For the first time since 2019, we are going to see a game played in the green and gold. Not just any game either—a World Games game. 7 on 7, grass, mixed, the best of the best, the Big Dance.
Greetings, I’m Nic Lelli, and I’m sick of re-watching Ultimate. I've been re-watching Australian teams play Ultimate for the last ~3 years. I’ve watched Mike Nield throw a Greatest and Cat Phillips sky Canadians 73 times since we went into lockdown and International Friz was stopped. But now, like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, Australians in beautiful, silky, Eurodisc gold will emerge and run around to chase some plastic.
Our Team
The 2022 Crocs look good. Really good. I had the pleasure of watching their final game on home soil, a showcase in Sydney against the elite pick up team, ‘Irukandji.’ If I was a paying customer to this game, I would have been ripped off. The game barely lasted an hour, the Crocs smacked the Irukandji around, winning 13-4 (or something like that).
More impressive than the scoreline was how the Crocs looked—comfortable, in control, and fast, making light work of the likes of Alexander, the Moore’s, Blakeley, Wiya and other Croc reserves. Gone are the days of the Crocs relying on a few world class handlers to throw the tough hucks to pure athlete receivers. This version of the Crocs looked assertive with anyone behind the disc and anyone downfield, with dimeball throws from Caro Ma and Alex Gan. The standout crowd favourite performance came from Alex Ladomatos, who managed to get three layout blocks whilst guarding Peter Blakeley. After spending the last few seasons as an offensive handler, it’s not an overstatement to say that Lado remains one of the best defenders in the country.
But I’ll save any in-depth analysis of our team to avoid the eager eyes of foreign scouts. It would be impossible to scout us anyway, because all of the Crocs look good on either side of the disc—and any combination of cutters and handlers seems like a world class line. I mean, how do you stop the Phillips sisters, Sam McGuckin, and Rob Andrews—I’m not sure that other countries will be able to match us.
The expectations are high for this team, but I think that they’ll meet and possibly exceed them. This is one of Australia’s best chances to win a gold medal on grass, and I reckon they might just do it.
Fun Stats:
This is the first time since 2005 that Australia have sent a World Games team without Peter Blakeley on it.
All 14 Players, at some point in their career have played for Ellipsis or Sunder.
The Competition
Ultimate at the 2022 International World Games will feature USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Colombia, Great Britain, Germany, and France.
Australia are in a pool with Colombia, Japan and France, which is about as good a draw as we could hope for, avoiding both the US and Canada in pool play. The schedule is, as always, pretty ruthless—you play the other teams in your pool, straight to semis, final, cya later.
USA
Let’s start with the big dogs, the dream team, the Bald Eagles (US national teams don’t really do animal mascots hey, but if they did the WG team for sure would be the Bald Eagles), Team USA. You can check out the full list of US athletes here, and check out their profiles here, including their occupation! Did you know the US alternate Raphy Hayes is a hot air balloon pilot!
As usual, the US are favourites to win the World Games, and given the tournament is in the US, the roster is nothing short of all-star. Their 14 person team includes Callahan Award winners, multi-time US representatives, and a few World Games returners in Finney, Mickle, Kocher, Payne, Freechild and Lindsley. It’s going to be important for our Crocs to limit the impact of Williams and Chastain, who (on opposite lines) both seemed to play key roles against Canada in an exhibition match at Poultry Days. Interestingly, in that tournament’s final, the two World Games teams met again, and the Canadians were leading 9-5 before lightning abandoned play. A chink in the USA’s armour, perhaps?
Colombia
The Colombian WG team is one of few national teams that can say they have beaten the US at a World Championship after famously beating team USA in 2017 in pool play, in a game that was never filmed? In 2022, The Colombians will likely be just as strong. They have several returners and a lot of the names you’d expect to see including Mosquera, Duque, Cartagena and the Cardenas.
