Worst Huck Ever!

That's how the DojoMojo commentary team described the winning throw in the Grand Final match of Brisbane Premier League Season 1 for 2010, fought out by UQ Passion and Cobras (ummm Reece - anything to say?). And as far as describing the game goes, we reckon that's about all that needs to be said, given that we've got nearly an HOUR of exclusive, non-stop frisbee footage right here for your viewing pleasure, absolutely free of charge.

Oh there is just one thing, and that is that the naming & shaming that went on here at the Dojo blog a few weeks ago seems to have been a cathartic moment. Both teams, and most notably the Cobras, played with impeccable spirit and competitiveness throughout, with not even a single moment of controversy in the entire match. A great achievement by everyone involved, especially in such a high-stakes game.

And now let's roll the videotape!

Sorry Mum

You know, my Mum used to say (and still does) that if you can't say anything nice about someone then you shouldn't say anything at all. The problem is that if I lived by that rule all the time I would a) have very little to write about on this blog, and b) do the BPL community a great disservice by failing to address some very important issues. Best not read any further then, Mum.

Oh okay - let's talk about the good things first. Final point of the game, Dojo and Cobras even at 14-14. Strange that I can't clearly remember how that point started, but the Dojo put together a lengthy offensive push featuring innumerable hammers over the Cobras trap zone. It seemed only a matter of time before the inevitable winning Dojo goal would come, until a cross-field hammer outside the Cobras endzone was picked off by a Cobras player who I really should know the name of, and hopefully will soon. The Cobras team then put a fast sequence of completed passes together and scored fairly easily. Game over.

(Post-edit note: Thanks Reece for reminding me about what should have been an unforgettable foul call in the last point, where Finn (I know his name now!) was running in the wrong direction for the disc and collided with Coops, neither of them being anywhere near it, and neither of them intending for there to be any contact. Ah, but a foul was called nonetheless and Cobras got another shot...).

That's it for the "saying good things" bit.

What also has to be said is that due to the actions of a few senior players the Cobras are fast developing a reputation for themselves as a cheating, aggressive, obnoxious and downright nasty team to play against. This must be something that all of their great young guys who just want to play excellent disc find very troubling.

During the game we saw a Cobra player run headlong into Coops, and complaints from the Cobra captain when "dangerous play" was called (i.e. "but he'd already dropped it!" - yeah, because if he caught it he would've ended up knocked to the ground). We had general abuse and arguments over call after call. Probably the "Bug" moment for Cobras though was when Liam called an obviously premature stall on Dave Watson (memory fails as to whether Watto's throw was a goal or had set up an easy goal pass). Even the spectators on the sideline were ridiculing this at the time, and Liam was given the opportunity to retract, but alas... A turnover followed, and what should have been a 12-9 scoreline to Dojo turned into a one-point game at 11-10.

Sure, we made our own mistakes thereafter to lose the game - no-one's denying this. But seeing our lead reduced by 2 points through pure deceit certainly didn't help. I never thought I'd see merit in having referees in Ultimate, but after last week I'm starting to understand. I'm tempted to add further to this point, in particular pointing out that often those who call loudest for referees are also those who are most in need of being scrutinised them, but I won't (any more than I already have)... There's a lightly veiled point being made there for those who care to read between the lines.

I really would have followed my Mums' advice though, even after all that, if the comments from the Cobras captain in the post-game huddle (and afterward, including his ridiculous efforts on the BUB) hadn't been so full of gloating ill-will. If winning a damn trophy is all that matters, and you're prepared to sacrifice your own reputation and friendships to get there then I for one think that's a pretty sad situation, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone there.

Anyway, I've been searching for a suitably tone-lightening witticism to end this post with, but nothing comes to mind. Instead let me just say that it's been an honour and a pleasure to play my 20th consecutive BPL season (yes - every season there has ever been, under the various nomenclatures) with my Dojo teammates Pete Allen, Ryan Black, Matt Eastburn, Rohan Ferris, Sean Flanagan, Jon Good, Andy Lankowski, Leon McIntyre, Darren Shi, Adrian Thompson, Dan Walls, Dave Watson and, for one golden game, Andy McLean. And to all the great, great guys playing in all the other teams - thanks for making the BPL something that we all want to come back to, season after season.

See you for the next one.

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...

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...