Don.

DojoMojo Blog: Ohaiyoo Gozaimashita, Al. Thanks for dropping by. Before we embark on a stroll through the mist, let's enjoy a nice cup of sen-cha and re-visit our game from Thursday night. Firstly I must say there are a lot of guys I've never seen before on the Lovers team this season (and they all look pretty handy). Have you got a lot of BPL rookies on the roster, or have I just not been paying attention?

Al Don: I'd hate to suggest that the Sensei hasn't been paying attention.... But there were only two new faces on the roster this season that weren't there when the Dojo scraped it home against us in the semis last season.. And for varied reasons neither of those two will be hanging around for the rest of the season..

DMB: Hmmm - seems I'd better start putting some names to faces then, so I know who I'm chasing around next time... I'm also curious to know how you would rate the Lovers' performance (eeew!) in that game, relative to what you're aiming for this season?

AD: Ummmmm.. If I was to rate it in one word I would have to say "pretty poor".. That's two words I know but I'm sure you get the point.. If we were to move towards a more numerical, say a standard scale of 1 - 10 with 10 being where I think we can reasonably be expecting to aim for over the season I'd struggle to bring us in with anything more than a 5.. Showed some fighting spirit and played a few pretty good points but in the schema of a whole game it was a pretty disappointing effort on the whole. Too many drops, too little intensity in the cuts, too many times being beaten on the open side downfield.. Was pretty happy with the way our attempt at taking the 2:3:2 defence to the BPL's major proponents of funny looking zone D's went though.

DMB: Room for improvement, then. One thing that probably couldn't have been done better on Thursday night was Coops' incredible catch of a pretty wild cross-field thumb-hammer from Watto (his second thumber of the night, after a sensational first effort resulted in a goal that no-one saw coming). Imagine if Coops hadn't managed to hold onto it - shortly after halftime, close to the Dojo goal line - reckon there might have been an opening there for a UQ comeback if that outrageous throw had gone to ground, as it very nearly did?

AD: Interesting question.. Fantastic catch on Andy's part and from where I was standing it was completely unexpected from the time the thumber left Watto's hand. It came at a point in the game where we had managed to put a couple of points together.. Think that it could probably be said that the Dojo at that point may have, somewhat understandably, relaxed into the game a little.. Would it have got us truly back into the game? Would like to say yes but honestly don't think that was the case.

DMB: Fair enough. We're always conscious of momentum in games, and while you're probably right about that instance we've seen teams (including ours) lose all their steam after seemingly minor incidents. And on the subject of momentum, no Dojo player has ever been more expert at this vague "science" than our erstwhile colleage Andy McLean. Last Thursday was Andy's last game in a Dojo jersey, and he's going to be sorely missed. Any "Magic McLean Moments" you can recall from your years playing and/or partying alongside him around the country?

AD: Hmmm.. A couple of fairly drunken evenings in Brazil pre-wedding where I saw him shaking it on the dance floor like I'd never seen the man do on home soil were certainly memorable for me. Andy was one of a fairly short list of what you might call "the quiet men" of Brisbane frisbee.. Always to be relied on to give a hundred percent on the field and almost guaranteed to never to get up in anyone's face about it. Also possessed of a very nice, and in my opinion somewhat underutilised forehand flick.. Someone who was always willing to lend a hand whenever asked off-field as well. A member of the community who will be missed by all after the transition to Melbourne.

DMB: Yes, getting used to all those great bars and fantastic cultural institutions is going to take some transitioning for poor old Andy. Bet he'll hate it. Sigh. Ah well - what are your thoughts on the other two games from Round 3? Both very interesting results...

AD: Very interesting results indeed. I'll start with the Passion/Buggers game. I don't think that anyone who's taken a look at the Passion roster and results so far should really have been surprised by the way this one went. Though the final scoreline was perhaps more than most tipsters might have had down for the split... The passion team are a very solid line with characters like Cheese, Gref, Jules and new kid on the block Daniel Henbest to name a few. If you don't know who this guy is yet you certainly will by the end of the season. Though if he keeps changing his haircut and general appearance at the rate he's been going since arriving in Brisbane you may not actually recognise him. The rest of the Passion roster are looking fast and fit as well. At this point, without wanting to put the kiss of death on them they are certainly my pick for the title this season. The Buggers are obviously still a solid line but it's different this season without the classic get out of jail that they've had in the back pocket for as many seasons as I can remember. You just know that they'll continue to dig deep and keep on coming up with exciting new recruits to add into the very reliable Buggers mould, and it would be a brave tip to say they won't make the finals.

And now for the Heroes/Cobras match. Fantastic result for the other new team in the comp. One I'm sure wasn't picked by many (any?) in the BPL tipping comp this week. I do know that there were many pundits out there suggesting at the beginning of the season that "they wouldn't win a game", that maybe "they shouldn't be allowed into the league" for fear of dragging down the level. Many of those same pundits were also suggesting that this might be the season for the Cobras to come flying out off the blocks and perhaps be strong contenders this time round for their first championship. Would be interesting to see what those folks are saying this week.

Heroes have a bunch of young, enthusiastic, albeit fairly inexperienced players along with a couple of more experienced blokes being given the chance to come into their own as playmakers and leaders at a BPL level. Watch this space for some more upsets from the men in green over this season.

On paper the Cobras look great with a roster full of talented players. They've got the throwers, the receivers and some great defenders as well. Somehow it just seems that the "whole" at this point, rather than being greater than the sum of the parts, is actually somehow far less than the sum of its' individual parts. If they can find a way to harness the energy and talent they've got towards playing good Ultimate rather than whatever they're turning it into at the moment then they might still turn it around and make a dash into the finals..

DMB: Indeed. And while we're talking about the Finals, which teams are you currently tipping to make it to the semis, and why?

AD: Like I said above, my pick at this point in time to take the Championship is the boys of the fist - Passion. Think they're closest to the complete package with some of the best throwers and receivers in the game in Brisbane at the moment and the rest of the squad looking fighting fit. From what I've seen they're also looking like they're really enjoying playing together at the moment. Think they're going to be tough to beat. I'm picking them to win the Minor Premiership and then go on to take the finals.

After that though it gets a whole lot more interesting. Will list below the order I'm picking to finish the season up to finals:

2) Dojo - can't go past the experienced line you've got going there. I do think that the absence of Andy McLean will affect the Dojo more than some may expect. Beware the quiet man.

