Things Chimay Will Make You Say

You know something we've realised lately? Reading descriptions of frisbee games really isn't very interesting. In fact, unless you were there and/or you get a mention in the article itself then you'd have to wonder if the few minutes that you might spend reading a game review wouldn't really be better invested in, oh, let's see - making some homemade hollandaise sauce, planning your trip to a farmers' market on the weekend, or just taking out the rubbish.

So this week we're saying nothing about the game against MBB last Thursday night, other than the obvious facts that it happened and Dojo lost.

Okay, we might say that the expected Burwell-to-Neild combo didn't bore us to tears as we'd been afraid it would. In fact early on it was more the Burwell-to-Chadwick connection that was taking some kenshi by surprise (ie whoa Buzz has the disc and some tallish guy is running long WTF!). We might also add that the game was 8-3 at half and finished 15-10, meaning the Dojo at least managed to trade the second half despite some pretty wacky options going to ground in the face of a virtually mistake-free Bug performance.

But that's enough of the tedious details of what was just another brick in the BPL Season 2 2010 wall. What we know from the Google stats (and stats, as we heard today, will confess to anything if you torture them for long enough) is that the readers of this blog care little for quality reportage and in-depth match analysis. Juicy BPL scandal is the key here, and thankfully when there's a controversy on the boil in BPL the Dojo is nearly always involved.

Onto the subject of Chris Cunliffe then. Chris, as many will know, is a bit of a gun frisbee player. Turns out that he's been injured for a while (2 years since his last BPL appearance, apparently), and that he's just managed to get himself fit enough to go for a run on Thursday nights. The thing is though - Chris had signed to play Cobras for the remainder of the season (he's young and is entitled to make mistakes), and he needed to play every remaining BPL round in order to be eligible to play in the finals (for reasons we're not about to elaborate upon here). Sadly for the Cobras, their opposition, those mankini-wearing Slamtowners, couldn't get 7 guys to make the trip from the GC and forfeited the game, leaving Chris in an awkward jam. Oh baby - you know where this is going, don't you...

So of course it's Dojo v Bugs. Which means the team some (hi Mike) consider to be the "villains" of the BPL and always shortest of numbers on the night, was up against the team that also happens to be home to our esteemed LD, who couldn't agree more wholeheartedly with Mike vis-a-vis the Dojo's villain status... Anyway, short story is that Chris has now taken up permanent residence at the Dojo, much to the detriment of the Cobras and much to the annoyance of an LD who has long since tired of these sorts of eligibility quandaries (not to mention Dojo opportunism). But don't get too upset just yet Wetnose - Chris is still a shadow of his former self and probably won't be back to his full vertical leap or maximum speed until the semifinals get underway...

Too much? Let us know in the comments if you'd like more of this sort of Courier-Mail gossip column stuff, or if a return to the strictly sporting style of the majority of our first hundred-and-one posts was more to your liking. Or maybe just videos without any words at all...

Bear Market Blogging

Seems that most of the BPL blogging community is in hibernation this week (we really hang out for those Power Rankings, Spaz), with the one notable exception of the ever-friendly & lighthearted Heroes media outlet. Okay, so maybe no-one but the Heroes themselves cares that their training has been re-scheduled, and perhaps that's something that might be better communicated via team email rather than worldwide blog post, but nonetheless Carl did manage to put in a trailblazing BPL blogging effort a few posts back... He even had time to grumble about the crumble of the BPL fields - couldn't agree more, Carl.

Hmmm... You know how when you read a Jeremy Clarkson article in the paper he spends at least the first 500 words rambling on about something totally unrelated to the subject of his review? Well we'd been hoping to adopt a similar approach with this post, picking up on shreds of gossip and innuendo from the many other BPL press agencies out there and building some sort of LD-annoying controversy out of it. But reading back over what we've written it appears that we've accidentally succeeded in building a reasonable word count out of very little material, and wouldn't be the least bit surprised if most readers have already clicked away to some of the much more interesting content the internet has to offer... Hi Lee.

Oh okay, let's talk briefly about the game against Heroes last Thursday night. Yes, Sensei C appeared to be in dire need of some laser eye surgery, flailing around for a spinning white blur on several occasions. Too much time staring at the "New Post" screen on the Dojo blog perhaps??? Otherwise it was pretty much the usual situation against Heroes - Dojo turn up expecting an easy win (thankfully with a team this week), then spend the first half doing some lazy trading, lurch into halftime with a dodgy 8-6 (or was it 8-7?) lead and finally decide that games against Heroes need to be won in exactly the same way as against any other BPL team i.e. significant effort and commitment required. So with socks pulled up and appropriate exertion applied the kenshi roll through the second half to a 15-8 win.

Heroes have some useful-looking new recruits this season, and with Matt Boevink now in an on-field Captain-Coach role, they should see some significant improvement in depth of ability and availability of multiple options. However having said that, every second pass is still going to Jangles, and relying on a key player like that is never good for any team. Just look what happened to the Bugs without Mike last season...

Sorry couldn't resist. But hey, if you're going to be so tactless as to advertise yourselves as "Brisbane's current Premier Ultimate Frisbee Team" (which might need a re-write to bring it up to date BTW) you really are asking for trouble...

The Above&Beyond poll is updated above right for a fresh round of voting....

Ultimate Speed Dating

Two points was all it took. Even for the least "Dojo Way" player in the entire BPL...

Due to the absence of pretty much all of the kenshi last night, each and every Bug got the chance to enjoy that most forbidden of all guilty Bugger pleasures (and one assumes there are many...) - to run with the Dojo. As the night progressed, everyone from Special G to Tony Ross spent two or three precious points breathing the rare air of the Dojo's nonlinear, anti-hierarchical structure - and it wasn't hard to tell that it felt good.

And so it was that even the #1 Bug found himself echoing the sentiments of Oscar Wilde, who famously said he could "resist anything other than temptation". It was only a momentary aberration, but no sooner did Mike catch a disc 30m out from the Bug endzone than without even stopping to think he let fly a vintage Dojo hammer for a breakside goal in the front corner of the endzone. Feels good, doesn't it?

Okay sure, so he might have followed that up by saying that he's "more likely to play for Heroes than for Dojo", but that's fine by us. This writer is more likely to spend his Thursday nights drinking a nice cold beer than playing for the Buggers, and it's enough just to know that that one little souvenir of Dojo escapism will stay with Mike forever...

