2008 Dingos team announced!

Happy Australia Day!

On behalf of the AFDA, the Open Selectors would like to announce the Australian Open team, the Dingos, who will compete at the 2008 World Ultimate Championships in Vancouver in August.

We would like to thank all people involved in this process have contributed greatly to the future success of the Dingos in 2008, from the volunteers at the selection camps, through to everyone who applied for the team.

There will be many more opportunities to continue to support the Dingos and the other Australian teams in the coming six months, we encourage you to take up those opportunities and be a part of their success in Vancouver. We wish the best of luck to the Squad members who are now trying out for positions on the Australian Mixed team which will be announced in 2 weeks time.

The 2008 Dingos are:

• Steve Antonopoulos (NSW)
• Tim Booth (NSW)
• Paul Denyer (WA)
• Anthony Dowle (NSW)
• Matthew Dowle (NSW)
• Peter Gardner (NSW)
• Abra Garfield (NSW)
• Andrew Glover (NSW)
• Jonathan Holmes (ACT)
• Angus Keenan (NSW)
• Tim Lavis (NSW)
• John Liddicoat (VIC)
• Brett Matzuka (QLD)
• Gavin Moore (NSW)
• Michael Neild (QLD)
• David O'Brien (NSW)
• Joel Pillar (SA)
• Jonathan Potts (NSW)
• Daniel Rule (VIC)
• Ken Shepherd (NSW)
• Owen Shepherd (VIC)
• Jonathan Tatham (NSW)
• Mark Taylor (NSW)
• Chris Warris (NSW)

We have every confidence the team will represent Australia at the highest level with commitment and spirit. The team is the largest ever selected and has a wealth of experience (12 Dingos returning from last worlds - the most ever) and plenty of youth (10) players are under 25 and only three are over 30). Six states and territories are represented.

We are now over halfway through the campaign. Applications opened in July 2007, and the World Championships are in August 2008. The next stage will see the team meet and plan in a week's time. The Dingos will start their fitness and conditioning program shortly. After competing with their club teams at Nationals, the Dingos will have regular training camps and NUFL events in the lead up to August.

From here, the team goes into camp again next weekend, and then the players will separate into their club teams for the Nationals season. After Nationals, an intense period of training camps and NUFL is planned, the final preparation being a pre-Worlds tour of the west coast of the United States for a series of lead-up matches against top North American clubs. On August 1& 2, the Dingos will arrive at the University of British Columbia with the Australian Womens, Mixed, Masters, Junior Men, Junior Women and Support teams.

The World Championships will run August 2-9.

Australian Open Team Selectors 2008

John Greenfield

Owen Shepherd

Chris Warris