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The second season of the Gfinity Elite series is starting to show some patterns, at least for the Rocket League competitions.
The best of the pack are already starting to separate themselves with consistent performances. However, most of the games are still fairly close so, while we are starting to see the cream rise to the top, that doesn’t mean the crop is far behind.
First on the schedule for the day was Melbourne Avant up against the Sydney Chiefs. Melbourne teams haven’t been having the best time in this season of Rocket League and it looks like this trend is set to continue with the Chiefs dominating in their 3-0 victory.
It was an intense series of back and forth almost goals between the two teams until Change scored the first goal for the Chiefs after the game had already dipped into one minute remaining. It seemed like until this no matter what either team did they just couldn’t score, not necessarily solely due to good defenders but just from slightly off aim.
This left the match with only 30 seconds left and it just wasn’t enough time for Avant to even really attempt a goal of their own against the onslaught from the Chiefs.
Avant truly seemed overwhelmed where, quickly into the second round Kia managed to score the next goal for the Sydney team. This soared into an almost undefended net thanks to the effort used to knock a previous goal attempt back.
There would be no repeat of last season’s epic semi-final upset. (Photo: Gfinity Australia)
Requiem secured the next goal making it one apiece from all members of the Chief’s team and this seemed to cement the reason they won. The overall skill and teamwork of these players were just too strong leaving Avant simply not able to overcome the aggressive playstyle.
This also makes it the second win for the Chiefs and it seems clear they’re in the top contenders.
The other games this weekend were much closer, both going to 3-2 matches. The first of which saw the Western Australian team, Ground Zero Gaming take it to the Sydney Roar.
It didn’t necessarily start out that way though, with Sydney Roar’s Delusion taking the first goal of the match, which was only narrowly missed on defence by Ground Zero’s Ghost. Tulendeena picked up the next goal after a bunch of exciting aerial play where the ball barely touched the ground. This was the beginning of a trend where the Roar smashed their competition into the ground – scoring seven goals during the game.
The second game looked like it could be the turn around for Ground Zero Gaming with the first goal scored by the absolute power-house player Ghost. This wasn’t the turnaround the Perth team were looking for instead going into overtime with both teams on one all. Instead, Sydney Roar took this round too – 45 seconds into overtime with a beautiful goal from Tulendeena.
The issue Perth seemed to be having lay in consistency. While some amazing few seconds of play were being had they couldn’t do it long enough to actually win a match and it wasn’t until the third match where this came together for them.
Their newfound teamwork, aggression, and ability to pass successfully secured them the first win of the series and began the impressive five-game reverse sweep.
If there’s any match-up from this weekend that you’re thinking of revisiting then this is the one to watch. A true underdog story which displays growth and true turn around in a team. It’s everything you want in a sports story and for me, home team bias aside, really made Ground Zero one to watch, despite their loss to Chiefs last week.
The last match of the day was unfortunately much more predictable. Once again the Melbourne teams continue to be beaten down with Order losing their second game of the series, this time to Brisbane Deceptors.
Melbourne Order’s Rocket League team in happier times. (Photo: Gfinity Australia)
This marks the second win for the Deceptors but it’s a bit early to crown them champions yet. This second victory was probably closer than they’d like, only beating Melbourne Order in a 3-2 match. Additionally, they’ve only played against what feels like the two weakest teams so far so we’ve yet to see them really have their mettle tested.
These games felt like Deceptors knew they had the skill advantage over the other team, coming in hot with fast dominant plays regardless of risk. This allowed Melbourne Order to get the first three goals and game one what felt like the jump on Deceptors.
It took the Deceptors keeping their heads and instead matching the pace of Melbourne Order to pull away with the ultimate win but it felt like these teams were closely matched. It’ll be interesting to see if Brisbourne Deceptors can keep their streak going next week against Chiefs, who might be the best team in the competition so far.