Anyway, that's about enough storytelling for now. During the game we'd been planning a fantastic tale about how the Dojo beat Bugs with only 5 players (it was actually looking entirely likely that there might be a Dojo win for most of the game), topping our current record of being the only team to ever win a BPL match with only 6 players. Sadly however, that's a story that will have to remain untold for now (of course it also would have only been true in what we thought at the time to be a hilariously quoted-out-of-context fashion anyway).

Pretty soon we'll get around to naming last season's A&B winner, and to getting this season's voting underway...

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Sometimes a draw can feel like a win, but last Thursday against the Moreton Bay Bugger outfit our 11-11 draw felt well & truly like a loss.

Actually it was a bit more complicated than that, as the Bugs managed to get ahead by a couple in the first half through their standard combo of quick, sharp disc movement and, when things get static, throwing any old thing in the vague direction of Mr Neild. After half a dozen points of this sort of carry-on, Leon McIntyre made himself very clear during the break between points that he wasn't going to stand for it any more. Some might find this a little bit surprising, but Leon has quite the knack for delivering a rousing gee-up talk, and the assembled Kenshi took note...

Before we continue the story, let's intersperse it with some video coming to us once again courtesy of the one & only Mrs Marijke Walls. We've cut the footage into three segments not with any intent to tell a story in three parts, but in actual fact the game played out pretty much that way. The highlights of the first part, with the Bugs inching ahead, run thus:



The score had run away to 6-4 in favour of MBB before the Dojo decided that a change of strategy would be necessary. And before you could say "Man D" the Kenshi had got themselves out in front with an unanswered 5-goal streak, including taking half 8-6.



All looking pretty good for the Dojo, but as ever the Bugs weren't about to give up and as the time cap loomed they had managed to even the scores 10-10. Everyone knew there couldn't be much time left, and as it happened the only person who actually knew exactly how much time was left was one Mr Tim Ferguson (making his big BPL comeback this season with MBB) who, in his inimitable style, had managed to secure whatever timing device was being used in lieu of the BPL's standard issue but apparently broken alarm clocks.

You can see where this is headed. Amazingly, the Dojo managed to score the next goal with "just two seconds" left on the clock, meaning there would still be time for one more last point! Of course, there's every chance that this was in fact true - we'll just have to take Ferg's ever-reliable word for it. It's also true that this minor timing incident needn't have had any bearing at all on the outcome of the game, as you'll see in this last clip:



Yes, it really is time for the nice people at QUDA to come good with some new video equipment for our humble media outlet. We're not about to describe what happened during those moments where our equipment failed us, but it's clear enough from the end of the film that the Bugs were able to move the disc back down the field for an unlikely and, from a Dojo perspective, highly unsatisfying conclusion.

Ah well - but how about that h-u-g-e block from Pete Allen on Mike to get the vital turnover in the last point?! Sadly it's beyond our capabilities (and quite possibly even beyond our software) to show that big moment zoomed-in or in slow-mo, despite our best efforts. All we can do is to note that Pete definitely saved his best for last, and that's after a game of standout play marking or being marked by Queensland's only Dingoes player.

Big games were also had by Ryan Black, Sean Flanagan, Jon Good and Firestormer Coops, who was also involved (entirely blamelessly) in the night's second-biggest fail (and there were more than a few) where the Sensei completely misread Coops' beautifully placed huck for what should have been a goal... Thankfully Marijke was saving battery power at the time and didn't have the camera running.

So there you go - it was the Dojo's many missed opportunities, rather than any single event, that led to an unsavoury draw. Plenty of room for improvement next time round... Above&Beyond poll ready to roll on the right.

Out the Back with Stefan Rappazzo

A quick look outside at the brilliant sky this morning was all the inspiration we needed to decide it was time to load up the Dojo combi van. So with our pre-dawn kendo practice finished we set out for Slamtown, that famous fantasy land where ladies in golden bikinis pay for your parking and Ultimate players wear orange shorts.

Of course, there's always plenty of time to sit out the back at D-bah, waiting for the next set to come through. And it was in precisely those moments of sundrenched calm that we turned to Stefan Rappazzo, the don of Gold Coast Ultimate, for some reflection on last week's match between DojoMojo and his Slamtown Flatball Club:

DojoMojo Blog: Spaz - thanks for taking a sickie and joining me for a surf & a chat. After the late cancellation of our planned pre-season clash, that first game between the new-look Dojo and the largely ex-Dojo Slamtown FC teams was a long time in the making. How do you think it lived up to all that anticipation?

Stefan Rappazzo: Well, poorly from a GC point of view. It would have been great to have played ya in the preseason as the SFC is very much relying on developing some chemistry together, and there is really no other way of getting that done than getting more games played together. The Dojo were good on the night, and I think some of the lads that are a bit newer to the competition may have been a bit rattled by the pregame banter whilst SFC were warming up, and the Dojo were excelling at their usual pregame rituals.

DMB: Ah yes. In fact I spent most of my pre-game moments pestering Becky to shoot that video for us (thanks again Becky). I noticed a second video camera in use on the sidelines - can we be expecting some footage with more of a Slamtown focus to be popping up on the SFC blog soon?

SR: Video is something we are only starting to experiment with, and in all honesty our footage from the other night will not likely make it to blog, but we're hoping that future games will begin to find their way online. I've always been a fan of the video, win or lose, it's great to watch how things unfolded and a great way to continually improve. With nearly every BPL team represented via 'blog', it would be great to see this become the standard and you could have every game video documented. I can't put any firm time lines upon this becoming standard procedure, but I can tell ya it's a work in progress.

DMB: Yep - it certainly would be great to see all three BPL games getting video coverage each week. Anyway, back to the questions. What differences did you recognise between the 2010 Dojo unit and the team that you and so many of your Gold Coast colleagues were part of over the past few years?

SR: Well, height for one. In losing myself, Mike, Phil and Lee, and then gaining Pete and Jon G you definitely gained in the sky department. Getting Wallsy, Watto and Ryan back also helps. That said, short or tall, the Dojo continues to be the deepest team in the league with a solid roster of players who play nearly every position on the field. The real difference will come if you can get the finals monkey off your back... besides that... it seems business as usual for the Dojo.

DMB: Yes - winning the big game always takse a little more than business as usual. And speaking of outstanding efforts, does any one moment stand out in your memory as last week's "play of the night"?

