BEYOND THE SNITCH – By Luke Derrick

UNSW Snapes on a Plane:

As dominant as ever, UNSW came out with their regular and full squad of nearly 21 and won all of their games convincingly, playing Macquarie, Wollongong and the (unranked) MacArthur Weasleys. Their dominant chaser play is their real strength, as always, enabling them to put a huge tally of points on the scoreboard in short order. Their seeker game, headed by Emmanuel Berkowicz, is strong, persistent and athletic. In their game against Macquarie they showed their depth with Nicholas Allan swapping into the position of seeker for the final few minutes before he made an athletic catch to end the game. With only one new player so far this year, they have a full experienced lineup with lots of depth and mobility. If they need to alter anything it’s their beater play, with Macquarie being a challenge to them in that regard. UNSW is in a dominant position right now over NSW quidditch and it seems like this might be completely and utterly their year.

 

UNSW – Wollongong: 170* – 0

UNSW – Weasleys: 130* – 10

UNSW – Macquarie: 180* – 30    

 

 

UWS Thestrals:

The other undefeated team at April Triwizard were UWS. With an incredibly athletic squad including their new players, they exercised a winning streak just as successful, if not as dominant, as UNSW’s. Their strong chaser game is complemented by two of the best females in the NSW scene right now, Hannah Monty and Bianca Connell, and finished off with the dominant speed and skill showed by Corey Ingold-Dawes. Their beater game is solid, experienced and skilled. It seems the only ingredient they are missing from their perfect combination is a powerful player to drive through tackles towards the hoops. Their passing is accurate and scores them the majority of their goals, but when their passing lanes are shut down they seem to be unable to convert. Their three wins show their skill and finesse at the game but the small score margins suggest they could be stronger. They also lack depth in their substitutions. With new players coming in it seems this is starting to change, but they will need to train up their newbies to make a real run against UNSW in the coming months.  

UWS – USyd: 90* – 30

UWS – Newcastle: 70* – 50

UWS – Weasleys: 180* – 20    

 

 

Macquarie Marauders:

After their second place performance at QUAFL 2013, Macquarie looked set to be a strong force in 2014, however this weekend showed where their main weakness is. Though they had two wins, both were within ten points before the snitch, showing their reliance on their seekers. Their loss against UNSW by 150 points showed their lack of offensive potential on the day. Dan Phipps, their starting keeper, controls the ball well and has accurate passing and shooting skills, but when shut down has little support at times. With Daniel Commander notably absent from their roster this weekend, Daniel Claxton had to take over as seeker, meaning one of their key offensive capabilities on the quaffle was busy elsewhere for much of the game. However, this weekend did show the strengths of the Macquarie game. Their beater play was strong in defense, able to keep both the chaser cores of Wollongong and University of Sydney (unranked) to a minimal score. They had good control of the ball, able to hold onto it through tackles and harassment. Overall, Macquarie is a strong team, shown by their two wins. But their loss to UNSW by 150 points show how far they need to come to compete with the big dog on the block. It seems that the key they are missing is a fast offensive game and, if they get one, they should be a true contender for the rest of the year.

Macquarie – Wollongong: 80* – 40

UNSW – Macquarie: 180* – 30

Macquarie – USyd: 60* – 30    

 

 

University of Sydney Unspeakables (Unranked):

The University of Sydney Unspeakables chose to be unranked due to their small roster coming into this weekend, with only six players from their World Cup team available. Bringing only a few new players along meant they had the smallest squad of all at the tournament. Even with their small squad the Unspeakables showed they were able to compete with their opposition, beating Newcastle and coming within snitch range of both Macquarie and UWS. It seems unfair to judge the Unspeakables team on their performance due to their lack of players and their captain being injured in the first game; unable to play the other two games. But a few things can be seen from their performance. Firstly, their new players scored the majority of their points showing the incoming skill and offensive potential. Secondly, they lacked a fast offensive capability to score on the counter attack, as they were missing both Alexander Enrico and Patrick Ward. Overall, it seemed surprising they were able to compete with seemingly stronger teams with such a limited roster. It will be interesting to see how they do at the next tournament in the coming month, especially if they can bring their full squad.

UWS – USyd: 90* – 30

USyd – Newcastle: 100* – 10

Macquarie – USyd: 60* – 30    

 

 

Wollongong Warriors:

The Wollongong Warriors experienced one win on the weekend against the Newcastle Fireballs, with one close loss against Macquarie and a blowout against UNSW. They showed off their quick chasers and a determined seeker who won’t stop at anything to catch the snitch. However, overall their team is just lacking another star player. Unlike most similar-level teams have, there is no clear person on the team to be scared of, which the enemy team has to counter or they will lose. They have a decent beater game to go along with their decent chaser game and decent seeking game. They seem to be lacking that person who can make shots from halfway, or can make those impossible beats, or drive through three tackles to score. Wollongong are a decent team, shown by their win against Newcastle and their close loss against Macquarie. But their loss against UNSW shows their faults. Against a dominating defense and aggressive offense their decent players cannot stand up and the team suffers for it. For them to make a run at the national championship in November, they need to find some star players or develop some from their existing squad.

UNSW – Wollongong: 170* – 0

Wollongong – Newcastle: 70* – 50

Macquarie – Wollongong: 80* – 40

 

 

Newcastle Fireballs:

The Newcastle Fireballs were the only team to play four games on the weekend, with their only win coming against the unranked MacArthur Weasleys. With lots of new players, along with most of their experienced team from last year, it seemed like Newcastle was ready to compete in a big way but on the weekend they just weren’t able to convert. There real weakness seemed to be in their ability to score, unable to penetrate defense after defense scoring only 70 quaffle points in their two ranked games. They also seemed to lack a strong way to regain beater control after losing it, with many of the opposing teams holding beater control for the majority of the games. They also had a lack of communication within the team, which is understandable considering their large amount of new players in the team. Hopefully, once the team cohesion improves, they will be a strong contender for the rest of the year. Overall, it seems like this team has lots of potential, and has many strong players like Dameon Osborn and Matt Ingram, but they were just unable to compete in a serious way on the day.

Newcastle – Weasleys: 140* – 10

UWS – Newcastle: 70 – 50*

USyd – Newcastle: 100* – 10

Wollongong – Newcastle: 70* – 50

 

 

MacArthur Weasleys (Unranked):

The MacArthur Weasleys are the only community team currently competing in the NSW quidditch scene. Lead by Arfy Papadam, this team won against the more experienced Nargles in March so with a full roster has strong potential. But they fell short this time. Their roster is just lacking experienced players, other than Papadam, and as such, like most new teams, they are unable to compete against the big dogs in the league such as UWS and UNSW. However, their skill sets are sound and many of their players show confidence with the ball and athletic skill suggesting they could be true competitors once given time to really come into their own and if they can keep all their strongest players available. Right now, the Weasleys just don’t have the players to compete against these larger and more experienced teams, but given some time there is no telling what they could become.

Newcastle – Weasleys: 140* – 10

UNSW – Weasleys: 130* – 10

UWS – Weasleys: 180* – 30