FA+
Shop
240
Views
Views
0
Favorites
Favorites
Category
Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 120
File Size 27.2 kB
Report this content
More from FAFL
Listed in Folders
FAFL 360: 2016/17 Offseason Special
Welcome to the new season of FAFL 360! and this year, We're going to bring you into the action and give you every angle of what's happening from our analysis team, the coaches and the Stars of the FAFL!
But before we get to that, We have some business to attend to.
Exit Werribee, Enter Geelong:
The biggest change that we have seen over this off-season is the withdrawal of the Werribee Dingos and the Establishment of the Geelong Generals.
Right after the Trade Period finished and speculation was on if then Werribee Coach, William Darley would keep his job for the 2017 season, The world would wake up with a shock.
“WERRIBEE EXIT FAFL”
The club were to go dormant effective immediately. A few hours after the news was released, Club Captain, Konaro Comtachi would retire after playing 31 games for the Dingos stating that he would be retiring for personal reasons. The remaining 31 players on the Werribee list were now wondering if they would even be playing in the FAFL in 2017.
The FAFL would scramble a quick meeting with the remaining teams to decide what course of action that the FAFL would do to remedy the shock withdrawal of the Dingos. The meeting would end with all clubs open to a team coming in to take the Dingos spot in the league and to take the 31 players who were out of a club from the withdrawal of the Dingos.
Out of the current bids for a FAFL club at the moment which includes bids from Brisbane, Canberra, Launceston, Ballarat and Perth, The club spot would go to the Geelong FAFL bid due to the bid agreeing to all of the conditions.
At the draft, The North Geelong-Geelong West consortium (which includes funding from the famous Knight sporting family from England) announced that the club would be known as the Geelong Generals and the club colours would be Dark Green and Yellow. They would also announce that Draft Stallion, Xander McMichael would take over as coach of the club.
The Generals do have a bit of a task ahead but with the 31 players coming through in the end with a stronger relationship than what they had before, Expect them to play with a lot of heart.
We will have an interview with the club CEO and team coach, Xander McMichael next time.
Offseason Maintenance:
During the offseason, We've also seen other clubs make some big decisions to change up the feeling in the club.
Adelaide Butcherbirds:
First Off, Adelaide said goodbye to veterans Sean Batts and John Foster after the 2016 Grand Final loss. Taking their places are Dean Rice (a big Capybara from Brazil.) and Former Hammerhead, Clementine Brown. Both provide Adelaide with a bright future in positions that people thought the club would struggle in for the immediate future.
There is no change to leadership at Adelaide as the club has retained Paskhowl Thylacine and Coutzy Carter as Coach and Captain respectively. Both are hoping to breakthrough to a premiership in 2017 but with the club having played in the last 4 Grand Finals ('13 and '14 without Thylacine and Carter and '15 and '16 with them.), It'll be a hard task.
The main question coming out of Adelaide during the off-season is “How much longer will Gregory Perkins last in the FAFL?” Since coming to Adelaide last season, Perkins has had common outbursts on the field which has gotten him into trouble time and time again. If Perkins was to have another huge outburst like the one he had in Round 1, 2016, He runs the huge risk of being deregistered from the FAFL on the grounds of disorderly conduct. We are yet to know if the club has given Perkins off the field discipline.
Darwin Storm:
Not much of relevance has happened in Darwin over the off-season but Inaugural Coach, Xavier Cardinal announced that he would be stepping down as Coach for health reasons with Travis Stephens (Jaguar) taking over. At the same press conference announcing Stephens as coach, Former Fremantle Veteran, Dane Kemp was announced as Club Captain from 2017. The Storm are hoping to improve in 2017 but they are realistically out of everyone's finals predictions.
East Sydney Roosters:
The same can be said about East Sydney as the club announced that Barwon Buck and Liam Deeland would be retained by the club as Coach and Captain. The club also announced that they would be dropping their games from the Sydney Showgrounds and playing two games in Canberra at Manuka Oval for monetary reasons. The Club like Darwin is hoping to improve their performance from 2016 (Which was an improvement on 2015.) but also like Darwin, They are not expected to be finals material in 2017.
Fremantle Panthers:
After a brilliant 2016, Fremantle deserved to have a quiet off-season. Kelli Jennings successfully retained her job as coach and joining her in 2017 as captain is Winger Joel Rosewood. Many expect Fremantle to be a powerhouse in 2017 with many predicting Colin Traveston to take over from Adelaide's Byakko and win the 2017 Michael “Bendy” Bruce Medal.
