SEVEN ONE x VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Seven One. Never in my career would I have thought that one day I’d be writing a post here on G-Life telling you about the day my team, the OAMPS Queensland Blades, won the Australian Hockey league final seven goals to one over the NSW Waratahs.

Personally, this now makes it 5 AHL Championships from 8 Finals in the last 9 years.

I guess we were in good shape as a team heading into the final. Over the 5 games we played during the week before Saturdays final we’d scored 29 goals and conceded only 5. In total this season, we have scored 50 goals, conceded 18 in only 11 games. This has to be a record for the AHL, or close to.

When coming up against the NSW Waratahs in the final, we spoke about how they are the best “team” in the competition. Sure we’ve got a list that any coach in the world would like to have at his disposal but they were what we believed at the time to be a true team – efficient – tough – relentless and clever.

Speaking of our players list, let me quickly make mention of our line-up:

Nathan Burgers (Aus GK), David Reid (Aus Jnr GK), Mark Knowles (Aus), Kris Glass (Aus Jnr), Nick Budd, Matt Swan (Aus), Liam DeYoung (Aus), Scott Richards, Rob Hammond (Aus), Peter Dillon, Jamie Dwyer (Aus), Tim Bates (Aus), Jake Burns, Jason Wilson (Aus), Troy Elder (Ex-Aus), Matt Ghodes (Aus), Jacob Whetton (Aus Jnr), Mick Bates Aus Jnr).

If you know Australian Hockey then you know this is a talented list, if you do not, then that is 9 current Australian Senior Players, 1 ex-Australian Senior Player, 4 Australian Junior Players, some future guns, 5 Olympic Gold Medalists, 5 World Cup Gold Medalists and some very proud Queenslander’s that have been involved with this team for more than a decade. 6 of they guys use Gryphon. That’s a third of this exceptional list.Our Coach is the former Australian Fullback, Gryphon legend, Olympic Gold Medalist Matt Wells. He’s is actually a former teammate with over 30% of this Blades team. Matt retired from international hockey after the Beijing Olympics and started coaching at the Queensland Academy of Sport in 2009. He’s found his own style and is a major reason as to why the Blades were so dominant in the Finals week. He is the 2nd youngest coach in the league.

However with all this talent it doesn’t count for anything unless we are all on the same page. This was shown in our last game of the Classification Stage where we had to beat the WA Smokefree Thundersticks to make the final. We did. 6-0. WA are recently our biggest opponents as we had lost to them in the previous two AHL Finals in ’08 and ’09. So there was some unfinished business that day.

As for the final, we came out with one thing on our collective minds. To do our individual job very, very well. We knew if 70% of us did this then we’d play well. After 6 minutes, we were up 2-0. Half time had us 3-1 up and with a corner to play after full time we were 6-1 up. To finish clinically was important to us and nothing summed this up better than our last play of the final when we strung 4 sharp passes together to convert the PC and finish 7-1 winners. The Blades showed the rest of Australia how to play fast, positive, attacking hockey throughout the week and are unquestionably the deserving champions.

Victory is sweet.

FINAL HIGHLIGHTS – 1st HALF

FINAL HIGHLIGHTS – 2nd HALF

Cheers Rob

LESSON’S LEARNT x CT FINAL PREVIEW

I’ve played in my fair share of Finals over my 10 years with the Australian Senior Team, won as many as I’ve lost and have no illusions that performing on the big stage is something that is learn’t, earned and relentlessly worked towards. It never anybody or any team’s “turn” to win.

Today we will see Australia play England in the final of the CT10. I’m going to be watching this game with my teammates Grant Schubert, Kiel Brown, Mark Knowles, Liam DeYoung, Matthew Butturini and their partners back here in Perth, Western Australia. All of the guys I’ve mentioned were part of the Wold Cup winning team in India earlier this year. We have all been rested from the CT10 to make way for the next crop of young chargers as they get the exposure they need in the lead up to a big 2011, the year when the most gains are made on the road to the Olympics in 2012.

