New Directors Appointed
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The Board is proud to announce the appointment of two new director; Maria Wizbicki from the Macquarie Marauders and James Mortenson of the Newcastle Fireballs. Maria is no stranger to the board having been an executive in 2014. She will continue on her work with the AQA’s marketing portfolio. James, as a certified head referee and a training coordinator for the IRDP has proposed a new referee training initiative. I’m sure we are all looking forward to see what these two can bring this year.On a second note, the staff position of Director of Membership Services has since been absorbed and the responsibilities will be undertaken by Hannah Monty as Vice President and Emma Morris as Treasurer, effective immediately. We would like to thank Luke Derrick for his time and contribution in his role as Director of Membership Services during a year of many changes.
Last weekend saw Australia’s national quidditch champion crowned for the 4th time at QUAFL 2014, held at Macquarie University in Sydney, NSW.13 teams competed in 42 games over two days, through hot and wet weather and late into the night for the first time in Australian quidditch history. After endless drama, on and off field, the champion was decided in the midst of a torrential late evening rainstorm. The top seeds and favourites UNSW reached the final undefeated, where they faced up to the spectacular form of the powerful and experienced Melbourne Manticores.An impenetrable defensive and counter-attacking performance from the Manticores saw them take an emphatic 110-40 victory and join UNSW and the Perth Phoenixes as Australian quidditch champions.Further reflections on different games and aspects of the tournament will be forthcoming throughout the holidays, as the fallout from a magnificent and dramatic tournament is digested and analysed. Here are the full results from the weekend:
Photo Credit: Scott Dixon
Photo Credit: Scott Dixon
Photo Credit: Scott Dixon
Photo Credit: Scott Dixon
Saying that things are “the same yet different” really is a prominent cliché of mine, amongst many others. Naturally therefore, I will bring it back out here. It’s obviously been a huge year in NSW, full of massive transition for most teams both internally and externally. The Fireballs and Nargles, each months’ farthest visitors to Sydney, have both come back from the near dead with revolutionised and reinvigorated new generation teams. 2013’s raw rookies from the University of Sydney are now as refined as the edifices of their campus, armed with the lessons learned from seeing and facing the best in the world first hand. UNSW’s juggernaut rolls on unabated but defined by the coming of age of their Midwinter Cup-winning humble heroes. UTS have ridden out their early turbulence and might just have come stronger out the other side just in time. UWS and Macquarie have stared resolutely in the face of the changing game, digging their heels with the renewed determination that has always served them well and may be their X factor this coming QUAFL. The “changing game” is the biggest change itself though, for of course, the odd individual in NSW knows how to tackle now! The 2014 implementation of standardised tackle on a national scale took its time permeating the NSW game in a visible way. Indeed, the beginnings of any kind of polar shift have only just begun to take hold, which is what gives recent Triwizard history that uneasy feel of preparatory incompleteness, leading towards an end game that may follow through at QUAFL. But perhaps the uneasiness is simply the cognitive dissonance that comes from trying to reconcile these supposed notions of change with the fact that results are largely the same as they’ve always been. Look at the facts and numbers involved. As per historical tradition, it’s still UNSW well on top, then UWS, then fresh air. The Snapes and Thestrals remain emphatically clear at the top of the rankings on a state and national level. The game has undeniably changed and continues to shift, but the cream will always rise. The big question is how unobstructed it will find a way to rise to the surface this QUAFL. The bigger question may just be how buoyant other teams will turn out to be when the anchors of travel, transition and Triwizard in general are lifted. What makes the lurking hint of change most ominous is that QUAFL is where it is mostly likely to come out fully fledged. It happened last year, most notably in the Unspeakables’ unceremoniously unorthodox but clearly concerted deconstructing of the powerhouse UWS unit at its peak. Over the course of the last six months, every NSW team has shown enough evidence of greatness to suggest just how good they could be, but most have reached it all too rarely. QUAFL is where those heights are invariably attained though. Look at the Marauders, much maligned through much of 2013, threatening at October, then the best team of Saturday at QUAFL 2013 and its eventual runners up. Newcastle similarly rose to the occasion, while UNSW and UWS ended a year of total and likely unmatchable dominance by being summarily dumped out before the final four. A single-elimination setup always has an element of chance involved, but it’s no fluke that the chasing pack catches up for this one special time of year. Entire years before QUAFL are an exercise in misdirection before the true form of QUAFL, when finally each team can both step their fully formed strategies out from the shadows, and pile every oft-absent superstar they can muster back into the fold in one go. UNSW dominate on a month-to-month basis because they are the best team in the country, this is an undeniable fact. But their margin is inflated by the perpetual holes in the collective opposition. It is a deserved and self-inflated margin of course, they benefit from the exemplary attendance they ensure each month without fail. It is a strong and positive culture and for all the deep wells of talent inherent in the rich and powerful Snapes, it will never be a coincidence that Australia’s greatest team is the one which has the greatest stability of attendance within its star players. Through their dedication and professionalism, UNSW also effectively trains and utilises every player of their squad regardless of original ability until each is a well-oiled cog serving a particular role and doing it with inevitable competence. In short, they are the one Australian club whose overall regime is of the American standard, for now. UWS may lack the depth of UNSW, but they share the total stability within their core, a core which can outrun anyone for pure athleticism and outwit anyone for sheer experience. Ergo, these two teams aren’t just the undeniable best by a medium sized margin, they dominate with such total consistency by minimising monthly fluctuation to such an extent that over a whole year, everyone else is made to look decidedly mediocre. But they aren’t. The Snapes and Thestrals deserve the rewards they’re afforded on the rankings table, but QUAFL is the big one everyone wants and crawls out for. The rankings mean nothing.
