So rather than busting out some long winded Nationals preview, I'm breaking this up over a few segments. Today we'll look at the Pools phase of the Open draw.
Pool C
1 Heads of State (S1)
4 Fyshwick United (E3)
13 Fakulbee (E7)
16 Thor/The Pass (N3)
Heads Of State seem to have ruffled a few feathers by getting the number one seed, but that's the way the seeding system works. Their Regionals lineup has gained some extra depth by the promotion of several HoSY players, but I'm not sure it will be enough to overcome the red-hot Fyshwick United. The Canberra boys are salivating at the prospect of being able to roll the #1 seeds and gain a relatively easy path to the finals. Both teams have had a fantastic run-in to Nationals and should be one of the games to watch on Day 1. I'm tipping FU to get up, with the rest of the games going to seed
Fyshwick United (3-0)
Heads Of State (2-1)
Fakulbee (1-2)
The Pass (0-3)
Pool D
2 Fakulti (E1)
3 I-Beam (E2)
14 Hot Chilly (S4)
15 Firestorm Zippo (N2)
Seriously, if I was to offer odds of 3-1 on Fakulti NOT winning Nationals this year, how much would you bet? Then again, at the moment there's a pressure on them not to become the biggest chokers since Deathstar. The Dowle Show probably won't start firing until Day 3 or 4, but they should get through this pool ok. I don't see Hot Chilly rolling Firestorm Zippo, but it'll still be a decent match (I'd love to see Steve Thomas match up on Mike Neild). The key game in this pool will be I-Beam versus Firestorm Zippo - most likely for a spot in the top crossover pools. After a bit of um-ing and ah-ing, I've decided to go with I-Beam.
Fakulti (3-0)
I-Beam (2-1)
Firestorm Zippo (1-2)
Hot Chilly (0-3)
Pool E
5 Taipans (E4)
8 Sweet Chilly (S2)
9 Firestorm Troopers (N1)
12 Wollongong (E6)
The cusp pools look like throwing up a lot of against-seed results this year with some pretty even competition. There doesn't seem to be a clear winner in this pool, so I'm going to predict three teams finishing on 2 wins each, with Wollongong not likely to roll Taipans (who have 8 players with AFDA numbers lower than 100), Sweet Chilly or Firestorm Troopers. As for who will actually go through...I can't really wrap my head around working out potential tiebreakers so I'll just go with this...
Firestorm Troopers (2-1)
Sweet Chilly (2-1)
Taipans (2-1)
Wollongong (0-3)
Pool F
6 Sublime (W1)
7 Eastern Territories (NZ1)
10 Barefoot (E5)
11 Karma (S3)
If you're going to Nationals this year as a spectator and want to see some sweet ultimate right from the first game, plonk your ass down next to the two fields that have Pool F games on them. Eastern Territories remain unknown to me, but have traditionally stood tall at Nationals. Sublime and Barefoot both look just as good, if not better, as last year. I think Karma have the potential to upset teams this year - their highly structured game at Regionals was the best I have ever seen a South Australian team play. Game to watch in this pool? All of them.
Barefoot (2-1)
Sublime (2-1)
Karma (1-2)
Eastern Territories (1-2)
Coming up tomorrow*, a look at the Pools phase of the women's draw.
* - my definition of 'tomorrow' may slightly differ from yours.
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3 comments:
F is certainly going to be where the early watching is at for the boys. Should be an absolute shit fight of good, desperate ultimate.
Only three weeks till it all comes together. :)
Wollongong have picked up the better half of the Manly team, I'm excited to see how that will affect their game once Tim Booth realises he's not the only one who can huck (and maybe eventually he'll take a sub or two).
Eastern Territories have some pretty questionable pick ups that have me remaining in doubt as to their strength (nobody seems to know who they are yet everybody seems assured that they're a possibility to win Nationals).
I want to play Firestorm and swap shirts with one of them.
T.
you might have to rejig this now that the cusp pools have been fucked around a little
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