I’m excited to watch this young Australian team compete at the CT. They have beaten all that have come before them, so far, although not always convincingly. Hockey is a game of execution. This is evident in the unforgiving goal difference of the Australian’s when compared to the rest of the field. The Aussie’s have a +16 GD, while England, in 2nd place after the round robin stage, have a -1 GD, which is 3rd to Germany on +1. A healthy GD doesn’t necessarily reflect the Aussie’s style of play or inventiveness, what it does reflect is their efficiency in front of both goals. With the least goals against and the most for, this is where games, and tournaments for that matter, are won.

I’ve played and watched a lot of hockey all over the world and at the end of the day, its the efficeny of the successful teams that is the most important. One doesn’t need to create a basket full of chances to win games, they simply need to have a surperior conversion rate and inversely keep the opposition to a poor one. I think the German teams of the past 9 years have proven this. Today we will see a final which, statistically, tells the story of two teams. England started slowly in this tournament but importantly, and though the luck of some other results, have improved as the week has gone on. The Australian team has been consistant throughout but traditionally saves their best for last. This should be a good game as England is a rising force in World Hockey. Make no doubt about this. They won the EC09 over their fancied rivals in Germany, Netherlands and Spain, made the semi’s at the WC10 and now the final at the CT10. They have a very well funded national program in the lead up to the OG12. They will show up to play on todays big stage keen to make the most of an opportunity that has not come for them in the past.

The Aussie’s are full of form and confidence. They have a belief that is built on a foundation of playing in the important game in EVERY major tournament since 2002 baring the CT04 (boycott), CT06 (4th), OG08 (3rd). That is a very hard point to argue. They are the final specialist’s of the past decade.  And they have won just over 50% of these tournaments. Lesson’s learnt from these big games stay with the group as it rotates and refreshes its list, so I can guarantee that the Aussie’s will be out to play simple, tough hockey very, very well today and execute in front of both goals efficiently. If they do this, the result will take care of itself.

For the rest, I’m gonna sit back and enjoy watching these two teams go head to head tonight in what will be a fast and exciting game, and of coarse be cheering for the Aussie’s!

Cheers Rob

CT10 x HAMMOND x DANCER x WALLPAPERS

As with the wallpapers of Walsh, Rebecchi, Schubert and Brown, these photos have been taken by DC and then adapted into the new wallpapers and posters that will make their way to tournaments around the globe this year.

In Part 2 of the Kookaburras that are taking a break at home away from the Champions Trophy in Germany, we find Rob Hammond and Brent Dancer in downloadable wallpaper form.

Robert Hammond has all the accolades that are possible in Hockey with a Gold Medal in each of the Olympics, World Cup, Commonwealth Games and the Champions Trophy, not to forget other tournaments like Azlan Shah and the Gryphon HQ tournament of the most purple shoes.

Brent Dancer was instrumental in the Kookaburra’s historic back to back Champions Trophy titles won in Melbourne late last year. His first blog on Gryphon-Life can be read here.

The next time you’ll see some more downloadable wallpapers/posters will be the start of the competitors for this years Champions Trophy Men in Germany starting next week.

Download Rob Hammond’s 2010 Wallpaper: CT10_GRYPHON_HAMMOND_POSTER (16)

Download Brent Dancer’s 2010 Wallpaper: CT10_GRYPHON_DANCER_POSTER (9)

Photo: Daniel Carson | DCIMAGES.ORG

AHL 2010 x EXPLAINED

Hi All

I’ve just returned from another weekend on the road playing in the AHL with the Queensland Blades. There have been 5 round’s completed thus far and the competition is unpredictable and unstable heading into the “Finals Week”. This is where the last 2 rounds are played, then the classification pools, then the finals, which will all be played in Brisbane from the 21st to 28th of August.

