Top 10 of 2009 Part 2

Bloody heck! It's New Year's Eve here at stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion. There are several fatted calves on the rotisserie, the kegs are spiked, the champagne is chilling, and the disco ball is turning. But before we get into the fun, lets quickly count down the second half of the top ten of 2009 ....

5. Trevor Goes Everywhere

The appearance in 2009 of a new club determined to attend every single tournament that it could, oh that happened to be made up of mostly junior players, was a great thing.

4. New Tournaments: Big Sky 9’s, Slamtown Invitational and Brisbane Indoor Ultimate Championships

Three new tournaments arrived on the Brisbane Ultimate scene this year, and fingers are crossed all over that they can become annual annual annual! Each filled a new niche, with Big Sky 9’s obviously a huge success in achieving its ambitious aims – rounds of applause to all involved. (We should mention the Townsville Hat here too. Well done Northerners for enticing a few southerners up too.)

3. Buggers Ascendant

It’s a story that this isn’t a story. Once, nay twice again, the Moreton Bay Buggers took home the Robert Craddock’s Dog trophy for winning the Brisbane Premier League, first in June and again in November. And yet nobody seems too put out by it. Bugger dominance in BPL Finals is just the way of things, like the sun and the tide.

2. World Games in Kaoshing

Well, this did get a lot of attention, and rightly so. An outstanding effort for Ultimate Frisbee globally. For Brisbane rep Mike Neild, its been a roller coaster of a year, and we hope he and his lady are well.

1. UQ Wins AUGs

The week was outrageous. The Final was outrageous. But the University of Queensland were the worthy winners of gold Gold GOLD at the 2009 Australian University Championships on the Gold Coast. The win cemented the club once again as the strongest and most important in Queensland Ultimate. Now, if only they can get it together to go and defend their title in 2010!

BPL 2009-2 Round 1 Results

Note the inclusion of Passion's new logo, in support of the Mike Neild's performance in the 2008 movie, Salute:

Bronzed Mike talks World Games

Having returned from the stifling heat of Taiwan and his recent selection at number 34 in the Huddle's mock draft, Mike took some time out to visit the pools of the BUB Manor, then sauntered inside to discuss his recent trip and achievements at World Games. The discussion went a little something like this:

BUB: Mike, thanks for avoiding the swarm of Taiwanese girls outside to come in and have a quick chat with us about your recent trip to World Games. Nice little medal around your neck as well we see.

MN: Thanks for having me on the page. The medal is very nice, a real point of pride from my 7 years of Frisbee.

You'd think those Taiwanese girls would have had enough by now hey?

BUB: Oh Mike, no one could ever get enough of you. We were hearing reports of crowds up to 5,000 people for some of the games over there. Given that the biggest crowd in Australia will be a couple of hundred people at a Nationals Final, what was it like to play in front of those sorts of crowds? Any signs held up saying "Marry me Mike Neild"?

MN: There were a few signs up in the stadium, no proposals that I noticed however it was a big stadium. During the opening ceremony for the whole event the stadium was full (40,000 or something) and there were people hanging out on the outside of the stadium watching on the big screen.

During the course of the 3 day Frisbee tournament 39,500 tickets were sold and during our Sunday night game against the host nation Chinese Taipei there were an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 people in the stadium. It was absolutely incredible! I have a vivid memory of standing on the line at the start of a point three quarters of the way through the game. The commentator on the loud speaker was firing up the crowd and Mat Dowle was standing 5m away from me and yelling in order to make himself heard while calling the line, it was like nothing I've experienced before.


BUB: 12,000 people?! We'll have to try and get that to the next BPL Final. One of the big wins to come out of WG05 was the high level of spirit at such a competitive tournament. Australia won the spirit at WG09, but how did you view the overall spirit of the tournament? Feel free to name names if you like.