SR: Hmmmm.... tough to say. Not much of a highlight type of an evening, no layouts that stand out, and no 'particular' throws that do either. During our post game discussions we spoke of the fact that we were very flat, but how the Dojo played nearly flawless O... I don't recall too many turnovers once you guys got the disc. The amount of crossfield hammers was uncanny, and Fatty's lefty breakmarks were disheartening. Not that it was highlight material but Darren Shi's foul call away from the disc to nullify Jody's endzone D was a heartbreaker. Daz had his revenge on us with his hard working game, and I think that call should have been made by Pete... or not at all.

DMB: Interesting that some sort of foul call has been included in the answer to that question two weeks in a row now. Anyway, looking ahead - you've got a big game coming up this week against UQ Passion. Do you think it's fair to describe JMac and Julz as "the new Jason & Mike"?

SR: No. I think JMac is much more of a dynamic player than just a pure hucker, and as much as Jules is an amazing receiver/player, I don't think he has as dominant a persona as Mike does. That said, they could very well be the hottest combo in the league right now, but I wouldn't go so far as calling them the next bromance. Speaking of hot combos, Pete and Fatty both being able to huck and both taking discs high is becoming a lethal pairing in itself...

DMB: Right again, Spaz. And with this swell starting to pick up again we should probably leave it at that...

On Lightning and Cliches...

They say lightning never strikes the same place twice, but that's exactly what happened for DojoMojo last Thursday night. Well sort of, given that Dojo's game against MBB was at Annerley Junior FC fields and the previous round had been at Griffith. And then of course there's the fact that the Griffith game against UQ Lovers had resulted in a final point win, whereas last week's game against MBB was... well let's not spoil it for those that weren't there (or at the invisible-image-touting BUBlog afterwards)...!

Looks like they were right about the lightning.

And now that we've done enough stretching of analogies for one post we can proceed to give a brief and hopefully not-too-tedious rundown of the game itself. Let's see:

Things actually started out quite well for both teams offensively at least, with Dojo playing proper Ultimate from the first point of the game - surely a first this season?! After 6 points the scoreline was locked at 3-3, with the Dojo's zone D looking the stronger of the two, but still yet to get a block. Perhaps sensing that the Dojo was slowly getting the upper hand in the give-and-take early points, MBB decided to abandon their early attempts to share the disc around with lots of short passes through the Dojo zone, instead going for a full rosary of good old faithful hail-Mary shots to Mike in the endzone. It's an Ulti-cliche for a reason i.e. it works so it happens a lot.

Before anyone knew it the score had rapidly blown out to 10-5 in favour of MBB, and with the game looking more or less won and the kenshi looking pretty bored with the whole thing, MBB subbed Mike off. And this, as it turns out, was not a great move on their part.

Who can say what it is that's made the Dojo such a never-say-die team this season. No doubt the return of veteran Dojo legend Leon McIntyre has helped, as has the addition of rookie Darren Shi - a guy too young to notice when he's dislocated a shoulder. Perhaps the brilliant captaincy of Sensei C, who has selflessly subbed himself off the field and out of the way in both of the last two games, has also contributed...

What we do know for sure is that this season, the Dojo will take any opening it can find no matter how late in the game and how hopeless the situation. This time, the removal of Bug #1 from the field was exactly that opening, allowing the kenshi to press hard under on D without the looming threat in the deep and to throw long with abandon. By the time the Bug leader was back on the field (a couple of points later, as we recall it) the momentum had noticeably shifted and there was no stopping it. 10-5 MBB became 11-10 (MBB now in front by just 1 point) with one point to play!

In situations like this, it always feels like a win for the team that was behind on the scoreboard to draw the game in the final point, and that's exactly what happened after a forced turnover and a beautiful long-range score. For a game that started so evenly to swing so heavily in one direction then just as quickly and for just as long in the other is something we certainly can't recall being part of before.

So the Dojo keeps its Minor Premiership prospects alive (needing a win over the pseudo-newbie Cobras this week) by escaping from what appeared to be a fairly well-dug grave yet again. The question now is: will the notoriously unpredictable Dojo throw their final regular season game in order to avoid the weight of "favourite" status going into the finals? It certainly weighed heavily last season... Only time will tell, but until then we've got A&B voting to do right there on the sidebar.

Deja Boo Hoo Hoo

Haven't we heard this story before? A short-staffed Dojo team turns up to face a Neild-led Buggers squad that has been warming up for the game apparently since just after a carbo-loaded breakfast, the Bugs stretch out a big lead, Dojo stages a comeback, some Bug rookie crashes a kenshi or two out of the game, the lack of fitness from the we-never-train Dojo starts to show, and it all finishes with a flourish of hammers & hucks to Bug #1...

But don't think we're bitter, it was a great game with plenty for everyone (well, most people anyway - more on that shortly), and really the final difference between the teams was the number of offensive errors the Dojo made. The first five or six points of our video footage make for particularly unpleasant viewing if you're of a Dojo inclination, as do the last few.

There's no doubt that the Dojo missed Matt, Piers, Coopers and Goldie particularly as the legs started to get heavy in the second half, and that some extra numbers might have made the difference. But really, if the kenshi hadn't worn themselves out trying to get the disc back after all those first-half mistakes then the job still could have been done without the full complement. That wasn't the case though, and on the night the Messy team were convincing winners.

Here's something we found interesting, though. In putting all the footage together, we noticed something that, whilst not surprising, was something we'd always thought was only an impression rather than reality. So here's an amusing game to play while watching the video - keep a count of the number of JRay throwaways, and also keep a count of the number of times anyone other than Jason, Mike, Leon, Stu or Jangles touches the disc. We can't say for sure, but we reckon the JRay throwaway stat will be at least the same if not more. Now, no-one will be surprised to see Jason throwing some pretty wild stuff (or to see that he also throws nearly all the goals), but I think even Mike would be surprised to see how little disc the Bug rookies get during a game, especially when the pressure is high. There must be at least a couple of guys on that team who only touched the disc once or twice in the whole game!

But enough about that - what we've all come to see is plenty of sweet Ultimate action, so here it is, courtesy of the brilliant Marijke Walls and surprise cameraman Will Churchill (how he got hold of the camera we're not really sure):









"Thanks ladies" indeed. It was a real treat to have the 97.3fm ladies with their marquee, esky, fruit & drinks, and each Dojo player is now sporting brand-new cleat bags, water bottles, cold bags and cookies. Yes, cookies.

There's now a huge break of a couple of months between seasons, but the BPL will be back (will there be a new monkey at the helm???) with what will surely be a serious shakeup in the teams and perhaps administration. It can only get better (and hopefully bigger), so stay tuned.

