In March 2006, the Tassie Tiggers played in the second Southern Australian Ultimate Championships, a qualifying tournament for the Open Division of the Australian Ultimate Championships 2006, featuring teams from Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia. 12 Tiggers made the journey across Bass Strait to play a two day tournament in in Elsternwick, Melbourne in extremely hot weather on March 11 and 12, 2006.
The full Tassie Tiggers team at Southern Regionals: (back row) Tim Johnson, John Kristensen, Dave Cooke, Mike Baker (captain), Matt Smith, Tory Fitchett, Warwick Reed, (front row) Basil van Riet, Michael Dunne, Aaron Pinkus, Ashley Button, Kunal Verna.
More photos can be found at JK's Tasmanian ultimate photo gallery and in particular at the Southern Regionals '06 gallery.
The Tassie Tiggers were seeded 2nd out of 9 teams going into the Southern Australian Ultimate Championships, based on the Tiggers finish at last year's Australian Ultimate Championships. We did not expect to keep this seeding, due to the strength of a number of other teams, as well as the loss of a number of experienced players for this tournament.
The Tiggers played a total of 5 games over two days, with all games being played in extreme conditions of high temperatures and at times strong winds, including temperatures of approximately 38°C on the Sunday. The Tiggers finished the competition in 6th position overall, with a record of 2 wins and 3 losses. The overall result put us outside the 5 qualifying positions for Nationals; however, with one of the qualified teams indicating that they would not be sending a team to Nationals, the Tiggers were awarded the final qualifying spot for the southern region for the National Championships in Sydney in April.
First of all: well played everyone at Regionals! It was great to see the team improve over the course of the weekend, and I think we were unlucky we didn't get more wins than we did. Hopefully everyone who played their first interstate tournament can take the lessons learned and improve their game further for next time.
For the record, the results were:
| Game | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Wild Chilly (Melbourne) | L 8-14 |
| 2. | Scopus dream team (Melbourne) | W 15-4 |
| 3. | Model Inc. (Adelaide) | W 13-11 |
| 4. | Sweet Chilly (Melbourne) | L 3-15 |
| 5. | Discheads (Adelaide) | L 13-15 |
| 6. | Model Inc (Adelaide) | W by forfeit |
The final team rankings were:
| Rank | Team | Seed |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sweet Chilly (Melbourne) | 1 |
| 2. | Hot Chilly (Melbourne) | 3 |
| 3. | Eureka Goldigaz (Bendigo) | 5 |
| 4. | Discheads (Adelaide) | 6 |
| 5. | Wild Chilly (Melbourne) | 7 |
| 6. | Tassie Tiggers (Hobart) | 2 |
| 7. | Model Inc. (Adelaide) | 4 |
| 8. | Astro Boys (Melbourne) | 8 |
| 9. | Scopus Dream Team (Melbourne) | 9 |
As Eureka Goldigaz are not going to Nationals, the Tassie Tiggers also qualify for Nationals. Highlight game for the weekend featured the 4 v 5 playoff with Discheads beating Wild Chilly to 4th place by one point, 11-10. The final saw Sweet Chilly defeat Hot Chilly in very hot and blustery conditions, 15-4. Discheads won spirit.
The Tiggers were unlucky to face Wild Chilly in their first game, as with a little more time to gel, this could have been a much closer game. Good luck to the Tiggers at Nationals!
The 2006 Tassie Tiggers at Southern Regionals were:
| Shirt number | Name |
|---|---|
| 3. | John Kristensen |
| 5. | Tim Johnson |
| 8. | Kunal Verna* |
| 9. | Basil van Riet* |
| 13. | Mike Baker (captain) |
| 16. | Michael Dunne* |
| 20. | Ashley Button |
| 21. | Matt Smith* |
| 25. | Aaron Pinkus* |
| 37. | Dave Cooke |
| 42. | Warwick Reed |
| 86. | Tory Fitchett* |