2010 has been a challenging year for the Moreton Bay Buggers.
The only year since our first back in 2006 when we entered one rather than two teams into the league. The only year in our involvement that we didn't participate in the final game of the season. The sole year when only a single rookie made the step up into the BPL in Buggers colours.
Not a great year when contrasted against previous Bug highlights, however not a bad year to be involved with the team. There have been some excellent aspects of 2010 for the Buggers.
Many players moved on from the Buggers this year into exciting roles with other teams or further life adventures.
Some classic Bugs from seasons gone by returned to the team to create some more memories.
The newer players within the team have shown some excellent improvement and development through the seasons.
Finally the challenge of competing in two of the most intense and balanced seasons in the league history has been a top notch bastard of a struggle.
We didn't end up on top of the heap this year, however straining together as a group to capture our best was well worth the effort.
The Bugs are impressed with the performance of both UQ and the Dojo for climbing to the top of the competition, well earned by both teams. Congratulations to the Dojo boys, Jody Thomas and the Slamtown Flatball Club for their victories in the relevant categories.
Additionally a salute to the outgoing BPL Director, Stu Austin. I've been involved with most of the league directors as a team captain and Stu can stand proud in such fine company as Jon, Andy, Stew and Jason before him. Well done Stu, you were good and I think you'll be missed.
A year of change and development for the Moreton Bay Buggers. A year to learn the lessons from and then file away. We will be back next year, and we will be proud to be part of the most culturally rich, and one of the most competitive regular leagues this country has to offer.
Enjoy the break all you BPL battlers, keep an eye out for the Bugs in Autumn 2011.
Up the Buggers.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Semi Final
For those that couldn't be there and are interested, UQ booked themselves a place in the season 2 grand final in convincing fashion.
It was a wet and windy night, significantly different than the majority of BPL games. The first half was close with a couple of turn overs coming from flick hucks that lacked the carry in the slippery conditions. The Bugs started on D and managed to get 2 breaks to push the score to 7 - 5 bugs up.
Its great to play in our competition which requires teams to be flexible with their strategies in order to be successful. Gone are the days when a one dimensional team can go all the way to the championship. In the first half of this week's semi the Bugs had the winning set up.
The defending premiers though are a team to be reckoned with. UQ switched their game tactically and increased their pressure and intensity. After a time out at 7 - 5 UQ went on a massive 5 point run that hauled them out of trouble and effectively ended the game. The Buggers were not able to get the momentum back and the final score had the Lovers bursting into the grand final 5 points clear.
The big names on the Lovers did their job, however it was the depth of the UQ roster that impressed. The handful of frisbee statesmen on the UQ team are great at following the team plan and taking the right options at the right time. The youngsters on the team look fast and run with purpose. They are an impressive team, and beat the Buggers soundly. Minor premiers and I would expect the favourites for next week's grand final.
Significant disappointment for the Moreton Bay Buggers, well done to the UQ lovers.
It was a wet and windy night, significantly different than the majority of BPL games. The first half was close with a couple of turn overs coming from flick hucks that lacked the carry in the slippery conditions. The Bugs started on D and managed to get 2 breaks to push the score to 7 - 5 bugs up.
Its great to play in our competition which requires teams to be flexible with their strategies in order to be successful. Gone are the days when a one dimensional team can go all the way to the championship. In the first half of this week's semi the Bugs had the winning set up.
The defending premiers though are a team to be reckoned with. UQ switched their game tactically and increased their pressure and intensity. After a time out at 7 - 5 UQ went on a massive 5 point run that hauled them out of trouble and effectively ended the game. The Buggers were not able to get the momentum back and the final score had the Lovers bursting into the grand final 5 points clear.
The big names on the Lovers did their job, however it was the depth of the UQ roster that impressed. The handful of frisbee statesmen on the UQ team are great at following the team plan and taking the right options at the right time. The youngsters on the team look fast and run with purpose. They are an impressive team, and beat the Buggers soundly. Minor premiers and I would expect the favourites for next week's grand final.
Significant disappointment for the Moreton Bay Buggers, well done to the UQ lovers.
Monday, 15 November 2010
2010 season 2 regular season
It all used to be so simple:
Recruit a team full of athletic rookies.
Grab a few top flight mates.
Play one offense and one defense all season.
Win the BPL.
Not anymore. Somewhere along the way it all got a lot more complicated. Still very enjoyable, the struggle that is. Different plans for each opposition, continually evolving offense, working out how to get the most out of all the players on the team. I guess I'll know in 2 weeks time how enjoyable it still is.
In season 2 of 2010 the Buggers won 4* games, lost 4 games and Drew 1 game. A very mixed season.
*1 by forfeit.
