QUDA President Matt Boevink confirmed today that Northern Regionals 2011 (the Open Division anyway) will be held in Townsville on the weekend of 19-20 February.
Matt is encouraging all eligible South-East Queensland (and northern NSW) young males to book their flights asap. "You'll get on a team - you just get yourself there!" Return flights are presently in the realm of $150-200.
Townsville are promising to host a Regionals to remember, offering billets and airport pickups to everyone and promising a hot hot party to remember.
Word on the street outside the Firestorm international headquarters were that a few folks were peeved at having to spend a few more precious bucks than expected for what they'd view as their 'automatic' entry to Nationals 2011. However, the flamers seem to have sucked that up with confirmation of the BCI in Canberra in March (between Regionals and Nationals - remember Nationals is three weeks early next year) and recognition they've got to qualify like everyone else. No word yet on Firestorm B, but it seems unlikely that the brains trust will be interested in bringing newer players along when their focus will be laser-tight on trying to bring home a medal at their home Nats. If you otherwise missed it, training starts on 2 November!
Our pals Corey and Jay up in Cairns reckon they'll be able to put the bones of a team together - but anyone from SEQ who's looking to give them a hand will be very welcome. Having such a major event only four hour's drive away may be what gets Cairns Ultimate permanently on the map!
Senior players on the Gold Coast face a tough decision very soon - try to gain a spot on the Firestorm team in pursuit of personal glory, or dig deep and get the Slamtown Flatball Club first to Townsville and then onto Nats. Any early decision here may be important in attracting Brisbane based players who are looking for an option other than Firestorm, although the ambitions of key personalities just over the border in Byron Bay may be influential in the end.
Those in Brisbane may also want to look towards the Heroes, who are also commiting to Regionals and hold genuine hopes of qualifying for Nationals. The Heroes Senior Executive (now properly elected and all) are putting together a strategic plan that will take the Heroes to World Clubs 2014 in Columbia, and the next six months will be vital to developing talent.
The big winners of course are the TownsVillains in gaining a local qualification event after spending the six previous years travelling south. Hosting what's effectively the State titles is a great headline in recruiting and promoting Ultimate in Townsville, and of course they'll be able to put the absolute best of their locals on the field. A 'Townsville B' team is planned too, so as to begin exposing the future of Townsville Ultimate to some high level competition.
QUDA has indicated at this stage that it expects to keep the Women's division in Brisbane.
It's all building up to Nationals 2011!
21 comments:
My tips:
1. Firestorm
2. TownsVillains
3. Heroes
--- all qualifying for Nats ---
4. Slamtown (no Stef)
5. Townsville B
6. Cairns
7. Longreach
1. TownsVillains (after a fantastic performance at Mixed Nats '10)
2. Firestorm
3. Heroes
---Nats Qualifiers---
4. Slamtown
5. Alternate SEQld team (i.e. JDR's Beerbarians)
6. Townsville B
7. Cairns
Heroes IS the alternative SEQ team!
But I think Firestorm, Heroes and Slamtown will hoover up most of SEQ, with a few other SEQ folks signing on for Cairns and/or TSV-B.
I'm still hoping Piers can pull together a West Queensland team ...
Heroes isn't any 'alternative' team - Heroes is Heroes!
We won't be picking up anyone unless our club itself fails to field a full team, and given that we are hoping to attend Nationals as a club not too much later in the year, we'd be a little disappointed if we aren't able to form (at least) 1 full team for Regionals.
But yeah, I still see your point. By 'alternative SEQld team', I meant more of a last minute pickup team (which I still reckon we'll see) who, simply because of numbers, will be a majority of SEQlders.
I also can't really see NQld teams (even 'B') having any free space for pickups, if the strength of numbers in the Townsville league is anything to go off.
But I'll be very keen to see how it all shapes up!
JdR, where are you getting this info from?
You currently seem to know a lot more than both the Firestorm brains trust and the Heroes leadership!
Firestorm and Heroes haven't decided yet how they will be managing their teams for 2011 but feel free to jump to further conclusions!
Here ye, Here ye,
Should Slamtown choose to be in Townsville (which we are strongly considering), we will not be gobbling up any of Firestorms rejects.
We will however have a very strong team of our regular regional studs. We will wipe the floor with the Heroes as we've always done, and we will beat the Villains, as we have always done in open games that count.
Firestorm will win.... and though everyone will be gunning for them... they will once again be too tough to beat in the region.
The claim that SFC won't have Stef is proposterous.... as they will.
Both Dan and Starky must be smokin some serious crack to put Heroes in a Nationals slot..... for a team that is winless in BPL, and that got pantsed at Mixed qualifiers you need to learn to walk before you can talk lads.
Up the Flatballers
We here at the stately mansion stand by our reporting. Of course, if we didn't jump to conclusions, then nobody would tell us anything. But we're glad people are interested in Regionals already.
By the way, Rego for Northerns is open for anyone to demonstrate their commitment!
http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=918
Hehe, loving the smack talk already Stef.
If Heroes are putting in a team with the goal of competing at Nats, will they still be allowed to attend Firestorm Training?
Starky, you're kidding yourself if you think the number 1 spot won't be Firestorm.
Also no-one has mentioned a potential Firestorm B? There are easily enough players within Brisbane and this team would be able to compete and potentially beat the likes of the Towntowners, Heroes, SFC, etc.
Regarding the strength of Townsville league, you have to remember that it's A. mixed and B. has a high number of overseas students that move on semester to semester. Plus then you have to take into account the step up from beginner/intermediate mixed to nats or even regionals level. So league numbers can be deceiving when referring to Open comps.