Gold Coast Dragons:
After a very promising 2015, The Dragons dropped off in 2016 with the club finishing 7th. The silver lining of the season was Star Forward, Anthony Spalding polling 22 votes to take him to 2nd in the 2016 C.J. Willing Trophy Count. Until the beginning of February, Not much had come out about the Dragons. That was until Bryan Shadowolf as an ambassador of the FAFL appeared at the UFFL Pro Bowl as a part of the commentary team to promote the game that Melbourne and Geelong will be playing at Lone Star Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas but more on both events later.
After coming back from the US, Bryan Shadowolf fronted the press to tell them that Gold Coast Veteran, Michael Vander-Beck will retain the captaincy for the 9th season in a row but many expect this to be the last year for Vander-Beck as his contract will come up for renewal at the end of 2017 and it'll depend on if Vander-Beck wants to continue as Shadowolf also implied that he would like to keep him as long has he proved his worth. Gold Coast also announced a deal to play 1 Pre-Season game and 1 Home and Away season game at Riverway Stadium in Townsville for the next 2 seasons as an attempt to grow the game in Tropical North Queensland, An area mainly known as Rugby League heartland.
With the new Final Five system coming in, Gold Coast along with Geelong and Hobart are likely to be the biggest benefiters from the new system.
Hobart Wolves:
With the exception of announcing a deal to play at York Park to promote a Launceston FAFL bid, Nothing has come out of the Hobart Camp during the off-season (Not even an announcement of a captain). Stonewell will start his Sophomore season in a better position than he did with his first year as Hobart are Favorites to take 5th and a spot in the new Final 5 system. We will bring you any new info from Hobart as soon as we get it.
Melbourne Hammerheads:
The big announcement coming out of the Hammerheads camp was a huge bombshell. Club President, Jimmy Newman announced to the world that Melbourne would be playing a home game in the United States, Becoming the first FAFL club to play a game outside of Australia for Premiership Points. The game will be played at Lone Star Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. (Home of the Texas Ramblers in the UFFL.) Once the fixture was released, It was revealed that the new Geelong Generals would be the team joining them in Texas in June.
Other news that came out from the Melbourne camp was that Emily Lancaster would not be captain for the Hammerheads in 2017. Her replacement as captain is Jacob Hawkins Jr, Son of Former Adelaide Premiership player, Jacob Hawkins. William Swiftfoot will continue as Coach for the Hammerheads.
Many predict that the Hammerheads will be the one to watch in 2017 as people believe that the Hammerheads have what it takes to step up to becoming a Premiership Team.
Orange Miners:
Finally, We look at the Orange Miners and there isn't much to talk about. The Back-to-Back Reigning Premiers have been pretty quiet but Groo Aussieroo announced that Shaun Vincent will be sharing the captaincy with Up and Coming Ruckfur, Steve Lambert.
Many still predict that Orange can still win the FAFL premiership but others believe that it will take a miracle for them to go Back-to-Back-to-Back.
Shadowolf vs. Carson in Commentary Box Debate:
On the 4th of February, 2017, Bryan Shadowolf joined FSPN commentator, Matt Lewis and recently retired Las Vegas Bandits player, Coby Carson in the FSPN commentary box for the 2017 UFFL Pro Bowl at Turner-Lehner Stadium at Nassau in the Bahamas. While everything started off well with Lewis introducing Shadowolf to the the international crowd, Carson was introduced and Shadowolf knowing of his explots, Attacked him for claiming that he attempted suicide and was abused as a kit when he later admitted that it was publicity stunt. Carson would admit that it was a bad thing to do and that he shouldn't have done it.
However, Shadowolf did not know that Carson knew about him and Carson went to town on him. Calling him a loser for never making it to the FAFL during his playing career, Criticizing his game plan and focus on Team Moral, The trading of Gregory Perkins at the end of 2015, Claiming that the toxic culture of Hester Petal's tenue as Gold Coast coach was good for the team, Stating that Gold Coast were losers for never wining a Grand Final and Stating that they would never win a Grand Final under Shadowolf's tenue as he was a loser and because Carson was a part of the Winning Bandits team in FurBowl III, He knew how things worked because he was a winner.
