2010 Nationals Preview - Part 1

Ok, so my new site probably ain't gonna get a big fancy launch until after Nationals, so I thought I'd dust off and load up the old Ballarat Ultimate Commodore 64 to crunch some hard data and predict what is going to happen at this year's Australian Ultimate Championships. It all kicks (or pulls) off on Saturday April 24th in glorious Adelaide. This year nearly all of the best players in the country have made themselves available for the tournament, so it is sure to be one the highest quality Nationals seen in quite some time.

First off, we look at two pools in the Open Division - E and F.


Pool E

FIRESTORM (5)
Base: Brisbane, QLD
Qualified: 1st in North
Last year: 5th

Once again, Firestorm have to battle their way out of a cusp pool in order to have a crack at a semi finals berth. And Pool E is, if you will excuse the cliche, the POOL OF DEATH. Any of the four teams are capable of going through to the power pools, so expect some very close, hard fought matches on Day 1. With a slightly smaller roster than the other teams, Firestorm's best bet is to close out their second game against Eastern Greys early while Karma battle Fyshwick and hope that they are fresher going into the showcase game. If they can avenge their loss to Karma in the pool stages last year (they were also Mike Neild-less for that game) they should be able to fire in the power pools.

The gun: John McNaughton. Best lefty forehand in the country. Firestorm's key D man.
The workhorse: Adam Beu. While Liam Gillions is off being married, Jangles will be doing a lot of the receiving work.
The X-factor: Rob Trachter. Canadian import who impressed at BCI.

Prediction: 6th




KARMA (8)
Base: Adelaide, SA
Qualified: 3rd in South
Last year: 8th

Let's have a look at the last few Nationals and where the home team has finished compared to the previous year.

• 2009 - Perth. Sublime finished 6th, 8th the year before
• 2008 - Coffs Harbour. Doesn't count, no one's home town
  
• 2007 - Melbourne. Chilly won. Same as the year before
• 2006 - Sydney. One of the Fakultis came 2nd again, but the other went from 11th to 5th.

So as you can clearly see, science is on the side of the home team. There is no such thing as a home ground advantage in ultimate, but there is such thing as a home bed advantage (you play better if you sleep in your own bed the night before) so one would expect Karma to improve. With Huy Vu back on board, Karma should shake up some of the tournament favourites in the power pools. In any other year I'd see this lineup make the pre-semis however with the strength of this year's field they may have to settle with their seed.

The gun: Joel Pillar. Everyone knows him. I shouldn't need to explain.
The workhorse: Alec Deslandes. Can play O or D as required and gives Pillar an option other than Brett Middleton. Will rack up the D stats as well.
The X-factor: Tom Tullet. Already a club whore at age 19 (this is his 4th), Cupcake will work well with Vu, sending Pillar downfield.

Prediction: 8th

FYSHWICK UNITED (9)
Base: Canberra, ACT
Qualified: 4th in East
Last year: 2nd

After two runners-up placings two years in a row, Fyshwick will be hungrier than ever to bring the shield back to the nation's capital. On paper, FU can do no wrong. We know they have the list to win Nationals, but on the day they can't seem to be able to find the formula. But given their placing at Easterns with a relatively full strength team, has their chance for a title passed? If the Mighty Ducks movies have taught us anything, it is that you should never count out an underdog. But can you really give a team that boasts the likes of Jonno Holmes, Matt Dowle and Warwick Shepherd an "underdog" tag? Fyshwick should safely negotiate their way out of this pool and their tournament will begin on Day 2.

The gun: Jonno Holmes. The man is a freak. Expect to see him marked by the opposition's number one defender.
The workhorse: Max Wheeler. With the tall timber attracting a lot of attention, Wheeler will do a lot of damage on O.
The X-factor: Andrew Jackson. Made everyone stand up and pay attention in the final last year. Can he replicate that performance?

Prediction: 4th




EASTERN GREYS (12)
Base: WUCC Masters Team
Qualified: 5th in East
Last year: -

Usually there is a token team that fulfill the "wily veterans" quota of an ultimate tournament, but rarely do they actually boast themselves to be a masters team. With the WUCC tilt in full swing, the Greys will be looking to take some of the younger teams down a peg or two in what I assume will be some sort of ploy to steal their energy stocks. A telling factor in Greys games will be the weather - expect these guys to thrive in shit conditions, and given the fields' proximity to the beach an afternoon wind is almost a given. And if you'll allow me to consider a stereotype, expect a lot of shouty foul discussions as well.

