It'll Be Worth the Wait...

For those waiting in eager anticipation to see the footage of the BPL Season 2 '08 Grand Final from last Thursday night, all we can say is that we've reviewed the footage in its raw form and it'll be worth the wait.

We're currently experiencing some technical difficulties editing it all into watchable format, which translates into "Windows Movie Maker is the most useless, bug-ridden, hopelessly incompatible-with-everything, time-guzzling program ever to be automatically installed onto a computer as part of a Windows update". So we're off to acquire some software that actually works and will, with any luck, have the game and associated commentary from JDR, Special G and the Sensei posted right here in a day or two.

In the meantime we've got some news that's much worse than a slight delay in our exclusive BPL coverage. And the news is that Steve Hjelm quietly announced (as is his way) that he won't be taking the field for DojoMojo in future as he's moving to Sydney. This is very sad news not only for us here at the Dojo but also for Brisbane Ultimate at large. Hjelmie has been throwing a disc here in Brisbane longer than most and is a past BPL MVP winner - the guy is fast. Let's hope he doesn't wind up playing for Fakulti or someone like that...

Oh - and speaking of MVPs, DojoMojo's "Weapon from Antiquity" Dan Walls took out this season's BPL MVP title, beating the likes of Mike Nield and Buzz Burwell with an average tally of over 1 vote per game. Dan joins Hjelmie and Dave Watson in the select group of kenshi to have their names engraved on the stupendous BPL MVP trohpy.

Story of the Season!

Last night on Field 2 at AJFC, 6 DojoMojo players took to the field against 14 UQ Passion boys and won convincingly. Easy to write, not at all easy to do.

The final scoreline was 15-9, and despite being down two points early and playing savage-minus-one the whole time, we managed to take the half, see off an early second-half challenge from the men in pink (which brought the score to 8-8), and somehow find the legs & lungs to pull away and win by 6. And this against a team which features undoubtedly the two best throwers in Queensland and a fleet of top-shelf receivers.

How did we do it? Steve Hjelm admitted after the game that at the outset he would have been happy just to get more than the 2 points the 6-man Messy scored against us last week. He wasn't the only one who thought it might get ugly for the kenshi. But we went into the game realising that we couldn't hope for anyone else to turn up (Watto for instance was busy watching synchronised swimming in the Olympics) and resolved to play a very simple game involving lots of quick disc movement on offence and a zone D which aimed at first taking away the long throws and second clogging up the middle.

It probably wasn't until the halftime break that we realised that we were actually the better team on the night and could win if our legs & hearts could hold out. So the 6 of us gritted our teeth, generated blocks all over the field, forced Passion to make risky throws and didn't allow them to effectively set up any form of defensive structure. It was simple doggedness and commitment.

All sounds a bit serious for a Dojo story, doesn't it? But the truth is that it was one of those very rare moments when a team becomes completely, intuitively cohesive and plays with an intensity and fluency that they themselves find surprising. The game didn't quite turn into a descending array of information, but a threshold was definitely crossed, and it's an experience those involved will be able to draw on in the future when things get tight.

For this writer, it's impossible to make an MVP call between Dan Walls, Steve Pettit, Matt Eastburn, Steve Hjelm, Andy Lankowski and Stephen Cameron (a group henceforth known within the Dojo as "The Several Steve Subset") this week. Every player worked every position, zipped the disc short, sent it or pulled it down long and made the D plays stick. Nonetheless, our MVP poll is a tradition not to be broken so you'll find this week's on the right. Voting for multiple players is possible and very likely.

With any luck, we'll resume our usual light-hearted service with a ringside chat with John "The Cheese" McNaughton at our monthly Dojo sumo contest over the weekend. Perhaps we'll hear John's views on Buzz's call of the night in the post-game huddle...? Oh yes, and even though we had the video camera at the field last night, there was no-one to hold it so no film this week... The near-Homeric odyssey above will have to suffice this time.

And lastly, we've discovered that commenting for non-blogger types had been disabled here at the DojoMojo Blog, so those with something to say will be pleased to know that this situation has now been rectified and commenting is encouraged from one & all, anonymous or otherwise...

[PS - MVP standings updated again with Dave Watson taking out the honours last week, so it's: Matt E (3.5), Stefan (2), Dave W (1), Mike (1), Stephen C (0.5).]

It got Messy...

For the second week in a row, DojoMojo used its new shirt-colour-change tactic to devastating effect, leading to a what must have been a BPL record-breaking blowout win of 15-2 (!) over an unfortunately short-handed MBB: Messy crew.

The Messy lads were missing their top guns, currently on assignment overseas representing Australia at the WUGC in Vancouver, and attending some sort of medical junket in Ireland. Reduced as they were to 6 players, Messy had no answer to the Dojo's unrelenting defence and patient offence (which produced only 3 or 4 turnovers all night).