3) Buggers - they've got enough experience there and a good simple system to slot a couple of exciting looking prospects into to make this slot their own. Think that they'll also show enough mongrel fighting spirit to get them into a Final for I dunno the hundred and seventeenth time or something on the trot?

The battle for fourth.. As some bloke once said, this one's harder to pick than a broken nose..

4) Slamtown FC - They're rough around the edges but they've got the athleticism and the heart to edge out the rest for the last spot in the semis I think. They're also the only team in the long history of BPL to run regular training sessions. Way to lift the standard Slamtown.

5) Got to put my boys the Lovers down here. Think as per last season we're going to improve week to week and will have enough to get this far but, and it saddens my heart to say it, you'd have to give me some pretty impressive odds to get me putting down much money on us making the semis this season. Love to see you prove me wrong, Lovers..

6) Cobras.. Great on paper but yet to show it where it counts.

7) Heroes. They're going to be better each week. And had a fantastic result this round. Think the lack of experience will keep them here for this season..

DMB: Al, as usual you've thought of everything, and said even more. Thanks for spending a quiet Sunday afternoon here with us at the Dojo Gardens - must be time for a stroll past our roaring waterfall.

AD: It's been a pleasure chatting, Sensei.. Though for next time I'm really more an espresso than green tea sort of man.

This One Goes Right To The Top

Despite what he may tell you, the title of this post doesn't refer to our interviewee. Well, not directly at least...*

You see, the Brisbane Premier League has been thrown into turmoil just as we head into the finals series, thanks to a furore-generating decision on Friday by the League Director to ban 4th-placed team UQ Passion from playing in the finals due to their dodgy paperwork during the regular season. Sounds heavy-handed for a five-team amateur (and, yes, very competitive) league where everyone knows everyone else? But then rules are rules, right?

Well, the funny thing is that it's quite unclear exactly what rules are being invoked, especially when the LD himself apparently didn't see any need to review the team sheets in question after each round, thereby failing to issue a forfeit (as required under the rules) to first-timer captain Will and his team after the first slip-up.

So it's muddy already and we've hardly even got started. And in the meantime, the beneficiaries of all this (due to a similarly elastic application of the rules, or is it really blind ignorance?) are - you guessed it - Liam Gillions and his Old School Buggers team. How is it that luck just always seems to run Liam's way? You ask anyone and they'll tell you that he always wears the visage of a man who has just picked up the "bank error in your favour" card from the Monopoly board...

And now it's we who are lucky enough to have a quick word with him in the lead-up to his team's clash against the Dojo this week:

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DojoMojo Blog: Liam (and team), congratulations on making the semis in the most unusual of manners. Presumably the first thing you'd like to do is thank UQ Passion captain Will Churchill for filling in his team sheets incorrectly for most of the season?

Liam Gillions: Well we have really tried hard to get to this point this season. I made sure that the score sheets were filled in for every game just so we could get there in the end. I will certainly be giving Will a big hug next time I see him. But really, did anyone ever expect both Buggers team to NOT be in the semis? I mean come on, that's the whole reason we got [LD] Stu into the club.

DMB: Well that's certainly paid off big time. But do you think you can pull the OSB team back together and get everyone re-focussed in time for Thursday night? Jimmy Larkin and Mr Chadwick were saying something about the Hamptons...

LG: Well, we have actually sent some of the struggling team members away so that we can get things on track. Seriously though, we need to just forget about everything that has happened in the last 10 weeks. If we do that, then we can pull it off. This is getting back to the old days of BPL when you could lose every regular season game, then win 2 playoff games and walk home with the trophy.

DMB: Ah yes - the old days. Reminiscing just over this season, the last Dojo v OSB clash ended in a fairly emphatic 15-4 scoreline (even with Dan Walls, Dave Watson and Matt Eastburn staying home), so it appears there's plenty of catching up to do?

LG: Well Sensei, you are obviously forgetting that I wasn't there. 11 point swing, you ask? Well, I think it's probably a bigger swing than that. And Dan Walls, Dave Watson and Matt Eastburn? Who?

DMB: Hmmm - actually, maybe you're right and they're just figments of our imagination. We certainly haven't seen them in a while... Good to know you're not immune to mental delusions either though. Anyway, it's been a fairly controversial end to the BPL season, to say the least, and LD Stu tells us there's more to look forward to as well! Do you reckon as a result of all this we'll see some big changes in the structure of the BPL heading into next season?

LG: Would it be the BPL without some controversy? Although, this one has touched forces higher than I have seen before. I don't know if there will be any structural changes. Personnel changes perhaps? One thing is for sure, people will now know that the rules are the rules, and not following them will result in consequences. I for one don't think that is a bad thing.

DMB: Yeah. If only we could work out which rules are being enforced and who exactly is required to comply with what... The rulings to come out this week certainly don't stand up to even the slightest scrutiny. Ah, well - the other semi this week is between UQ Lovers and your sister team Messy. How do you see that one shaking out?

LG: Could go either way, depending on who turns up for each team. Jules will obviously be 15 minutes late, but if Burwell turns up then it could go the Lovers way. Also, it will be interesting to see what injury Joel Smith suffered last week as that could leave the Messy boys one experienced player down. What happened? Well, the pull came up and about 3 passes later, we realised that Joel hadn't moved from the endzone and was sitting there holding his ankle. Initial diagnosis from J-Ray: Torn archilles. And of course, we all know that Jason never makes a bad call in the middle on an Ultimate game. Don't we?

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Well, we think we'll leave it at that for today - this post has got long enough already. The decision to ban Passion has been made and the LD has made it very clear to everyone including the AFDA president that he won't be backing down no matter how tenuous the decision may be. As he says, "If BUDA, QUDA or the AFDA don't want that then they can find someone else to be their monkey rather than an actual League Director."

Yes - the BPL is in safe hands.

* As ever, this is not an official blog and carries no official endorsement. Plus all that usual guff about "the views of the author(s)" not necessarily being held by anyone else...

Draw!

As the wet season starts drawing to a close here at the Dojo Gardens, we find ourselves with very little time to spare from our weekend outdoor labours of pruning, trimming, raking, weeding and of course mowing. So, having edited the film into some semblance of a watchable sequence of events we're going to have to leave it pretty much at that for now.