And lastly, it's the final Above&Beyond poll for the season on the right. It's all up for grabs - will Dan Walls be able to get enough votes for his awesome efforts against one of the world's premier players to push him past current frontrunner Stefan Rappazzo? Will our German BPL MVP runner-up Stefan Schmidt sneak past them both? A place on the honour board is at stake!!!

ps Below the poll can also be found our latest blog addition - DojoMojo TV! Oh yeah.

The Game of Death

Yes - we've sailed the Sea of Japan for the title of this post, but it's only a short trip and over the millenia it's turned Chan into Zen, Penjing into Bonsai and Shaolin Kung-Fu into Shorinji Kempo, so we figured we could safely lean on the analogy for the upcoming Grand Final of the Brisbane Premier League, featuring semifinal winners DojoMojo and Messy Buggers.

Yes - the kenshi have finally climbed all the way to the top floor of the BPL pagoda in their black, red & white tracksuits to find a towering, short-jumpsuit clad Messy team waiting in the dark, shoji-screened room. It's the matchup that everyone had been wanting to see nearly as much as a Dojo v UQ Lovers final, but the huck-happy Lovers (apparently missing several key players through eligibility issues) lost out to a Messy team that has progressed from rookie-laden obscurity to genuine championship contention thanks to the inspirational on- and off-field leadership of one M. Neild, ably assisted by a solid core of experienced colleagues. Will the Dojo manage to poke enough fingers through the pagoda's paper panels to blind the sunlight-shy Buggers next week???

But more about that shortly. The news of the moment is Dojo's 15-12 semifinal win over what we understand to be the now-defunct Old-School Buggers (more on that later as well). In essence it was a tale of two comebacks, with Dojo stretching out decent leads only to ease off or slip up and see the OldSchoolers drag themselves back into range. And the good news is that it's all on video, thanks to Ulrike - yet another first-time filmographer, and ladyfriend of our resident Dojo Deutschlander, Herr Schmidt. Here's all the exclusive action:





There it is. Perhaps more than a little shaky at times but the job was done. Despite playing well below standard as a team, the Dojo still managed to win through without any real dramas. The question is, though - should this give the kenshi confidence in their strong potential going into the Big Game, or should it be cause for concern that when the stakes are raised the easy, natural Dojo game starts to tighten up uncomfortably? And here's another question - will somebody manage to post something this week on the Buggers blog for the first time since last season's semis???

And that leads us to yet another question - what will be the name of the new Gillions/Larkin-led team to emerge from the crashed & burnt wreckage of what was the Old School Buggers? Will Wetnose step down from his gig as guest correspondent on the Brisbane Ultimate Blog to become the regular mouthpiece of his new BPL outfit? Maybe he could even manage both. Either way, it'd be nice to have some new & improved competition both on and off the field.

One thing for sure though is that the A&B table is still wide open to anyone who can muster up enough friends or Google identities to vote for them(selves). Yes, Stefan (the Italian/Canadian one with many friends) is way out in front, but it is the very nature of the internet that anything could happen!!! Vote away on the right.

Thanks Emma!

Who is Emma? She's the partner of one of the Messy Bug players without whom DojoMojo would have had to forfeit last night's BPL round. And that would have been a tragedy because the game that unfolded turned out to be an absolute classic.

How classic? So classic that some were comparing it to the finale of the recent US Masters golf (just without the plaid pants, massive prize money and huge audience). Looking back, it was a game that unfolded in 5 parts:

Part 1 - Dojo has 4 guys ready to play at 7.29pm, and it looks like the night's going to fizzle out before it's even started. There's only one person at the field not already spoken for - a young lady by the name of Emma who thankfully doesn't even hesitate when invited to join the kenshi quartet on field. The forfeit is narrowly avoided, but 5 players are always going to struggle against 7, and the Bugs score 3 or 4 unanswered goals before late arrivals Piers, Matt and Coopers (who would believe a grown man could take so long to tie his shoelaces?) are ready to play.

Part 2 - The Bugs continue as if they're still playing against 5, relying heavily on loopy hammers and floaty hucks to Mike, and the kenshi take advantage, quickly hauling in the deficit with all 7 players making equally top-shelf contributions. By the time the Bug boys are up to speed the Dojo has taken half and is on a serious roll.

Part 3 - The Dojo roll continues into the second half, and the lead gets out to 13-10 with 15 minutes left to play. With both calves cramped solid, the Sensei calls a breath-catching timeout (against the advice of game momentum mystic Andy McLean) and spends it lecturing the kenshi about how easily the Bugs could score the 5 goals they need to win the game, and how the Dojo has "all night" to roll in the 2 they need with solid completions and no risky hucks. Of course, the following 3 points see the Dojo throw 3 wild throwaways on the second or third pass, and the Bugs, who couldn't have asked for more, return fire with quick completions to Jangles and Mike.

Part 4 - Another Dojo throwaway, Bugs have the disc and work it into the redzone where predictably Jason looks for the hammer to Mike. Only this time it's a bit stray and Stu Austin is also looking to get on the receiving end. Mike leaps and gets just enough of a touch to knock it clear of Stu's grasp. Sometimes you don't need to be Andy McLean to know a change in fortune when you see it...

Part 5 - Knowing they've been let off the hook, the Dojo steadily works in the next score (a flat hammer to a backpeddalling Sensei who makes the catch in a somewhat inelegant fashion that Matt Eastburn later describes as looking like a falling tree). Some good old-fashioned man-on-man defence brings the turn on the next point before the Bugs can get it halfway up the field, and the kenshi don't waste their chance to close the game out with some quick, short passes, scoring in the front centre of the endzone... And just like that it's all over bar the speeches, and Mike Neild delivers one of the classics - dogged and determined in defeat as he is in victory.

So that's it - our best effort at communicating the feeling of the game (from a Dojo perspective) in lieu of any video footage. A&B voting is ready to roll on the right, and sadly there's no game next week due to Nationals in Perth. Good luck to all the Firestorm chaps heading to Perth - we have no doubt you'll do a lot better than your unflattering seeding and give quite a scare to several of the southern teams. More soon!

Return of the Video

That's right viewers - the top quality video footage you'd become used to last season and had been missing so badly is finally back. With Dan Walls on a covert Dojo mission in Hong Kong (sharing the night-vision goggles with sidekick Dave Watson) our resident filmographer, the longsuffering Marijke Walls, was also absent. This left it to the Sensei and a mystery man we found on the sidelines, known only as "Matt", to grab the footage of Dojo's Thursday night triumph over a rookie-laden Messy Bugs.

