Ben Scott

November 14, 2019

The RLCS Season 8 Regional Finals is right around the corner. So we took some time to profile the teams attending the event to give you, the viewer, a better understanding of who is competing and how they got to where they are. We’re kicking the team profiles off with our first edition being the new kids on the block, Canberra Havoc.



Canberra Havoc is a new esports organisation in the space, but they have managed to acquire the third seed team for the RLCS Regional Finals, formerly known as ‘Attack of the Invisible Ninja’.





Active Roster:

Daniel “Walcott” Hawkeswood

Blake “SPYDOGE” Evans

Maclean “Le Duck” Rees





Given that this roster hasn’t been together for very long, and two of the players, Le Duck and SPYDOGE, are somewhat new to the top echelon of competitive Rocket League, it was a surprise to many when they finished the RLCS League Play with an impressive win loss record of five wins and two losses. Having said that, they defeated The Chiefs Esports Club in the second last week of League Play, and are now seeded higher than them for the upcoming tournament.



For some of these players, this is their first offline event at a highly competitive level. We had the opportunity to sit down with all the players on the team to gain a better understanding of them as a whole, whilst also hearing their thoughts coming into the RLCS Season 8 Regional Finals.

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We began our interview by asking the Team Captain, Walcott, why they decided to sign with Canberra Havoc given that they had been under a self-owned brand for the majority of League Play. Walcott went on to state “we signed with them because they gave us a fat offer, and we felt like they could support us as much as we could support them. They are an organisation who have only recently formed and they also look very promising.”



Walcott has been around the competitive scene for a few years now, more famously known for his time with JAM Gaming back in 2018. He was also a contender in Season 2 of the Gfinity Elite Series, competing under the Perth Ground Zero banner. When asked about how this team compares to others he has been on in the past, Walcott stated “this roster is definitely the most skillful roster I have been on. I have full confidence in the ability of my teammates and I feel like that allows me to play the style of game that I want to play.”



With the Canberra Havoc having an impressive online season, we finished our line of questioning with Walcott by asking for his overall thoughts on their online season and what he thinks they need to do to get to that next level. “I think we had a really good season during league play, and definitely exceeded expectations that everybody had put on us; but not necessarily the ones we put on ourselves. We are a team that needs to continue playing together to grow as a unit. I believe we have what it takes to get to a level where we can compete on an international stage, it’s just a matter of when,” concluded Walcott.

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Following our discussion with Walcott, we moved on to talking to the second member of the Canberra Havoc Roster, Le Duck. Le Duck has only been around the competitive scene since March of this year, competing under a roster by the name of APE. Although Le Duck hasn’t competed on many notable teams within the Rocket League competitive scene, he has made a big impact this season with the Canberra Havoc roster, being rated as the third highest player during league play in regards to saviour points.



We asked Le Duck if he believes the team is at the top of their game yet, or whether he thinks there’s still work to be done. Le Duck went on to say “we have such a long way to go still, in terms of being together as a team. We haven’t received any coaching and or actively done replay analysis as a team. But I imagine that once we actually do that stuff, we will be on another level.”



On that note, Le Duck spoke about his preparation coming into the event, stating “I’ve been trying my best to play Rocket League daily. There hasn’t been any other goals for me except for wanting to improve my gameplay by knowing that when I get off, I’ll be a better player than when I got on.”



Le Duck closed our chat by stating what he believes needs to be done to achieve greatness at this event. “We just need to go in with the attitude that we are just here to have fun and win a couple games of Rocket League. I feel that as a team, we have already exceeded expectations by going 5-2 during league play, and also making the top four,” said Le Duck.



“I personally would be sad if we don’t make Spain, regardless of whether I think we should make it or not,” concluded Le Duck.





Last but not least, we spoke to the final member of Canberra Havoc, SPYDOGE, who again has only been around the competitive scene since the start of this year; competing on multiple teams alongside Le Duck. Although SPYDOGE didn’t place within any of the top three for each recorded point system, he has been praised multiple times by Walcott via Twitter for his impact during games throughout the season.



We asked SPYDOGE what makes Canberra Havoc stand out from the rest of the teams at the RLCS Regional Finals. He went on to state “I believe the thing that makes this team stand out is our strong defence and ability to score from lethal counterattack goals during matches.”



He then went on to talk about how confident he is in qualifying for the Rocket League World Championship. “I’m personally not one hundred percent confident that we will make it to RLCS, given that this is my first offline event and the first major event for Le Duck. Although that being said, every team seems to play differently offline, so anything is possible at this stage.”



Continuing on the topic of the event, SPYDOGE spoke about the team's plan of attack coming into the RLCS Regional Finals. “I think that the best plan for us is to play with the confidence that we have during scrims. Most of the teams at this event crumble under pressure. I feel like if we stick to that game plan, then we definitely will win.”





Closing out the interview, we asked the team who they are going to be looking out for at this event, which to our surprise, all of the players stated that they will be watching out for The Chiefs Esports Club, despite the team defeating the lineup during league play.



Canberra Havoc will face up against Ground Zero in their opening match of the RLCS Regional Finals in Auckland this weekend. Little is known how teams will go this weekend, due to the fact that Oceania hasn’t been treated to a Rocket League event since the closure of the Gfinity Elite Series. But it seems that Canberra Havoc may be at a disadvantage, given that all three of the other teams have attended overseas events such as DreamHack this year.

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Nonetheless, if you would like to keep up to date with the teams progress, be sure to stay connected with Canberra Havoc on Twitter.

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