The gun: Nathan Chan. Southside stalwart back when they existed, and a veteran (lol) of the Greys' last WUCC tilt.
The workhorse: Geoff Doty. Has never claimed he still has it, but he'll still try and do everything.
The X-factor: Piers Truter. Has embraced his masters-ness, but still played AUG last year. Go figure. I really hope a Thunder vs Greys match happens.

Prediction: 10th





Pool F

SUBLIME (6)
Base: Perth, WA
Qualified: 1st in West
Last year: 6th

It has been ten years since a Western Australian team finished higher than 6th at Nationals. The 5th/6th playoff seems to have been a bit of a hoodoo for Sublime, having lost that game four times (2004, 2005, 2007 & 2009). Will 2010 finally be the year they break through to the top 5? How do I put this gently? Erm...no. A home state Nationals last year afforded Sublime the best team they could field. This year they have lost Jason Carr, Paul Denyer, Tom Tulett, Kendall Thorn and Lochie Wise to other teams, plus Tim Delane, Max Daube, George Wong and Hamish Pope aren't coming for reasons unknown. Expect Sublime to slide down a bit, but not by much.

The gun: John Damiani. The "get the disc to JD" offensive structure has worked for quite some time.
The workhorse: Glen Fowles. Another player who had a great 2009, with Beach Worlds and U23s now on his resume.
The X-factor: Andrew Craig. Naans sightings at major tournaments have been few and far between lately. Let's see if the big man can still fly.

Prediction: 9th




I-BEAM (7)
Base: Newcastle, NSW
Qualified: 3rd in East
Last year: 4th

Every year Newcastle seem to stay shy of online trash talk and speculation in the run to Nationals, and yet they always seem to figure among the top few. Very few changes have been made to the team that came 4th last year - most notable is the loss of Gav Moore. I-Beam have always been a team that operate as a collective rather than a bunch of dudes who studied a playbook. Just looking at their warm-ups in Perth in 2009 - mini scrimmages all the time - showed that there is not much left for them to learn about ultimate. They just need to take advantage of any vulnerabilities they find in opposing teams and perform on the day. Despite rolling FU at Easterns, I don't see them being a better team than FU in Adelaide.

The gun: Tim Lavis. Equally adept as a handler and a receiver. Will be filling in gaps everywhere.
The workhorse: Chris Hill. Since 2007 has steadily progressed from a rookie with assloads of raw talent, to an elite ultimate player.
The X-factor: Jon Tatham. If Tats is in form, I-Beam is in form.

Prediction: 7th




ULTIMATE EVOLUTION (10)
Base: Adelaide, SA
Qualified: 4th in South
Last year: -

Thanks to the 5th qualification spot in the South, which they didn't even need, Evolution have broken through the Chilly-HoS-Karma-Chilly glass ceiling to line up for their first Nationals since 2006. However don't expect this team to be full of Nats virgins - most of them have seen action with Karma at some point in their careers. For the last few years Evolution has been viewed as easybeats at Regionals but so far their season has been their best. They notched up a win over Karma at Golden City Classic and nearly took down HoS as well. Evolution prefer a long game, with Denis Shine and David Sanderson aiming for tall receivers Kristian Pash, Morgan Llewellyn and Adam Dowley in the endzone. Expect some D antics from Sean Lace as well.

The gun: Denis Shine. I was tempted to say their "team game" is their best, but this isn't under 10s footy. Shine controls a lot of the offence.
The workhorse: David Sanderson. Will be the primary under cut most of the time, looking to hit receivers early.
The X-factor: Sean Lace. Wildly inconsistent, but if he gets a few D blocks early in a game, he will be a nuisance for opponents.