Worthy of note before we press "play" was the debut of yet another fresh Kenshi this week, the youngest Dojo player ever to wear the #1 headband - a chap known only to us as Cupcake (although there are some who call him "Tom" - one for the Monty Python fans there, and yes, because you Python fans are all pedantic nerds, we know it was actually "Tim"). Cupcake can be seen running around as only youth can, and frequently wondering how the Dojo mark is so often and so easily broken. It's something we've been wondering for a long time as well...

Anyway, here's the film:





Okay, so at this point we should note that the game might have looked a bit scrappy, but the flashes of brilliance in there give some hint as to the intensity of the contest between the two teams which still share the top of the table, thanks to the 13-13 outcome of this round. Sadly, stand-in filmographer Mike Morgan ran out of DVDs or batteries or something just when things were starting to get really tense toward the end, so you'll have to take our word for it that the game escalated into a classic struggle that saw Dojo scoring the last goal (thanks to an outrageous Sean Flanagan hammer flat & hard into the safe hands of Matt Eastburn in the very back corner of the endzone) to secure the draw. All in all a titillating preview to what most believe will be this season's Grand Final matchup...

As usual, the Above&Beyond poll is ready for voting on the right, and this weekend due to tournament commitments we'll be accompanying UQ's big Julian Sacre on his private jet so we can interview him about our drawn game before he takes to the field at the Terrigal Towel event. More on that early next week.

Bob-a-Job with Pete Allen

Some people know Pete Allen as a young man capable of destroying the game of any frisbee team simply by tipping it to win. But we here at the Dojo know him as a mild-mannered student (not really sure what he's studying) who, unlike most other Gen-Y kids, earns his pocket money the old-fashioned way by doing odd jobs around the Dojo gardens.

Before he had to run off to lectures yesterday he spent the morning raking the pebbles of our meditation courtyard into patterns resembling waves breaking on a rocky shore, and when he'd finished we chatted for a while about our semifinal last week and the upcoming BPL Grand Final between his team - UQ Lovers - and Messy Bugs. Here's a sample of the insights Pete had to offer:

DojoMojo Blog: Beautiful work with the rake as usual, Pete. It's understandable that a man with your delicate touch finds using the power flick grip a little tricky sometimes... Now - let's firstly discuss our game last week. Try as we might, we just can't actually remember Lovers scoring 15 goals in that game. It's like you guys won without us really noticing! Can you explain that???

Pete Allen: I can’t really explain that win at all last week, the first half was pretty terrible on our part in terms of offense but the defense really kept us in the game, along with some dodgy offense from you guys as well... The second half is where we really got away with a few breaks, slowly building the lead. I’d like to think that the telling off from Buzz during one of the huddles struck a nerve with the whole team and made us play a heck of a lot better (I believe it was mainly directed at myself for multiple wayward short flicks at the start of the game *cough* flick powergrip sucks *cough*).

DMB: Yes, there was only 1 point in it for a long time there, but as the legs (and brains) of the kenshi started running out of steam the big plays started to be less and less successful. No doubt the many easy turnovers and errant hucks from the Dojo were a welcome gift?

PA: As unusual as it is to see Dojo turn the disc over it did happen a lot during the game. And yeah it was a little bit of a gift. Maybe this is why Dojo hasn’t won a semi-final this year. But that is the game of ultimate - you can have the best game ever one day and then not catch a disc the next. I reckon the main reason that can blamed for Dojo having a plethora of turnovers was that you warmed up. You should have stuck to the old faithful Dojo email warm-up.

DMB: Hmmm - well, that'll teach us for spending too much time at The Cultimate Opinion. And with that loss we've clocked up a hat-trick of semifinal losses for the Dojo this year. As much as it may not be in your best interests, is there anything in particular you think the kenshi need to work on to redress this situation?

PA: Losing a hat-trick of semi-finals is not ideal but when you keep playing UQ in the semis it is bound to keep happening. They don’t lose semi’s that often (or is it that Dojo doesn’t win semi’s - I’m not too sure). What I envision for next season is a semi-final where UQ doesn’t play Dojo and we end up with a Dojo vs. UQ final. That is what the people of Brisbane want to see. For you guys to pull this off though, you may have to think about getting some younger blood into the team sometime in the near future. It may hurt to do it, but then you’ll at least make sure the Dojo Way continues in the years to come.

DMB: Yes, well we've got some plans in motion on all of those fronts. And if only Dojo hadn't been handed a penalty forfeit earlier in the season then that dream of a Dojo v UQ final may indeed have been realised tonight... But no matter. Can we expect to see more of the "strong silent type" of play from Lovers in the big game tonight, or will you perhaps be letting your long game off the leash? It's only Wetnose guarding the Messy endzone, after all...

PA: Not quite sure what you mean by “strong silent type” of play, if you are referring to the improved short game we have this season and the fact that we don’t talk much then maybe we will see more of that this week, but it will be intermingled with the massive long shots we are capable of even if Julz decides to go to Sydney early (Wetnose doesn’t really phase us, even if he has become quite a force in the air). I’ll be doing my best to woo the opposition players into a conversation on the field before suddenly busting long.

DMB: Yep - as far as we're concerned, the "conversation fake" is the primary benefit of a classical education... And lastly, which player from each grand finalist team are you expecting to see something really spectacular from?

PA: My picks for plays of the game on Thursday are: from Messy - Silent George, who is freakishly fast across the ground, and maybe he’ll dive to take a spectacular goal or something; and from Lovers - Al Don will get a massive D to win the match. All in all if the game actually happens then it will be the most spectacular game you will witness this year.

DMB: Then let's hope it does! We'll certainly be at the fields with the video camera at the ready, hoping to see an epic struggle for end-of-year BPL supremacy. Thanks for the chat, Pete.

Secateurs and Beers with Julian Sacre

Yesterday, as we put down our gardening implements and wiped our brows after a long day of tending our rapidly-growing azaleas and black pines, we wandered back to our main Shoin via the bamboo grove with nothing in mind but a long, cold Yebisu beer. Rounding the corner we shouldn't have been the least bit surprised to encounter the unusually large silhouette of a steadily permbulating Julian Sacre.

