post-Halibut- 2011 BPL Season 2..... wait for it.....

......
POWER RANKINGS!!!

After a long off season, most of the SEQ ultimate community emerged on the GC for the 15th Annual Halibut. Halibut's Got Talent.... 15 Minutes of Fame was a great success for GC Ultimate, and of course QUDA, and if ya missed it.... shame on yourself. It was a goody..... and those champs sure looked good. whoopwhoop.

But as PTD set in, it was easier than normal to get through a post tournament week, as I was able to get excited for Thurs.... BPL in-season Thurs. My week pretty much revolves around it as my source for excitement, camaraderie, and hard workin' competition.

BPL is back..... yeeeeww!!!!

And though my frequency will not promise to be as prominent as seasons past, I will still put my two cents in here and there to keep our fingers on the pulse.

After 3 weeks of play it's tough to say how things are lookin..... we're still waiting on an official table for confirmation... but I'm gonna have a stab at it without proper stats.

So with out the glitz and glamour of past Power Rakings, here is this weeks edition:

1 DOJO MOJO - The defending champs are undefeated, and as was the case last season, they'll remain there until knocked off their stoop. Always a strong roster out of the DOJO, but they have lost the services of potential Dingo Cunliffe to expansion, and potential Dingo Pete to extended overseas work/play. That said, the DOJO's depth is their greatest asset, and they are still a lineup with out a sniff of a liability. DOJO have had their way with Blitz, Bandidos and the Cobras thus far, and will hope to continue against the rising Heroes next week.

2 SLAMTOWN FLATBALL CLUB - The Flatballers are back with a vengence, and have been dominant in their first three appearances. The Cobras, Heroes and Blitz have all fallen to SFC by significant margins. Still healing from the stinging defeat in last years Grand Final the flatballers are keen to find ways to rise to the next level. Some observant recruiting finally sees SFC with a pair of handy fellas that play above the 6' bar. New kid on the block Rob Weins, and the Gold Coast's hidden gem in Adrian Gepp. The balla's get set to take on the uni crowd Bandidos next week in what promises to be a fun game.

3 HEROES - After playing Heroes in week 2 (their first game) I would not have expected them to be up here in the ranks this soon after a below average performance. In week 2 the Heroes were lacking cohesion, and were easily overcome by SFC. At the onset of the game Jangles essentially challenged his team by telling them they were 'all talk' in the spirit circle. But a week later, and the Heroes are doin some walkin' with a huge, and unexpected win over the mighty Buggs... Maybe their first against the Buggs?? The Heroes continue their run of tough opponents with the champs up next, but after that they have three games that they would likely declare winnable with Cobras, Bandidos, and Blitz to round out the first half of the season.

4 MORETON BAY BUGGERS - The Buggs came out with a big win and a forfeit victory to sit at 2-0 before going into this weeks action. They were delivered a wake up call by the Heroes this week, and though it didn't cause a plummet towards their potential initial ranking... it did drop them one spot. The Buggs have a very experienced core once again, and some new athletic lookin fellas. It goes without sayin that they miss the services of Bugg No. 1, while the heart of the league has him in their thoughts. The Buggs continue to play a gritty game, and though there was an early setback with the loss to the Heroes, Stu has just amped their roster with a pom import. Buggs got Blitz next, and then a rumble with the Bandidos.

5 BANDIDOS - Gref's Bandits have opened the season with a pair of losses against perennial winners MBB and DOJO, and have had a chance to lick their woulds and recover with a week 3 bye. Th UQ crowd will have their hands full after their bye, against a GC crew that they played well last season. Last years 'Green Machine Runner Up's' are going to need to use their entire roster to 'move on up' in this league and rely less on key players making huge plays as their best chance of winning. Los Bandidos will hope that the tough early-season schedule will have them hardened for what promises to be a hotly contested season.

6 BLITZ - Blitz have played the toughest schedule, and as an expansion team in this prestigious league, you would have to expect for them to be struggling statistically... and they are. But they do have a very important element that every great team needs.... wait for it.....
POTENTIAL! ... and a shitload of it. They are tall, they have Chris Cunliffe, the return of Brock Cunlifffe, and the eventual return of Johnny Mac. That's going to be a handful on any given day. Still finding their legs, Blitz are certainly struggling, and might have an extended rough patch with CC heading to Italy this week... but Blitz will be a tough contest in the late season... mark my words.