Prediction: 13th




GENGHIS (11)
Base: South East QLD/Northern NSW
Qualified: 2nd in North
Last year: -

Hmmm, I don't remember seeing this team registered for Northern Regionals. Non-qualifying bitterness aside, the Slamtown/Barbarians hybrid is basically a who's who of Queensland and Byron Bay ultimate who doesn't play for Firestorm. Despite the success of the Brisbane Premier League, Queensland seem to lack the depth at elite level that New South Wales and Victoria boast, so a 2nd North team that isn't Firestorm historically hasn't done well at Nats. In fact we have to go back to 2006 for the last time we saw two North teams in the top 10 (Dojo Mojo and Moreton Bay Buggers). Also having a small squad doesn't help - they're likely to run out of legs by the end of Day 3.

The gun: Andrew Badman. Also has the best surname in ultimate.
The workhorse: Jordan Stone. Otherwise referred to as "Hey let's make the kid do all the running."
The X-factor: Jason de Rooy. Because I know he'll read this.

Prediction: 15th




Pool K (women's) coming up tomorrow...

Where Is He Now?

As the fat bloke from Staind once said, it's been a while. Couple of reasons for this - the first being that my employer has decided I'm much to valuable to ever not be at work, and the second being a new project in the pipeline that will spell the end of Ballarat Ultimate in it's current form.

So yeah, this could be considered a hiatus from thinly-veiled heckling and idle speculation, but there is something new on the way. Hopefully before Nationals.

Until then, I'll try and find 20 spare minutes to write up the Ballarat Ultimate Awards. After that, stay tuned.

Tickets selling fast

It was bound to happen as our sport grew, but teams are going to miss out on qualifying for the Australian Ultimate Championships this season. One or two might have missed out in 2008, and no one who could afford the trip missed out in 2009, but in 2010 I feel we're finally going to have teams in both divisions whose season will be over in mid-March.

The AFDA punched the numbers into the trusty old Amiga500 at their headquarters and released their regional allocations for this season during the week.

Open
North - 1
South - 5
East - 4
West - 2
NZ - 1

Women
North - 1
South - 4
East - 4
West - 2
NZ - 2


In addition to these allocations, both divisions will have the national junior teams competing by way of the AFDA allocated spot, plus there are two wildcards up for grabs based on how many players (not teams) take part at Regionals.

So, in my ever so humble opinion, I think the following teams are relatively safe...

Open
North - Firestorm
South - Chilly, Heads of State, Karma, Sweet Chilly
East - Sydney Elite, Fyshwick United, I-Beam
West - Sublime
NZ - Auckland Open?

Women
North - Black Betty
South - Sporting Team BAU, Honey, Bush, Indies
East - Sydney Womens, Sugar Mags, Factory Girls
West - Primal, Kaos
NZ - Raging Wahine


This all depends on a few things. Firstly, that the NZ choose to come. NZ teams are often found at Nationals in years ending with an even digit as part of their Worlds preparation. Auckland Open are attending the BC Invitational this year, so seeing them make a second trip over the Tasman seems unlikely. Nationals is a very happy hunting ground for Raging Wahine so it's really a matter of personal choice as to whether they come across. I don't think a 2nd NZ women's team is likely to come.

Also in consideration is the Perth teams. I think Sublime, Primal and Kaos will make the trip, but the 2nd West spot in Open is up in the air. A second Sublime team is not out of the question, and they will have to beat out Fear and Happy Pig for that spot, remembering that if a Regionals doesn't happen then they lose the second spot.

Now the cleverer folk among you will notice I have not quite filled all the spots in my "definitely should be there" list. And that's because the final spot in some of those regions is up for grabs between a few teams.

Open South - The last few years have seen the regular four teams from the South - Chilly, Sweet Chilly, Karma and Heads of State. However this year there is a 5th spot allocated because of last year's performance by the South teams. Sweet Chilly's last day win over Happy Pig in 2009 gave the South this spot. I think the usual four teams will be safe, but the 5th spot is going to be a pretty fierce battle between Heads of State B, Tassie Tiggers and Evolution. Karma B and a rumoured 3rd Chilly team may have a case but will probably fall short. GFUC will have most of their players taken by the Thunder team. Given the importance of the game now, I hope the organisers of Southern Regionals make the game-to-go the "final".

Women's East - There's all kinds of rumours coming out of this region. The Sydney Womens team listed for WUCC qualification is pretty much Wildcard plus friends so that team is a given. Sugar Magnolias and fACTory Girls should also be there. But the 4th team? If rumours are to be believed, there could be Wildcard, Southside and Manly teams all going for this spot. Plus there's Hills Angels to be considered. This is very much a "wait and see" spot.