With the word count getting pretty stratospheric here of late, we might change it up this week and let the moving pictures do the storytelling:





So that's it. A nice, comfy 14-8 win for DojoMojo, keeping the early perfect record for the season at 2-0-0. Lots of Zone D and free-form O was the order of the night, with special kudos to new signing Piers Truter for driving the defensive setup and spending all night doing the Ninja assassination on Mike & Jason, and also to our new German rookie Stefan Schmidt for stepping right up to top-flight Brisbane Ultimate fresh off the plane.

Above&Beyond voting is underway again to the right, and because it sadly didn't turn up on the video we thought we'd make special mention at this point of the very large block Andy McLean got on Mike Nield in the endzone...

Perhaps we'll have a Bugger over for a stroll through the gardens shortly.

The Only "Training" We Do

As we glide out of the city headed for the restful Dojo gardens in the hills, reclining for the next hour or so in the the airconditioned luxury (spartan as it may be) of QR's long-distance service, we find ourselves at last with some time to reflect on the win that should have been last week on Field 2 at AJFC.

Perhaps that's not actually a good thing, as thinking back over the game instantly sends the mood of this writer plummeting, and with no video to show from our last outing of 2008 there's plenty of writing to do...

Or maybe there isn't. We could instead fulfil our duty of reporting on Dojo exploits this week simply by confirming that the semifinal between Dojo and UQ Lovers resulted in Lovers winning 15-10 and advancing through to a Grand Final matchup with Messy Bugs. Basically a replay of last season's final except UQ will have Al Don and Bugs won't have Mike Neild - so hopefully a much more exciting game for the spectators.

Anyway, a brief analysis of the lost semifinal would run something like this:

- Dojo makes spectacular play
- Dojo throws it away (or just drops it)
- UQ plays consistent, simple Ultimate all night and wins easily

From memory (this blog hasn't been around long enough to just check through the archives), the last Grand Final that the Dojo appeared in was this time last year - three whole seasons ago. That game was a memorably tight tussle against Messy Bugs, and eventually a 6-man Dojo (after two kenshi were taken out of play with nasty injuries) was unable to keep up the pace and lost by maybe 2 or 3 points. But the dogged commitment that characterised the Dojo play in that game has really only been seen on a few rare occasions since - this season in particular has been characterised by a glamorous but high-risk style that relies more on sheer talent than grit and determination.

So as we go into the Christmas break it could be said that DojoMojo finds itself at a decision point. Come good on the promise of the tall & talented roster by ramping up the commitment or just kick back and cruise knowing that we can still be strongly competitive during the regular season with minimal effort?

Hopefully this decision will be made over the break and the outcome will be made immediately obvious on the field. We can also confirm that a few changes to the Dojo roster will be taking place before the next season rolls out, and these alone will further enhance Dojo's prospects into the future...

And that's about all that seems prudent to divulge right now. We're also keeping up our sleeve the identities of the all-star cast that will be joining the Sensei in the commentary box for this Thursday's Grand Final game, but we can confirm that those invited are very experienced and opinionated campaigners...

Lastly, but crucially, the final A&B poll for Season 3 is updated to the right, and given the way the system works EVERYONE is still in the running! Who will join Matt Eastburn on the A&B Honour Board? We'll know in just a few days.

Straight to the Point With Liam

It's 4pm on the day of the BPL semifinals, so we thought we'd sneak in a quickie with that most balletic of Ikebana (and sometimes Ultimate) masters - Liam "Wetnose" Gillions.

This is despite him making some rather "pointed" comments on our previous post, but we love that stuff.

So - while Liam was placing fresh orchids about the place we asked him to make a few quick tips in relation to tonight's semis. Here's what he had to say:

DojoMojo Blog: Righto Wetnose. Let's get straight down to it. Which teams are you tipping to win tonight's semifinals and 5/6 playoff, and why?

Liam Gillions: Teams to win: Messy, Dojo, Double forfeit.

DMB: Which of tonight's games do you expect to be the closest and most exciting, and why?

LG: The 5/6 playoff will be very interesting to watch. I don't know if a 4 man Rawhide will really have what it takes to beat a 3 man Passion. Should be an interesting zone defence set up though.

DMB: Which player(s) do you expect to make the standout contributions in these sudden-death matchups, and why?

LG: Whilst obviously Julz with be skying Sensei in the Dojo/Lovers match up, I think Mike Neild (if his ankle is alright) will stand up, like he always does in the big games.

DMB: Which player(s) do you expect to rack up the highest number of throwaways, and why?

LG: Throwaways will be a tie between Jason Ray, and Matt Eastburn. Tony Ross to throw the most hammers.

DMB: Who would you pick as your 3-person "dream team" to put in the commentary box for the Grand Final coverage?

LG: Obviously you would need to have myself in the commentary box (if not playing) but also would need M Ryan and J McNaughton for some good trashtalking and actually well informed commentary. Keep Sarah Sandford & Will Churchill well away from the commentary though.

DMB: Very interesting, Liam. It's always good to know that a spot in the commentary box awaits those that don't make it through to the big game - we'll be sending out our invitations as soon as the finalists have been confirmed!

*As we publish this post the terrible news has come through that tonight's semifinals have been postponed to next week, presumably due to the rather fearsome electrical storm currently passing through...

Sipping the Sake with Mat Ryan & Mike Neild

Some people eat lots of chocolate or ice cream when they're anxious or down about something. But here at the Dojo, on the rare occasions that misfortune strikes and gloom prevails we find instant comfort in the familiar flavours of a big bowl of tofu miso, served up just how we like it at our sushi bar.

And it seems we're not the only ones who enjoy pulling up a seat at the Dojo sushi bar and asking our ex-sumo sushi chef to serve it up "omakase onegaishimasu"... Stepping through the half-height curtains we immediately noticed Mat Ryan and Mike Neild busily knocking back the contents of a very large sake tokkuri while they tucked into a fabulous array of sashimi. And we thought Jon Good had a big appetite!

So we placed our order and joined them at the bar for a little recap of last week's game. The discussion went something like this:

DojoMojo Blog: Mike, Mat - it's great to see you chaps here. No doubt we've all spent a fair bit of time thinking back over our last game during the week, and it'd be good to hear things from your perspective. Firstly - how did it feel coming away from that game with a win when moments beforehand a loss looked inevitable?