We had one player with 100 percent attendance and 3 others with better than 90 percent. Of the 11 sessions this season (9 games and 2 trainings) we only achieved above 90 percent team attendance (12 of the 13 blokes) on 3 occasions. Those 3 times were the only 3 games we played and won. I guess we are hoping for a good turn out for the semi final.
At times this season we rocked the shop and played as well as we ever have. During other large stretches we struggled to play with focus, control and desperation.
Our semi final match up this week is against UQ, the only team to beat us in both games during the season.
All this of course has little bearing on the next couple of weeks.
Its finals time and anything can happen. Who will turn up to play, which teams can handle the pressure? Can anyone stop the UQ powerhouse from going back to back in 2010?
Despite our less than convincing season the Bugs will be there to answer these questions - as we have in every season we have played - and we are bloody pumped about it.
Recruit a team full of athletic rookies.
Grab a few top flight mates.
Play one offense and one defense all season.
Win the BPL.
Not anymore. Somewhere along the way it all got a lot more complicated. Still very enjoyable, the struggle that is. Different plans for each opposition, continually evolving offense, working out how to get the most out of all the players on the team. I guess I'll know in 2 weeks time how enjoyable it still is.
In season 2 of 2010 the Buggers won 4* games, lost 4 games and Drew 1 game. A very mixed season.
*1 by forfeit.
We had one player with 100 percent attendance and 3 others with better than 90 percent. Of the 11 sessions this season (9 games and 2 trainings) we only achieved above 90 percent team attendance (12 of the 13 blokes) on 3 occasions. Those 3 times were the only 3 games we played and won. I guess we are hoping for a good turn out for the semi final.
At times this season we rocked the shop and played as well as we ever have. During other large stretches we struggled to play with focus, control and desperation.
Our semi final match up this week is against UQ, the only team to beat us in both games during the season.
All this of course has little bearing on the next couple of weeks.
Its finals time and anything can happen. Who will turn up to play, which teams can handle the pressure? Can anyone stop the UQ powerhouse from going back to back in 2010?
Despite our less than convincing season the Bugs will be there to answer these questions - as we have in every season we have played - and we are bloody pumped about it.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Bloody UQ, again.
The Bugs played against the UQ Lovers this week.
The UQ Lovers. 2 teams merged into 1, one of the few teams in BPL history to have to make selections, a team with a rock solid list and an intermittent performance record. They might be clearly the best team in the competition or just another group of battlers. Its hard to say with the range of performances they have put in over the last month.
Regardless of what is said about them they were good enough to knock over the Buggers for the second time this season, this time without two of their big guns Al and Dan.
The game was tight all the way through with both teams having success at various stages. The Lovers looked good in man on man with both vertical and horizontal stakes in operation. It was a game of regularly shifting strategies. It was really enjoyable from from a tactical perspective to work though the team's defensive options in order to find a defense that got blocks.
The Bugs managed to do this and got the game back onto serve late in the game. UQ scored a goal to even the scores back up at 12 all 2 seconds before the time cap. 2 seconds, hard to believe really but that is the theater of sport. It was also the difference between a second draw in 2 weeks for the Lovers and a result.
The Bugs started on O for the last point of the game and managed to turn it over 3 times to the Lovers' 2. I've been saying it to the Bugs all season and alluding to here on the blog. Loose control of the frisbee will not be good enough this season.
The Lovers impressed with their top line players, however it is their solid team all the way across the roster which makes them particularly tricky.
Next game's top of the table match between UQ and the Dojo will be very interesting.
As for the Bugs, back to the drawing board on offense and good news with another defensive option now on the books. Steaks for the Buggers this week and then a round 1 draw rematch against the Flatball Club in 2 weeks time. Looking forward to it.
The UQ Lovers. 2 teams merged into 1, one of the few teams in BPL history to have to make selections, a team with a rock solid list and an intermittent performance record. They might be clearly the best team in the competition or just another group of battlers. Its hard to say with the range of performances they have put in over the last month.
Regardless of what is said about them they were good enough to knock over the Buggers for the second time this season, this time without two of their big guns Al and Dan.
The game was tight all the way through with both teams having success at various stages. The Lovers looked good in man on man with both vertical and horizontal stakes in operation. It was a game of regularly shifting strategies. It was really enjoyable from from a tactical perspective to work though the team's defensive options in order to find a defense that got blocks.
The Bugs managed to do this and got the game back onto serve late in the game. UQ scored a goal to even the scores back up at 12 all 2 seconds before the time cap. 2 seconds, hard to believe really but that is the theater of sport. It was also the difference between a second draw in 2 weeks for the Lovers and a result.
The Bugs started on O for the last point of the game and managed to turn it over 3 times to the Lovers' 2. I've been saying it to the Bugs all season and alluding to here on the blog. Loose control of the frisbee will not be good enough this season.
The Lovers impressed with their top line players, however it is their solid team all the way across the roster which makes them particularly tricky.