As undisputed as UNSW and UWS’s mathematical supremacy is, evidence of others’ ability to match this standard has been there to see for certain fleeting moments. Newcastle showed at May Triwizard and Midwinter Cup that at their very best they have the sheer firepower to match it with UNSW. They haven’t shown this since, but this is the lot of a team for whom Triwizard each month is a journey from comparatively afar. Midwinter was the last time Newcastle were at home and their squad has been well short in both numbers and names every time since. QUAFL should see a line-up reflective of Midwinter’s but with six months extra experience. Wollongong too struggle enough for numbers without the demands of monthly travel. The last time they presented a close to full strength squad was at home in April and they were crisp, a level they have not been able to match subsequently. The question mark over the Warriors at the moment is whether they will be at full strength for QUAFL. It’s looking unlikely, but if they can get close they will without doubt provide an even greater challenge than their always sturdy structure already does. What about the Nargles? Their travel demands are downright Herculean. At May Triwizard they were quality but not quite there yet, but this makes sense for a new team. At Melbourne Mudbash they were brilliant in patches but lacked depth, as a team of ten from interstate will tend to. Moving on to August then through to September they incrementally improved, only to miss October. This absence could be crucial; such is the pace of development in NSW quidditch at the moment. But at QUAFL they will have a record squad of nineteen and perhaps for the first time ever, certainly in recent history, a truly full strength squad. But they won’t have it easy as they’ve been drawn alongside UTS in Pool A. Less can be said of UTS than any of these teams, so recent and rapid is their rise. At August they reached their relative nadir, with a small and inexperienced squad losing comfortably against beatable opposition, including to the embryonic Macarthur Weasleys. Another four losses from four in September seemed to mark much of the same, but good opposition and bad luck masked what was clear progress. In October they turned the tables on the Weasleys and further developed a cadre of big, strong and quick new recruits. No major scalp resulted, but they were closer than they’d ever been before and with a monster squad, which is the biggest of any of the thirteen teams in the tournament and contains all their important names, the Opaleyes may just make the biggest quality jump from October to QUAFL of any team. Think too of the Unspeakables, who brought their strongest squad to September and duly annihilated everything in their path. At October they were weaked by injury, exams and general October apathy. Yet they still outplayed UWS, almost came from behind to stun Newcastle again, managed to frustrate and hold out UNSW like few have before this year, and beat a strong Macquarie outfit. Speaking of that strong Macquarie outfit, it didn’t set the world alight in October as it did last year, but the mere addition of one or two X factors still made a big difference. There was still the firepower shortage they’ve had all year as they could only manage a goal each against the top defences of UNSW and Sydney. But they comprehensively put competitive UTS and Wollongong units to bed. More firepower should be available to them at QUAFL, further boosted by the luxury of playing in their own backyard. Macquarie know how to peak for QUAFL, will be playing at home and will have their biggest and strongest squad since last QUAFL, which they were only two deft Katelyn Stubberfield beats away from winning. So there is every chance UNSW will fire through eight straight and comfortably win QUAFL, invariably beating the otherwise dominant UWS in the final. The Snapes will have something in hand too, no doubt about that. But instead, maybe Newcastle will steamroll all in their path on the way to glory. Maybe the guile and worldliness of Sydney will take them close, or even all the way, to triumph. Perhaps the rapid Nargles will be swiftly into the Semi Finals before anyone has seen what’s hit them, or the criminally undervalued Opaleyes firmly imbedded in the Quarters, with momentum threatening to push either of them even further still. There is of course many worthy interstate teams to deal with which will make every team’s job infinitely harder. No less a threat than the champion Perth Phoenixes themselves will be present, on top of four class Victorian outfits. There is no real way of knowing where they might fit into the grand scheme of things. The only opportunity for observation was Melbourne Mudbash where the Nargles showed promise and where Sydney largely didn’t, but with a skeleton team that was never going to match their usual standard. So what’s going to happen? In short, you can clearly see by my vapid meandering that I haven’t the faintest idea! That’s what is great about it. But let’s have an even closer look at October Triwizard to try and get even more of an idea.