In an interesting progression of world ultimate tactics, it seems likely that the Colombians might be playing hex, or at least using some of its philosophy for their World Games team. Felix Shardlow, pioneer of Hex offence, was recently invited to Colombia to run clinics for the Colombian WG squad. The structure seems to align with the success of the Colombian women, playing an effective small ball, give-go heavy style. So, keep an eye out on the stream and see if you can spot a hexagon!
The Colombian Women are in fine form after Revolution won the Premier Ultimate League in 2022, and are preparing for WUCC a few short weeks after World Games. It would be really handy to have someone on the crocs who has played with Revolution before, someone who might be able to provide some tactical insights and a mental edge going into their game against Colombia…..
Japan
Japan will be looking to improve on their 2017 WG performance, after finishing outside of the top 4. Of course many speculators put this down to the fact that the Buzz Bullets, Japan’s premier Men’s club, were banned from competition! This ban has since been lifted, and Buzz is well represented on Japan's roster, with veterans Matsuno, Arakawa, and Keiichiro getting the call up.
The Japanese roster appears to have very few returning players from 2017, so you can be sure that this will be a different looking team. But the question must be asked, how effective can the likes of Matsuno still be after so many years of service?
Japan appear to be more of a new look team on their women’s side, with not one of the players having played for Japan's successful 2016 WUGC women's team (who knocked out the Firetails), and just 1 returner from 2017 WG. Where Australia has in previous years struggled to match the technical throwing ability of Japan, I think the 2022 Crocs have a depth of throwing that will allow them to play both a ‘Huck it to the Phillips and Guk’ style, or a work-it-up-the-field style with Caro, Georgia, Gan and Cupcake.
Australia v Japan is always an interesting clash of styles and structure. It’s going to be a crucial pool play game, so definitely one to watch.
Canada
“See Aye En Aye Dee Ayeeee!!”
Canada have finished in the top three at the world games four times, with one gold (2001) and three Bronze (2005, 2013, 207). So, they appear to be the third best team at the World Games in recent history, and I think this is pretty consistent with how they look in 2022. On one hand they were up 9-5 against the US in the final of Poultry Days, but on the other, those games weren’t the highest quality, with plenty of simple turnovers.
Their final team features the familiar names of Underhill, Dos Santos, Hui, and Carroll. The Aussies will be seeking redemption if they come up against Canada, after losing a tight bronze medal match (that ended with a controversial call) in 2017. The Canadians often play a pretty similar style to the Aussies, and to the US, so it'll likely be a close matchup for the Crocs.
And the rest!
It’s hard to accurately predict how good the rest of the field will be. France, Germany and GB have all put together strong teams in various worlds in the past, but historically have not been successful (or just haven’t been invited to participate) in the World Games. These three teams, especially France and Germany, are the dark horses. They’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain from throwing funky structures and aggressive styles at the other teams. And even if they don’t knock the US off their perch in pool play, who can say how a hard fought 15-13 will effect the reigning champs come the pointy end of the tournament?
With it being a WUCC year you just know all of these athletes are training hard for the double peak and will be in top form in Alabama, so don’t write off the European contingent completely!
How’s it going to play out?
If all goes to plan for the Aussies, you’d have to say they’re a good chance to top their pool. They’ll have to finish 1st after playing Japan, Colombia and France—something that I think is well within their grasp. The 1st place finish will see them play the 2nd place in the other pool, which will most likely be Canada. I’m predicting a close semi against Canada, but with the Crocs coming out on top of course, which will put them in a final against the US.
And my spicy take is that the Crocs will win, on universe. Yes, I think the Crocs will win the World Games. They look good, really good.
Where to watch
It’s somewhat unclear where exactly we’re going to be able to watch the Crocs play.
IOU’s understanding at the moment is that Ultiworld and WFDF will collaborate for the first few days of play, with the later stages of the tournament being streamed via the Official World Games site or Olympic Channel streaming service.
Stay tuned to the Crocs socials to find out exactly when and where to watch. IOU will share any info that we find! Here’s the schedule, courtesy of AFDA.
Also, if you’re not already, go follow the Crocs on Instagram. Some excellent content.
Let’s go Crocs!