Mike Neild: That was a famous victory and it felt great. It is the obvious closeness between towering success and crushing defeat that makes sport such an emotional experience. I think we were right up towards the top end of that continuum of emotion due to the narrowness of the win and the highly unlikely nature of the result. We've been talking about it all week.

Mat Ryan: Indeed we have. You know those rare and special moments when everything falls into place just perfectly? Like the time when Miss Alexander's blouse popped open in English class in Year 11? It was kinda like that. It was like we snuck in, pinched the crown jewels and got away with it. That said, a lot of the euphoria was due to the fact that the team played as well as it possibly could to steal the win. Everyone was totally focussed and played the perfect game at the perfect moment. You could just feel the focus and intensity. Magic.

DMB: That sounds very familiar - if only that focus & intensity was something that could be reproduced on demand... Now - coming into the game, all looked pretty normal with the Slippry warmup. No special strategies formulated to deal with trademark Dojo tendencies?

Mat: Mike's probably got more to say on that. I don't think we had any special strategies. We recognise Dojo as having a long roster with a lot of throwing strength. I think we spoke about keeping the pressure on and not making it easy... But not much more than that. It's not rocket science.

Mike: We probably talked more about what we wanted to improve in our game than we did about how to combat the Dojo game. We did consider avenues for dealing with a 'German' style set up from you lot, and about the forcing options we would take in our man on man defence. Things have changed in the Dojo with the addition of the height, throwing power and experience of David, Ryan and Daniel and so some defensive adjustments are required. But the reality was that the strategy that worked the best for us was something that we didn't plan to use at all.

DMB: It didn't seem planned from our end of the field either, but it was certainly effective! And what do you call that Zone D you played against us when you were down to six?

Mike: I've don't know what that zone is called. I was a bit dubious when James was explaining it at half time, but my goodness did it work.

Mat: That zone is called 'got no other options'. But somehow it seemed to work. It actually felt far better than many other 7man defences I've been involved with. To be honest, I think Dojo might have won it if they'd played a bit closer to their regular gameplan. It was almost like you expected to just walk it in, so you didn't take any chances, and we were able to build pressure and finally get a turn.

DMB: Yes - that much is also very clear on the video footage. And dare we suggest that dropping down to six players actually worked in your favour, as the six you ended up with had proven to be the most dangerous on the night?

Mat: As above. Part of the success was the focus that our 6 applied, but maybe part of it was due to the change in mindset that happened to the Dojo. As Phil Jauncey says "If you've only got plan A and plan B, don't try plan C". I dunno. A combination of total focus from our 6, a bit of luck and a seed of doubt in the minds of the opposition, all converging at the most propitious moment...

Mike: Look it was a turning point in the game however it is difficult to really believe that playing with one less person on the field could be an advantage. I'm inclined to agree with Mat on this one, and I always agree with anyone involved in the 3 time premiership winning phenomenon that was the Brisbane Lions of the early 2000s. Maybe the Dojo just got a bit too comfortable with the position they were in - it seems in line with what I understand of the vibe of the Frisbee Dojo.

DMB: Perhaps we did start to cruise a bit, but that mess-in-front, Mike-at-the-back zone is one you guys should really develop. And talking strategy, we noticed that you recently had a win over the UQ Lovers, next week's opposition for the Dojo. What sort of gameplan would you be taking into this match if you were calling the shots here at the Dojo?

Mike: Put your guns on Al, Buzz and Stu and make them get it going backwards rather than forwards towards their line. Be enthusiastic and energetic on both offence and defence. There is a bit of a weakness of connection that occurs when all the Lovers players are closely marked. They should be the best team in the comp based on their list however something just hasn't clicked yet. The rest of us have to keep up the pressure on them because if we let them and they do connect then it will be troubles for us.

Mat: I'd say just do what you do best. Play your own game. Perhaps send Ryan streaking long a bit more, because you're not getting the full value out of him in a dedicated handling role. That long cut from a handling position can be very effective. Particularly when you've got another tall threat to worry about in Dan Walls. It can split the defence. But hey .... Work it out yourself!!

DMB: Thanks chaps - we'll do our best. Now, would you mind passing the wasabi?

* 06.11.2008 postscript - Turns out we've been spelling Mike's surname incorrectly all these years. Sorry about that Mike - it's now been set right (at least in this post...).

Group Therapy...

Here's the scene: The alarm signalling the final point of the match has just gone and the score is 12-12. The team to score the next goal will win, and DojoMojo is in the advantageous position of starting the point on offence. All that needs to be done is to weave the disc past an opposition that has recently been reduced to six players after a string of injuries. But it's their six most in-form players, three of whom are current Australian representatives, and they've managed to claw back a two-point deficit thanks to gritty determination (and some poor Dojo play), in the last four or five points played...

The pull comes down, a few passes are thrown and some yardage is gained until a fuse in the brain of Matt Eastburn blows and he hucks it high in the direction of Slippry's dominant big guy Mike Neild (and apparently a Dojo receiver running long as well). The inevitable turnover sees Slippry work the disc steadily back towards the Dojo goal. But with only six players on the field (of whom only 3 are really taking an active part in play), it's not easy to get into the Dojo redzone and an impatient pass is thrown just out of the reach of a typically desperate Mat Ryan...

Play then resets where the point started – on the Dojo goal line – and this time the Dojo are patient and smooth, making good progress with open cuts up the field. So open in fact that a Dojo receiver is standing stationary in the Slippry endzone completely undefended when the disc goes up – the win is in the bag!

Apparently not. The catch isn't completed, heads hang, and Slippry move the disc back easily past a demoralised Dojo defence to score the winner... It's still a very painful memory 4 days later.

But that was just how the game ended. On the way there there was a lot of sweet, sweet Ultimate played. Dan Walls and Mat Ryan both went horizontal in spectacular style, the usual big Neild grabs were in plentiful supply, Jangles was poachy as ever and plenty of long Dojo bombs found their targets. And it's all on video thanks to the injured but still present Stefan Rappazzo. Check it out (please excuse Stefan's shaky handheld work - it took him a few points to work out that walking is not compatible with stable filming):



The second half had just as much action, not to mention the disastrous conclusion described above (but not to be seen on video due to a shortage of battery lifespan...) - here are the highlights:



So that's it for this week. Dojo lose out to Slippry 12-13, but do so knowing that a different result is well within reach in the finals and with plenty of motivation to draw on when the time comes... The Above&Beyond poll is updated to the right, and we should see some interesting movement in the standings this week.

And now that we've put all that on paper and let go of the disappointment we'll hopefully be back at our conversational best with a Slippry Bug in the next couple of days.