Open East - Sydney Elite should be safe. Fyshwick United should be safe. I-Beam should be safe. In fact, these three teams should be in the top few at Nationals, let alone Regionals. But what of the 4th spot? Fakulti, although somewhat depleted, will be on the scene, but will they be one team or two? With most of their top players on the SE list, a X/X split would be very risky and may result in the first Fak-less Nationals since the clubs inception. Umlaut, Hills and some sort of Manly concoction will be snapping at Fakulti's heels for this spot.


What will certainly make things even more interesting are the wildcard spots. With only 1 allocation in each division, North are in prime position to take a wildcard in both divisions if they have more than 50-odd players at Regionals. East are also likely for a spot, given they have around the same number of Open players as the South, but one less allocated spot. The women will also pick up another spot, since they have always had the largest regionals.

So my early predictions say that in Open, North will get a wildcard and Slamtown will make their Nationals debut, and East will get the second with Hills also debuting. In the Women's, East will get one, but who actually goes is another story. I'll go out on a limb and say Hills Angels (a Southside/Manly conglomerate taking the original 4th spot. Hey, it could happen). South may catch a lucky break for the second wildcard, giving Honey Bee another chance.

Coming soon - 2009 Ballarat Ultimate Awards

So in the next few days I'll be weighing up nominations against non-existent criteria and determining the winners of the Ballarat Ultimate Awards, where the winners get the prestige of being mentioned on this blog. Categories carrying over from last year are...

Game Of The Year (2008 winner - Australia vs Colombia, WUGC Junior Women's Semi Final)
WTF Award (2008 winner - Barefoot at 2008 Nationals)
Tournament Of The Year (2008 winner - Australian Uni Games)
Heckle Of The Year (2008 winner - Frank Simmons)

And this year I'm ripping of some more AFDA Awards and adding to the list...

Catch Of The Year
Breakout Star Of The Year
Party Of The Year
Team Name Of The Year

Now accepting nominations/suggestions via the comments...

2009 Ballarat Ultimate National Draft - Men's Division

As I watched the AFL National Draft online to see who my beloved Bombers have picked up, I felt it appropriate to complete the men's side of the Ballarat Ultimate National Draft. The big observation to make amongst this is similar to the women's side, the social circles and inevitable recruiting that happens among the Sydney based clubs. Fakulti take up a lot of the uni club products (hence the name I suppose), while Hills attract the locals and league recruits. However this year the World Clubs team with a well-thought out working title of "Sydney" have taken up everyone who is any good, leaving Fakulti, Hills and Umlaut to fend for themselves. We're still likely to see some form of these clubs at Easterns this year, but whether all of them will make Nationals is another thing. So let's get underway with pick #1.



Pick #1 - Umlaut

And straight away I'm stuck. Umlaut at Nationals were mostly old hands at the sport who had the cash for Perth flights taking advantage of the lack of Barefoot/Thong/Feral/whatever and Manly sides who had graced the lineup in recent years. However with the birth of the WUCC-bound Sydney team, Umlaut may struggle to qualify this year, with Hills and a second Fakulti team likely to be their main competition for the 5th East spot. With Fakulti likely to be plundering the ever-growing UTS club for fresh blood, Umlaut need to make moves elsewhere. The Clay brothers can scour the Wollongong district, but I think Umlaut need to take a serious look at UNSW before Fak do. Hence the first "pick" who is the top prospect at UNSW.
Pick #1 - David Lim (UNSW)



Pick #2 - Chilly

So last year there were some questions over why Chilly gets two picks, one high and one low. Here at Ballarat Ultimate we like to encourage elite development, and reward clubs who have two teams at any tournament, let alone Nationals. Like Heads of State, Chilly have been sniffing around the GFUC club for a while in order to attract some young talent, however the Thunder rule of this draft has eliminated most of their prospects. Both Victorian clubs will be eyeing off Pete Nixon to see if they can draw him away from GFUC for a season, to the point where he could probably strike up a deal to play with GFUC at Regionals before going to Adelaide with another club. However there are two other players in the Victorian scene that Chilly should make some serious moves towards. I flipped a coin for this pick, with the other one going at pcik #12.
Pick #2 - Shaun Johnson (Deakin Uni)