Pleased to see him, but also keen to quench our thirst, we invited him up to our southern verandah for a drink and a chat about this week's much-anticipated (especially thanks to the rain delays) BPL semifinal matchup between DojoMojo and UQ Lovers. Here's a selection of the spiciest moments from our conversation:

DojoMojo Blog: Julz - who better to share a post-stroll, pre-game beer & a chat with than your immense self? Now - we see the only BUB tipper not actually involved in this weeks semi (Jangles) is backing Dojo to win. How does it feel going into the game as the underdog, despite Lovers' star-laden roster?

Julian Sacre: Its interesting that you choose to give out the underdog tag based on a sample size of 1. And that 1 is none other than Jangles! If we accept that he's representative of the Brisbane frisbee community then we're all in big trouble. But underdog or not, this so-called star-laden roster has been talked up in many circles from the beginning of the season, which I really don't think has been justified. If you compare the two UQ rosters there is very little separating those teams, and indeed the rest of the teams in this week's semis.

DMB: That may be very well be true, Julz. But then we also note that Pete Allen is backing Lovers, his own team. Sure - this is admirably faithful of him, but has he forgotten his uncanny knack of ruining a team's prospects simply by tipping it to win?

JS: I am backing Pete to put in a man of the match performance and reverse his tipping fortunes in the process. He took some huge grabs in last Monday's final squeezed between opposition defenders and is in top form. If he could only start using a power grip with his flick, he'd be unstoppable.

DMB: Well, he certainly says he's been reviewing footage of his flick and has some sort of devastating new move to unveil this week. At least we're hoping it's this week, or otherwise he's already unveiled it and nobody noticed... But now onto a man whose power-grip flicks we could all spend more time studying - Buzza. Who has been allocated the crucial job of escorting Mr Burwell to the fields?

JS: Buzz is so pumped for this game, he's already at the fields waiting. I drove through Annerley this morning and saw him throwing high 50m blades to himself. Rumour has it he was actually unavailable to play last Thursday (possibly due to your aptly timed 4:59pm intervention), so that storm may have been a really bad turn of luck for the kenshi.

DMB: Actually Julz, all our strategies rely entirely on Buzz being on the field - we'd be more lost without him than you! And speaking of key contributors, who do you think will make the biggest (successful) layout grab/D of the night? Not Andy Lankowski, presumably?

JS: Andy who? Nah... Dan Walls is the man.

DMB: "Andy who"? Perhaps three replays of Coopers' stunning layout attempt from our last game against your pink-shirted colleagues wasn't enough for you? And when it gets down to the semis it's a shame we can only video one game at a time. So what about the other semi? No doubt it'll be a tough tussle between the two Bug units, but which one do you reckon will still be standing at the end of the night?

JS: A 'tough tussle' alright. Based on recent history with those teams, we can only wonder whether those words might describe the game literally. If Wetnose calls a foul on Mat Ryan for breathing too loudly, we should all be on high alert. Assuming the game concludes in a manner that resembles a normal game of ultimate, I would expect Messy to come out on top. They've had a very consistent season and have a very experienced roster.

Hmmm, well then we'll leave the trash-talking of Liam and the Messy boys for next week (that's if they can get past their Slippry flipside tomorrow night!) - mostly as it would also implicate your teammate Stu Austin, and we wouldn't want to upset his delicate composure this close to a big game...

Another beer, Julz?

It's Japanese for "Rice"

Yes, that's right. It's no coincidence that a man of unstoppable determination such as today's guest has a surname more commonly used in the Dojo to describe our favourite source of carbohydrates - and that man is Alistair Don.

Whether it's Unagi-don, Yasai-don, Katsu-don or Tempura-don, there's no staple accompaniment of which we at the Dojo are more enamored than some perfectly steamed "Don". But just look at the video from our game against UQ Lovers last week and you'll see that Al himself remained ice cool throughout - throwing bladey swing passes and zipping the disc through "informally arranged" Dojo fences with a noticeable sense of detached abandon.

So after leaving nearly a full week for the air to clear we invited Al around for a chat on our Southern verandah, where a most pleasant view over our gardens can be had, especially late in the afternoon...

DojoMojo Blog: Good to have you here again, Al. Whilst we enjoy the reflections of the setting sun off our rocky-shore-style pond onto the needles of the black pines, let's consider our game from last Thursday. There was some very clinical Ultimate from Lovers in the first half, Al. Of course most of us know this season's Lovers as a team of big throwers and big catchers, but many mightn't have noticed just how much depth of handling ability your team has?

Al Don: Yeah it was a pretty good first half of the game last Thursday. The Lovers team this season is tall and certainly looking pretty good in terms of strike throwers and receivers. But along with that pretty much everyone on the team is more than capable of moving the disc around and maintaining possession... Most of the time at least. We did have a few unfortunate examples of how not to do just that later in the game.

DMB: Yes - it seemed like a little bit of miscommunication or lack of time as a team (or both) might have crept in there. But normally you wouldn't have to worry about these trivialities if you could stick with your normal gameplan, which we recall Julz describing as "letting Buzz look after the offence"... Have you organised for someone to finally get Dr. Burwell some driving lessons? Or found him a regular chauffeur?

AD: I've been offering to teach Buzz how to drive for years. Had a funny encounter with a certain South American lady [Al is referring to the longsuffering Mrs Burwell here, for those unfamiliar with the entomologist in question - DMB] in Indooroopilly Shoppingtown one Saturday last year after she'd found out that I'd made such an offer... But up until this point in time he hasn't actually taken me up on it. So the status quo remains and I'll continue providing a limited chauffeur service for Brisbane Ultimate's man most knowledgeable about the local insect life.

DMB: Well that does sound rather annoying Al, especially given the lengthy drive between Chez Burwell and the AJFC fields. Must've also been annoying for the Dojo to finally take your very own strategic advice (i.e. just huck it) and put it into use against your own team...?

AD: Annoying? Probably not the word I'd choose first. Like I said in the huddle at the end of the game I was absolutely gutted that we managed to throw away a 12-9 lead, give up 5 straight points and go on to lose 14-12. But the way you went about doing it was actually pretty exciting. The first half of the game you went for quite a conservative offence, completing a lot of passes, recycling the disc well but giving up enough turns to enable us to get the jump on you and take the lead. Second half you came out, backed yourself to take some more of the big shots you're capable of on offence and kept up enough mongrel on your defence to keep on getting the turns you needed.