There are three notable clashes from October I have not yet mentioned. This is because not only were they the closest, but they were by far the most revealing. They also have a major bearing on how QUAFL will play out. UWS, Newcastle and Sydney, with their hugely disparate histories and approaches, have rather bottlenecked together just in time for QUAFL where what do you know, they’ve ended up all drawn together. If October is any indication, these will be three of the real classics of the tournament, and UWS may be in some trouble unless they can find another level. Of course they tend to usually do this and were without Christian Barquin at October, an influence that cannot be underestimated. First up was the clash between UWS and Sydney which will always have spice in the near future thanks to last year’s QUAFL coup. But this year the Unspeakables hadn’t really gotten close to UWS, either in general or in direct combat. But the balance of power had shifted subtly on this occasion. It had not dramatically reversed, but UWS just found themselves unable to gain a firm foothold on what was a thoroughly even-keeled encounter. It was definitely the Unspeakables who looked the more likely early though, matching the UWS speed with their own similar reserves of Cameron Brown and Rob Wells led pace and Hannah Monty-matching nimble forward receivers, particularly the slick Carolyn Themel. But add to this, the X factor of size most notably provided in the form of man of the match Albornoz. By shortly after the ten minute mark Sydney were 40-20 up and with momentum, their lead reaching but crucially not exceeding thirty. With UWS less dominant than usual in the beater department without Barquin, it freed up the Unspeakable chasers to do their worst. Each of Sydney’s chasers were proving more adept at tackling, zoning and ultimate execution in general play, particular the final passes. These are all decidedly American hallmarks further developed since their spell at World Cup, but they’re skills that NSW teams are all increasingly finding necessary as we are immersed in the tackle game. UWS can never be counted out though and as soon as the match started pushing towards the twenty-five minute mark you could sense there was danger for Sydney. A squad of ten is going to be hard pressed to hang on at the best of times, let alone one that likes to make the most of short bursts and regular rotations. Add the UWS fitness to that and the tables inevitably began to turn. By the time the snitch was back, the Thestrals had fought themselves back to an 80-70 lead and Stephen Butler’s catch sealed a thrilling come from behind 110-70 win. Sydney had to then back up and face the Fireballs. Where UWS was an occasion that called for stepping up to the plate like they hadn’t so far this year, a grudge match against Newcastle is the opposite, for Sydney remain undefeated against them. After a slow and nervous start, it was Newcastle who took the clear ascendancy though, on the back of the unlikely beater pairing of Dameon Osborn and Desany Phanoraj. This new focus on beater tackle prowess reflects yet another distinct Americanisation permeating select elements of NSW play and is a necessity against the forward pressure of the Sydney beating. Mitch McMahon was the only player to score over the first five minutes, but he’d powered his way through on three separate occasions. Luke Derrick again felt the need to shift to the quaffle game, to try and go some way to combating Newcastle’s physical dominance, and his goal put Sydney on the board on the sixth minute. It was all Newcastle otherwise though and by the lifting of the seeker floor they were 70-10 up and looked virtually home. But then down went the most experienced of all Fireballs, Desany Phanoraj, who crumpled sickeningly as an ankle gave way. With it, and without their guiding elder, away went Newcastle as a whole. The match was stopped for a whole twelve minutes as Phanoraj was treated, allowing the Unspeakables to fully refresh themselves. After the restart it was a completely different match. The beater game transformed without Phanoraj’s inexperienced but impactful presence. With control firmly restored to the Sydney beaters, Newcastle had no way of stopping Nicholas Albornoz and Cameron Brown, whose twin hat-tricks turned a sixty point deficit into near parity. After a second stoppage for another key Newcastle injury, to Amy Ey who had taken up the key female beating slack since the first stoppage, finally it was time for the snitch catch. Newcastle’s lead had been wiped down to just ten, they’d lost two players for the day and amidst all the trauma were now totally haggard, but Liam Dawson saved the day with a match winning snitch catch. In the 110-70 win, Newcastle showed they can put together clutch performances against quality opposition, but they also showed they are as susceptible to unforeseen drama and stress as ever. Sydney showed just how much fight they have to come from so far back and they will be closer to their best at QUAFL. The match showed just how good both teams can be but just how beatable both teams can also be and it showed the intrigue that can come from two progressive teams thinking creatively. But such was the match’s extenuating disruptiveness, there’s probably not much more that can be concluded. So having lost all but Holly Cairncross from their female stocks, Newcastle were surely left unable to take the field against UWS. But against the odds, still the Fireballs fought on, fronting up against the speed and efficient zoning of UWS, perhaps the worse team to face a player down. Newcastle were decimated, down to seven total players, and still trying to pick up the emotional pieces of the catharsis and trauma that came from the costly Unspeakable win. UWS are always ruthless and were prepared for a presumptive spanking. But it was Newcastle’s playmaker Mortensen who struck first, then Cairncross and then Mitch McMahon. Hannah Monty brought a couple back but the speed merchants just could not stop the hulking power of Mortensen and McMahon, nor keep up with the precision of Cairncross at and behind the hoops. 