Pick #3 - Sublime

And now we have our second club with two picks. Sublime put in a good show on home turf this year, and will be looking to do the same or improve in 2010. A number of Sublime players spent the spring spreading their wings and playing with other teams throughout Australia and Asia, and will come back to pre-season with hunger for success. And given the number of Perth players that tasted Nationals action in 2009, the competition to make the team will be fierce. Realistically, Sublime could send two teams to Adelaide again if the regional allocation formula swings their way. Looking at the crop of UWA players at Gold Coast this year, there were two who stood out and should comfortably adapt to the open game. One player was highly touted by some former UWA players, but Pick #3 stood out at the tournament and even attracted the attention of U23s personnel. He should supplement Sublime's current handler stocks quite well, and his height sees him as a deep threat on O.
Pick #3 - Rob Prast (UWA)



Pick #4 - Fakulti

Long known as a "learning club", Fakulti face the challenge this year of their leaders looking ahead to WUCC and will leave the club in the capable hands of...I dunno. Someone. Once you take away the likes of Pete Gardner, Ken Shepherd, Ant Dowle, Tex Blakeley, Matt Faulker and pretty much anyone else you can think of, the Fakulti looks remarkably like a chick-less SUUFA. So this year we can expect them to take on board a plethora of new talent, and as well as the usual recruiting grounds of SUUFA and Macquarie, UTS is likely to be the source of said talent. Pick #4 is not necessarily the best all-round player, but SUUFA have plenty of throwers but need someone to clean up their swill in the endzone.
Pick #4 - Ashley Symons (UTS)



Pick #5 - Karma

Karma are still struggling to shake the "No Pillar No Karma" tag that has plagued them since day one. They fought their way into the top half of the draw in 2009 but one Joel got injured they struggled to make an impression on the title contenders. So what do they need? First off, they need a plan B in crisis mode. The Joel-To-Sweet-As connection is one of the best in the country, but if that gets shut down when they're under the pump, they're left with a lack of options. Karma definitely have youth in their team, so anyone they'd pick would want to have some experience under their belt. Pick #5 was in contention for Thunder a few years back and recently returned to ultimate at AUG with Flinders, so it makes sense to get him on board.
Pick #5 - Ben Thomas (Flinders)



Pick #6 - Fakulti

Once again, we look to the university scene in Sydney for Fakulti's second pick. It is interesting to note that in previous years, the bulk of junior talent has come out of Sydney, however this year there are pockets of Thunder/Terra potential in Geelong, Brisbane and the Central Coast. Is this a blight on the youth development in Sydney? No. It simply means, just it has in the university scene in the last few years, that everyone else is catching up. As mentioned before, universities have been one of Fakulti's biggest breeding grounds, and Pick #6 comes from one of the most promising clubs of the last two years.
Pick #6 - Martin "Linus" Forrest (UTS)



Pick #7 - Sublime

Sublime's biggest problem is a lack of quality opposition to play against on a regular basis. Most WA players are lucky to see east coast opponents once or twice a year unless they're prepared to shell out for flights. The biggest losers in this are the intermediate players who are stepping up their game. They're the ones who are missing out on regularly testing themselves against quality opponents. Meanwhile in NSW and Victoria there are two (or more) club teams who scrimmage and in Queensland there's the Brisbane Premier League. While there are elite players in Perth there isn't quite enough to be able to sustain as high level play as there is in the east. So these intermediates join up with Sublime as their "next step". Pick #7 is well and truly ready for that.
Pick #7 - Peter Adan



Pick #8 - Firestorm

Firestorm are a funny bunch. Every year on paper it looks like they're finally going to make semis and challenge for the title. And every year they're left languishing around the 5-8 bracket. What is it they're missing? I have no idea. They seem to have all the ingredients in place, but it doesn't quite come together on the day. But enough of that - who is Firestorm going to add to their ingredients list this year? Up in Queensland they breed them tall, thin and fast in the mould of Mike Neild. And why wouldn't you? Who the hell would want to face a line of seven Mike Neilds? Now my lack of knowledge of the Brisbane scene is blatantly going to shine through here, so I may as well admit I looked at UQ's gold medal winning squad and just picked a name. Sorry Tyson Buhagiar and Ryan Garrahy.
Pick #8 - James Jackson