DMB: Yep - it certainly felt like the right way to be playing at the time. Any stand-out moments from the game stick in your memory (it's okay to use the video as a refresher...)?

AD: Dan Walls...

Hmmm, yep - Dan Walls... Think he might have scored 4 of 5 of that last ditch run for the game. A couple of big grabs over a couple of our big defensive receivers. We just didn't have an answer for it on the night. Great to see him back in the game and playing like he'd never left it.

DMB: It sure is, especially as he brings our resident cinematographer to the field with him every week as well...! Okay - lastly, we're now more than halfway through the season. How do you reckon the finals favourites are shaping up, and out of the non-Grand-Finalists, who do you think should be providing the video commentary in the big game?

AD: Finals at this stage are a tough call with, for my money, no team set apart from the pack of the top 4, even top 5 teams. I still think that passion have a chance to put together enough wins to make it to the Semis. Both buggers teams are playing solid ultimate and always get better when it comes down to the pointy end of the season. While the Lovers haven't really been managing to put it together for whole games for a large part of this season I think that we've got the roster to do the job and are going to feature on finals nights. And if the Dojo maintain the intensity you showed last week I think that you're the other team to beat. Still reckon we're going to be looking at a Lovers v Dojo final...

Commentators for the night? Personally I'd love to see Messrs Sean Flanagan and Tony Ross, two of my favourite Brisbane Ultimate stalwarts, get just a little boozed, take the mic and heckle like there's no tomorrow.

DMB: Well, that would certainly keep our post-production crew busy for weeks bleeping out half the commentary for general consumption, but it'd be worth it... And great to hear your own post-game comments as usual, Al. Now, how about some nice steamed rice?

Preview From the Bamboo Grove

Most people would agree that having Wetnose as the most recent DojoMojo Blog interviewee for 10 days is long enough. Many would also note that seeing the Dojo anywhere near the bottom of the BUB blog list (presently occupied as usual by the Buggers blog) is a situation needing immediate rectification.

As it happened, our usual posting pattern was interrupted last week by a non-starting game against a forfeiting Rawhide crew. No game played, no video recorded, no post-game discussion to be had - what to do? And the answer of course was to be found wandering around the Dojo bamboo grove on a Monday afternoon as usual - big Julian Sacre.

So we strolled together for a while, chatting off the cuff about the work of Sun Tzu, and instead of analysing a previous encounter we contemplated the match-ups ahead for our respective teams in BPL Round 6 this week. Here's an excerpt from the conversation:

DojoMojo Blog: Julz - I see you're tipping a Slippry win over Dojo in Round 6. Why is that?

Julian Sacre: Well despite the spanking you gave them earlier in the season, I think they've really got their game together since then. They were quite impressive with a close win over us last week, they have a lot of depth and consistency across their roster and of course, the gun player in Mike. I think they're the more formidable of the 2 Buggers squads this season and the team to beat this league.

DMB: That's a big call Julz, especially when you consider that Pete Allen has put the kiss of death on the Slippry team by tipping them this week... But okay then - if they're such a threat, let's say you were asked to come up with a couple of strategies to take the Slippry Bug wearing the #1 shirt out of the game on O and D. What would those strategies be?

JS: Not a new strategy by any means, but I think putting maximum pressure on the gun throwers who will put it to him is the way to go. Mike will always do his thing in the endzone and there's not much you can do about it, but you can definitely do your best to shut down the strike handlers.

DMB: Our thoughts exactly. Now - who are you tipping to top the Dojo's "Above & Beyond" voting for this round, and why?

JS: Dan Walls - MVP for a reason.

DMB: There you go Dan - another member of the ever-expanding Walls fan club. And lastly Julz, you're playing the other Bug team this week, and the tips on BUB are going each way. How do you plan on following in the Dojo's footsteps and beating Messy?

JS: Going either way? Pretty sure only Wetnose and Will Churchill have gone for Messy so far. Wetnose is hardly an unbiased tip and Churchill... well... enough said. Last time we played Messy it was a tied game, however given that we were down 8-3 at half and it was the first time the new-look Lovers were playing together, I'm pretty confident we can come out ahead tonight. After much pondering of strategy over several visits to the bamboo grove this week, I believe that hard running on D will be required to generate blocks. Buzz will then take care of the offence. Easy.

DMB: Sounds like you've got it all worked out Julz. Thanks for the chat.

Lessons in Foul Calling

It's been a while since DojoMojo defeated a full-strength Messy Bugs lineup, but Round 4 of the current BPL season saw the Dojo return to form and roll in a pretty straightforward 15-10 victory against the old Bug foes.

[To those that have complained about this post being too long in the making we do extend our apologies - normal service will be resumed shortly, and with Mixed Nationals happening over the weekend we figured few would notice...]

So - what to say about the game? Well - on reviewing the footage it has to be said that there were only very few flashes of real high-quality play (and several instances of the opposite...). Most of the 80 minutes was spent in the conventional manner against this tough Bugs team - struggling for psychological, rather than physical superiority. Just witness the finals coverage from last season to see how normally-great players (and even Julian Sacre) can crumble under the mental pressure of the red-shirted Bugs.

But not the Dojo. At least not this week... Cheeks were turned and implosions were avoided as the goals just kept on being caught (barring the odd Wetnose block). To make up for the slightly lower-than-usual spectacle of athleticism that last week's game was, we've taken a few editing liberties to ramp up the controversy a bit instead. The handy film work was as usual done by Marijke Walls, who as you'll hear is able to carry out a conversation about home decorating and film a game of Ultimate simultaneously. Looking forward to receiving the comments on this one:



If the title of this post didn't make sense before then presumably it does now? Some interesting exchanges there, especially the sideline comments from J-Ray and the response from Stefan, but most were resolved in the well-spirited manner typical of BPL play. In fact all this video coverage has got us thinking that knowing the world may be watching is a sure way to keep the Spirit bar high.

We couldn't resist scrutinising at least one Wetnose call either - hopefully he'll drop by shortly to share some of his own views on the game.

And that'll have to be it for now. To the right you can see that we've devised a new voting system that we're calling "Above & Beyond". It's similar to the old MVP system, but it differs in that it rewards individuals for exceeding their own standard of play, rather than that of their teammates. So vote for whoever you thought had a cracking game, regardless of whether they were the best on the field or not...