7 COBRAS - Well, I only put them in the basement because the snakes seem to like the cold, damp environment. They basically slithered themselves here with a week 2 forfeit. The Cobras enter the season with a lineup that has been even more depleted than last. Buuuuuut...... they still have a boat load of talent. With Reece, Finn, Kailin, Trachter, and Jk there is no reason for this team to be the leagues rented mule,........ but for some reason they are. If they can make attendance a priority, and play with a positive vibe... the Cobras could be the force that they were not long ago. Rumor has it that Trachter has withdrawn??? Any truth to that? The Cobras get next week off, and return to face the Heroes with a chance to regain control of that match up.

Well folks, there ya have it..... have a good week.... and keep lookin forward to Thurs.

new draw -

hey gang,

here is the 'revised' draw... really just the sunday times are changed. we will still try and push sunday lunch, and the last two rounds slightly forward. We will try and start the final about 30min earlier if possible... but for now, this is it. (final would be the empty 16:00 slot)

Halibut Draw

Here it is:

Captains meeting at 8:00am sharp on Sat morn.

Slamtown Flatball Club - BPL 2011 season 2

It's been a long off season, and our recruiting of new players lasted until just the other day to now have a very solid looking roster.

With 10 returning players from our roster that went all the way to the Grand Finals, we are in good shape to continue our winning ways into this season. And though are losses are significant in the way of Mike Morgan and Jody Thomas, our new recruits are looking like they might add to our overall team dynamic.

Here is our 2011 season 2 roster:
Stefan Rappazzo (C)
Kevin Stahlman (A)
Abra Grafield
Troy Zernike
James Larkin
Isaac Stone
Michael Bienstock
Nandor Locher
James Gransaull
Alistair Don
Adrian Gepp
Phil Stocks
Rob Wiens


Adrian's return to play, and joining our squad will add great strike options both with and with out the disc, and he'll be able to neutralize or take out many opposing recievers.

New find Rob Wiens has promising skills in many areas of his game, but his height, ability to read the disc, and soft hands are what got him noticed for a spot on the team, and we're hoping we can fit him into the system nice and quick.

Phil's return will also have us sticking to a very systematic offence as we strive towards this years championship.

There is also a possibility that aL will be back with us before seasons end and will provide a lethal potency to our game in the pointoy stages of the season.

With most of my current attention being focussed on Halibut, this seasons BPL has seemingly snuck up on me.

But don't you fret, the boys in Orange are ready, and looking forward to our first clash with the Cobras on Thursday night.

You can expect the Power Rankings to come a week late, and to be fortnightly at best for the 2011 second season.

Gref.... a preseason look by your perspective? BUB?

Halibut - Official Seedings and Pools

Halibut is just more than a week away!!

And after many calculations, and a coupla beers, we've come up with this as our final seedings and respective pools for Halibut.

Seedings
1 - Team Plank
2 - Fun Police
3 - Blue Steel
4 - Torpedo of Truth
5 - Burley Griffins
6 - Short Skirt, Long Jacket
7 - DTF
8 - Funny Duck
9 - The Ville
10 - Bondage
11 - Heroes
12 - Obama's Disciples
13 - QUT
14 - Griffith

Pool Milli
-Team Plank
-Torpedo of Truth
-Burley Griffins
-Funny Duck
-The Ville
-Obamas Disciples
-QUT

Pool Vanilli
-Fun Police
-Blue Steel
-Short Skirt,Long Jacket
-DTF
-Team Bondage
-Heroes
-Griffith

Draw to be released soon. Top two from each pool advance to crossover semi's.

Palmy Aarmy takes down Australia

The Australian National Beach Ultimate team were in the Gold Coast on the weekend for their thrid and final training camp in preparation for the Beach Ultimate World Championships coming up in a few weeks on the North Eastern Italian beaches.

After a long weekend of hard running, the national team were faced with a short rostered local team of preverbial punching bags.

But much to their dismay, this group of punching bags were not as much of a push over as they may have hoped. They punched back, and then punched holes through the Australian Open team. With only one sub, the 6 man Palmy Aarmy ended up being up by 5 points the time the game was called.

The Palmy Aarmy side was comprised of Kev, Badman, Troy, Abra, Pete A, and myself.

We hope that the result can serve as a wake up call, and the Open team will bounce back in Italy, just as the Wallabies did against South Africa after an unexpected loss to Samoa.

Good Luck

Halibut 15 ...... Your Thougts.

Halibut is just more than 2 weeks away.

If you've had a look at the AFDA site, you'll know that we have 14 stronng teams competing.

Lots up for grabs... Spirit, Talent/Party, and of course the Ultimate.

Who will win? Who will lose?

Can you rank the teams from top to bottom in each category??

Leave your thoughts in the comments.