Fair trade

Field 1 sideline, score tied at 5 all.

M. Neild: No Burwell tonight.
S. Flanagan: Fatty isn't here either.
M. Neild: Oh well, fair trade.
S. Flanagan: No its not.


And so the Buggers and Dojo resumed their rivalry that is nearly as old as the competition. A rivalry that is based on a mutual competitive spirit, shared respect, humour and a slice of simmering animosity.

The Dojo and the Bugs have faced off in the BPL since the winter of 2006. The teams have contested 4 Grand finals and together can boast 11 of the 24 championships and 12 MVP recipients. It has been a running contest with the Dojo taking the majority of the honours over the last 2 years.

Thursday night's game was no different. After trading points down the gentle wind for the first 10 points of the game the Dojo scored the first upwind point to break the tie. The Dojo was having success using their zone defence and the Bugs were forced to make a lot of passes to get down field. Conversely the Bugger man on man set up produced a few nice blocks and challenged the Dojo to take on the challenge and throw to marked players.

After a few back to back points late in the Bugs managed to close the gap and both teams had the frisbee in their hands for the win during the last point after time cap. The Dojo again proved too good and took away the first game of the season by one point.

It was close all night and both teams would think there are areas for them to improve on. The defending premiers look on track for another great season and the Buggers can take heart from their competitive performance with plenty of room for improvement.

The Dojo come out on top of this close trading game, i'm sure the Bugs are already looking forward to returning the favour next round.

Spring time for the Buggers

Season 2 is upon us and the Buggers are back in business.

Suiting up this season under the Big Bug are:

Bug 13	#22 Adam Beu	13th season
Bug 64	#88 Buzz Burwell	5th season
Bug 71	## David Campbell	2nd season
Bug 62	#24 Tim Ferguson	6th season
Bug 63	#24 Tim Johnson	6th season
Bug 52	#12 Trevor Lovering	8th season
Bug 66	#5 Rob Lowe	4th season
Bug 72	## Brenton Mottershead	2nd season
Bug 25	#20 Graham Prickett	7th season
Bug 43	#50 Anthony Ross	9th season
Bug 11	#33 Mat Ryan (C)	13th season
Bug 74	## Jack Tudor	2nd season
Bug 75	## Timothy Webb	2nd season

The Bugger team for season 2 2012 is fairly similar to the season 1 incarnation. 12 members return to the action from season 1 and the addition of 7 season Bug legend Graham 'Special G' Prickett rounds out at 13 players.

This Bugs team is the most experienced in Buggers history with 79 total seasons with the Buggers and an average number of seasons with the team of 6. Time will tell whether this experience together helps the Buggers show cohesion on the field.

Team captain Mat and Jangles both rack up their 13th seasons and lead the team both on the field and in team culture. Encouragingly 4 of the 5 first season Bugs have returned for their second season and league rookies David Campbell, Jack Tudor and Tim Webb will all look to have fast starts to the seasons after the steep learning curve as a BPL rookie.

The back bone of the Moreton Bay Buggers this season will be the large batch of blokes playing their 4th though 9th seasons. The challenge for the Buggers in season 2 of 2012 will be to make the most of their shared experience and play to the team plan for each new opponent.

The Buggers are fired up for their 17th season in the BPL and are confident these are the men to drag the team back to the top of the competition.