MN: The spirit was good at the tournament. Possibly slightly higher than at a World Championship event. Spirit is based heavily on respect for the individuals and team that are at the other end of the field. Respect between the players of the top frisbee nations in the world is very high. As always there was some fiestyness between GB and Australia however it never became disrespectful.

BUB: Don't worry about those brits, we'll have the ashes soon anyway. Heroic Australian Co-Captain Jonno Holmes was on a drip prior to the bronze medal playoff and then returned to the field to help lead the team to victory. Do you consider this a greater sporting moment than the incident involving Graeme Smith and his broken hand at the SCG earlier this year? How much did this boost the team?

MN: Yeah Jonno looked pretty ordinary for a couple of days there and I suppose we needed to get him onto the essential salts or magic drip a bit earlier. He was so important to the successful performance of our team on the field that without him at top ability we struggled.

I was absolutely inspired and impressed by his performance in the bronze medal game after such a tough preceeding 48 hours. A total captain's effort.

BUB: Graeme Smith, eat your heart out! Given that most of you have been playing non-stop since WUGC training camps around 1.5 years ago, do you plan on taking any time off now to have a bit of a rest? Or are you going to keep going while the going is good?

MN: It is a shame that opportunities to play for Australia are so rare. I have feelings of regret that during the window of top level performance that I have as an athlete (while the going is good) I will only attend a small number of events for Australia. These feelings are mixed with an interest in not completing multiple running sessions each week for months on end.

To answer the question I'll lumber around at league with the Cougars, QUTies and Buggers for the rest of the year however travelling and tournaments hold very limited appeal for me at the moment.

BUB: How did you find the standard of the overall tournament? Did it live up to the highest level in our sport? Were any games easy at that level?

MN: They were all hard fought, desperate games. Credit must go to the host nation Chinese Taipei for developing themselves into a dangerous and challenging team. The results at the tournament give credit to the even nature of the teams, with all of the top 4 teams beating each other at various stages. There were also excellent individual challenges during every game, it was great.

It is different to playing with the Dingos though. The shortness of the tournament maybe, the fact that every game was challenging and vital to the overall result. A wonderful experience

BUB: Well Mike, thanks for your time today. We will let you get back to the autograph signing.

MN: Yes thank you Brisbane Ultimate Blog. The autograph joke is now a little less fantasy and a little more real - still pretty surreal and funny though.

Also thanks very much to everyone from Brisbane who wished me good luck and passed on their congratulations when I came home down at league or at the halibut. It has been really nice to feel the support of the community and I was well aware of the responsibility to represent the home frisbee community well while over at the tournament. Thanks again.



Mike waves to the fans as he enters the stadium.



The Crocs receive their bronze medals.



Mike signs some autographs for some adoring fans. Next shot was Mike being mauled by naked, screaming Taiwanese girls, but could not be shown for legal reasons.

Blogging About Blogging is a Sin, Especially When It's About Not Blogging

So things have been pretty quiet here at the Brisbane Ultimate Blog in recent weeks.

Sorry about that - we've just been really busy with lots of other stuff. But here's a quick roundup of some of the stuff we should've been blogging a whole lot more about.

Halibut is on this weekend. 12 big teams, and lots of fun coming. The organisers have been solidly beavering away on getting everything ready. Looking forward to it. Squishy of the Gold Coast Blog has offered a few thoughts on some of the teams.

It looks like our own Mike Neild had a very successful tournament at the World Games. Australia finished with Bronze after beating Canada in the playoff, but it could easily have gone the other way, with the close loss to the Canucks putting the Aussies out of the Gold Medal playoff (which they were looking good for after putting the biggest scare of the tournament up the Americans on the first day, and beating eventual Silver medalists Japan). Kudos also to Piers and Pottsy for their great twittering.

Its only three weeks until the Brisbane Indoor Ultimate Championships. Get yourself on a team.

The Brisbane Premier League will be hucking off in August, with five very solid looking teams going for glory. Our tip? Passion will give Stu an entire season of team sheets when they arrive for the first game. Note it has been one month since the Cobra and Buggers websites were updated, while the Dojo site continues to trickle along. If you've been missing the training nights, you won't want to miss the one next week, with Buzz and Mike running the show.

