Finally a full game

Well its taken 4 weeks however we have got there. Tonight the Buggers managed to stay focused, energised and play at our high level for the whole game of frisbee.

It has felt like we were just around the corner from capturing our best performance and whilst there are still a list of improvements to be made we are happy with tonight's effort.

An understrength Slamtown Flatball Club was our opposition tonight and while still able to put a quality line on the field, and producing some hard to stop play they were not at their some dangerous tonight. They will be stronger the next time we see them.

Spinner has the numbers better however after a turnover, regain and goal in the first point the Bugs continued strongly and went 3-0? and then 5-2. This continued into half with 8 to 4/5? score line.

A hall mark of the first half was the Bug defense starting ok and generating a couple of turns, and then being worked out and overcome by the Gold Coast. Offense was scoring pretty smoothly for both teams for a little while.

The all white Bugs started the second half on D and worked out how to get blocks though a mix of defenses. In the second half the Buggers scored 7 goals to 3/4 with the final score 15 to 8 Bugs.

A massive feature of this game was that the Bugs didn't turn the frisbee over very much. The count might have even been under half a dozen. I can think of 5. Once the deep threat had been established cutting options became more available.

On the back of 14 big deep pulls that all landed in the field defensive pressure was built up and a few short field goals were the result.

Its a complicated task to get a bunch of players to all work together on the playing the game in a collected and coordinated manner. Tonight we made enough good decisions, worked hard enough with our bodies and minds and all found the right mix of energy, desperation and fun.

The Big Bug tonight was a fine thing to be a part of.

Consistency

After completing 3 games from the 5 game round there is one thing that is quite clear. All the teams we have seen so far, including ourselves have struggled with consistency.

At times in all our games so far the Heroes, the Bandidos and the Cobras have all produced good enough frisbee to score points, get blokes and really win their games against us. This issue for those teams has been that they haven't been able to consistently play their best ultimate.

This is an issue that has challenged the Buggers for the past 2 seasons. Tonight we played our most consistent and well rounded game in a fair while. That being said we only managed 3/4 of a game worth of peak ultimate.

The score line was fairly one sided during the first half with a number of short field goals being scored and some pretty safe offense from the Bugs. Mid way through the second half though with the game slipping away mistakes crept in and the Cobra boys capitalised. The final score tonight was 15 to 10 Bugs. A heavier win was an option however it is a real weapon to be able to focus and follow a plan for a whole game. This is a weapon that the Buggers and the 3 teams we have played so far all need to continue to develop.

The next 2 rounds will be very interesting as we will find out who can put together enough of a consistent performance to come out on top as we play the Slamtown and Dojo teams in weeks 4 and 5.

The Bugs know what is required now, we are looking forward to the challenge.

Playing underwater is no problem for the Bugs

Round 1, season 1, BPL 2011.

The Buggers started of the season as the first team to face a potentially dangerous Heroes team.

In challenging conditions the momentum just shifted enough in the direction of the Buggers for the weather and early season connection building issues to favour the Bug. With a mix of defenses and valuable contributions from the whole team the final score stretched out to 15 to 6 MBB.

The weapons are there for the Heroes and a faster passed running game may have suited their receiver heavy line and shown a tighter score board result. In moments of quality play the Heroes looked fast and confident with less of the skill errors present in previous seasons. The return of Jamie and Bevan to the team line up will add further down field match-up headaches for the teams who play them in future weeks.

After some months off the first game of this season is really a test of how quickly each team can recapture their synergy and team dynamic. The lack of change in the Buggers roster seemed to help this process as a variety of options worked well with little prior discussion.

A good win with some positive development from the Bugs. Feelings are high and there will be plenty of enthusiasm heading into next week's match up with the new and I'm sure rapidly improving Los Bandidos.


It must be said that the last few points of the universe point Dojo Slamtown game were played in incredible conditions with both the weather and the D lines throwing everything at throwers and cutters.

These look 2 strong teams with significant drive and motivation. I think the bench mark has been set and the other teams in the competition will need to find their best when they face the defending premiers and the fired up southern flatballers.

The BPL is back and should be as exciting as ever.