But why just read about it when you can watch some actual footage and see for yourself? Big thanks especially to Mrs Dan Walls for holding the camera whilst under a blanket on the sideline (and for keeping the footage of Dan looking manly between points to a minimum...).

This first clip is from an early point in the match where a contested block was quickly followed by a simple throwaway, setting DojoMojo up with an early break-point opportunity that wasn't wasted:



Dave Watson managed to complete a spectacular thumb hammer goal (just off camera) to Hjelmie a few points later. Here he is making do with your run-of-the-mill, over-the-top scoober option:



And yes, that's Matt Eastburn and Wetnose busily diminishing the Spirit scores for both teams in the endzone. After that little venting session (unfortunate as it was) the prevalence of heavy, accidental/negligent contact from earlier in the game thankfully dried right up.

Messy had no option but to play zone defence all night, which, if there had been even the slightest breeze, might have generated a few more turnovers. But as it was, the Dojo handlers (yes - that really is Steve Hjelm in the back 3 for a while) were able to patiently dump & swing their way to the goal with cutters finding holes through the middle of the zone.



How about that pull just making it past the halfway line (not to mention the force-anywhere defence)? At least Dan wound up catching the goal...

The last point of the game was typical of all the others, with Dojo earning a turnover on D, then steadily taking the disc all the way downfield to score. Not spectacular, but it worked.



With any luck we'll track down Wetnose himself and invite him around in the next few days for a contemplative Shakuhachi recital beside our miniature waterfall and a chat about the game.

And of course the MVP Standings are now: Matt E (3.5), Stefan (2), Mike (1) and Stephen C (0.5). Stefan is away for the rest of the season, and with 4 games still to go we could still see the likes of Dan Walls or Dave Watson emerge from the shadows to steal the season MVP title. Vote for this week's MVP (voting for multiple players is just fine) in the poll to the right!

Look how far they've come...

Even though he still hasn't dropped by the Dojo kendo hall for a nice chat, Dave Watson AKA the Golden Boy of Queensland Ultimate has managed to find the time to dig through his immense photographic archives to track down some of the earliest recorded images of some current (and not-so-current) Dojo stars.

We're going back to the days of UQ's Field 7 being the solitary home of Brisbane ultimate circa early 2000's. See if you can recognise a blonde-headed, Danish-descended kenshi with a funny surname in this image:



Yes, that's right - it's a much younger (and Dave claims faster) Steve Hjelm. Looking good Hjelmie, and happy to keep a low profile looking slightly shifty in the back row as usual. But speaking of shifty, have a look at Sean Flanagan second from the right in the back row (behind Jay Sansness of whom more shortly). There's something very "Today Tonight" about his look back then, wouldn't you agree? Also looking happy in the front left is Helen Spurling who stopped smiling (and playing) only a year or so after this photo was taken and pretty much immediately after she was struck in the sternum at point-blank range by a Buzz Burwell huck. Ouch.



The question here is not why Jay Sansness is in every team photo, but who that mysterious and goofy-happy looking Dojo-er is at the right-hand rear. And the answer is Dan Blacklock. You'd think that after all these years he'd have stopped living in a share house with other frisbee players, but no - not Dan.



Sansness again. But of greater note is that this image not only contains every male McNaughton that's ever thrown a frisbee but it also contains a younger, happier Andy McLean. That's him with the question mark over his head to the right hand side. Note that he's showing a lot of big hair promise even in these early days. Also, Dave has noted that the individual to the front left of the photo is in fact a much younger-looking Matt Eastburn. Hasn't Matt changed.

Ever the frisbee historian, Dave leads us to believe that this particular winter league, fought out on the cold, dark, pre-desertified UQ fields, was won by a team chock full of Dojo talent...

Mud Sticks But Slippry Slips

Everything the Dojo players have been working on over the past few weeks finally came together on the muddy AJFC field last night. And by "working on" we mean simply receiving (and perhaps reading) email tirade after tirade from Sensei C. Just goes to show that emailing is every bit as good as real training.

Even Stefan got the message after an early rush-of-blood throwaway, so we must be doing something right.

Anyway, the short story is that a disciplined and determined Dojo rolled through last night's game against Slippry Bugs to win 15-6. Some might say that those two "d" words aren't really in keeping with the Dojo Way, but times change and clearly natural charm and stunning talent are no longer enough to stay at the top of what has often been described as Australia's best frisbee league.

Short completions, rapid resets and a variety of impenetrable zone D's characterised the Dojo approach to last night's game and it really stuck. A few long bombs were of course thrown in just to keep the Slippry D guessing, including one pure magic arcing huck from Matt Eastburn to an apparently levitating Steve Hjelm. If only Dom had his video camera handy for that one.

We're expecting a visit from the Slippry leadership to the Dojo bathhouse sometime later today (we're always happy to share our post-game recovery facilities), so expect to see that conversation posted in the next few days. There's also the latest MVP poll for your voting pleasure to the right - vote for as many players as you think deserved it!

And BTW - current MVP standings are Stefan (2) and Mike (1).