This would not sit well with Shadowolf as he would go on the very defensive stating the following lines.
“You try working in a club where the coach is allowing a toxic environment to control the club, You try working in a club where players were bullied and abused and You try working in a club under pressure to win their first premiership while Rugby League keeps eating into your fanbase.
You haven't got a clue! You don't know how that feels! All you know is that the world revolves around you! Well, GET YOUR BLOODY HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE!
We've had to fight tooth and nail just to get here and You! YOU! Decide to come off your high horse with your fancy championship and say that I'm the reason that Gold Coast is in the toilet? NO! You don't have a say in this when you have done the things you've done.
I believe that we can make it and we can go all the way with the player list we've got. And when I'm on that podium accepting Gold Coast's first Premiership, I'm going to say Coby Carson, YOU WERE WRONG!!!”
Matt Lewis then calmed down both Carson and Shadowolf and despite some temper tantrums from Carson, The rest of the game went smoothly. Shadowolf also on behalf of the FAFL invited Lewis to commentate at the Round 10 game between Melbourne and Geelong and it seems like Lewis or another FSPN Representative will be with the commentary team at the game.
While some of this has blown over, Don't expect Carson and Shadowolf to be seen together again anytime soon.
Bryan Shadowolf is entering his 3rd year as coach of the Gold Coast and Coby Carson is looking to break into MMA in late 2017/early 2018.
Free Agency Signings:
Finally, We have to go over the Free Agency Signings that have happened over the off-season.
Adelaide:
Aly Dennel (Resigned by Club.)
Max Coaxley (Delisted by the Gold Coast)
Colton Smith (Delisted by Melbourne)
East Sydney:
Corey Field (Delisted by Werribee)
Fremantle:
Richard Stephens (Delisted by the Gold Coast)
Geelong:
Trudy Kimberley (Delisted by Hobart)
Final Note to Coaches (OOC):
Hi, Bryan here.
We've swapped over to a new system to submit your weekly squads, PM me with your e-mail and I'll send you a link to the new submission and information sheet.
Thanks.
And that is our FAFL 360 2016/17 Offseason Special, Join us next time for our FAFL 360 Pre-Season Special where we will talk to the coaches and players of the FAFL and we will preview the Rule Changes for this season.
See you next time,
Drew Smith, The Voice of the FAFL.
Welcome to the new season of FAFL 360! and this year, We're going to bring you into the action and give you every angle of what's happening from our analysis team, the coaches and the Stars of the FAFL!
But before we get to that, We have some business to attend to.
Exit Werribee, Enter Geelong:
The biggest change that we have seen over this off-season is the withdrawal of the Werribee Dingos and the Establishment of the Geelong Generals.
Right after the Trade Period finished and speculation was on if then Werribee Coach, William Darley would keep his job for the 2017 season, The world would wake up with a shock.
“WERRIBEE EXIT FAFL”
The club were to go dormant effective immediately. A few hours after the news was released, Club Captain, Konaro Comtachi would retire after playing 31 games for the Dingos stating that he would be retiring for personal reasons. The remaining 31 players on the Werribee list were now wondering if they would even be playing in the FAFL in 2017.
The FAFL would scramble a quick meeting with the remaining teams to decide what course of action that the FAFL would do to remedy the shock withdrawal of the Dingos. The meeting would end with all clubs open to a team coming in to take the Dingos spot in the league and to take the 31 players who were out of a club from the withdrawal of the Dingos.
Out of the current bids for a FAFL club at the moment which includes bids from Brisbane, Canberra, Launceston, Ballarat and Perth, The club spot would go to the Geelong FAFL bid due to the bid agreeing to all of the conditions.
At the draft, The North Geelong-Geelong West consortium (which includes funding from the famous Knight sporting family from England) announced that the club would be known as the Geelong Generals and the club colours would be Dark Green and Yellow. They would also announce that Draft Stallion, Xander McMichael would take over as coach of the club.
The Generals do have a bit of a task ahead but with the 31 players coming through in the end with a stronger relationship than what they had before, Expect them to play with a lot of heart.
We will have an interview with the club CEO and team coach, Xander McMichael next time.
Offseason Maintenance:
During the offseason, We've also seen other clubs make some big decisions to change up the feeling in the club.
