Black Light

Were Dojo wearing black against SFC last week? Maybe, but that's the one thing we forgot to ask Pete Allen when we inquired to see if he wouldn't mind putting together a match report for Dojo's round 5 BPL matchup against the team that some have affectionately taken to calling "Salami Town"...

Thankfully, Pete was able to find some time in his busy schedule (does anyone know what Pete does other than being awesome at frisbee?), and here's his description of how the game went down:

"Thursday's match began in the usual Dojo way with no one knowing who was and wasn’t showing up, and with a last minute phone call from Stephen letting us know he wasn’t coming after he had arrived home and whilst preparing to leave for the game turned the key in his lovely Porsche, only for nothing to happen…I guess that’s what you get with quality Porsche engineering.

With the arrival of our 8 players and a slow and succinct warm up in stark contrast to the drilled and high intensity warm up down the other end we took the field not sure how this would go. Our opponents had turned out in force and had been doing well this season but how would they go without the Mayor. It appeared as we lined up to receive the pull that we would be facing a 2-3-2 (the light breeze did carry that much info to at least my ears) and then it was on.

Dojo worked the disc around frantically with some extremely fast popping and swinging to work the disc up to the other endzone…and then threw it away. SFC then threw a couple of short passes followed by the usual huck, which didn’t complete, and then Dojo repeated their last effort, and threw it away again…and eventually after quite a long first point conceded. This was pretty much the way the first half went, with Jody throwing his dangerous flick for a few points and pretty spectacular layout D’s (pretty much all from SFC), and it was looking tight after Dojo fought back from 6-4 down to take half 8-6.

The second half saw this rather nice little run of points to the Dojo continue to make it a 7 point run, with pretty much 100% offence after some lucky turnovers from Slamtown who had a little bit of a drop fest for a few points allowing Dojo to get out to 11-6. We like to think it was our intense defense…

Around about now we slackened off a bit to allow a few quick points in and start the hearts beating again (Pete starting to feel the power of the dark side of reportage here...). Luckily with time running out, Coops was on the ball and alerted us to the fact that it was after 9pm and after another Slamtown point time was called, with the last point to start with the scores at 11-9 to Dojo. The last point saw Dojo click back in on offence and sink the last pass with a rather unspectacular pass from and almost complete silence with the receiver standing dead still. Quite a quiet end to what was one of the most fun games of BPL I’ve ever enjoyed and the spirit between the two teams was the best I’ve seen in a long long time - thanks SFC."

Ladies and Gentlemen - Pete Allen. There is no substitute.

Pete Allen Goes Above & Beyond

It's official, and deserving of a blog post all to itself:

Pete Allen is the winner of DojoMojo's Above&Beyond competition for Season 1 2010. Well done and well deserved, Pete. Your fantastic prize is in the post (oh so unreliable these days...) and your name has been added to the glittering list of Dojo legends on the Above&Beyond Honour Board....

How Not To Play Ultimate (or Blog About It)

Okay so we might have failed yet again in our blogging duties here at the DojoMojo Blog over the past couple of weeks, but that's nothing compared to the on-field fail against Cobras last Thursday night...

What an absolute shocker. Okay, we traded for the first half against a very pumped up and confident Cobras, but just trading points isn't something the Dojo has done a whole lot of this season, so nothing to get too excited about there. And even less to get excited about in the second half. Nothing, in fact, except for this soon-to-be-legendary moment:

[NB refer comments for several more accurate versions of the story]

The Cobras receive the Dojo pull well into their own endzone and manage to move a pass or two until the disc reaches Abra (pretty sure it was Abra - happy for anyone out there to correct this detail) in the front left corner. Abra goes for a throw of some sort only to find the surprisingly long arms of Leon McIntyre already where he's just released the disc to (some say Leon should've actually caught the disc for a Callahan, but that's another story).

So, big handblock to Leon on the glue that holds the Cobras together, and a key turnover on the first (or maybe second?) point of the second half. Leon then quickly dumps it backward a few metres to Coops who immediately looks to the endzone for the score. He sees Rohan streaking away and lets it fly! Ummm - just one problem, he's hucked it the full length of the field toward the DOJO endzone...

Thankfully Rohan pulls the catch in just short of the Dojo goal line, turns and sees Pete heading toward him. So what does he do next? Well it seems the penny hasn't dropped yet despite the guffawing from the Dojo sideline and he puts up a very dodgy floater (more of a slip&slider actually) for Pete to run onto for an own goal (luckily not possible in Ultimate) in the Dojo endzone.

Ah, but being the brainiac he is Pete has had the situation under control the whole time. With the entire Cobras team now in disbelieving confusion and slowly jogging back down the field, he has ALL NIGHT to look back in the correct direction this time where he sees Daz (as we recall it, maybe it wasn't him) begging for the disc in a now very sparsely occupied Cobras endzone. Pete sticks it - GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's the last thing that happened all night, as far as we can remember...

Just Quickly...

Oh dear - a big FAIL to the DojoMojo blog after last week's game against Heroes. No results, no A&B poll, no excuses.

