Nationals 2009 Part 1

Heads of State came third at Nats which was a great result.

What did I learn? Let's see:

Sideline Talk

I understand the importance of sideline talk, and on every team I coach I encourage it 100%. But sometimes I think players need to use the time one the sideline to relax and disengage. Standing on the sideline and being activlt engaged in the play can be very tiring, both physically and mentaly. So when the squad is big enough that not every player needs to be on the sideline, I think they should take it in turns to relax and disengage between points. 

Timeouts

Because we had Boo Boo on the sideline coaching, we were much more purposful with our timeouts. Games to 17/100 mins take a long time, so actually using timouts, and using them well, is very important. We called one nearly every game after 12 points, because in the first 3 games, that is when we started to fade out. We almost always only called timouts between points, and rarely called them on O. Based on this, I came to some basic conslusions about calling timeouts:

• use them all
• call them at a set time/score
• call them between points when about to play D
• only call them on O after multiple turns in the same point
• never call timouts outside the endzone

Off-sides

HoS had practised throughout the year to start half way in the end zone on D to try and avoid going off-side on the pull. It mostly worked, we only got called for a re-pull once. With such a large sideline at Nats, I sometimes took the opportunity to walk down and watch the other teams pulls. I'm not sure why every team doesn't do this all the time.  The mere presence of an opponent standing watching the pull makes teams stay on-side, and if they don't stay on-side, it's very easy to signal this to your team. This doesn't mean I think teams should get called for any minor off-side - but sometimes, especially when teams are playing zone, going off-side can be a big advantage.

Club Championships

The tournament is called the Australian Ultimate Championship (AUC), but I really think we should change the name to the Australian Ultimate Club Championship (AUCC), because that is what it is. AUC conjures up ideas of State v State, which is not what we have. And this would then line up with WFDF's WUCC.

Club Strength

While considering the nature of these "Club" Championships, I was struck by the imaginary "salary cap" that all teams seem to adhere to. Even though they could, each state doesn't just send it's best team, well at least the good states don't. NSW and VIC could easily put the States best players onto one team and almost guarantee a win. But they don't. The Dingos could all get together and play as one team, but they don't. There is this unwritten idea that clubs want to try and win, but only with a team that isn't considered "stacked". Fakulti may have suffered over the years with this idea, hence the A/B - X/Y dilemma. 

But as the strength of Nationals increases, and the weaker teams become stronger and stronger, it will be interesting to see how far clubs are prepared to push the limit of "stacked" to ensure they can still guarantee they get to compete at the top level.

More to come soon.