Adelaide Butcherbirds:
First Off, Adelaide said goodbye to veterans Sean Batts and John Foster after the 2016 Grand Final loss. Taking their places are Dean Rice (a big Capybara from Brazil.) and Former Hammerhead, Clementine Brown. Both provide Adelaide with a bright future in positions that people thought the club would struggle in for the immediate future.
There is no change to leadership at Adelaide as the club has retained Paskhowl Thylacine and Coutzy Carter as Coach and Captain respectively. Both are hoping to breakthrough to a premiership in 2017 but with the club having played in the last 4 Grand Finals ('13 and '14 without Thylacine and Carter and '15 and '16 with them.), It'll be a hard task.
The main question coming out of Adelaide during the off-season is “How much longer will Gregory Perkins last in the FAFL?” Since coming to Adelaide last season, Perkins has had common outbursts on the field which has gotten him into trouble time and time again. If Perkins was to have another huge outburst like the one he had in Round 1, 2016, He runs the huge risk of being deregistered from the FAFL on the grounds of disorderly conduct. We are yet to know if the club has given Perkins off the field discipline.
Darwin Storm:
Not much of relevance has happened in Darwin over the off-season but Inaugural Coach, Xavier Cardinal announced that he would be stepping down as Coach for health reasons with Travis Stephens (Jaguar) taking over. At the same press conference announcing Stephens as coach, Former Fremantle Veteran, Dane Kemp was announced as Club Captain from 2017. The Storm are hoping to improve in 2017 but they are realistically out of everyone's finals predictions.
East Sydney Roosters:
The same can be said about East Sydney as the club announced that Barwon Buck and Liam Deeland would be retained by the club as Coach and Captain. The club also announced that they would be dropping their games from the Sydney Showgrounds and playing two games in Canberra at Manuka Oval for monetary reasons. The Club like Darwin is hoping to improve their performance from 2016 (Which was an improvement on 2015.) but also like Darwin, They are not expected to be finals material in 2017.
Fremantle Panthers:
After a brilliant 2016, Fremantle deserved to have a quiet off-season. Kelli Jennings successfully retained her job as coach and joining her in 2017 as captain is Winger Joel Rosewood. Many expect Fremantle to be a powerhouse in 2017 with many predicting Colin Traveston to take over from Adelaide's Byakko and win the 2017 Michael “Bendy” Bruce Medal.
Gold Coast Dragons:
After a very promising 2015, The Dragons dropped off in 2016 with the club finishing 7th. The silver lining of the season was Star Forward, Anthony Spalding polling 22 votes to take him to 2nd in the 2016 C.J. Willing Trophy Count. Until the beginning of February, Not much had come out about the Dragons. That was until Bryan Shadowolf as an ambassador of the FAFL appeared at the UFFL Pro Bowl as a part of the commentary team to promote the game that Melbourne and Geelong will be playing at Lone Star Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas but more on both events later.
After coming back from the US, Bryan Shadowolf fronted the press to tell them that Gold Coast Veteran, Michael Vander-Beck will retain the captaincy for the 9th season in a row but many expect this to be the last year for Vander-Beck as his contract will come up for renewal at the end of 2017 and it'll depend on if Vander-Beck wants to continue as Shadowolf also implied that he would like to keep him as long has he proved his worth. Gold Coast also announced a deal to play 1 Pre-Season game and 1 Home and Away season game at Riverway Stadium in Townsville for the next 2 seasons as an attempt to grow the game in Tropical North Queensland, An area mainly known as Rugby League heartland.
With the new Final Five system coming in, Gold Coast along with Geelong and Hobart are likely to be the biggest benefiters from the new system.
Hobart Wolves:
With the exception of announcing a deal to play at York Park to promote a Launceston FAFL bid, Nothing has come out of the Hobart Camp during the off-season (Not even an announcement of a captain). Stonewell will start his Sophomore season in a better position than he did with his first year as Hobart are Favorites to take 5th and a spot in the new Final 5 system. We will bring you any new info from Hobart as soon as we get it.
Melbourne Hammerheads:
The big announcement coming out of the Hammerheads camp was a huge bombshell. Club President, Jimmy Newman announced to the world that Melbourne would be playing a home game in the United States, Becoming the first FAFL club to play a game outside of Australia for Premiership Points. The game will be played at Lone Star Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. (Home of the Texas Ramblers in the UFFL.) Once the fixture was released, It was revealed that the new Geelong Generals would be the team joining them in Texas in June.