Fire up Stef, love it.
See you on Thursday night.
Heroes' BPL team doesn't have me.
Just sayin'. ;)
@Stef: Fair enough, I believed Dan's post saying you wouldn't be there. With their spiritual (not to mention...physical) leader in attendance, it'll improve their chances out of sight.
@Sauce: Firestorm are always the favourites for any QLD tourney they attend, and for very good reasons. I always like to tip an underdog.
And tournament locals/hosts always seem to surprise. I reckon we'll see a Townsville/Firestorm final - and hey, once the teams are there, qualities on paper count for little, it's who'll pull it out on the field. :D
I'm unaware of Heroes putting a team together for nationals, and personally wouldn't support the idea of such a team for the very good reasons Stef mentioned.
I always thought that there was enough interest for Firestorm to field 2 teams? is this just speculation or can someone confirm? if it's not confirmed yet, does anyone know when it might be?
Can I ask which James that is?
If it's not James from Heroes:
You wouldn't support the idea? Why would your support matter? If we qualified, we'd be one of the QLD teams best suited to representing at Nats - and if not, we wouldn't. If any given team at Regionals fails to place, how could they deserve to go to Nats more than one of the teams that qualified?
In either case, how could you oppose a group of people aiming for it?
And if it's James from Heroes:
WTF, dude?
Actually, that last one pretty much applies in both cases. ;)
For those who are newish to Regionals, speculation tends to grab everyone about now, with people seeking structure but its generally not being clear for a while as its largish community without a big meeting point and where everyone has individual influences and abilities to commit (time, enthusiasm, uni/job, money). Its very rare that a group will announce a formal timeline for open tryouts and selection, or a selection policy, mostly because they don't have to.
Around now, community-types like JDR and MattB encourage experienced players to spread themselves widely and thereby get lots of teams (ie bulk numbers) to the event. Aside from the 'more people playing Ultimate' thing, this helps the Region of course to get Wildcard slots, and QUDA to get more attention from the government ("See, our State Titles are the real thing"). So they start to talk about Dojo, Heroes, UQ, Griffith, Mellow Yellow ... practically anyone they can think of getting it together.
However, elite players generally want to get themselves on the strongest possible teams going to Nats, rather than bringing along a bunch of newbies and getting knocked out.
In November (a few weeks after Mixed Nats) the main Brisbane A-grade players start to train, and are generally welcoming of anyone who'll take it seriously.
By about 2-3 months before Nats (so a bit earlier this time around), the inside clique of the A-grade players start to select a team. Sometimes they decide to select two teams. Sometimes this leads to that group trying to focus their training to that group and thereby very politely uninviting people who don't make the cut(s) (fair enough).
If those who don't make the cut have a few keen organiser beans, then they will take the lead an organise a team, although preparation will be more personal than team based. Often this group will get some quality experienced players who otherwise can't commit to the demands of the "A-team". Sometimes the "A-team" will do a bit of support for this group, aiming to keep a line open to poach players up if they need them.
Some 'just want to play a tournament' dudes (aka JDR, Rob Lowe, Jon Good) have historically organised a pickupy team of people who usually play a bit of League. This usually happens a couple of weeks before Regionals (basically whenever the TD asks for a commitment so they can do the draw). This may be different this year with going to Townsville as people need to commit to flights.
Townsville and more recently Gold Coast have gotten it together to turn up, although training has generally be built around local league play. Sometimes Byron Bay does too, although recently the stronger players have joined up with Gold Coast.
And that's how Regionals happens. Women's is different.
It's James from Heroes.
What I mean is that I don't support this idea of a Heroes team: "We won't be picking up anyone unless our club itself fails to field a full team".
What I think would be best is for heroes to do everything they can to support a Firestorm B team, train with the Firestorm squad, and if we are good enough, get selected and attend regionals with a mix of players. If Firestorm don't decide to enter a B team, then I think Heroes should enter, but select the best team of people from whoever is willing and left over from those who don't make Firestorm.
I don't think we should send a solely heroes team to a regionals level competition yet because we aren't ready (see BPL and Div 1 results for more information).
that's just my opinion.
Fair enough, that's justified. Previous comment withdrawn, then.
I was going predominantly off the plan outlined by Huddy a couple weeks ago, which I still agree with (my name's the link, if anyone else was curious). As far as I was aware, noone had raised any objections with it.
But no worries, and I'll break it off there, as it's now a purely Heroes matter.
I found it amusing that people were tipping Heroes over Slamtown, and thought this only would be possible if Slamtown weren't serious about making nationals, which is contrary to what I understood.
I chose not to comment because I thought that Stu had said enough. We haven't decided what we are going to do yet.
"Both Dan and Starky must be smokin some serious crack to put Heroes in a Nationals slot..... for a team that is winless in BPL, and that got pantsed at Mixed qualifiers you need to learn to walk before you can talk lads."
Thanks for your support, Stef. Let's remember that one has to qualify for nationals to get there. It seems like there are 3 spots, possible wildcards. And this year, it's competitive for a change!
If we were to enter Heroes in regionals, it would be for exposure and development. Our primary goal is to get as many players amongst the Firestorm guys as we can.
Now I'm going to stop wasting time with this and do my uni assignment so that I can plan this properly as of next week.
No disrespect Starkey, but your comments largely based on assumptions.
Also,
"TownsVillains (after a fantastic performance at Mixed Nats '10)"
You realise they came tied 15th don't you?
Townsville came 16th according to the tiebreaker rules, as Wagon had defeated them head-to-head earlier in the tournament. AFDA just haven't sorted it out / announced it yet.
Post a Comment