Second semester also starts soon for those Uni students out there. UQ starts "Club Training" next Wednesday. QUT starts this weekend. No time to study, eh?

Anyways, we hope to return to normal blogging frequency sooner or later. But leave a comment of encouragement and we'll do our best.

Who Listens to the Radio?

Well, if you were in your bedroom doing your whole wad - cruising with the rhythm and going berzerk as it were, you might have missed Mike on the radio this morning.

Thankfully, your taxpayer funded ABC has already got it up on their website at this address.

Do Ultimate media coverage a favour, and leave a comment over there, won't you?

And Mike seems to have been entertaining enough that they're looking to get him back on the show, either direct from Taiwan, or after he gets back.

Well done Mike! And go AUSSIE!

Listen to Radio Mikey .... bom

If you're up early on Thursday morning, tune in to ABC 612AM's Breakfast Show, as our own Mike Neild has been booked for an interview from 06:20-06.30 (so set those alarms).

Mike will be talking about his representing Australia in Ultimate the 2009 World Games, which start in 8 days time in Kaoshing, Taiwan. This is the absolute peak for Ultimate players.

The World Games is the largest multi-sport event after the Olympics, and features non-Olympic sports (and is a great platform for showcasing Ultimate to the IOC). Australia won Silver in Ultimate at the 2005 World Games, and is looking to go one better this year.

Good luck Mike!

Linkety links:
World Games: http://www.worldgames2009.tw/wg2009/eng/index.php
Ultimate at the World Games: http://www.worldgames2009.tw/wg2009/eng/sports.php?sn=31
ABC Brisbane Breakfast: http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/612_breakfast/index.html

Congratulations Mike Neild - Off to Represent Australia at the World Games!

Congratulations to Mike Neild, on his selection as a member of the Australian team, the Crocs, to play in the 2009 World Games.

In July, the Crocs will travel to Kaohsiung, Taiwan in July to compete in the 6 team tournament. Their opposition is made up the USA , Canada , Japan , Great Britain and Chinese Taipei (hosts).

Australia picked up a Silver medal at the 2005 games, arguably the best result ever for a national team.

Ultimate at the World Games is played Mixed, with a maximum of 13 players on the team. The full Australian team are: Diana Worman, Liz Edye, Keah Molomby, Lauren Brown, Katie Bradstock, Ash Martens, Jonathan Holmes, Matthew Dowle, Anthony Dowle, Pete Gardner, Mike Neild, Tim Lavis and Peter Blakeley. Reserves are: Lisi Jarrott, Fiona Macrae, Megan Gamble, Gavin Moore, Owen Shepherd and Jonathan Tatham.

ps - I love how Ultimate is the first sport featured on the WG2009 promo-video!

Neild & Cameron muse the new BPL season

With the new season of BPL only hours away we were lucky enough to have two captains visit us here at the stately BUB Manor. Senor Mike Neild was more than willing to visit us from the depth of his Moreton Bay Cave, but Sensei Steve Cameron was a bit harder to pull away from his Michael Phelps' branded Kemuri Bong in the corners of the Dojo Gardens. After they both arrived, we retired out to hammocks on one of the many balconies of the BUB Manor, sipping Mai Tais. Eventually chat turned to upcoming season of BPL, and it was at this point that we decided to press the record button on our recorder.


Brisbane Ultimate Blog: So gents, thank you for joining us here this afternoon. Our apologies for the poorly made Mai Tais, we will certainly have to have a word to Work Experience Will about them. With the new season of BPL just around the corner, how do you see the dissolution of Rawhide affecting the BPL? Do you see a change in people's attitudes or the quality of play?

Mike Neild: The league will be different in a few ways. We now have a bye each round which gives teams an opportunity to regularly discuss training as a group before they decide to take a week off. The standard of the competition will increase as a result of the larger teams and the consolidation of experienced players.