Other news that came out from the Melbourne camp was that Emily Lancaster would not be captain for the Hammerheads in 2017. Her replacement as captain is Jacob Hawkins Jr, Son of Former Adelaide Premiership player, Jacob Hawkins. William Swiftfoot will continue as Coach for the Hammerheads.
Many predict that the Hammerheads will be the one to watch in 2017 as people believe that the Hammerheads have what it takes to step up to becoming a Premiership Team.
Orange Miners:
Finally, We look at the Orange Miners and there isn't much to talk about. The Back-to-Back Reigning Premiers have been pretty quiet but Groo Aussieroo announced that Shaun Vincent will be sharing the captaincy with Up and Coming Ruckfur, Steve Lambert.
Many still predict that Orange can still win the FAFL premiership but others believe that it will take a miracle for them to go Back-to-Back-to-Back.
Shadowolf vs. Carson in Commentary Box Debate:
On the 4th of February, 2017, Bryan Shadowolf joined FSPN commentator, Matt Lewis and recently retired Las Vegas Bandits player, Coby Carson in the FSPN commentary box for the 2017 UFFL Pro Bowl at Turner-Lehner Stadium at Nassau in the Bahamas. While everything started off well with Lewis introducing Shadowolf to the the international crowd, Carson was introduced and Shadowolf knowing of his explots, Attacked him for claiming that he attempted suicide and was abused as a kit when he later admitted that it was publicity stunt. Carson would admit that it was a bad thing to do and that he shouldn't have done it.
However, Shadowolf did not know that Carson knew about him and Carson went to town on him. Calling him a loser for never making it to the FAFL during his playing career, Criticizing his game plan and focus on Team Moral, The trading of Gregory Perkins at the end of 2015, Claiming that the toxic culture of Hester Petal's tenue as Gold Coast coach was good for the team, Stating that Gold Coast were losers for never wining a Grand Final and Stating that they would never win a Grand Final under Shadowolf's tenue as he was a loser and because Carson was a part of the Winning Bandits team in FurBowl III, He knew how things worked because he was a winner.
This would not sit well with Shadowolf as he would go on the very defensive stating the following lines.
“You try working in a club where the coach is allowing a toxic environment to control the club, You try working in a club where players were bullied and abused and You try working in a club under pressure to win their first premiership while Rugby League keeps eating into your fanbase.
You haven't got a clue! You don't know how that feels! All you know is that the world revolves around you! Well, GET YOUR BLOODY HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE!
We've had to fight tooth and nail just to get here and You! YOU! Decide to come off your high horse with your fancy championship and say that I'm the reason that Gold Coast is in the toilet? NO! You don't have a say in this when you have done the things you've done.
I believe that we can make it and we can go all the way with the player list we've got. And when I'm on that podium accepting Gold Coast's first Premiership, I'm going to say Coby Carson, YOU WERE WRONG!!!”
Matt Lewis then calmed down both Carson and Shadowolf and despite some temper tantrums from Carson, The rest of the game went smoothly. Shadowolf also on behalf of the FAFL invited Lewis to commentate at the Round 10 game between Melbourne and Geelong and it seems like Lewis or another FSPN Representative will be with the commentary team at the game.
While some of this has blown over, Don't expect Carson and Shadowolf to be seen together again anytime soon.
Bryan Shadowolf is entering his 3rd year as coach of the Gold Coast and Coby Carson is looking to break into MMA in late 2017/early 2018.
Free Agency Signings:
Finally, We have to go over the Free Agency Signings that have happened over the off-season.
Adelaide:
Aly Dennel (Resigned by Club.)
Max Coaxley (Delisted by the Gold Coast)
Colton Smith (Delisted by Melbourne)
East Sydney:
Corey Field (Delisted by Werribee)
Fremantle:
Richard Stephens (Delisted by the Gold Coast)
Geelong:
Trudy Kimberley (Delisted by Hobart)
Final Note to Coaches (OOC):
Hi, Bryan here.
We've swapped over to a new system to submit your weekly squads, PM me with your e-mail and I'll send you a link to the new submission and information sheet.
Thanks.
And that is our FAFL 360 2016/17 Offseason Special, Join us next time for our FAFL 360 Pre-Season Special where we will talk to the coaches and players of the FAFL and we will preview the Rule Changes for this season.
See you next time,
Drew Smith, The Voice of the FAFL.
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 27.2 kB
Comments