30-0 became 50-10, then 60-30 in a remarkable and overpowering performance led by the downright heroic Mortensen. But UWS are never put to bed, particularly when you’ve run out of personnel to head them. Mortensen and McMahon continued to alternate strikes and keep Newcastle just clear, but the Thestrals slowly clawed their way back. Finally after twenty minutes they levelled proceedings at 90-90, then hit the front. By now the Fireballs were dead on their feet and with another injury reducing their number further, they had no choice but to concede the match before UWS drew further away. UWS were credited with a snatch and so 130-90 was the final score, but it could not have escaped any observers who the best team had been early in the contest, back before fatigue took total hold, when Newcastle’s only handicap was the mere shortage of one entire person. But bias can only blind me so far. UWS still won the game, just as they did against Sydney too. The question for Newcastle, not for the first time, will be whether they can reproduce the kind of frenzied energy that the circumstances of this day created at a whim in a more controlled environment. They’ll need to in order to make that extra step up from their current perpetual position at the frustrating top edge of the second tier.
The next unfortunate victim of Sydney’s burgeoning momentum would be the Weasleys. Arfy Papadam was not at all keen to lie down though, brilliantly leading Macarthur to an early 20-10 lead with a quick pair of second minute goals. The Weasley star of the match was Dan Toland, whose bustling chasing regularly broke through Sydney's defences only to be cruelly denied at the last moment.Ultimately, the early threat was but a brief blip and by the five minute mark Sydney were 50-20 up and on their way to safety.With Albornoz used sparingly in order to stay fresh for the crucial Nargles clash, Rob Wells took up the slack, scoring a hat-trick inside the first six minutes. Luke Derrick also excelled, matching this effort in his rare foray into chasing, while Carolyn Themel impressed again.You know a team is going to be tough to live with when Cameron Brown can once again play a secondary role yet still somehow come away with the small matter of five goals.A Craig Cockcroft strike was the only respite for the solid Weasleys as the firing Unspeakables continued to go from strength to strength, controlling the beater game through Lachlan Chisholm and the rapidly developing Jeanne Hamman who already doesn’t look out of place on the big stage.Sixteen goals was the mighty dividend this time for the voracious Unspeakables and when Shara Longbotham made her second catch of the day, it was a third consecutive battering win for Sydney, 190-30. Macquarie ended their day with a showdown against the Nargles. It was anyone’s guess what could happen here, both teams had impressed in patches early but were disappointing in their most recent matches. The Nargles had done rather a better job of pressuring UWS though, so deserved to be favourites and came out of the blocks strongest. After a number of early attempts, Gary Hague managed to open the scoring after two minutes. Leslie Fox equalised in the fourth minute and at 10-10 the score would stay until the seekers were long gone.The big Marauder guns were out, with Kieran Tolley starting alongside Barciela this time and his keeping namesake stepping impressively into the vacant captaincy shoes. The Nargles had their own cat in the bag through, with teenage rookie, late arrival and rumoured beater extraordinaire Chris Stubbs starting on debut. Stubbs was certainly far from underwhelming, combining effectively with Morgyn Benstead to dull the threat of the on paper stronger Macquarie beating unit, as is the typical Nargle way.But in return, Macquarie were also doing rather well to deaden an on paper stronger Nargle chasing unit. It took ten minutes and some Harris Law Yee Fat solo brilliance to re-establish a one goal lead for the Nargles and though Hague added a second shortly afterwards, a second of Fox’s own kept things at 30-20.The Nargles had the greater penetration towards goal thanks primarily to Hague, Armstrong coming from the back and Clara Barrs’ monstering presence up forward. The Marauders played a smart possession game though, denying them the opportunity to stretch their legs. 30-20 became 40-30 with the twenty minute mark approaching and the Nargles threatening to draw clear without quite managing it.Macquarie were just holding on but the balance of play was inevitably tilting towards breaking point and it took the X-factor that is Gary Hague to break the final straw. In a frenetic final burst, he fired a sequence of five goals in five minutes and took the Nargles to a safe lead. Leslie Fox then made another of his now trademark effortless grabs to narrow the scoreline, but with Macquarie fifty down it was the Nargles’ game, winning 90-70.
