NUFL 2008 – Let loose the (dingo) dogs of war

OK - so I just saw Owen's post. I still stand by my comments below which were written before I'd seen what he put up.

With less than 24hrs before the first NUFL game things are really starting to heat up in the preparation for Worlds. The five teams for NUFL 1 – Country, Barefoot, Fakulti, HoS and Firestorm are all very strong squads and each will be led from the front by a posse of bristling Dingos.

One of the ongoing challenges facing the Dingos in the lead up to Vancouver is the ability to play against quality opposition as a full squad. This was demonstrated quite graphically at the training camp last weekend when, despite the fact that this was the first time we had the full pack of 24 dingos together, by the end of the weekend there were only 16 fit dogs on the paddock.

Tomorrow afternoon will be a great opportunity for the men’s team as a Dingos-Allstars game is scheduled for 3pm. This promises to be a cracking match. It will be the first opportunity for the ’08 dingos to play together as a full squad, the majority of the men from the Mundis will have a hit out against their Dingo cousins, and just to add a little spice there will be quite a few players who narrowly missed out on both teams and will have plenty to prove.

The Allstars haven’t been selected yet, but here is my take on what the team could look like going off who has been registered on the afda tourney page:

Mundis: Al Don, JD, Adam Mortimer, Seb Barr, James Yorston.

A bit light on from the Mundis (Tex? Chilly/SA boys??), but these four should provide a solid base for the All Stars. JD is always a pain to mark, Al will be stepping it up and representing as you would expect from a newly elected Australian Captain, Seb and Adam will be generating a lot of the handler movement around the disc.

Best of the Rest:

Likely team members – Woodly, Cletus, Reuben, Jimmy T-H, Sacha Vidler, Tom Tulett, John McNaughton, Tom Watson, Fatty Faulkner, Kai, P Liddicoat.

I’m sure there will be a few other players out there on the team, but I reckon the above could do the job adequately (ie put up a bit of resistance and then roll over for the Dingo humping they were destined to get). The HoS boys – Wood, Rueben and Cletus along with Jimmy “n’ankles” Todd Hill will give some needed height to the Allstars and it will be good to see them tussling with the big Dingos like Ant Dowle, Tatham and Mike Nield. There is certainly plenty of speed with Fatty, Twatson, Kai “Quads” Wing Young and Yorston all quick across the turf. Cupcake, Johnny Mac and PLiddy will bolster the handling skills alongside the Mundi lads. Sacha Vidler will inject some much needed venom (verbal, physical and spiritual) into the Allstars and you can be sure he’ll be keeping the Dingo defenders on their toes.

There are a bunch of players here who must have only just missed out on a spot on either one of the rep teams and I’m expecting big games from them. Tom Watson apparently tore it up as a punching bag against the Mundis last weekend so watch out for him. Likewise, Rueben, Woodly and Johnny Mac should be fired up for the contest.

Keep your eye out for the mouth-watering explosive powder-keg of a Liddicoat v. Liddicoat match up. Mmmmm powder-keg. Other match-ups that will be good to see will be Johnny Mac v. Hobbit, Glover v. Quads, Lavis v. Don and Fatty v. whoever is holding the disc.

This should be a really impressive game. I’m expecting a close and hard fought first half, but the Dingos will pull away in the second half and should win 15-9 if you want me to put a figure on it. To see if I’m wrong, come down to Centennial Park at 3pm Saturday May 17^th.

See you there,

Jonno.

PS The above smack talk and posturing is all speculation. I have no idea who will be on the All-star teams so sorry if I’ve offended or missed anyone. If you want some personal smack talk, come see me any time you like.