Will Churchill and the Sea of Tranquility

With the night sky over the Dojo's wooden garden pavilions illuminated by a full moon these past few nights, we knew that Will Churchill (known to BUB readers as will-i-am) would drop by for an evening of serene moon viewing. No doubt it comes as a surprise to many that Will's lunophilia is of a purely celestial, rather than puerile nature, but there you go.

While we sat by the edge of our reed-lined pond observing the reflections in the water we delved into a discussion on our game last week and some of the big issues surrounding the Brisbane Premier League right now. The conversation went something like this:

DojoMojoBlog: Will, as usual it's a delight to spend a quiet evening composing lunar haiku and discussing the finer points of Ultimate with you. I'm sure you'd agree it was a tough game for the new-look Passion crew last week. It seemed like your team (which now appears to consist of mostly young/inexperienced guys) ran hard early but quickly lost interest once the Dojo got its game together and started crunching the goals in?

Will Churchill: I do agree Steve. What made Passion a killer unit last season was that our team had a lot of depth once the disc got past Cheeseburger and Buzz so we'd keep moving and score. Albeit that we did have a tendency to become complacent with our wins and let some games slip out from under us (ie: losing to Dojo when you had 6 players was a real wake up call).

At the moment I see it that Passion has gone back to square 2 (never 1). When we started with ole Bretty Matzuka and Pottsy the rest of the team was greener than a fresh recruit being sent to war, or an over ripe cucumber. For the immediate future at least I see the Passion working to rebuild our strength and skill base and come next season, with the return of some of our players, we will be a force of reckoning once more.

DMB: Sounds ominous! Speaking of which, any Johnny-Mac-special grillings between games this week? Or maybe you'll be rolling out some new sort of half-time drill?

WC: Funnily, no. There was no grilling this week, the loss hit the team in a pinching sort of way and being the resilient youth we are we shall bounce back (great layout by the way, how's the... entire upper half of your body? Bouncing back? .... that was cheeky I admit :)

Actually, Johnny has taken the backseat for this season opting to lend his experience leading teams to a new player who is up to the role of challenging himself to manage the Passion. Nat (never Nate) Litzow has taken the reins so far and is doing a swell job. John is around as an encyclopedia of Ultimate related knowledge and strategy on field but the man running us is Nathan.

DMB: "Manage the Passion", eh? That can't be easy with a team of undergrads. Okay - here's a hypothetical: If you could poach one player from any other team in the league to come over and bolster the Passion roster, who would it be and why (don't be boring and say Mike Nield)?

WC: Well straight out the window are Buggers players. A leopard doesn't change its spots and a crustacean will never be a cool creature like a Unicorn or a Cherub that the club so diligently bases itself around. So I'm left with 3 teams to choose from. I'd probably grab the 'Big Guy' Julian Sacre and bring him home to momma. The man is a unit on the field and a difficult player to stop. Couple with Jmac and there is a game winning deal there.

(Let it be known though that as boundless as my love for the big guy is I still want it public knowledge about how I took Julian to school and tore down a contested disc in the air against him in the YUFL final on Monday. Honestly, I was awesome.)

DMB: Happy to take your word for it, Will. Perhaps Julz will like to contribute his thoughts via one of his legendary post comments...? And speaking of defectors like him, we've been hearing rumours that all those guys betrayed their Passion roots between seasons simply because Al Don promised them nice shirts. Any truth in that?

WC: UQ is pulling itself under a single banner starting this weekend at Mixed Nationals and we shall be touting our bitchin' new colours and strips. The plan at the moment is to integrate these strips into our 2 YUFL teams (3 come next year if everything goes ahead) and then try to garb the BPL and womens team in the same. It'll be some work but we're confident enough that the price is right and we have instilled the right kind of pride and fellowship in the club that such a move would work.

As for how Al is getting credit for this I don't know. Props go out to Gref Goranson for his l33t photoshop skillz and design f1air. As a preview, it might be a downer to see another dark team around Brisbane but I ask why the Buggers are red instead of the more aquine blue and black of their aquatic environs? That's just n00bish (ok, enough of the leet speak).

DMB: Whoa - we weren't really following much of that Will, but hopefully those "leet speakers" out there were, whoever they are. We here at the Dojo pride ourselves not only on our oldskool (is that leet?) style but even moreso on our extensive merchandise range. Surely a man with your unusual perspective on life can suggest some interesting additions (including to this blog)?

WC: Sweatbannds! Frisbee players don't wear enough sweatbands. Heck, I've played with 4 one game and it wasn't enough! That and caps, no not the crappy GAIA caps that you shead a tear over for lost potential. TRUCKER CAPS! The line outside my house of people wanting to borrow my Decepticon Cap is nothing short of the attention that the self referencing egotistical all round winner I am deserves (yes, I just said that). Caps and sweatbands baby - that's a money maker (coming to a UQ fashion outlet near you).

As for other things... you guys could really use a unicorn in the zen garden here. But you'll need a dozen stableboys or so. There is a price that comes with magical creatures. But you can at least sell it for $5 a bag.

DMB: Not quite sure what it is we'd be selling for $5 a bag, Will, but you'll be glad to know that there are already Dojo caps in existence (circa 2004 Nationals), and headbands too. They just don't get a lot of use these days, now that we're a primarily night-time team...

Anyway, enough about Ultimate - let's get back to those haiku. Thanks for the chat, Will.

Al and Julz Spin the Yundo

Alistair Don and Julian Sacre were deep in discussion about the geomantic importance of a strong Blue Dragon when we joined them under the deep eaves of the Dojo garden's Eastern Gate on Monday afternoon. Naturally, they weren't inclined to give away too much about how their interest in Feng Shui informs their zone D strategies, but they were more than happy to have a bit of a Q&A session about our game last week and indulge in some idle conjecture about the season ahead.

Here's what we discussed whilst enjoying the outlook and the melodic birdsong:

DojoMojo Blog: Julz, we know how much you enjoy a wander around our gardens between games, but Al - we had no idea you shared his enthusiasm. It's a pleasure to have you both here. Let's briefly discuss the game last week. Despite the score being very close for most of the game, in retrospect it never looked like the result would be anything other than a Lovers win. What do you think was the most critical difference between the teams?

