We're done the Club Previews, but to get away from stats and into the real world of gut feelings, we at the Brisbane Ultimate Blog managed to grab a virtual beer with two stalwarts of the Brisbane Premier League scene, Messy Buggers captain and space-needle Mike Neild, and Dojo Mojo Senior Super-Sensei Stephen Cameron.
Brisbane Ultimate Blog (BUB): Thanks guys - so which two teams do you expect we'll see in the final at the end of this season?
Mike: MBB: Messy and MBB: Slippery. I can't work out how much of this is blind pride and how much is calculated judgment. I'm backing some Buggers success because the teams have been good in the past. We have also been good at incorporating new players into the teams. I feel like there is a bit of that going on with all the teams this league - adding new players - and we have good systems for doing that. I also feel like the Buggers club has developed good systems for dealing with the Frisbee Dojo and the Rawhide teams.So to summarise, I think the Buggers teams will manage their new players better than UQ, and we will continue to cope with the games of the 2 teams with less player turnover. Too honest? Too much blind pride? We'll see hey?
Steve: I believe sporting commentators typically use the cliche "it's too early to tell" at times like this, but they clearly haven't been watching enough BPL action.Everybody knows that if you want to be in the Final you need to beat Dojo Mojo and/or whichever Bugs team features the patented "huck-it-to-you-know-who" offence.
It's hard to tell this early looking at the rosters just how the Bug and UQ teams are going to shake out and where the top talent is likely to land, so given their stirling performance and 1-point loss in last season's semi-final, some people might even give the relatively stable and highly experienced (seems cruel just to say "old") Rawhide a better-than-average chance of being in the big game, despite their shirt colour being described as "sprout".
BUB: What's got you excited about this season?
Steve: The Dojo Mojo is full of fresh talent right now, and we've got one or two rookies joining the team this season as well. Each one of these new guys has really added something to the Dojo, and after a full season together I'm expecting some serious firepower on the field. Oh, and there's at least one new line of Dojo Mojo merchandise coming to BPL this season...
Mike: Yep, its the new players that are coming into the league. I'd hope that all 6 teams have players who are participating in their first BPL and I'm really looking forward to seeing how those blokes adapt to the faster pace of the competition.
BUB: What do you reckon the Bugs and Dojo are bringing this season that you haven't brought before?
Mike: Shirts from England. We might try and learn a new defense as well.
Steve: I'd say probably defence. And I might try to get into the habit of bringing the Dojo flag down to the game every week as well.
BUB: Which of the other teams do you have the most respect for, fear of or rivalry with (pick one)?
Steve: I've chosen the "respect" option in this choose-your-own-adventure question as the answer to the "rivalry" option is obvious and "fear" is an emotion simply unknown to those walking the Dojo path. But now I'm more than one sentence into the answer I'm just wishing I'd taken the easy out. Let's just say that mutual respect is one of the fundamental tenets of Ultimate - it's right up there in rule 1.4, so clearly for us to respect one team more than the others would be against the spirit of the game. And yes, I would run for parliament with question-dodging rhetoric like that if only Kevin Rudd wasn't my local member...
Mike: I'll take that question! The UQ lovers team and the MBB have had a series of close and competitive games together over the last few seasons. The nature of that UQteam is similar to ours, a few experienced players with a continuous stream of fresh new athletic players. The Lovers have matched up well against us for a number of seasons. I think we even had a drawn season a few leagues ago, we drew one game, they won by 1 in another game and we won by 1 in the third game. Great rivalry.
BUB: Thanks heaps guys, and good luck this season and throughout the year.
Mike: Thanks Jase.
Steve: May your throws be like the flowers in the sunshine, and bloom in plenty.
3 comments:
Nice interview, but where is Cunliffe? I'd have to go with the Bugger v Bugger final at the end of the season too. UQ will be to worried about picking up chicks at beginner league, and Dojo & Rawhide have too many old farts (sorry Jase).
Never fear - they may not interview me or any of the other UQ mob, but they will never stop me commenting...!
...unless of course Jase IP bans me - which would break my heart, but would probably be better for both me and this blog in the long run...
... but till then I just like to say the UQ exec of 2007 definitely look like they are proactive bunch and are doing some really good work behind the scenes, and whilst picking up some hotties at the UQ league may be their number one priorty I'm sure doing well at BPL is definitely in the top 10...?...15...?...maybe...
...kidding, BPL is always a big focus at UQ, but with that said UQ will always have guys like Johnny Mac and myself who fail miserably at charming the ladies to try to chip in with the Frisbee side of things!
Anyway, onto the teams themselves - we have definitely had some key personnel drift from the club, but we also have a lot of potential as well, and I think it is reasonable to expect that there will be 2 UQ teams in the semis, and it's not outrageous to think one could make the finals.
Whilst I'm tipping that Dojo will be the team to beat this season, I'm sure MBB won't be far off the pace. So it should be a good season and the fact that its running right through the Nationals preparations I think it will make for some good grinding games considering there is potentially Firestorm players on every BPL team!
Chris, can you ever not go off on some useless rant that no one is going to read?! And no, I didn't read it.
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