Next game's top of the table match between UQ and the Dojo will be very interesting.
As for the Bugs, back to the drawing board on offense and good news with another defensive option now on the books. Steaks for the Buggers this week and then a round 1 draw rematch against the Flatball Club in 2 weeks time. Looking forward to it.
Friday, 8 October 2010
The Bug and the Snake
In 2006 when Thong attended World Club Championships we were in pool A as the 10th seed. We won our first games against seed 1, 11 and 20. We then went on to win 3 games in the power pool before we finally got a pounding from Victoria's Chilli, our first loss - 17 to 3. Things had taken a turn for us. The next day we played our quarter final against Doublewide from Texas. We dropped the first 3 points and standing in the time out huddle following a sound beating in the previous game and a shock start it was time to execute on offense or get bundled out of the tournament.
Thong went on to win that quarter final, and then the semi against Chilli to go on to the final at World Clubs and win the Silver medal against a rock star team from Japan, the Bunka Shutter Buzz Bullets.
That game was 4 years ago now however after going down 5 to nil against the Cobra team in round 1 of the BPL and then finding themselves down 3 to nil last night, the Moreton Bay Buggers faced a similar situation - execute or loose all the progress we had made over the last month.
All the great defensive structure and individual desperation available to a team are little help to you when you are playing your 4th O point in a row. You just have to settle down and find a way to score. For the Bugs this way into the enzone turned out to be paved with cross field hammers from the handlers and bit of quick movement down field. The Buggers put the goal in and then the game turned.
The nearly full strength Bugs battled the whole first half out in a high turnover 15 points, to finish with the game back on serve at 8 to 7 MBB. The second half started with the Cobra team on O, and they scored with an aggressive full field huck against the zone. Following up with a Callahan score in an apprentice vs the master handler moment the Cobra team had started the second half much like the first and were up 9 to 8.
At times this season the Buggers have produced periods of strangling defense. The rest of the game was characterised by this as the Bugs scored 6 goals in a row to virtually end the game. After opportunities from both teams the Cobras scored their first goal in 25 minutes and the last goal of the game to complete the game after time cap, 14 to 10 MBB.
Plenty of zone from both teams and a fair chunk of man as the game got down to later stages. The turnover rate was really high in this game. There were blocks from both teams both short and long however there were way too many easy mistakes, included a dropped pull from both teams.
The Cobra team looked both extremely energetic and stifling with their defensive pressure, and nervous and unsure with the frisbee at different times during the game. If they can regain their early season consistency then they will continue to be an absolute handful.
From the Bugs a standout defensive effort for the season. The challenge will be to combine the defense pressure from this week's game with the offensive control from the Dojo game. All part of the building process that is going on inside team this season. The top of the table clash next week against UQ will be a great opportunity.
Up the Bugs.
Thong went on to win that quarter final, and then the semi against Chilli to go on to the final at World Clubs and win the Silver medal against a rock star team from Japan, the Bunka Shutter Buzz Bullets.
That game was 4 years ago now however after going down 5 to nil against the Cobra team in round 1 of the BPL and then finding themselves down 3 to nil last night, the Moreton Bay Buggers faced a similar situation - execute or loose all the progress we had made over the last month.
All the great defensive structure and individual desperation available to a team are little help to you when you are playing your 4th O point in a row. You just have to settle down and find a way to score. For the Bugs this way into the enzone turned out to be paved with cross field hammers from the handlers and bit of quick movement down field. The Buggers put the goal in and then the game turned.
The nearly full strength Bugs battled the whole first half out in a high turnover 15 points, to finish with the game back on serve at 8 to 7 MBB. The second half started with the Cobra team on O, and they scored with an aggressive full field huck against the zone. Following up with a Callahan score in an apprentice vs the master handler moment the Cobra team had started the second half much like the first and were up 9 to 8.
At times this season the Buggers have produced periods of strangling defense. The rest of the game was characterised by this as the Bugs scored 6 goals in a row to virtually end the game. After opportunities from both teams the Cobras scored their first goal in 25 minutes and the last goal of the game to complete the game after time cap, 14 to 10 MBB.
Plenty of zone from both teams and a fair chunk of man as the game got down to later stages. The turnover rate was really high in this game. There were blocks from both teams both short and long however there were way too many easy mistakes, included a dropped pull from both teams.
The Cobra team looked both extremely energetic and stifling with their defensive pressure, and nervous and unsure with the frisbee at different times during the game. If they can regain their early season consistency then they will continue to be an absolute handful.
From the Bugs a standout defensive effort for the season. The challenge will be to combine the defense pressure from this week's game with the offensive control from the Dojo game. All part of the building process that is going on inside team this season. The top of the table clash next week against UQ will be a great opportunity.
Up the Bugs.