Julian Sacre: Well, as you say there wasn’t much in it. I think it came down to taking the right options with the disc in hand. I recall Dojo forcing a few throws close to the endzone which weren’t really on.

I also think the reason why a Lovers win seemed inevitable was because we seemed to have a few more scoring options with the hucking and break-side throws of aL and Buzz combining with receivers like Will Larkin and Gref.

Al Don: I think there's a couple of critical differences between the teams. The choice of sky blue shirts for the lovers is probably the most important of those though. A serene feeling comes over you when you pull one on and I think that transferred itself pretty well into an approach to the game that helped us to stay calm and take the opportunities presented at the same time as not stressing too much over the numerous turns that occured during the first half of the game.

DMB: Hmmm - now your interest in Blue Dragons is becoming clearer, Al. It also seemed that your receivers were pulling down the hucks with ease most of the night, and yet Dojo had to rely primarily on Dan Walls doing something spectacular/silly/dangerous to make the long throws stick. How much of this do you put down to differences in defensive pressure?

AD: Yeah - I was pretty happy with the defensive pressure we managed to bring out last Thursday. The Lovers this season, with a couple of notable exceptions, are young and hungry for anything they can pull down on defence or offence. One of the advantages of playing a team full of students is that I think they really are lacking a little on the nutrition side of things. So when I told them to get out and get hungry on D some of them may have taken that a bit literally, thinking perhaps that some of the Dojo discs may have been weighed down with something edible. Tasty little morsels of sushi perhaps?

JS: Mmmm - sushi. But seriously, Dan Walls had an incredible game. Easy to see why he scored the MVP title from last season of BPL.

I think the defence did make a big difference. When Dojo (ie: Dan) did get some effective connections with long cuts to the endzone, Lovers switched to a straight-up force and I think this was enough to put a little bit of extra pressure on those hucks.

DMB: Okay - let's cut to the chase then. This new roster - Al claims it just "sort of happened", but this mass migration to Lovers seems about as coincidental as the fact that there are 24 stubbies in a carton and 24 hours in a day. Just what inducements did Al offer in building this new UQ super team?

AD: Inducements? Nothing more than the offer to play on a team with the potential for more beards. Who would have thought that would be as attractive an offer as it seems to have been?

JS: I'm not at liberty to say. aL put a clause in our new contracts that forbids us from speaking publicly about it.

DMB: All very strange. Beards? Contracts? And what about these rumoured new shirts? Will you be sharing with Passion (we all know they need some help)? What do you say about the speculation that fluoro orange may be the new UQ colour?

JS: Can’t say, sorry Sensei. We’ve been designing them for at least the last 8 or 9 years. But I shouldn’t even be talking about them - they’re nowhere near ready.

AD: Well I can safely put that rumour to bed right now. I at least would rather play nude than shell out for a fluoro orange team uniform. And if it comes down to it then thats what i'll be arguing for...

DMB: Let's all hope sanity prevails then. Perhaps yellow Hypercolour? So lastly, it's early in the season and most team rosters (not least your own) have had a big shakeup. But assuming you'd rate yourselves as Grand Final contenders, which other team do you expect to see at the other end of the field come December 11th, and why?

AD: It's always hard to write off any team with a certain lanky Australian rep in the mix but I think thats exactly what I'm going to do here. For the first time in my somewhat unreliable memory, there will be no Buggers team in action on finals night. My money's on a Lovers v Dojo final. After a few seasons now where the Dojo have started strong and looked to be the team to beat I think they're actually going to go close to putting it together for an entire season this time round. The injection of a few strike throwers from the depths of history combined with a bit more of the mongrel that players like Stefan exhibit will see the Dojo cruise through most of the season, win a semi and then go on to make a spectacle of it for the crowd in the final. I'll even go as far as to predict a 14-12 Lovers comeback victory...

JS: Yep - when we line up on grand final night, I expect to be standing opposite the kenshi… of course!

DMB: Amen to that. Al, Julz, thanks for your time.

When the Batteries Go Flat...

We've been putting off writing about last Thursday's game against the all-new UQ Lovers team for a few days now, partly due to other pressing matters but primarily out of denial.

You see, just how Dojo lost to this all-star UQ team isn't exactly clear upon first examination. The score was pretty close throughout, the teams pretty much evenly matched on a pound-for-pound talent basis, but somehow the formely-maroon-clad, temporarily-in-light-blue and soon-to-be-in-who-knows-what UQ lads simply managed to quietly and inexorably pull away from a mildly implosive Dojo team.

Perhaps the scars on every bony surface of this writer (no doubt Dan Walls is still festooned with bruises as well) are a clue to how things seemed to fade away toward the end of the game. Whereas the Lovers played a smooth, full-field game all night, it seemed that the Dojo players were constantly forcing themselves to do something special to score goals or even just retain possession. As the game wore on, coming up with something brilliant every point proved more and more difficult and eventually the inevitable just sort of happened...

But let's not sell the game short - there was some absolutely first-rate play from both sides throughout the night. From UQ it was mostly sweet, sweet long throws from Buzz and Al into the wide-open hands of Big Julz or Gref, and from Dojo it was mostly Dan Walls putting his body in danger catching heavily contested discs and going horizontal to save an overly-ambitious Dan B throw for goal.

Given that the kenshi spent most of last season learning to overcome this self-defeating style, it's a little disappointing to see it re-emerge so soon. But no matter - it will only be a matter of time before the Dojo style adapts to the return of old guns Ryan Black and Andy McLean and the rhythm returns. For now, let's just say that next week's opponents UQ Passion can expect to have their deep defences severely tested...

We're also pleased to advise that Big Julian Sacre is out strolling the Dojo bamboo grove at the moment, and today he appears to have some colleagues with him. We'd better rush out to catch them by the Eastern Gate for a quick chat about last week's game and the season ahead.

In the meantime, our usual MVP poll is to the right, and the MVP standings have been updated below. Vote for as many players as you think deserve it!

(Not Quite) Live and Exclusive

Here it is at last - the Grand Final from BPL Season 2 2008 between Messy Bugs and UQ Passion.