A far greater challenge stood before the Nargles however, to try and arrest the momentum of the undefeated and high-flying Unspeakables in the last game of the day.Until then, there was some business to work through. Delays and injuries had unfortunately curtailed Wollongong’s day, rendering them unable to face up against UNSW. But happily, UTS were able to overcome initial doubts and put up a team to face UWS. It was good to see because the Opaleyes had been ultra-impressive and didn’t deserve a forfeit to add to their harsh results sheet for the day. Misfortune, injury and absent players may have taken some of the sting out of the Opaleyes for this last game, but they surely still had enough fight to keep UWS within the 150 points that a forfeit would constitute.Hannah Monty’s two early goals confirmed that UWS were on their game and not going to allow any shock result to happen, but progress was mellow after that. UWS were never under any kind of sustained pressure, but UTS defended gamely and kept them out time and time again, ensuring the Thestrals would have to work for their points.Though the hard yards were put in across the board in centre field, Corey Ingold-Dawes reaped the most reward, scoring give times as UWS slithered inevitably away to a lead of over one hundred. UTS got to end the day with much deserved positivity though as Rayan Calimlim brilliantly caught the snitch, salvaging a more respectable and deserving 110-30 scoreline. Newcastle and the Weasleys ended their days with a fairly lazy jamboree under the disconcertingly setting sun. With Newcastle in a playful and overall happy mood after a reasonably solid day, the Weasleys found they could get some purchase, with some early goals making things interesting. Ultimately the Fireballs knew they were going to have too much for the Weasleys though and were playing to the necessary level.Tom Russell led the way in the prolonged absence of the seeking Mortensen, while the improving Weasley beaters found themselves with more ball than ever, allowing them to effectively keep Newcastle in check initially.The result was never in doubt though, Liam Dawson dominating on the scoresheet and Mortensen’s catch ending the match 130-30 in Newcastle’s favour. The last game slot was all about the blockbuster happening across-field though. The Nargles and Sydney were a perfect closer to proceedings, as both had been impressive and whoever won here could rightfully feel like they’d made huge gains on the pack.It was the Nargles who came out hardest, with Matt Armstrong starting as keeper and scoring off brooms up. Much of the early play was about the oneupmanship between the experience and skill of Armstrong and Cameron Brown who led their teams to a 20-20 stalemate after five minutes.It was anybody’s game, probably the most genuinely even across all aspects for a sustained period of time. In the fifth minute Harris Law Yee Fat handed the Nargles the lead and they looked capable of maybe going on with it, but were scuttled by the Sydney defence and their own poor discipline.Law Yee Fat and Gary Hague both received yellows at crucial times, both shorthanded periods resulting in Sydney goals. Kristie Kuhn’s tenth minute equaliser signalled a shift in the momentum as the depth of the Unspeakables began to shine through.The combination of early seeking and the stellar job figures like Albornoz, Wells, Brown and Themel were already doing meant that Ajantha Abey had been in the chasing backwater for the most of the day. But now was his time to shine, with a pair of crucial skilful goals sneaking Sydney out to a 50-30 lead.A couple of disallowed Nargle strikes did not help and as the game wore on it was Sydney firmly in control. A quick cameo from Rob Wells added two more goals and with the safety of a 70-30 scoreline to inspire her, Shara Longbotham completed the job with her third catch of the day. 100-30 over a top quality Nargle team was perhaps their most impressive performance of the day yet, ensuring a perfect four from four and the most successful Triwizard ever for the charging Unspeakables. 