Steve Cameron: Well, it's a shame to go back to a 5 team league (3 teams really) for the obvious reason that no-one likes byes. But I'm going to say that the biggest blow to the BPL is in the loss of diversity in leadership that comes with consolidating into fewer teams. Admittedly however, no-one really seemed to be in charge at Rawhide, except for turncoat Stu's brief time at the stirrups... The upside of the Rawhide implosion is that the rest of the teams have been able to pick up some seriously talented and experienced players, and we can see them now spread across all the rosters.


BUB: Well, very different opinions there about the bye round. How teams use that round may have an impact on their performances in later rounds. We can only imagine that the Buggers will use the week off the train hard and hit out some push ups, will the Dojo will spend the night sending out thoughtful emails. Speaking of the Dojo, Do you think the Dojo will be able to overcome their semi final hoodoo this season? Or in the next 3-4 years for that matter?

MN: Funny old club the DoJo. Lots of talent and paraphernalia and yet there is a weakness within the group that I don't understand which manifests itself at various times. I don't think the Dojo will be in the final this season.

SC: What hoodoo? Oh, you mean the small matter of us losing umpteen semis in a row? Well, I guess if we had two teams each like the UQ/Bug conglomerations we could carry on about how "we" are always in the final as well regardless of which variety of "us" it was.
But in all seriousness, we have had to let go to some people this season to ensure success. Lee O'Dwyer has been sent to South America (which he didn't complain about too much), and we're in talks with Ryan Black as well about maybe taking a little break for some "self-reflection". Dan Blacklock will be focussing on "other interests" whilst Luke is starring in an upcoming "Police Academy Down Under" production. So that should improve our chances. In fact, I'm going to go so far as to say that the only other team I really don't like the looks of is the one that combines the massive (but often highly dodgy) throws of Jason Ray with the stupendous receiving combo of Mike Neild and Leon McIntyre. That's assuming Leon can still run now that he's getting on a bit. Oh, and the names of Al Don, Buzz Burwell and Mat Ryan haven't made an appearance on any roster yet either...


BUB: Well those old timers certainly do know how to keep the punters guessing. They did stop off here to let us know of their plans, but we'll keep that to ourselves. But we can't see Al or Buzz ending up anywhere but UQ. On the topic of UQ, How do you see the split of the UQ teams this season? Which team do you believe will be stronger?

MN: The Lovers team looks to be stronger on big men and reception skills however their aggressive throwing stocks are not as illustrious. The Passion team are stronger with the disc in hand and I think in the end this will make the difference. There is the Burwell factor, which ever team he winds up on will be strengthened. I think Passion will be a harder team to deal with.

SC: Well, Passion have youth on their side, which is really just a nicer way of saying that they'll run around a lot with no idea of what they're doing. Lovers appear dangerous on first inspection with big Julz and Chris Cunliffe on the roster, but without any really dangerous throwers those two guys can't do it all themselves. Curiously absent from either roster are Al Don and Piers Truter. Al is worth several goals a night to his team, and Piers the opposite (Hi Piers!), so clearly whichever team lands one or the other will perform significantly better/worse than expected.


BUB: Now now Steve, this is no arena for you to try and pick up. On to the other super club of Brisbane Ultimate, how do you see the split of the Buggers this season? Which team do you believe will be stronger?

MN: Yeah this is a hard question. The Messy team has a lot of new players. 8 or 9 BPL rookies. It will take some time to get all that together, and the percentage of points that the more experienced players are on the field will be reduced than in the past. The Old school team is clearly a flatter list in terms of experience and caliber of players. The Old School team will be stronger at the start, however if things go to plan then in the second half of the year I believe the Messy group could be very difficult to deal with.