Some will already know the outcome of the game, but for the sake of the story here we're going to leave that until the end. So let's set the scene:

A vast crowd had assembled on the sideline of the centrally-located field, set up specially for the occasion with extra space for beer drinking and even a nice little table with cupcakes (courtesy of Beth Rougier, and possibly friends, as far as we're aware). People had come from all over Brisbane to see two teams packed to the rafters with tall timber and disc-slinging sharpshooters fight it out for the title, and here's how it got underway:



UQ seemed nervy, and starting every point on offence gave them little time to set up their defensive strategy of getting Big Jules in Jason's face and having Johnny Mac chase Mike all over the field. On the contrary, Messy were cruising along with quick counters whenever they got the turnover. We pick up the action again with the Messy boys going into a huddle when UQ called a much-needed momentum timeout:



As the game went into halftime things were looking, well, grim for the men in pink (and a bit of white on this occasion). The commentary team kept on drinking though, becoming more & more loquacious as the game wore on. We hit the field to get some comments from a few local legends of the game, and here's what they had to say:



So, a unanimous verdict against UQ making any sort of comeback. But would they? Could they find the intensity that saw them overcome Dojo in the semi? The second half was about to get underway:



Hmmm - not looking good for the Passion boys, but from a Bug perspective the game was going completely to plan. The ever-reliable Jason-to-Mike connections were complemented by smooth flow with everyone on the field involved in every point. Things started getting a bit sloppy toward the end with Messy knowing they had it in the bag and UQ getting more and more desperate to score quickly, and this produced several multi-turnover points of the sort we don't expect to see in a regular BPL game, let alone the Final.

But we'd all come this far with it, so we decided to stick around to the bitter end:



Okay, not quite the bitter end. With all those stoppages and a few gratuitous interviews with members of the audience we found ourselves running out of mini-DVDs with a couple of points still to play... But no matter - the blowout win to Messy was never in doubt and no matter what Dan Young will tell you about UQ finally playing some decent ultimate in the dying moments the whole thing ended pretty anticlimactically. Okay - Wetnose's layout goal for the win was reasonably watchable. Much more so than Will Churchill's outrageously unnecessary (and unsuccessful) airborne bid from earlier in the game...

So there you go. From recollection the final score was something like 18-9, and for us it seemed that the biggest difference between the two teams was consistency on the night. The Messy boys bring the exact same game (not to mention pretty much the exact same roster) to the field every week and they execute their well-known gameplan with the same effectiveness game in, game out. No other team in the league seems able to do this, and it's hard to imagine Messy's reign coming to an end any time soon unless the other teams can match their reliability. If only Mike would update their blog from time to time...

But the best news of all is that BPL Season 3 starts up THIS THURSDAY NIGHT under the iron-fisted leadership of new LD Stu Austin. Early signs indicate that Stu will be running the league strictly on a need-to-know basis with a similarly dictatorial style to his predecessor Jon Good. Coverage here on the DojoMojo Blog will be uninterrupted, of course...

Prime Time Ultimate with Big Jules

Something very few people know about Julian Sacre is that he loves nothing more than taking a stroll around the DojoMojo bamboo grove on a Monday afternoon. Apparently it's during the time he spends there, alone with his thoughts of leaping high and running long, that he hones his unique and devastating mind-over-body approach. We joined him on his meditative perambulations yesterday to contemplate and discuss last week's SemiFinal between our two great teams.

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...

Eight Was Too Many...

DojoMojo's run from nowhere to Premiership contenders came to an end on Thursday night against a very charged UQ Passion. Seems beating them with six last time was akin to beating a rather large nest of wasps with a flaming stick...

But all credit to the boys in pink - they got stuck into the game VERY hard and capitalised on early Dojo errors, of which there were several (more on that shortly). Perhaps UQ's masterstroke was sending home their captain Johnny Mac with a rolled ankle just before the start of the game, giving Dojo about 5 minutes of false security before Buzz "The Cornerstone of Queensland Ultimate" Burwell arrived to put things back in serious doubt, just moments before Game On was called.

Thankfully Marijke Walls (you're a lucky man, Dan) was on hand to film some of the action for us, and on reviewing the footage a pretty sorry tale emerged of a stagnant, hammer-dependent Dojo offence struggling to make yardage against a (frequently double-teaming but rarely called) UQ puppy/fence zone. This first video exemplifies just how hard Dojo had to work just to get the frisbee anywhere near UQ's endzone:


44 passes! And of course we weren't helped by a vast number of unforced errors.

Some of these I'm-okay-you're-okay establishments don't like to single out individuals for either praise or punishment, but here at the Dojo we take a more "traditional" approach a-la John Kreese. Whilst watching the video of the game, we couldn't help noticing that one player had more turnovers than the rest of the team combined, and this player was Lee "McLovin" O'Dwyer. We had considerable pleasure in producing this little compilation of Lee gold:


Great grab by Dan Walls at the end there - seemed unfair not to include that one... But at least Lee does it with style, right? More mojo than dojo, and obviously not big on reading emails. For this writer the funniest bit is Coopers shrugging his shoulders at 1:02... Not sure why there's no sound, but things rarely work properly the first time.

There's no denying however that the boys with the worst shirts in the league (kind of like musk sticks, and even worse when combined with the apparently fashionable white shorts) deserved to win through to the Final. Burwell of course generated most of the play around the disc, but everyone was involved around the middle of the field and the defensive intensity was high all over. It certainly seemed that the zone D suited the style of the UQ yoofs much better that their man-plus-one from last time around, and they seemed very successful at stopping the Dojo developing any real flow.

On offence they were simply safer than the Dojo, with very few risky options (this writer only recalls one long shot all night) and they always had the single-malt smoothness of Buzz's break throws to call on under pressure. Here's how easy they made it look at times:



So that's it for the season. Next week UQ Passion take on Messy Bugs in the Final and it's going to be a cracker. Will big Jules take his A-game to Brisbane's "dominant player at the moment" Mike Neild? Will Buzz and Jason spend all night trying to out-huck each other? Will John's ankle be the right way around again, and will Wetnose really wear a mankini? And what feats will the other 20-or-so guys pull out in the big game? Perhaps someone will make us an offer we can't refuse to film the action...

There's one final MVP poll on the right (voting for multiple players is fine as usual), but the outcome will have no bearing on the fact that this season's MVP winner is Matt Eastburn. Matt can expect his fabulous prize to arrive about the same time the tracksuit he won for the inaugral Dojo blocks comp back in 2004 does...