Hockey Australia have implemented a new format this season which features the following:

New Corner Rule
> One GK and two field players, starting on the baseline, defend against four attackers (One injector on the baseline, with the other three starting on the attacking 25yd line). 2 players from each team also start on the halfway line, with all other players on the other 75yd line. The ball must be injected from the existing PC mark on the baseline and must cross the 25yd line before it can be taken into play. As soon as the ball is injected the defence and attack can move into the 25 area, and the other players on the half line and 75yd line may also run back. It is then effectively a 4 on 3, with the ball being allowed to hit any height in the goal.

New Points System
> 6 Points for a win
> 3 Points for a draw
> 1 point for every goal up to a maximum of 3 regardless if you win or lose.

8 Team Round Robin

2 Pool Classification Stage
> After all the round games are complete (Round 1, Round 2 and the first two days of Finals Week) the teams are ranked 1-8 depending on the total number of points earned in all the round games.
The teams ranked 1, 4, 6 & 8 will go into pool A and the teams ranked 2, 3, 5 & 7 will go into pool B.
> Note – No team can carry through to the classification stage more points than a team ranked above them. Should this occur, the lower ranked teams points will be reduced to the same amount as the higher ranked team.
> Once the classification stage commences the carried over points are added to the points gained during the classification games. For example – team 1 starts the classification stage with 26 points, team 4 starts with 16 points. 1V 4 result in classification stage is 3:2 which is 9 points for team 1 and 2 points for team 4. At the completion of this game team 1 will have 35 points and team 4 will have 18 points.
> After the completion of the classification games teams will finish in each pool ranked 1-4 depending on the number of points accumulated.

Finals
> The finals are then 1v1 (gold/ silver), 2v2 (bronze/ 4th), 3v3 (5th/ 6th), 4v4 (7th/ 8th) from each pool with gold, silver & bronze medals awarded.

Therefore, considering the new points system, if you win 3-0, you will receive 9 points (6 points for the win, 3 points for each goal) and the opposition will receive none. If you win 4-3, the winning team gets 9 points, and the losing team 3 points.

Where perhaps this points system doesn’t really work is if one team wins 1-0 (7points) and in another game, two teams have a 3-3 draw (each team will receive 6 points). I understand that this system is rewarding goals scored, but the value placed on a high scoring draw against a 1-0 win is somewhat off the mark.

That said, I think depending on the quality of said games, a 1-0 win can be a nail bitting encounter and a 3-3 draw can be exhilarating (who can argue with 6 goals in a game!), or of coarse, visa-versa.

The one main downside I see in this new format is the omission of semi finals. Where this has been a draw card in the past, that each season is finished with 3 high quality games (two semis and a final), it is now a final played between the highest ranked teams of each pool after the classification stage. In every competition in the world of team sports, if it is not an outright “Premiership format”, then semi-finals are played and for good reason. It tests the resolve of the four top teams and makes for a thrilling finish. In the Women’s AHL of 2010, using this new format, both finalists lost their last games in the Pool Classification Stage, which say’s that they were not necessarily playing their best hockey at the pointy end of the season, but who can blame them when they perhaps already knew of their destiny given the points ladder, or knew they could lose provided it wasn’t by a certain margin, which effectively made the last 2nd last game of the season a “dead rubber” for Queensland while Western Australia knew they had a “buffer zone”.

In the end hockey is changing and has always been. The motivation for this is not always clear. In the attempts to speed up the game through the removal of off-side, interchange, auto-play and now the new experimental corner system in the AHL, I fear that we will soon have a product that is nothing like it used to be. Don’t get me wrong, I love the speed and skills of the game now, but I feel that the powers that be in world hockey, what with all the experimentation to make the game more attractive to gain more market share, television, sponsorship and popularity, may in fact better spend their time on self-promotion, education and explanation of the game to the average sports loving punter, that is before hockey becomes lacrosse…or soccer.

