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...

Fifty-Four Million Words and Counting

Sun Tzu once said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single footstep. Okay, maybe it wasn't Sun Tzu, but the point we're trying to make is that with the near thirty minutes of video coverage below running at one thousand words per image, this little introductory paragraph is only the first tentative footstep on an Ultimate odyssey that is about to take us all the way to the Gold Coast and back, taking time to paint large portions of Slamtown red, white and black while we're there... Here goes (credit to Ms Becky Larkin for the top shelf cinematography):







Yep - the Flatballers were down 8-3 at halftime, and Dojo managed to stretch the lead out via many, many hammers to 15-8 by the time it was all over. What the video perhaps doesn't convey is that this game was played with exemplary spirit by both teams. Some early niggle was quickly defused by a few well-timed words, and what followed was a hard-fought AND thoroughly enjoyable and respectful game. Otherwise the video pretty much says it all, so to add anything further here would seem superfluous. Oh, other than to mention that Dojo spanking SFC has apparently not been enough to put us back at the top of the Power Rankings (which we love reading - thanks Spaz), despite Passion's pretty ordinary showing against Heroes. Hmmm...

Next week it's Dojo v MBB - sure to be a cracking game, made even moreso by the word on the street being that Bug numero uno won't be around for our game(s?) later in the season. No doubt the already frail autofocus of our video camera will be strained to the limit by a match-up that's usually played out from endzone to endzone, skipping all those boring bits in between... Stay tuned.

Above&Beyond voting is ready and waiting to the right - it's going to be fast & furious with only a few days left before the next round.

Oh and PS Reece - please rest assured that we featured the best moments we had on video from each team in last week's footage. The missing disc eventually turned up, but not in time to make it on the blog (and there was no sign of a callahan - you must've dreamt that one). What we've found though is that the best way to see all the highlights we want to see is to produce our own video...

Dojo Royale

Yes, it's been a while since we last posted anything here at the Dojo blog. Why? Well, we've been on a little holiday, played some golf, done some gardening and generally done anything other than play or talk Ultimate. In fact, we can quickly summarise the Dojo's on-field Ultimate exploits since our last post by simply noting that the Dojo has won every game, most by a comfy margin.

So of course when yet another "training week" came around (immediately following the BPL's Uni Games no-play week) we were looking for anything other than Ultimate training to occupy our Thursday night. And what better substitute for a night of hard running and intensive skills practice than to take our places around the table at Andy "Coopers" Lankowski's place for a night of high-stakes poker - the inaugural Dojo Royale poker night.

As you can see from the image below, some were taking the event very seriously. That's Andy McLean decked out in the unbuttoned waistcoat (and newsreader-spec shorts below the table), trumped only for seriousness by the "Hustling German" Stefan Schmidt, looking like a cross between Eminem and an elderly driver with his hoodie up and dark specs on (sadly not caught on camera). Stefan also saw fit to let us know on the night that he'd previously spent 2 years as a poker dealer in some sort of travelling German poker circus. The things he can do with poker chips are truly arousing.


What you can't see in that photo is the huge stack of chips sitting in front of Mr McLean. At this point of the night he was undisputed chip leader, and it wasn't long before the final winner was decided. So in approximate order of departure from the table (we really should've posted this sooner with a fresher memory), the players on the night were:

- Andy Lankowski (great host, lots of bad hands)
- Mike Morgan (made the mistake of thinking that his trip-4 on the turn was going to be enough to beat the all-in Sensei's pair of aces in the hand and a 2 on the river giving a sensational straight)
- Stefan Rappazzo (had been duking it out all night in his own brash ultra-rapid style, opting against all common sense not to buy back in at the 9pm deadline and yet somehow hanging in there for another hour or so)
- Stefan Schmidt (can't remember how he went out, but most likely it was bluffing big time with absolutely nothing in hand)
- Stephen Cameron (unbelievably unlucky to lose out with his solid 2-pair from the flop against a big spending chip leader McLean who picked up an outrageously unlikely straight on the river, not at all similar to the the way the Sensei had knocked Morgs out earlier on)

That left the pot at the mercy of Leon McIntyre (the chap looking so relaxed in the photo) and Andy McLean. And actually it was all over the very next hand. Leon was clearly keen to wrap things up for better or worse, and went all in after the flop with nothing but maybe a king in hand, Andy (with a massive chip lead) went with him with pretty much the same hand. And as the cards came down it was the man in the white waistcoat who came out the winner.

So there you go, nothing on the Dojo blog for a couple of months and now something that has nothing to do with Ultimate at all. Or does it???

BTW - extra points for spotting the non-Dojo ring-in in the photo...

Spazzo Goes Above and Beyond

We interrupt our usual off-the-air mode between seasons to bring you two pieces of news featuring the Dojo's GC liaison Stefan "Spazzo" Rappazzo.

A quick scroll down the sidebar to the right will show you that the Above&Beyond standings for the season have been finalised after last week's Grand Final showdown, and as predicted it turned out to be very tight at the top! So tight that both Stefan Rappazzo and Andy McLean shared the #1 spot for overall votes gained. Sadly for Andy, he earned his votes playing in all ten games, whereas Stefan played nine for the same vote tally, leaving him with the title of DojoMojo Above & Beyond Winner for Season 1 2009, based on his higher votes-per-game stat. Stefan's name is now engraved for perpetuity on our Honour Board in recognition of his efforts in consistently pushing his game further and harder week after week.

