Regionals Preview and Your Invitation to Tip

So after a bit of a cull, it looks like the Open Division of Northern Regionals has settled into five teams.

Lets go through the teams, and you can put your tips in below. Rosters can be viewed here.

Firestorm
The A1-AlphaDog-DominantLifeform-TopoftheFoodChain-ArnoldSchwarzenegger-ZombieLich-Galactus-CitizenKane-DalekEmperor of Northern Regionals. They laugh at this tournament (usually this is followed by a crack of thunder), and have started lobbying to skip it in future. And probably rightly so - once you've harvested the best talent and cut the chaff, as well as trained for months like the crazy eager buggers they are, what can you expect, aside from seeing Firestorm at the top of the trophy for another year.

Northerns Form: 2009 1st and 2nd (O/D squad); 2008 1st and 2nd (Troopers/Zippo), 2007 1st.

Player to Watch: All of the tricky beggars. Whoops, they've scored on you again. The one guy who probably hasn't flogged you before is named Rob. He'll flog you too apparently. And for the sake of Queensland pride at Nationals, please don't break any of them (treat Buzz like he's your mother, which he is (spiritually)).

Towns-Villians
Evil, evil people from the True North, who will no doubt thrive in the hot and humid conditions this weekend. Like mould. Rumour has it that the Villians consider this a warmup tournament for coming again to smash and grab the inaugural Bashionals title. We shall see. The roster may be a little short, but they've picked up a dark lord in the form of Vinko of the Sith, and as usual some dudes will just appear out of the blue. Looking forward to seeing the new outfits. Expect a forfeit on Sunday morning if tradition holds up.

Northerns Form: 2009 4th (as Thor); 2008 3rd (as Thor); 2007 2nd (as Thor); 2006 4th (as No Panda).

Player to Watch: Hugh Osborne will occasionally blog on you. Mike Larson keeps getting better (at what, we're not sure). Hamish.

Slamtown Flatball Club
Slamtown have had some highs and lows in their short modern existence. This year's squad has been hardened up by a game or two in the BPL, and boasts a very strong Byron Bay/Channon flavour. Expectations will be high, but if the gang similar to last year then day two could be tough again. If Northerns were Survivor Heroes and Villains, these guys would be Coach. Will likely take the second Northern slot to Nationals, in some form or other.

Northerns Form: 2009 5th; 2008 4th (as The Pass)

Player to Watch: Stef Rappazzo of course. You can't help but look at him. Like a car wreck on legs. This guy is so tough he sweats blonde playgirls, craps steel I-beams and wees boiling tequila, lemon and salt - and that stuff doesn't have to fall far to hit the ground. Daughters should also be hidden from several members of this team. Jords will be much bigger this year, as will Dr Phil.

Brisbane Barbarians
The team named after this blog. A horde of unknown size, made up random Brisbane residents, who's idea of training is taking the Beenleigh line to the Muddy Farmer and going for a run involves dealing with last night's curry. Somehow both the Dave Lister and the german speed metal scene of Queensland Ultimate. As with last year, depth and having local beds/meals/women to go to may be the difference over travelling teams, particularly on Day 2. Planning to win Bashionals.

Northerns Form: 2009 3rd; 2008 5th.

Player to Watch: The Barbarians are a mix of knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. Amongst the knowns, Rob Lowe will wave the QUDA credit card in front of you while cutting long. Amongst the unknowns, Fiji Ultimate's Neal Radcliffe is making the transition from dickin' around on the beach with bikini babes and a frisbee to some hard running Ultimate. How will he go? Amongst the unknown unknowns ... well, there's some dudes we met at BUML on Monday night who reckon they're coming down.

UQ Lovers Go with Trevor to Northerns
Only six registered as we type, but we're assuming UQ will get it together as it usually does (ie the last minute). While named the Lovers, this team will likely be very angry. Angry with having been cut from Firestorm. Angry with the GFC screwing up their plans of well paid easily-done GenY world travel and jobs. Angry with their flatmates, the women who say no to them, their parents. Angry at the whole damn world. And so they'll throw a lot of hammers. Should be planning to win Bashionals, but it might be a bit close to when assignments are due.

May we add though that its a great thing that members of best Ultimate Club in Queensland have finally removed themselves from the Firestorm teet and recognised that they should be playing at Regionals and driving towards Nationals in their own right. But we disgress). Is a home Nationals 2011 campaign on the cards? Expect their plays to be copied from Wikipedia.

Northerns Form: Unbelievably, UQ has never entered a team in this event. Unless you count Firestorm.

Player to Watch: Hard to say without knowing the full squad. Can Brenton, the star of AUGs, continue his upward trajectory?


Note for tipsters - since you'll all (except maybe for Crazy Pete) be putting Firestorm at the top of your list, we suggest you also tip the round robin goal difference. Assuming four games to 15 and time cap of 80 minutes against the other teams, how many points will Firestorm score against how many will they let in?

Also, why not try tipping the winners of Easterns and Southerns?