Here's a quick recap just to set things back on a somewhat even keel. Dojo turned up lazy & missing Pete, Coops, Adrian & Ryan. We traded for the first few points, getting easy blocks against the rookies but then being too casual about holding on to the disc (or playing defence...).

It must've been something like 3-3 when Sensei C had a vision of Andy McLean, wearing a long brownish robe and speaking from beyond the BPL grave, who gently offered his advice: "use the time-out, Steve".

So we did. We gave ourselves a little lecture and, learning from the disastrous early-season failure of the Cobras, and the near-failures of both UQ teams against the rookie Heroes, resolved that this game needed to be won like any other.

So back on we ran, and what do you know - Andy's advice worked. End result 15-8.

Having had that big upset win early and a few close (and bitter) losses, these Heroes chaps have clearly settled into the BPL environment and are now playing to win. Heavily reliant upon their 3 main players they may be, but as the skill base of the team builds those wins are going to become much less sporadic.

Oh and speaking of those 3 main Heroes, if there is a prize for most-improved BPL player then without doubt this season it has to go to "Silent" George Salisbury. That guy has transformed his game in the space of a few months from being mostly a deep speed threat to an all-round cutter, popper and quick disc mover. Just goes to show what serious training coupled with a senior role in a developing BPL team can do.

Anyway - don't expect a match report from tonight's game against Passion either, as this correspondent won't be there. Perhaps another kenshi with a literary bent might oblige???

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...

TXT Versus Talk

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LG: I dnt no wat ur tlkn bout.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Return of the Video

Yes - that's right. There's no need for us to waffle on about frisbee this week, thanks to a young chap by the name of Alex (of UQ Passion fame, we believe) who happened to be spending his bye week spectating the Dojo v Cobras clash. Oh - by the way Alex, if you happen to be reading this could you let us know what you did with all the mini DVDs? Wetnose really wants to see the footage of his (failed) layout, so please get in touch.

Anyway, there was one DVD with 20 minutes worth of footage on it still in the camera when we returned to the Dojo Gardens late Thursday night, so we can now present most of the second half of the game, kicked off by a sensational 75 metre flick huck to score from Pete Allen.

Oh, and we've also experimented with a soundtrack for a bit of extra Dojo Way ambience this time (language warnings all round...). We've chosen some vintage Ice Cube (hi Jad), and for all those Gen Z Cobras out there, you'll note that Mr Cube mentions the year of 1993 in his opening line of rap. Because a large contingent of the BPL youth were quite possibly still in nappies at this point, we feel obliged to add that this 1993 recording followed on from Tone Loc's assertion that "'88 was great, but '89 is mine", after which 1990 was "time for the Guru". Around this time, a small cohort of young LA chaps formed a rap group called NWA, and after saying some very unkind things about their local constabulary they quickly went their separate ways. Ice Cube was one of these Compton lads, and he went on to a stellar solo career (where he also said some very unkind things about not only the law enforcement fraternity, but also his former collaborators). Feel free to let us know if you find this entertaining or just plain annoying:



What can we add to that? It's pretty obvious that many of the young Cobras are simply not on the same page as their teammates, with lots of passes going astray or straight into Dojo hands. From our point of view it's also comforting to see the Dojo roll that game in with plenty to spare, even though we were missing a third of our roster. Probably not so great from the Cobra pit, but hopefully they'll be using this, and other recent results (someone say "Heroes"?), as motivation to start realising their great potential.

There's a fresh Above&Beyond poll ready for voting on the right.

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.

Okay, okay!

Yes, we're aware that it's now Tuesday - five days since our rip-snorting game against UQ Lovers. But when one takes into account the rural situation of DojoMojo headquarters and the positively Heian-period telecommunications technology it's serviced by, these little delays start to seem quaintly charming rather than plain frustrating... Don't they?

So let's not muck around with lengthy descriptions of the game. Here's how it went down:

The first half saw Lovers score more or less two goals for every one of the Dojo's. They played some really, really smooth Ultimate, throwing sharp passes to just-open receivers and capitalising on Dojo mistakes brought on by committed defence, mostly of the man-on-man variety.

The second half? Well, at the very least Dojo managed to hold the game to a points-trading situation for the first 4 or 5 changes of end, but then with time fast running out things took a significant turn. But before we go too far, let's show some video highlights from early in the game (and be thankful that the steady-handed Marijke Walls was back behind the camera):



As we said, lots of quick, precise disc movement in there from UQ, contrasting with a pretty static sort of dump-n-huck offence from the Dojo (not to mention some fairly casual defence!). No wonder things were looking grim. Here's some more action:



Starting to look a bit more fluent for the Dojo now, with a trademark grab from Dan Walls at the end there. And what about the hangtime Ryan got on that high grab over Stu? And as much fun as it'd be to speculate that the wildly errant pull earlier on from Pete "The Kiss of Death" Allen was a pivotal moment, it's more likely that the multi-turnover point which Dojo finally managed to grind out was where UQ started losing a bit of belief and Dojo did the opposite.