Pick #9 - I-Beam

I-Beam are an even funnier bunch than Firestorm. Their list isn't littered with Dingos and Barramundis the way Fakulti's is, but they are a very good team nonetheless. In 2009 they fell short at the final hurdle and ended up 4th, but there's no telling what will happen this season. Newcastle Uni's team at AUG boasted many I-Beam names, who will no doubt drag Pick #9 along to have a bid for a green and...silver, I suppose, jersey. Height is a valuable currency in ultimate and this guy is one rich motherfucker. He will be a good asset on offence as he settles in to the open game, and will also be a great defender once he adjusts to the whole "floating bit of plastic" thing as opposed to leather and pigskin.
Pick #9 - James Green



Pick #10 - Heads Of State

One look at my Facebook feed after their initial training camp for the season shows that Heads Of State is more than just a club - it's a way of life, or almost a religion. These guys eat, breathe and shit ultimate, and any addition to their team will need to adopt the same attitude if they are to strut it on the main stage in April. HoS are looking to boost their B-team this season and will take on the extra numbers required to have a solid crack at Regionals. Pick #10 will be a great addition to this team, and possibly the A-team in 2011. He played a supporting role in the The Jake Angelovich Endzone Show at AUG, and has the aggression and competitive nature that will see him suited to the HoS religion.
Pick #10 - Sam Cooney (Ballarat Uni)



Pick #11 - Fyshwick United

Ok so I'm doing more than 10 picks this year. Look at this as the first round of the draft where everyone gets a pick. FU went agonisingly close to a national title this year. Well, there were 6 points difference in the final, but they had done everything right up until then - defeating everyone, including Chilly, throughout the season and the tournament. But not quite where it counted. And so the 2010 season presents an interesting dilemma - a lot of Fyshwick players are Kaboom-focussed since they qualified for World Club Championships. Are they going to focus on Worlds prep or Nationals campaign until April and then WUCC for a couple of months? There's no reason they couldn't do both. Either way, they'll be snapping up Pick #11 for the future to ensure no one else gets him.
Pick #11 - Byron Vickers (ANU)



Pick #12 - Chilly

It's a bit anti-climactic having the final pick of the draft for the best team in the country being the club's second pick overall. Anyhow, Chilly are definitely on the hunt to boost their depth in 2010 with the impending but seemingly constantly postponed retirement of some big names - Tom Rogacki, Steve Campbell, Shane Vuletich to name a few. Rumoured plans for Chilly this year include a third team - something they did back in 2006 - for some of the "old boys", which would do well to fuel the rumours of a Chilly team in the Masters' division at WUCC. Either way, Chilly have a second target that was mentioned earlier in the article.
Pick #12 - Jason Gibson (Deakin Uni)




So there you have it. Let's revisit this in 12 months and see how wrong I was. Thoughts and comments to the usual address.

2009 Ballatat Ultimate National Draft - Women's Division

Realistically, there are a number of social factors to consider when trying to determine which clubs will pick which players, particularly in cities with two clubs. Specifically, the formation of social cliques and their links to various recruiting avenues. The most prevalent example I can think of is in Melbourne, where Sporting Team BAU (I think the name change is offical now) have a virtual monopoly over the junior talent in Victoria, while Honey have the uni clubs under their wing. While it's not entirely unlikely that these teams will pick a player from outside those groups, it's something I have done my best to consider in this draft. That being said, let's get underway with Women's Pick #1

Pick #1 - Honey

The dymanic of women's ultimate in Victoria is a strange one. While there are enough girls playing in the mixed season, very few actively seek passage into a women's club. It is usually a result of active recruiting that players join the clubs. So at the moment I feel there are a number of females around the traps who could step very comfortably into Honey's line-up. Looking at the uni clubs, there are three girls who would take to the women's game like a duck to water. While also considering Honey Bee's need for some handler strength and their second pick, Grace Lethlean (Melbourne Uni) was unlucky to miss out in this little exercise, but could very easily find a place in Honey.