This game I love is an extremely technical, tactical, skillfull and fast paced game played with a hard, small, fast moving ball that has an element of danger and risk which is why I think we all are passionate about it, but it does make it difficult for those not savy on the game to get an appreciation for it (unlike soccer, which is the easiest game in the world to understand and play at a basic level, hence its success). This is why I think the time and effort needs to be put into promotion and education of the game and its rules so people are brought to appreciate this truly international game, as opposed to changing the game to something it is not.

For the rest, I am excited leading into the Finals week as with my team, the Queensland Blades, who are perennial semi-finalists and finalist, we are now up against it given a loss to both South Australia and ACT. We have never been in this position in recent history so with this new points system it is unsure as to our situation leading into the finals week, depending on results, what teams enter which classification pool and the amount of goals to be scored and conceeded. In the past the target for the Blades is always to finish in the top four, and trusting form to carry us through the semi’s and into the final. But now with only the top team of each pool playing in the big game, its anyones guess who this will be… Here’s hoping for some big wins in our next 5 games! Be sure to get down and judge these new rules and formats for yourself.

Cheers Rob

ORANJE ZWART v HGC x HOOFDKLASSE PLAYOFFS x VIDEO

Hi All,

I’m over here in Holland playing with Oranje Zwart, a great team with a lot of pride from the south east of the Netherlands. We started our play-offs over the weekend with two matches against HGC, of Den Haag.

The Play-offs here are a “best of 3″ series, and we won the first at home 4-3 on Saturday but lost the return match on Sunday 1-3. This means we go to the third game on Wednesday, with the winner earning a spot in the Final against either Laren or Bloemandaal who are also playing their third match in the tied series on Wednesday.

The Gryphon boys of OZ, 6 in total, were in the mix of it all, so good to see them stand up and I reckon that there will be more to write about these guys come Thursday after the 3rd game. The atmosphere at these matches is heavy, with large numbers of supporters from each team crowding the sidelines and stands. Our first home game had  a 2500 – 3000 strong crowd, so its great to see the game is alive and well.

So the game highlights are below, although only a very, very short package which is a shame as both matches played were action packed. In the 2nd game, 2 Yellow cards to my team meant we played 20 minutes with only 10 men, a tough ask in modern hockey.

I’ll check back soon after the Wednesday match to let you know how its going. Hopefully the Oz machine can find that little bit extra for Wednesday, its all or nothing – Cheers, Rob

Game 1.

Game 2.

GRYPHON REPRESENTS x ORANJE ZWART v LAREN x EXTENDED VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

It was super Sunday in Laren, The Netherlands, today with #3 Laren taking on #4 Oranje Zwart in the Hoofdklasse. This is the third last match of the season and promised to be a special game with both Laren and Oranje Zwart undeafeated since the winter break.

Gryphon players in action and to watch out for are Thijs Maartens, Sander Baart, Lucas Judge (1st goal scorer) Thomas Briels (2nd goal scorer), Rob Hammond and Thijs Bams, all outstanding in this fierce encounter. All playing for the Orange shirts of Oranje Zwart, these guys are the cream of the Gryphon crew in Holland. There are now only two rounds left in the Hoofdklasse which are played this Thursday and Sunday. The race for the final four sports is the most exciting ever. Enjoy the extended highlights.

GRYPHON BOYS TEAR IT UP x ORANJE ZWART v AMSTERDAM x VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

The Hoofdklasse is heating up with the final four position in hot contention. Here we look at OZ who took on Amsterdam in Eindhoven on Sunday. It was a clash of the titans with both teams fighting for a top four finish. Only three rounds remain before the play-offs, so these points are key.

Gryphon’s Lucas Judge, Thomas Briels, Sander Baart, Thijs Maartens, Thijs Bams and Rob Hammond all starred in a tough, grinding encounter. Judge and Hammond were amoungst the goals scorers, while Briels and Bams were dangerous and tireless up front. Maartens and Baart had a huge impact in defence and make up one of the most fearsome units in the league.

