Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Nationals Review - A Firestorm Perspective

We were lucky enough for Messr J McNaughton stumble into the stately BUB Manor after he was de-throwned as the head of the Storm of Fire, allegedly following some form of salary cap scandal. Before he realised where he was and escaped, we managed to strap him down in the dungeon and force some answers out of him regarding the recent Australian National Championships held in Adelaide, where Firestorm finished 8th.

1. How do you feel about Firestorm's drop in placings from last year with what seemed a better quality team? Is this a reflection of the growing strength of Australian Ultimate, or did the team just lack the fire in the vital games? Did injuries or fatigue play a key role?

We were disappointed with the result. We were aiming to improve our placing this year, due to a stronger team and better training regimen, so to drop a few places wasn't fun.

The competition was certainly significantly stronger than last year - this was certainly the highest standard of competition I've seen at Nationals, evidenced by the fact we played the reigning champions for 7th. I-Beam really stepped up, Sydney made a strong return with their Colony teams, and Karma were good at home. Chilly, Fyshwick and HoS are great teams, but even they couldn't crack top 3 this year.

Having said that, there were certainly things we could have done better. Our conditioning wasn't up there with the top teams, and we struggled to put together a full consistent game (Karma may have been our best performance there). Injuries were certainly a concern - we lost a good handler/cutter in Dean a month before Nationals, and a number of players were carrying injuries that both restricted their lead-up training and impaired their tournament performance. Conditioning will be a big focus of coming seasons, as this should also help our mental game and our injury prevention.

2. You did have 3 games go to Golden Point, and your final placing game was only decided by 2 points. Was it just a matter of a couple of lucky breaks not going Firestorm's way that made the difference between a 5th place finish and the 8th place achieved?

I could never really argue for lucky breaks as the deciding factor, as tempting as it seems. I think our biggest weakness was our offence - while we worked hard on defence this season, and played it pretty well, we struggled to adapt to different conditions and different kinds of defences, The inability to really dominate on offence and score consistently in tight situations would have been one of the biggest deciding factors.

3. Did you have any idea that I-Beam would be the team to take the title? At what point during the tournament did you start to think they could do it?

Honestly, not at all. They were 4th last year, and that was in the absence of any real Sydney threats. Their early season results were nothing special, with a 3rd placing at Regionals and something similar at BCI.

Their Nationals roster, though, was very strong and very experienced. They have a lot of very talented players who know each other very well, and they understand how to play with each other. I think the warning bells for other teams started when they upset Chilly on day 2.

4. With the top 4 slots being taken up by Eastern teams, and Southern teams filling the next 3 spots, what do teams in the North need to do to mix it with these teams.

Regular competition is a huge part of the Eastern and Southern strength - they have multiple strong clubs that can take each other on regularly. Firestorm are already planning to increase our travel to tournaments in future, to overcome this problem.

Most of these teams also have players that have genuinely been to the top level, playing in National finals in the past and representing the country with the Dingos. We are a relatively young club, and our individual players don't quite have the same experience and understanding - while we've got a lot of great young guys coming through, there's still quite a way to go. Hopefully in the next few years, we'll have more guys becoming involved in rep teams, or moving to senior player roles where they can develop the edge for winning big games.

5. Who from Firestorm really stood out for you during the tournament?

I have to mention Pete Allen and Dan Young as block-getting machines. Those boys really stepped up and played the best defence I've ever seen from them. Jangles had a really strong tournament, consistently offering open cuts and making good choices. Silent George, Jules and Gref took on some really tough match-ups over the weekend and made some great plays.

As much as it sounds like the regular club line though, I was really excited by our depth at Nationals. Everyone was able to play and perform at that level, which was excellent.

6. Do you think that a home Nationals will benefit Firestorm and other Northern teams next year? In what way?

A home Nationals will be great for us. From a club management perspective, it opens opportunities for promoting the club and helping it to grow; from a players' perspective, it's a lot cheaper (making more lead-up tournaments viable) and it's nice to sleep in your own bed. This is a great chance for the club to grow rapidly in various ways.

7. With so many Northerners in the Thunder team, how did you see this team go at Nationals? How do you see them going in Germany at U19 Worlds in a few months?

I actually saw very little of Thunder at Nationals, which was disappointing. As a group, their skills are better than in previous years, and they've been physically well prepared for a long time. I think that Nationals would have been great for their play, and with another couple of months and camps under their belts, they should be a genuine force in Germany.


With those last words, we decided that Jmac had endured enough punishment of a constant slideshow of pictures of all Australian Ultimate players that had ever worn a mankini, and we thanked him and released him from our clutches.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

That first paragraph alsmost sounded like it had a sexual direction for the rest of the wirte up...

I can just picture JdR as a Dr. Frankenfurter style captive.

JdR said...

I think I'm more Eddie than Frank, but thanks for the kind thoughts, Jack.

JdR said...

The weird thing too - Ghengis played I-Beam in the first game of the tournament. Of course, they beat us 15-6 I think. But I told them afterwards I was surprised as how flat they were.

Being the 15th place specialist I am, I've been beaten by some quality teams on Day 1 of Nats before, including I-Beam. Usually these teams have made it look effortless, usually because they've come out fired up, running hard and ready to start Nationals.

But I-Beam took it pretty casually and I actually thought they'd do poorly through the tournament.

On the other hand, it probably helps to have done well at previous Nationals and Regionals (both your own team and your region). I-Beam had a relatively easy Day 1, whereas Firestorm had memories of it all going wrong on Day 1, and I'd assume really put in. So by Day 4, its a question of what's still in the tank.

I guess we in the North need to be a stronger region as a whole in terms of our multi-year Nationals performance, so that there's a base for our top team to have an easier Day 1, and maybe then get into the top 4 and then win a Championship.

wetnose said...

Well if the pooling structure stays the same, next year will see the top northerns team (presumably Firestorm) with a pool that includes the tournaments number 1 seed which will be the top Eastern team, Firestorm, the top Western team (presumably Sublime) and the number 16 team.
So Firestorm will have a tough match against Sublime (showcase match?) to stay alive in the tournament, and will have to bring it big time on day 1 again.

aL said...

The structure of the pools is actually a little different to that I think..

Two pools made up of teams seeded 1-4 and 13-16 and then two cusp pools made up of teams seeded 5-12..

Simon Talbot said...

yeah i think N1 will go against S2, S4 and E5. something like that anyway

Pete said...

yay cusp pool.