Australian Mixed Open player, Dylan Thompson tells www.touchfootball.com.au about his team’s preparation for the 2015 World Cup. Well, that’s it. The fat lady has sung and the curtain closed on our World Cup 2015 preparation. Our Aussie Open’s Mixed team left Parra on Sunday with a smile on their faces and a little spring in their step. There is a quiet buzz in the team, and the feeling that we have something a little special happening.It certainly hasn’t all been plain sailing. Of the Open’s teams, we were the last to be able to finalise our side. We thought we had that box ticked some time ago, but the devastating ACL injury to Sarah Peattie at Elite Eight resulted in this camp being our first and only camp with our final 16 players in attendance. Well, almost all in attendance, as Bundy was not able to join us on Saturday. His boss, Alix, told him he had to work, so he was out catching some dinner.School was in first thing Saturday morning. Head Master Micheal Lovett held court, going through our player manual/encyclopedias, with specific focus on ensuring that each player knew their role, and that of each of their teammates. Mick, having his finger on the pulse, knows we have the full spectrum on the intelligence continuum within our side, and he made sure there were numerous diagrams, hand drawn in crayon, for Yassy and Patty. He also had the big stick ready to prod Trent when his eyelids were drooping.A highlight of the day was our sexy warm up. It looks as though Jaycee has recently read the Karma Sutra for inspiration in his warm-up routine. It certainly got the blood pumping.Having only just finalised our team, we have had little game exposure. We knew that going into the first game for the day against the Senior Mixed, we could expect a thorough examination of our game plan. As you would expect from such a game, no quarter was asked and none given, by either side. The match starting physically and just getting more physical, as both sides battled for dominance. We managed to get up on the score sheet by a few, but felt that the Senior Mixed side had frustrated our game plan a bit and that we never managed to get into our flow. Rushy and Frosty also put the acid test onto our open-side defence, and found us out a little in this area.Game two was much the same against the Men’s 30’s. A bit of smash and bash through the mid-field being the theme. It was a game that was largely dominated by very strong rucking from both teams, which shows promising signs for World Cup, as that will likely be where the matches are won. The referees in that game were very fortunate to have the benefit of Garry Sonda’s assistance. The highly affable and ever so helpful Garry, calmly gave the referees some useful tips and directions, which they looked like they enjoyed enormously. Once again however, we just did not find our mojo in that match and finished it feeling that we had still just not put the performance together that we would have liked.Our final session for the day however, was a knock out. A gentle rev up from Micky Moussa (who usually plays the ‘Good Cop’ role), appears to be what was needed to kick start the party. We finished by punching out what felt like a red hot Line Attack /Line D session. And there it was. Mojo. Found. Tick!Good feed at the Robin Hood Hotel that night. No Roosters to be seen at the Bondi Junction, but the Social Committee earned their stripes. Banter a-plenty as Parra lived up to their reputation and ‘did the unexpected’, knocking the remaining punters down to two in our NRL tipping comp.McLovin’s fanny pack went missing. No doubt Mick Moussafer had something to do with the shenanigans.Day two had a totally different feel from the start. No one could wait to tear into things; a re-match against the Senior Mixed. Not satisfied with the win the day before, we were looking to make more of ‘a statement’.Having 4-5 of the key players that have made Rebels Mixed team, the most successful Touch team in Australia over recent times, we knew that Mick McDonald and the Manu, Frost, and Rushy brain trust would have reviewed yesterday’s footage at length. We expected they would have a surprise or two in store for us today. However, our own coaching group isn’t short of a brain cell or two themselves, and we may just have had one or two surprises left in our bag of tricks ourselves.We were happy to put together the performance we were looking for and walked away satisfied at having fixed a couple of things up and tested out one or two new ideas.By this stage, being a highly tuned athlete, my body was fatiguing from all the time spent on the massage table. Getting five rub downs a day is far more tiring than people think. However, I single-handedly made sure that the physios put in an honest day’s work. I’m really not sure what we did in the last session, as I needed a caffeine fix and went to the café over the road. Just to keep in sweet with the coach, I made sure I got McLovin a café latte. Think he might promote me to Vice Captain.By the time I was back, we were done and dusted. Smiles, handshakes, plus Springy’s special ‘Mixed’ hugs and it’s a wrap. Preparation complete and we are on our way to the World Cup. Pretty excited!!!!Keep up-to-date with all of the latest news and information from the Australian teams at the 2015 World Cup:Website – www.touchfootball.com.auFacebook – www.facebook.com/touchfootballaustraliaTwitter – www.twitter.com/touchfootyausInstagram – www.instagram.com/touchfootballaustraliaRelated LinksTWC Diary – Dylan Thompson
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