Pick #1 - Jo Goold (Deakin Uni)

Pick #2 - Indies

Unlike the aforementioned two-club cities, Adelaide has just the one women's team so there is a natural progression of sorts from social or uni ultimate to the single gender game. The strong Flinders Uni club is the place to look for the next Indies star, given their history of producing Indies/Karma players in recent years. With a backyard Nationals in 2010, Indies will have a strong squad and can look to simply add depth. I can see Kelly Mackenzie and Emma Victory joining the team as well as this draft pick.

Pick #2 - Lesley Moore (Flinders Uni)

Pick #3 - Sultry

The Brisvegas girls had a disappointing 2009, with many players opting not to go west for the show in April. However 2010 looks more promising already, with the gathering of a team for a WUCC tilt which looks to be in conjunction with Kaos. Whether this affects the Nationals campaign of both teams remains to be seen since they have some very tough competition to qualify outright for WUCC and may instead be relying on a wildcard. UQ has always been a big recruiting base for Sultry, however the development of the QUT and Griffith clubs in recent years are starting to produce some very good players. One in particular was very impressive at AUG and Sultry should be getting their recruitment gary on real soon. Cristina Biasin is also worth considering as well.

Pick #3 - Terri Morgan (Gold Coast)

Pick 4 - Factory Girls

Canberra faced a problem a couple of years ago in regards to their elite development. Because most people there work for the government, the entire city knocks off work at 5pm (no exceptions), leaving themselves plenty of recreation time. The ACTUA folk have translated this into around 400-500 regular league players. However very few players decide they want to have a crack at the rest of the nation. That being said, they do have a great development pathway from youth to elite, with the first few graduates starting to come through now. Pick 4 follows the path of Charlotte Petersen - from the ACT youth team, to AUG, to Factory Girls - and more should be expected to follow that path in the future.

Pick #4 - Annette Zou (ANU)

Pick 5 - Primal

As talked about earlier, Perth are the latest city to enjoy a two-club structure. Being a fan of ultimate-related gossip, I am quite attuned to the rift that exists between Primal and Kaos. However I'm not going to speculate why it goes on or what resolution may be at hand. What I do know is that Primal has a very different approach to recruiting not only from Kaos but from every other club in the country. Thanks to Anna Haynes' little-publicised work, Primal get a lot of money from the government for community development grants to help their recruiting efforts. And by "a lot" I really mean a-fucking-lot. Trouble at my end is that I have no first-hand knowledge of who they're targeting as far as adding to their club roster goes, so rather than pretend to know what I'm on about, Pick 5 gets held over for now.

Pick #5 - Pass

Pick 6 - Kaos

The recruitment avenue for Kaos is largely friends of who is currently playing for them now. Which means if you play for UWA or Murdoch, then Kaos is the club team for you. Unfortunately Murdoch didn't pony up for cross-country flights this year so UWA and their goddamn awful fluro yellow uniforms were the only westerners I got to see play this season. When not having bullshit rules arguments or showcasing the Twig & Peley Throwaway Show, UWA were a great team to watch. There is no doubt that their newer female players came out of AUG much more skilled and will be dragged along to Kaos training by Lou Delane, Danya Meakins and Simone Ryan. However I have to pick one.

Pick #6 - Ciara Fariss (UWA)

Pick 7 - Honey

And now we're back in Victoria. A while ago I attended a womens ultimate planning meeting, mostly for the chicks, but as a representative for regional Victoria. Going back two years you could count the number of girls from outside Melbourne playing women's ultimate on one hand, and they were all for the one team. Honey made inroads out of Melbourne in 2009 by getting Pam Carrigg and Monique Connell on their list, and they should be looking to cast their net further in the way Heads Of State did with great success. Unfortunately the Geelong girls will be tied up with Terra tryouts, so Pick 7 comes from the home of Ballarat Ultimate.

Pick #7 - Sara Talbot (Uni of Ballarat)

Pick 8 - Sugar Mags

So as is the common theme here, Newcastle is a one-team city, so joining the Sugar Mags is the natural progression after playing a uni season with the Power Dragons. There's no reason Wildcard or Southside couldn't have a crack at recruiting from here but when you've played a uni season with four players from the one club, you're kinda going to be biased towards that club. Newcastle Uni took three first year players to AUG and all of them were adequate players on Monday, and solid players by the Friday, so you can expect this pick, plus Jacklynn Taylor and Liz Vaughan to join Ellie, Tegan, Amy and Liz at the first training for the season, whenever that happens to be.

