Road to QUAFL: Victorian Champions Melbourne Manticores

Photo Credit: Melbourne Manticores Quidditch ClubQUAFL 2018 is taking place this weekend. Before 24 of Australia’s finest Quidditch teams converge on the Sunshine Coast for 2 days, let’s take a moment to get to know some of the best teams in each attending state. Today we talked to Jack Emerton of the oldest team in Victoria, about the Melbourne Manticore’s success this year and their goals for QUAFL How did it feel to win the Vic Cup Grand Final?Along with the joy and glory of winning it all, it also felt like a massive weight off our shoulders to be able to reverse the result of last years grand final in our favour, especially after all the hard work everyone put in To what does your club owe its success?Our team's success is most in part due to how seriously we take Quidditch, even though we have a lot of fun playing, we all have that burning desire to win.  What are you most looking forward to at QUAFL this year?I always look forward to playing against new teams each year, which is an opportunity to test against new competition and to make new friends.  Who are some of your more understated stars that you want other teams to watch out for?The underrated star of the manticores would be Mary-Clare [Conheady-Barker], she may be small in stature but she's tough enough to take on any challenge. Underestimate her at your own peril.  Who is a team from your state that you want other teams to watch out for?The Melbourne Ravens are a new team that formed this year, bringing players from multiple teams together to form a new challenger. It'll be interesting to watch them at QUAFL.  A number of your team members were in respective state teams this year. What do you think you’ve learnt from the competition this year?I feel Victoria is home to some of the best Quidditch players in Australia, I feel very lucky to be teammates with some of those players. There's so much to learn being around all these great players on both sides of the pitch. I've learned how far I've come as a player since I began and how much harder I need to work if I want to reach the levels of my teammates.  Other than the games and medals you’ve won, what’s your team’s biggest achievement?One of our biggest achievements how our new players have fitted into our team so seamlessly. It's a great sense of mateship on the Manticores and how well we all get along.  On a more negative note, what’s one of the biggest hurdles your team has had to deal with?Perhaps the hardest challenge for us was having the team come together consistently. Aside from Quidditch, we all work jobs and it's hard to weave Quidditch into our work schedule, sometimes we couldn't get everyone together to have a full training session, have people turning up late because of work or even be undermanned for games. That was perhaps our biggest hurdle to overcome.  What are some future directions of the club for after QUAFL?Once QUAFL is finished, whether we win or lose, our focus will immediately shift to next year, we'll have our summer break but before you know it, we'll be back at training with our goal of improving on our previous season. Many thanks to Regina Atkinson and Tegan Diep for their work putting this interview together