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.

Liam Gillions Adorns Our Tokonoma

Anyone familiar with the art of serving tea would know that no teahouse is complete without its Tokonoma, and the Dojo's garden teahouses are no exception. Of course, the Tokonoma itself is just an alcove, a “place of beauty”. Without a decorative feature it's just a void waiting to be filled. And naturally, who would be more up to this task than that inveterate void-filler himself – Liam Gillions (known more frequently, and rather obscurely, as Wetnose).

Many local Ultimate players know of Liam primarily as a deep-end danger and keen scholar of the game, never afraid to make the big calls. Few would ever have suspected that in his spare time he is also the Dojo's go-to guy for the Ikebana arrangements that so often adorn the otherwise vacant Tokonoma of our various garden teahouses (Johnny Mac chips in with the occasional calligraphy scroll as well). And it was while Liam was doing the rounds with his basket of sparsely-but-elegantly arranged flowers that we invited him in for a freshly whisked cup of green tea and a chat.

DojoMojo Blog: Liam – as usual the delicate beauty of your floral arrangements is inspiring. How you manage to play a tournament all weekend and still come up with this Ikebana genius the very next day is mystifying. Now - thinking back to last Thursday night, the game started out tight for a while, but once the Dojo saw the chance to take half it pretty much pulled away from there (late run from Messy aside). Even though it never seemed one-sided on the field, why do you think the second half went to the Dojo so convincingly?

Liam Gillions: We just did the simple things wrong. It doesn't matter how many turnovers or fouls you can generate, if we can't catch a disc then we aren't going to win the game. We had at least 3 uncontested drops in the endzone during the night, and when you add to that the numerous cold drops and cases of people pulling out of discs that they could clearly have caught you have a recipe for disaster.

DMB: Phew – tough! Sounds like there must be some Messy Bugs out there quaking in anticipation right now, wondering what sort of captain's correspondence you'll be landing in their collective inboxes over the next couple of days... Care to say exactly what you'll be emailing your team about during the week (and working on in your famous pre-game training sessions) as performance issues to address in the leadup to your next game?

LG: Like I said before, it is just the simple things that let us down. Our systems were good and our D wasn't awful. We were generating blocks, but just turning over simple catches.

DMB: Sounds like nothing to fear after all – just a gentle “please catch the disc”... Speaking of which - everyone knows that Jason Ray isn't a happy man unless he's got someone to huck it to. Any new guys stepping into that high-pressure position this season?

LG: Doesn't everyone want to cut long? Isn't that where the glory is? I am stepping out of that role a bit this season to give the other guys a bit of the run. Guys like George Salisbury (aka Silent George) and Damien Wong are guys that tend to fly under the radar, but certainly have the legs to go long and go there quickly. The whole team, with maybe the exception of Nandor, are young and quick and can all move, so I don't think it will fall onto the shoulder of just one or two people.

DMB: Well, at least that's one person we won't have to worry about marking long then... And Nandor – if you're reading, Liam asked us to make sure we clarified that he meant those comments in the most positive way. No doubt you'll sort out your differences in your own time & fashion... Anyway Liam, sticking with the topic of people you don't want to mark long - now that the option of just hucking to Mike when all else fails (or even straight away) isn't available, how do you see the Messy gameplan changing this season?

LG: We have a more experienced line up on Messy this season. This Buggers split this season was to put some top end players with our rookies on Slippery, and put a fairly experienced and well rounded line up on the Messy roster. This allows us some more options in terms of our reliability with our throws and knowledge of the game and positioning.

DMB: Well, whether that means you're using this season to build for the future or not, everyone playing BPL knows that neither of the Bug outfits are ever going to be easy opponents. So lastly, it'd make a pretty good story if Messy could make the final this season despite losing its erstwhile leader. Which other team will you be expecting to face if you make the distance?

LG: It'll be great if we can get there, and we will certainly be putting all our efforts into doing that. Obviously UQ have decided that they are sick of Mike having the trophy at his place, so have stacked the Lovers team and left JMac and the Passion boys a little short. I think the four semi finalists will be Lovers, Messy, Slippery, Dojo. I just hope that Dojo don't face Lovers in the semis, as you don't seem to have much luck against UQ in semi finals do you Sensei?

DMB: Ahh - good to see the pre-finals trash talk starting before we're even halfway through the season, Liam. And strangely unsurprising to hear it coming from yourself, an otherwise gifted practitioner of an art form as subtle and understated as Ikebana... Talk to you again when you next come by to refresh our suibans.

So You Think You Can Pull

Another season of the Brisbane Premier League got underway at the Annerley Junior Soccer fields on Thursday night, and DojoMojo came out in force with subs to spare.

Dojo's Round 1 opponents were the new-look Slippry Bugs, or at least they would have looked new had their latest pickup, former Messy CEO Mike Neild turned up for the game. Come to think of it, we distinctly recall seeing big-haired youngster Reece (thanks for the correction) on the field in the Season 2 final last week as well...

In fact the sheer quantity of unexpected team defections (mostly of the incestuous bedhopping variety within Brisbane's two mega-teams UQ & Bugs) has taken many by surprise this season, especially given that it all happened in less than a week! And no-one would have been more surprised than poor old Johnny Mac who arrived at the field to discover that the top half of his Passion roster had suddenly decided it was playing for Lovers instead! On top of that, new LD Stu Austin deemed his moment of ascendancy an appropriate one to also ride away alone from the circled wagons of his old Rawhide compadres and follow the Lovers trend.

Yes - it's going to be a tough start to the season for the tipsters (don't think anyone tipped a Lovers/Messy draw), but as ever there's one team with a roster that can be relied upon season after season - and that team is DojoMojo. Okay, so it's never certain which (if any) of those rostered players will actually play in any given fixture...

Anyway, all this guff about the weirdness surrounding the new season must be a subconscious attempt on the part of this writer to avoid the main subject of this post, that being that Dojo simply cruised through to a very easy win over a 6-man Slippry team, eventually taking out the game 15-5. There were a few stutters early, and a few noteworthy efforts from both sides. Jangles must have got at least half a dozen run-through blocks on stationary receivers during the night.

To make it all easy to digest, we've collated the highlights of the game (and a few full points to give them a nice rounded flavour) into a single video. As usual the credit and thanks go to Marijke Walls for the camera work:



That last point on the video was also the last point of the night - interesting to hear Dan Walls behind the camera hoping for a turnover so he could get back on the field before the game was over... And on reviewing this footage we were surprised to discover just how much smack talking Matt Eastburn does throughout a game, at least one where he's not running so hard he can't see straight... Makes it all the more enjoyable to watch him drop that push pass over and over again.