Pick #8 - Courtney Thompson (Newcastle Uni)

Pick 9 - Sporting Team BAU

The 'Box are an interesting lot, with probably the most in-jokes out of any team that has ever existed. Though I could be wrong, they don't seem to have any kind of open slather try out and it seems that to be you get invited to learn how to play Box-Lid-Goose. But now that we're at the top end of women's teams, we need to consider what they are looking for. Unless Miranda Roth or someone of similar ilk were to decide to move to Melbourne, STBAU are only going to be recruiting for depth. Having gone oh-so-close to the title twice now, in 2010 they will be - if you'll excuse the turn of phrase - out of justice. Whether they actually do recruit anyone is up in the air from a journalistic point of view, but Pick 9 is someone that will come heavily recommended by current STBAU players.

Pick #9 - Erin Adamcewicz (Uni of Ballarat)

Pick 10 - Wildcard

With a couple of National titles now under their belt, and a depth of talent that everyone should be jealous of, Wildcard are in the enviable position of players coming to them, rather than them going out to get recruits. My Sydney-based spy reckons that Cat Noble is set to pledge allegance to the red shirt this year, however I have deliberately left out Terra contenders from this article, so we need to look elsewhere. Rather than picking someone for instant gain or to fill a void, Wildcard ought to look for intermediate players who they can mould into an elite player over time. Which makes Pick 10 quite easy - go with the winner of the peer-voted Martin Laird Award.

Pick #10 - Kaija Salier (UTS)

So there's your first round draft picks for this season. As per usual thoughts, comments and the inevitable disagreements can be posted below.

Off Season

Things have been pretty quiet around here at Ballarat Ultimate since the return from the Gold Coast. Given that I'm 5 weeks deep into a self-imposed two month off-season, I'm finding it quite difficult to write about something I'm not actually doing. However it has got me thinking - ultimate needs an off-season.

The physical benefits off my off season have been incredible. My left knee actually looks healthy and not all swollen and bruised. My back hasn't been in better shape for two years and I'm not spending every Monday lathering on the aloe vera. The exception is the glorious "leg warmer" tan lines that I've now accepted are a permanent addition to the landscape despite my best efforts to get some colour on the rest of my legs. But it's not so much the physical benefits as the motivation to get out there on the field, and also to lay some administrative smackdown. Which brings me to the key reason for the need for an off-season.

To give our administrators a break.

Although I'm sure northern states will see this differently, us Victorians still pretend ultimate is a year-round sport, and organise tournaments and leagues accordingly. Anyone who has filled some sort of volunteer role will gladly talk your ear off about "burnout" if you ask nicely. They might not want to admit it but every volunteer has at some point, ever so briefly, just wanted to pack it all in and take some time off. But they don't. Some volunteers work through it, and some just, sort of...fade out. A nation-wide off-season would be perfect to give these folk a well deserved rest in order to keep their enthusiasm and motivation for their roles up around a healthy level.

So there's my idea. And of course my ideas don't go without a proposed solution.

A while ago there was a proposal to shift Nationals to October to leave the summer free for newbie hunting and development. While considered by many to be a not-too-bad idea, it was considered too dramatic a change. Besides, we want to keep our premier season of ultimate in the summer months. So my suggestion is to shift Nationals forward to January, and the "mixed" season to February to May. Keeping "uni" season where it is because of AUG, and we create a two month window in June and July for our off-season. So this would leave the calendar something like this...

June - off season
July - off season, regional UGs
August - Uni IVs
September - AUG, club pre-season begins
October - club tournaments
November - club tournaments
December - club Regionals
January - club Nationals
February - mixed tournaments
March - mixed tournaments
April - mixed state championships
May - Mixed Nationals

Stick Nationals on the Australia Day weekend to minimise time-off-work disruption. Doesn't matter too much with Mixed Nats since that's never on a public holiday anyway. We're not competing with rugby or soccer for fields for Nationals. Worlds tournaments happen in the off-season. Early uni development ties in with mixed season. Off-season is in the height of shitty weather season so no one wants to play that much anyway.

It all seems so easy. Anyone care to support or shoot down this idea?