Sydney's Colony is hoping to improve on their sixth place finish from World Clubs 2010. With a deep and experienced roster, they are ready to challenge the world's best after dominating in Australia for years.
July 30, 2014 by Charlie Eisenhood in Preview with 4 comments
For the last two years, Australia’s top men’s club team, Colony, has faced itself in the National Championship final. That’s right: the team splits in two — Pillage and Plunder — for Nationals; neither team has lost to any team other than their club counterpart at Nationals for two straight years.
That shows you what kind of dominance Colony has had since the team’s inception in 2010. The team formed as a merger between Sydney’s two most prestigious clubs — Fakulti and Thong — and has won the Australian Championships from 2011 onwards.
They have also made an impact on the international scene. They don’t travel frequently, for obvious geographical reasons, but Colony finished sixth at the 2010 World Club Championships, falling to Boston Ironside in the 5/6 game. The club sent 14 players to the Australian Worlds teams in 2012: 11 to Men’s, three to Mixed.
Colony has high expectations for this year’s Club Worlds as they look to improve upon their previous sixth place finish.
“Certainly having a strong showing in the quarters would be really good for us,” said Colony captain Joel Pillar.
As the team’s heavy representation on the National team makes clear, Colony has a deep and talented roster. Tom “Cupcake” Tullet, the 2013 Australian Male Player of the Year, is a vicious defender and key handler after the turn. Julio Duque returns to Colony after playing with the Colombian World Games team last year. Former UNC Wilmington standout Mark Evans will also join the team for WUCC, as will ex-NexGenner and UNCW teammate Tommy Lamar.
Pillar focused a lot on the defensive players on the roster as the ones to watch — that’s a sign of the team’s focus: “aggressive, shutdown defense.”
Historically, the offense has done enough to get the team through the game, but it has consistently relied on the defense to win them games. That may be a bit of a challenge against the elite teams at WUCC. They know they have work to do. “We’re taking some steps to reduce [the offense’s struggles] this season,” said Pillar.
Colony won Kaimana Klassik in Hawaii this winter before again dominating the Australian National Championships in April. They were one of a handful of teams to participate in the warm-up tournament in Germany this weekend. Colony went 3-1, beating Swiss sides Freespeed and FAB and Italy’s CUSB, but falling to Germany’s Bad Skid 17-15.
“The feeling is pretty good in the team; it is great to have clear ideas about what we need to work on,” the team wrote on its blog. “This is always a key goal of any pre-tournament game play, and it feels like we will be better at Worlds for our games here in Germany.”
Colony comes into WUCC seeded sixth, behind only the four USA teams and Japan’s Buzz Bullets. They are eager for a shot at the world’s best.