But we've saved the best moment of the night for last, and it involves a brand new concept (creative direction by Dave Watson) that the Dojo will be progressively rolling out during the season - the choreographed pull:



That should do it for now. With any luck we'll soon have at least one of the top Slippry thinkers around for a few games of Go and a chat about the season ahead. In the meantime, feel free to vote for this week's Dojo MVP in the poll on the right. As usual, voting for multiple players is a-okay. Oh - and this season we're changing the MVP scoring system so that every vote counts, rather than the one-winner-per-week system we'd used previously. So vote carefully!

(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...

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...

Mat Ryan on International Diplomacy

Despite the fact that our five-on-five game last week was a pretty sedate affair and ended early so we could watch the cracking Passion v Messy game, Mat Ryan (of Taipans fame) still had the good grace to accept our invitation to a post-game recovery session in the tranquil environs of the Dojo's onsen-style bathhouse.

With aches & pains massaged away by the Dojo's own Shiatsu masseuses, we retired to our outdoor thermal spring in a scene not dissimliar to James Bond and Tiger in You Only Live Twice... Here's what we discussed whilst having our shoulders rubbed and being served iced tea:

DojoMojo Blog: Mat, welcome to the luxurious facilities that help keep the Dojo kenshi in tip-top shape. It's a rare privilege to have such a well-travelled and tournament-hardened veteran of the game such as yourself drop by.

Mat Ryan: It's a pleasure, nay, an honour to be interviewed on such an august online publication. What's your readership these days? You must be getting say, 50-60 thousand hits a week?

DMB: On a quiet week, yes (g'day Graham in Canada!). But once word spreads about this little interview we expect to see that figure blow out exponentially... Now - down to business. A pretty poor effort from both our teams this week, although at least yours had enough to avoid a double-forfeit. Who were you missing, why weren't they there, and what sort of reprimands will they suffer during the week? Apparently water-boarding is entirely humane and legal...

MR: Yeah. It was a fairly mediocre turnout this week from both teams, particularly given that it was for the minor premiership. I heard the various excuses given by the Dojo squad but I suspect they are conserving their legs for next week's semi. Fair enough, it looks like it will be an all in brawl with the UQ Pashun after their last encounter (I wonder if Burwell will bring some tissues next week?).

I'm not sure what the story was with the Slippery boys though. I don't think I've ever seen more than 9 at any given fixture, so we're not exactly famous for our massive sideline. I'm not sure what discipline that Jimmy Larkin has in mind ... but he doesn't strike me as the waterboarding type. He'll probably just send a softly worded email in size 8 font.

DojoMojo Blog: Hmmm - the old sternly-worded letter, eh? Didn't work so well for Hans Blix in Team America, but we have had a fair bit of success here at the Dojo with our "virtual training sessions"... The most fun on Thursday night was had watching the Passion v Messy game. Obviously you were backing the other Bug team then, but next week I doubt you'll be cheering so loudly when J-Ray repeatedly hucks it to Mike?

Mat Ryan: Hey, as far as I'm concerned everything went exactly to script: Bugs are guaranteed a spot in the final while Passion and Dojo beat the crap out of each other. Obviously it would have been sweet to see a Bug v Bug final, but I'm not sure that would have pleased the Brisbane Ultimate community too much. That said, I'll be working hard to see the Slippery team follow up on their minor premiership. It would be great for Jimmy to mount the big hubcap on the mantlepiece at home.

DMB: Yes, well Jimmy is certainly a little terrier of an ultimate player, but the idea of him mounting hubcaps anywhere is something we'd prefer not to consider. So let's get back on-topic, as those media-savvy types like to say. The BPL table has been unstable all season, and now with the Worlds guns back to their teams and other teams going into the finals without some of their top shelf guys, is it possible to forecast a winner from the four semifinalists?

MR: Forecast? Look I could wax on about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various teams but honestly I think this season is the most open we've seen in ages. Dojo are the dark horse and if they can put all their guys on the line at the right time, and those guys play to their potential, then they can win it. I think they have the deepest, most consistent roster. All the other teams have some stars at the top but they also have a bunch of relative rookies. It's a great competition to be playing at the moment.

DMB: It sure is, and with players from the Dingos, Taipans, Barramundis & Thunder all back on deck the tipsters are once again struggling to pick the form. Looking to next week's semifinals, which individual players do you reckon will make game-changing contributions (for better and for worse...)?

MR: I find it hard to go past Mike Neild as the dominant player at the moment. After his World Champs experience he is in red-hot form, outplaying some of the biggest names in World Ultimate. If Mike fires, and he receives good service from his team, then he'll be hard to stop.

But Ultimate isn't about individuals. It will come down to the best team. So while Mike or John McNaughton or even Dan Walls might play the game of their life, the semis (and final) will be won by the best team. That said, games are a lot easier to lose than win. And I reckon there are a bunch of guys out there who can lose a game in spectacular fashion. I'll be keeping a close eye out for players who look like they are having a howler. The frisbee field can be a very small place with no-where to hide...

DMB: Very tactfully put, Mat - it's easy to see why you're a multiple Worlds Spirit winner. And speaking of Ultimate matters on a global scale, is there any particular experience from your recent Vancouver expedition that has changed your approach to the game as we play it here in Brisbane?

MR: I think the feature of Worlds which impressed me most was the amount of contact that occurred with almost no fouls being called. I believe there are 2 reasons behind this:

1. In most cases the contact did not actually influence the outcome of the play. Contact occurring in the contest usually happened after the catch ... So there's no point in calling anything (and being great players, most catches were completed). Also, contact occurring during cutting was more often initiated by the cutter than the receiver. The cutter would often run a tight line close to the Defender then jag away into the space.

2. Foul calling is perceived to benefit the D team rather than the O team because it disrupts the flow and slows down the game, allowing the Defence to re-orient. Offence is all about creating chaos and exploiting the gaps.

There seems to be a general shift in the individual interpretation of the contact rules by both O and D teams. I think it makes for a faster, more spectacular, and perhaps ironically, fairer game. By comparison Brisbane (and Australian) ultimate seems quite slow and stuttering, with more disruptions and more disputes. And I just hate disputes.

DMB: Superb stuff Mat. Many thanks for sharing your keen insights into the game here and abroad, and for taking the time out of your day to drop by the Dojo bathhouse.