Anyway, the video never lies (especially with our factually-faithful editing), and what you'll see below is a Dojo team in vintage form with the long throws and big grabs flowing freely. You'll also see (or moreso hear - time for a language warning!) a few Lovers' tempers start to fray (if they weren't frayed already by pre-game shenanigans) as the Dojo serves up the style of play that the Lovers themselves are usually notorious for:



And there it is - Dojo claws its way back from 9-12 down to take out the game 14-12 in pretty supreme style. Yes, UQ were missing the unparalleled throws of Buzz Burwell, but Dojo were also missing the non-stop mongrel of Gold Coasters Mike and Stefan, so we're calling it a fair fight at the very least and a very satisfying win. Especially considering we were in UQ's shoes this time last week...

That's it for now, then. As usual, the Above&Beyond poll for this week is ready to accept your votes for players that trumped their usual game (please only vote for yourself once this week, Ryan), and the current A&B standings have been updated below that.

Also of note is that if you scroll down you'll now see links to all the official Ultimate organisations that are relevant to the game we play here in Brisbane, and for those needing a rules refresher the latest WFDF Rules of Ultimate are linked below that.

Check back shortly for a chat with that most Wolverine-esque Lover, Alistair Don.

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.

Whippin' It Good

It was an unmitigated delight to spend an evening at the Dojo's very own sushi bar with Jon Good last night, knocking back the unagi-don, yasai tempura and a big sukiyaki number. Whilst polishing off the last of our warm Otokayama sake, Jon was at his loquacious best as we recounted the events from last Thursday night. Here's how it went:

DojoMojo Blog: Jon, it's a delight to have you here at our brand new sushi bar. I can't believe how much grilled eel and warm sake a lean chap like yourself can put away. You truly are a man of many talents. But enough idle flattery - how about our game last week? What a turnaround from our previous "clash of the boutique teams" round! What happened, Jon?

Jon Good: I think the biggest factor was that Dojo seemed to have finetuned their email-based warm up, whereas Rawhide didn’t have a full line until the very start of the game. It’s a sign of our age range: too many baby and work related duties - I am one of the youngest players on the team!

DMB: Yes - many have conjectured that the team name "Rawhide" is derived from the sparseness of hair on the scalps of many of the players. Indeed - you sport the rawest hide of all, Jon! It's all a clever ruse, I'm sure, to make the younger teams take it easy against you until BLAM! - you layout right past them. Of course, these smoke-and-mirrors tricks were perfected by the Dojo ninja forebears hundreds of years ago. What did you think of our new pre-game psych-out strategy of lining up in white shirts, only to switch to black when "game on" was called?

JG: I don’t know what washing powder the kenshi use, but the brilliance of the white burned out my corneas; then switching to black rendered the whole team invisible to me. You were truly the silent assassins.

DMB: Excellent. But enough about us - how are Stu Ausin, Sean Flanagan and Joel Smith being punished during the week for leaving a team full of semi-rookies to fight it out against Dojo with just a few experienced hands for guidance? Oh yeah - and does Tim Ferguson still play for Rawhide??? Haven't seen him an a while...

JG: Stu, Flan, and Joel are all married and/or heavily hen-pecked, so the Rawhide collective rest safe in the knowledge that the women will do all the work for us on this front – similar to our cutting on Thursday night, where Beth seemed to be the only one doing the hard work. Ferg decided to opt out of this season: some may say that family prevented him from committing to the team; others may say that a wording change in the concessional league fees rule prevented him from only paying $15, claiming he was travelling from Airlie Beach each week. I think those who know our friendly capitalist know where I stand!

DMB: Hmmm - sounds like another Ferg-gate scandal brewing there. That man certainly has a bamboozling spreadsheet for every occasion... But it was good to see Stew McGoo adopting the position of wise old mentor for the newer guys. What is it about Stew that makes him the perfect man for this delicate job?

JG: As you know Stephen, McGoo was the main driving force behind Leo Baekeland inventing plastic back in 1905: McGoo had already been working on tactics in anticipation of the sport finally being invented by those New Jersey school kids decades later. You simply can’t buy that level of experience. Also, without JDR, Joel, and Ferg there on Thursday night, there were no other people to talk over during timeouts – a rarity for Rawhide.

DMB: Ahh yes - if only we feeble-minded non-fluid-dynamicists could understand a word Dr McGoo was saying we would all see the game as it truly is, just a descending array of numbers... But anyway, my last question, and it's a critical one for all those following this BPL season, is how is Rawhide going to win back the growing support it was finding on the Brisbane Ultimate Blog tipping competition?

JG: As the regular season draws to a close, those needing to gain ground on the tipping leaders may be forced to back the underdog. I am also thinking of bringing in a rule for next season involving some kind of collective age handicap – this will make us much more competitive in the tipping competition!

DMB: Well, some underdog-backing would certainly mix things up a bit, and amazingly Pete Allen managed to get one tip right (out of 6 from the past two rounds) when his Lovers team somehow managed to roll Passion last week. John McNaughton once again has some serious explaining to do...

Anyway, thanks again Jon for sparing us some of your time and pithy comments here at the DojoMojo Blog.