The traffic jam continued in the minor placings as well, with Dan Walls, Stefan Schmidt and Sensei C all on 21 votes, Wallsy racking up the votes at the rate of 3.5 per game - the highest of anyone, trumping Spazzo's 3 per game. Perhaps we could change the ranking system next season to prioritise this stat over total votes? Comment below.

And of course, the beauty of the A&B system is that it reflects the regularity with which individuals perform above their own usual standard, rather than comparing players against each other. So it's intended as an incentive to constant improvement, and a means of gauging how people are progressing their own game. Who will earn their place on the Honour Board next season???

Oh yes, and the second BIG news item regarding Mr Rappazzo in his capacity as Gold Coast Ultimate Liaison (interpret that any way you like) is that he's just launched a brand new and very cool-looking website to promote the game in the town where even the parking meters are gold... Check it out.

Travelling Without Moving

Even though the talk before the game was centred mostly around the controversial new "experimental pick rule" we in the BPL have the apparent honour of trialling, it was the other 8 or 9 WFDF rule changes that made for the real entertainment in Dojo's 12-9 win over UQ Passion last Thursday. Well, that and a h-u-g-e layout from Dan Walls that we're going to make you wait until the very end of the video footage (filmed by his incomparable missus Marijke) to see.

So while it may be true that the young scholars on the UQ Passion team have lengthy reading lists to wade through in their academic endeavours, it seemed quite clear during last week's game that the 2009-spec WFDF rules are most certainly not, as that old smoothy Andrew O'Keefe would say, "on the list"... Okay, captain Johnny Mac was no doubt on top of things, but clearly isn't as big into the benefits of spreading the word to his team via email-based training as some, so for a bit of fun we've included some of the highlights of the discussions around a variety of travel calls in the following video.

It's worth adding that we think it's a pretty strong affirmation of the integrity of the players in our uniquely self-referreed sport that the game never descended into the chaos that might be expected under multiple simultaneous rule changes and varying knowledge. Instead, the few unnecessary stoppages that occurred were resolved with equanimity and a complete absence of raised voices or frayed tempers - just the way Ultimate is meant to be. Anyway, let's get into the video:



DojoMojo leapt out to a massive 7-1 lead, taking half at something like 8-3, and then in trademark fashion switched on the cruise control, sat back and watched the UQ lads claw back to within 3 by the time the 80 minutes were up... John McNaughton and a chap we know only as "Eric" put in the standout efforts for UQ (yes Will, you pulled off some special-looking moves, but how many goals did you score???) and will need to be sat on with much greater force next time. At the Dojo end, Dan pulled down whatever swill was thrown his way in the endzone, whilst our three Gold Coast sluggers Stefan R, Mike and Cupcake worked hard all night in the front of the zone D and with the disc. Here's how things finished up:



That's it for another week. A&B voting as usual to the right, and with the new moon hidden behind rainclouds most of the week, perhaps we'll check out some Sumo action in the next day or so with that inveterate grappler John McNaughton...?

Now THAT was Old School

It's tempting at the outset to construct some sort of witty (well, at least half-witty) gag about the oddly-named "Old School Buggers" receiving a Dojo-style schooling last Thursday on field 3b at the AJFC fields, but it just wouldn't be accurate. And you know how much we here at the DojoMojo Blog value journalistic veracity above all else.

No, the game was a lot tighter than that. In fact the Kenshi started off in vintage Dojo style, quickly falling 2 or 3 goals behind while using the early stages of the game itself as a warmup. A tactical timeout was called before things really started spiralling, and what must have been a massively inspirational pep talk from the Sensei led to a fully charged Dojo scoring a string of virtually unanswered goals, leading to the Dojo taking half well & truly ahead.

Let's pick up the video now (filmed by the thankfully willing first-time cameraperson Brooke, partner of OSB's bionic man Chadwick):



Just one of the night's many big, big layouts from Dan Walls at the end there. And if you were wondering what happened to the team you saw wearing white shirts at the start of the game, well, we all changed into black just because it was the only colour Dan and his buddy Dave Watson turned up with (a couple of points into the game, of course...). [Edit: Looks like there's no explaining of shirt colours required after that tedious clip where nothing happens in the middle of the film. Seems we hit "delete" on the wrong clip, not that looking at blokes standing around in white shorts can't be fun...] Here's more action:



Big grab by our brand-new German rookie Stefan at the end there. And the Walls sweet-layout count is now up to 3...



Cupcake putting it all on the line there at 1:47 to save a rather shabby floater from the Italian Shower... And horizontal again at the end there, making the grab from a trademark Flanagan hammer to win the game look that bit more special.

So, despite getting a little complacent toward the end the Dojo rolls in an easy 15-11 win over the Old Schoolers. That wraps up the first round of the League this season, with DojoMojo and UQ Lovers the only two undefeated teams (by virtue of the drawn game last week). This Thursday is scheduled as a training week, with the second half of the season getting underway via a Dojo vs UQ Passion clash on Mar 26. There might be some entertainment to be had here in the meantime - we'll see what we can come up with - but in the meantime, this week's Above&Beyond poll is ready for voting there on the right, with current standings updated below.

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.

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.

Lessons in Foul Calling

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

Al and Julz Spin the Yundo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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