A game defined by the defensive poach.
August 13, 2025 by Max Charles in Analysis, Recap
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After the upset heard round the (ulti)world in 2022, Germany versus the United States was a highly anticipated matchup for the 2025 World Games. With both teams entering the contest at 1-0, the winner would sit in a very favorable position to win the group. The game absolutely delivered with a thrilling back-and-forth bout that featured five lead changes (does the first goal of a game count? Maybe it’s four.) en route to a thrilling universe point and a US break to win. The US made a key offensive adjustment and poetically stole a page out of the German playbook to seal the game.
The German Poach
Team Germany made use of a specific poach block that they were able to find in the last cycle of the World Games, and almost converted on multiple occasions in this game. After the disc moves to the flat sideline, the far handler defender monitors the lane. The large voided space in the middle often is very enticing for both throwers and cutters who see acres of space for what they might assume is a one-on-one matchup, not privy to the peripheral poaching defender.
You can see the same concept twice here as Conrad Schloer has two half-chances at a help block on the under cuts. While none of these examples led to a turnover, the close calls were still enough to warrant an adjustment from the US.
Occupying the Poacher
On the next offensive possession, the US immediately flushes their reset handler, Marques Brownlee, on a deep cut. This is a pretty extreme example of the more general concept: aggressively using the player that is likely to be poached.
In the red zone later this possession, watch how Thompson and Kocher preoccupy the force side handler defender, staying in motion and never clearing out, so they cannot be effectively poached off of.
The US doubled down on this strategy on subsequent O-points, running this open-side, handler dominant attack for the full field. Against a backhand force, these movements can be particularly potent, as the upline cuts from force to break are more accessible with a backhand hand-off versus an inside flick.
Fighting Fire with Fire
Given that the German language has produced such profoundly descriptive words as “Schadenfreude” and “Backpfeifengesicht”, I imagine it must also have some very specific word for your own defensive tactic used against you on universe point. Their patented poach, brandished by a flying Freechild, who is able to see the entire downfield play develop as if he is the thrower himself, delivered a surreal ending to the game of the tournament so far.