3D GOAL x VIDEO x ORANJE ZWART YOUTH

Hi All,

Its been a little while since I last checked in here. Well, its old news now but I have a Wold Cup to add to my Olympic Gold so I’m flying high at the moment. The WC in India was an amazing experience and one that means a lot to myself, especially having been a part of the Kookaburras team of 2006 that lost the epic final to Germany after being 2 goals ahead.

So I’ll speak more of the World Cup in my next post, but the reason for dropping by today is that I want to share something with you. I’ve just touched down in The Netherlands to reunite with my club, Oranje Zwart, for the remainder of the season. OZ has an amazing developement program and everyday that I am at the club it amazes me just how frothing and keen the kids in their youth program are. They practice super hard but all have the biggest smiles on their faces as they run around the fields and clubhouse. One of the youth teams recently played and a young kid scored the most amazing goal. This kid, Lennart Smits, is like 12 or 13 years old, and what he did I would challenge most seniors to do! Watch this clip and decide for yourself!

Till next time crew,

Cheers, Rob

CONGRATS x GRYPHON WORLD CHAMPS

Well they’ve had a few days to let it sink.  Those of us that were watching on the TV, reading news reports and talking about the games here at Gryphon HQ would like to formally congratulate the latest and World Champion Ambassadors for Australia and Gryphon.

Kiel Brown (WA)

Graeme Begbie (WA)

Rob Hammond (QLD)

Fergus Kavanagh (WA)

Grant Schubert (SA)

Photos: Daniel Carson | DCIMAGES.ORG

WC10 x DAY9 x AUS v PAK x KAVANAGH/HAMMOND VIDEO INTERVIEW

Knowing that a win would take Australia into Top position of the pool, but more importantly a win would continue good form taking them to four straight going into the Semi Finals.

Pakistan had only one win and wanted to push themselves up the world rankings. No team here is playing a filler role. And the game went that way. Pakistan were completely ready for a big game and to push the Aussies.

As always the Aussies dominated controlled possession and like past games basically mounted attacking move after attacking move. The Pakistani defence and keeper were on high alert BUT were able to keep up to the task. The next part was the Pakistan counter-attack and didn’t overly look like a team that was down the bottom end of the pool.

It was the team in dark green and white, with some local support, that took the first goal to stun the Aussies.  The half time score was Pakistan 1 – 0 Australia.

In the second, you could put money that the Aussies wouldn’t stop working hard. Fergus Kavanagh and Kiel Brown down back had to keep finding a way to stop the Pakistan counter getting through.

Gryphon and Australian defender, Graeme Begbie moved himself up the ground on the overlap and started to become the magazine in the Australia machine gun. Time after time he would reload the Australian attack and place massive pressure on the Pakistani defence once again. And just like the first half, it was an Aussie shot domination but this time they broke through with a field goal to take the game to a draw.

A win was the only result enough to place the Aussies on the top of the table, and twenty minutes were left to pop in another goal. They used up all of the time allocated as in the last few minutes, the Aussies created an amazing build up and goal. A lob pass over the attacking circle found Gryphon’s Rob Hammond alone, who then smoothly nailed a flat a pass into the circle for a deflection by Des Abbott right on goal.

It was all that was required.  Australia had done it the hard way, but had done it 2 goals to 1.

Pakistan took everything inch they could and heavily worked the Aussies. But the final result placed Australia at the top of the pool and Pakistan down the lower end.

Australia and England will now have to wait till tomorrow to find out who they play in the Semis.

Fergus Kavanagh joined me for a chat about the game, future and some past moments already in the video below:

Rob Hammond uses up the last of his media time to tell us how he’s traveling so far in this campaign and the drive for gold in this video:

Photos: Daniel Carson | DCIMAGES.ORG

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