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Moreton Bay Buggers' History
The Moreton Bay Buggers have been a Queensland team for over 10 years and a BPL team for 14 seasons. During those 14 seasons the Bugs have entered 18 teams, blooded around 60 athletes and created plenty of history.
The Bugger blog is a home for the club's history, and a little bit extra has been added this week.
We are celebrating the men who have served the club for 10 seasons or more.
Michael Neild, Nandor Locher, Adam Beu, Alex Chadwick, James Larkin, Jason Ray and Liam Gillions have all been long serving champions of the club and now have their names on the honour board. Many of these blokes learned their frisbee trade with the bugs and have now moved on to great things on other teams in the competition.
A bit of a slide show is now scrolling away on the front page as well. There are some action shots from Buggers teams on the national stage as well as some BPL action and team photos. Feel free to click on a picture to go check out the captions and leave a comment. More to come soon.
One of the great things about the BPL is the ever growing history of the teams in the competition. The Bugs are looking forward to building and recording more memorable moments over the coming weeks and years.
From deep in the archive here is 20 seconds of action from the grand final of the first every season the Buggers played in, Winter 2006. The black clad Bugs went down to a Whippett Good team completing a repeat. Notice the man who drove the Moreton Bay Buggers from a purely tournament team into the BPL, Rueben Berg throwing the goal in the number 8 shirt.
Enjoy, and we'll see you out there soon.
The Bugger blog is a home for the club's history, and a little bit extra has been added this week.
We are celebrating the men who have served the club for 10 seasons or more.
Michael Neild, Nandor Locher, Adam Beu, Alex Chadwick, James Larkin, Jason Ray and Liam Gillions have all been long serving champions of the club and now have their names on the honour board. Many of these blokes learned their frisbee trade with the bugs and have now moved on to great things on other teams in the competition.
A bit of a slide show is now scrolling away on the front page as well. There are some action shots from Buggers teams on the national stage as well as some BPL action and team photos. Feel free to click on a picture to go check out the captions and leave a comment. More to come soon.
One of the great things about the BPL is the ever growing history of the teams in the competition. The Bugs are looking forward to building and recording more memorable moments over the coming weeks and years.
From deep in the archive here is 20 seconds of action from the grand final of the first every season the Buggers played in, Winter 2006. The black clad Bugs went down to a Whippett Good team completing a repeat. Notice the man who drove the Moreton Bay Buggers from a purely tournament team into the BPL, Rueben Berg throwing the goal in the number 8 shirt.
Enjoy, and we'll see you out there soon.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Training?
Training week in the BPL.
I often think about what the Brisbane Premier League will look like in 20 years. I think it will still exist, or at least some form of it will. Most likely it will be much the same as it is now, however there is a chance that it will be a much bigger and badder event. Clubs, teams, home grounds, away grounds, pie nights, etc. That is the version of the BPL that I like to ponder on.
Some time between now and my mega league of 2030 things will change. Team training will be a part of this change. This week the Buggers took a step the direction of the future with a team training. It was bloody good too.
In this extremely competitive league it was important for us to maintain the momentum that we had generated with our last 3 weeks of steadily improving performance. Offensive structure was the focus for our training. We ran a group of challenge drills with the Red shirt proving to be a little stronger than the first season rookie White shirt.
During our post training beer and chat session we learned that against long odds Manuel is in the hunt for the most focused Bugger with a copy of the draw printed out in his wallet. At one stage Buzz had us all sitting around like 3rd graders to hear some stories from the good old days. "it was a cotton shirt which I knew would be tough so I bit the collar. I then ripped the shirt in half right through the logo".
Top session from the boys, and an enjoyable chat and beerie to cap off the night. One step closer to the hard working teams of the near future, maybe?
I often think about what the Brisbane Premier League will look like in 20 years. I think it will still exist, or at least some form of it will. Most likely it will be much the same as it is now, however there is a chance that it will be a much bigger and badder event. Clubs, teams, home grounds, away grounds, pie nights, etc. That is the version of the BPL that I like to ponder on.
Some time between now and my mega league of 2030 things will change. Team training will be a part of this change. This week the Buggers took a step the direction of the future with a team training. It was bloody good too.
In this extremely competitive league it was important for us to maintain the momentum that we had generated with our last 3 weeks of steadily improving performance. Offensive structure was the focus for our training. We ran a group of challenge drills with the Red shirt proving to be a little stronger than the first season rookie White shirt.
During our post training beer and chat session we learned that against long odds Manuel is in the hunt for the most focused Bugger with a copy of the draw printed out in his wallet. At one stage Buzz had us all sitting around like 3rd graders to hear some stories from the good old days. "it was a cotton shirt which I knew would be tough so I bit the collar. I then ripped the shirt in half right through the logo".
Top session from the boys, and an enjoyable chat and beerie to cap off the night. One step closer to the hard working teams of the near future, maybe?
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