SC: Well, given that you're not giving away the whereabouts of Mr Ryan & Dr Burwell, it's a little hard to say for sure. But the combo mentioned above is pretty hard to go past. Jason is at his best when he can just throw it long and let the receiver do the rest, so having the aforementioned big guys ready to pull down whatever goes up will make that Bug team tougher to match. Sure there's experience aplenty on the other roster, but we all know what "experience" can mean. If Buzz & Mat do turn up on this team then all bets are off.


BUB: Ah yes Steve, we all know what "experience" can mean, we only have to look at the past Dojo results for that. We were all very sad to see the dissolution of Rawhide, with that in mind do you think the BPL will blossom again to have 6 teams? Do you have anyone in mind to potentially lead this treason committing team? When do you see this happening?

MN: This season is looking very strong. All teams are full and there are a large group of new players spread around. I think that we may actually go 5 teams in both leagues this year and then potentially expand back out to 6 in 2010. The Gold Coast could be an option. There are a handful of GC blokes in the mix currently and if the league down there is popular and if regionals and halibut are fun for a group of keen new players then it could be on the cards. There are always a few mercenary type experienced players who would jump at the opportunity to join with an exciting new Gold Coast BPL club. The team needs to hand an identity, it is only way to build passion, commitment and the competitiveness which follows.

SC: Absolutely. I was hoping you'd lead it yourself, Wetnose. You or Will Churchill (I know you'll love to be compared so directly) or Gref. In other words, someone with plenty to say (okay, you don't hear much from Gref except the odd on-field expletive) and plenty of future ahead of them in the game to build a solid unit. I'd tend to think that when it happens it'll be someone from UQ rather than Buggers, as I don't think anyone has the balls (or even the desire) to step out from Mike's shadow.
And while I'm here I'd take it a step further than this, and suggest that the BPL should really have six bona-fide teams, as opposed to the current setup with Dojo facing off against two massive squads that are in a state of perpetual flux. No-one ever knows who's going to be on which UQ/Bug team, and as a result no-one seems to care that much.


BUB: Interesting comments there Steve, almost sounds like you're scared. And if Mike's suggestion of a GC team comes through, surely that would mean the end of Dojo snapping up all of new GC talent through GC Frisbee Overlord Stefan. Well gents, it is almost time for us to head inside for a spot of lunch, finally what are your estimated predictions for placings 1-5 for this season?

MN: I think this will be one of the closest seasons we have seen for a couple of years. 5 big teams, all with game breaking players, most changing a bit from last year. I would suggest the hardest to pick accurately for a while. That being said:

1. Messy Buggers
2. UQ Passion
3. Old School Buggers
4. Dojo
5. UQ Lovers

SC: (1) DojoMojo winning a classic final by 3 points against - (2) Buggers with Mike/Leon/JRay, who scraped into the final after a single-point victory over - (3) UQ Lovers (assuming a late appearance from Al), with the others being harder to separate - (4/5) is UQ Passion and the Other Buggers in either order, with the wooden spooners performing well below expectations all season and the fourth-placers losing badly to Dojo in their semi. The Bug placings could be turned completely upside down though, depending on where Buzz & Mat end up. Trust you to keep a few aces up your sleeve, Wetnose.

BUB: Well, we do certainly have some great knowledge. And with great knowledge, comes great power. And with power in mind, let's head inside and into the powerful air conditioning.

Weekend Action II

For the second weekend in a row there's something cool on that people can get down to, have a throw, and show some people what Ultimate is all about (and of course - good timing with new leagues kicking off soon).

I suspect a few spotters from some BPL Clubs will be wanting to head down to sign up some new talent (before they all become Buggers, anyway).

Saturday 25 May 9.00am Mansfield State High (corner Ham and Broaderwater Roads)
Inter-school Open grudge match between Mikey's Marauders (aka Kelvin Grove State High School) vs Spinner's Stranglers (aka Mansfield State High)

BPL2008 Preview: Mike and Steve

The Brisbane Premiership League. Six teams. One trophy. One love - high level Ultimate! And glory and fame ever after!!

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.