Its Deja Vu All Over Again

I just love that quote in our title today. Yogi Berra, you the man. Scroll down to those quotes.

And they aptly describe what we'll be seeing in the BPL Grand Final next week. Check out our pre-prepared preview.

Next week's BPL Grand Final will be at the UQ Oval 7 again, which after some early nervousness about the lights, proved to be a mighty fine venue. TD Stu even felt the next to get us to test both our footwork and our memories, by bringing the portafields but not bothering with the scoreboards.

We copped a bit of flak in the comments to yesterday's preview for suggesting that the Lovers were more likely to make the Final than the Cobras, but this reflected the Cobras being against some stiffer opposition, as much as the Lovers peaking at the right time after showing the most improvement over the season.

And this is the way it went last night. We haven't seen the official report from TD Stu, but word on the grapevine was that Dojo defeated the Lovers 15-14, while the Cobras were rolled by the Buggers 15-12.

This correspondent didn't see a lot of the Bugs/Cobs match up (being justifiably focused elsewhere), but it sounded like it went to expectations. The scaly ones yelled a lot. Those with the external skeletal structures were pretty quiet.

The point I did watch pointed out to your writer one thing that has been missed in talking about the Bugs this season. There's plenty of chat about Mike, J-Ray and the speed of the Buggers, but the Buggers Season 2 2009 have also been really solid with the disc in hand, and this can in a big part be put down to the triumverate of Simon, Manuel and Nandor. One of these guys is always there to relieve any pressure the defenders built up - opponents ignore them at their peril.

Meanwhile, there was plenty of talk before the Dojo/Lovers game that their previous matchup, while close, was a game of error after error after error, with Dojo falling over the line.

This time around was almost the complete opposite. Here were two teams playing great Ultimate and with great Spirit (so spirited that spirit was never even mentioned the whole game, I think). After scoring first, the Dojo led the whole way, but the Lovers kept kicking and biting and scratching their way back into it, eventually tying the scores up at 14-14.

Alas, there could be only one winner, and the Dojo have a week to think about how they can gain revenge over the Buggers for last season's 14-11 Grand Final loss. Compliments to them again though, on a great game. Standouts for the rising sons were Stef's low down and dirty work, Fatty's whole-field running, Sean 'Gandalf' Flanagan, Phil Stock's moustache (coming along nicely), the positive Daz-itude ... and well we may as well mention Andy1, Andy2 and Matty so as to round the team out (plus Steve 'Where's my Clipboard' Cameron) - they were all good.

For the Lovers ... well (slipping out of neutral tones here), we really thought we were going to get that upset and march into the Final. This is a team that has improved out of sight this season, and produced some real 'dudes-to-watch-for-or-you'll-be-watching-their-dust-as-they-score-on-you-again' - Brenton, Neil, Dylan, Mitch, Doug, Kurt, Gord. As well as reinvigorating the play of some older fellas before they're one day put out to pasture (although Rohan and Nathan have a long way to go yet!). Plus we had Neil's Dad and Nathan's Missus down to support us, plus Tomsteve Passion. Great game Lovers, great season.

Now to start gathering supplies for the Final.