EXV Round 10

[Nige]

Round 10

Ladder

Position	Team	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Point FOR
1	Greek Titans	8	0	1	32	12509
2	Hungarian Hulks	7	0	2	28	13058
3	Russian Roulettes	7	0	2	28	12522
4	Iceland Polar Bears	6	0	3	24	12374
5	Serbian Eagles	5	0	4	20	13552
6	Belgian Bashers	5	0	4	20	12892
7	English Lions	4	0	5	16	11958
8	Macedonian Wolves	4	0	5	16	11939
9	Swiss Storm	4	0	5	16	11583
10	Svalbard Valkyries	3	0	6	12	12220
11	Spanish Stallions	3	0	6	12	11317
12	Croatian Crushers	3	0	6	12	10957
13	Swedish Metal	2	0	7	8	10670
14	Belarus Bison	2	0	7	8	10428

Fixture

Macedonian Wolves vs English Lions
Really big game here! These two teams sit 7th and 8th, separated by just 19 points for! The result of this match is crucial with only a handful of games left to play. For the winner, they jump a game clear of their opponent, while the loser remains in danger of dropping out of the 8 and is likely to fall back to the pack of chasing teams. The Wolves did okay last week, but not without a leadership blunder and the fact they still lost while the Lions didn't do too much better but did enough to keep their place over Macedonia on the ladder. Very hard to pick this one as it could be a matter of who turns up and who doesn't, but I think I have to back the higher placed team which is England.

Belgian Bashers vs Iceland Polar Bears
This game is also massive in the context of the season as 4th is hosted by 6th. The Bashers have scored more than the Polar Bears but sit a game behind due to extremely narrow loss to the Storm a fortnight ago. They also seem to have a tad more ability to pump out scores than their opponents. Iceland can't be disregarded though, because as previously mentioned, they're currently in the top 4 and with the wins on the board, they'll be hoping to hang on to the double chance rather than cough it up to those who they may have to face again come finals time. This game should also be really close, but I'm being swayed by Belgium's HGA.

Greek Titans vs Serbian Eagles
Wowee, it finally happened! Last week we witnessed something that nobody saw coming. Greece was #crushed. The Greek men lost their first game of the season last week after a very average performance saw them fairly well beaten. They're now in danger of being brought further back down to earth and suffering a second loss in a row. The team looking to inflict the defeat is the Serbian Eagles, still atop of the table for points score having flexed their muscles last week in a savage display. The Eagles can probably sniff blood and sense they have a real opportunity to jump back into the top 4 and claw the Titans back to the pack. And you know what? I think they'll do it.

Svalbard Valkyries vs Belarus Bison
Svalbard still remain a team that can beat anyone on their day, showing last week that they're better than their ladder placing suggests. A win this week would for the Valkyries and they could catapult into 7th (if England and Macedonia draw) but more likely 8th which is obviously where they'd love to be given they've languished in the bottom 8 for long enough this season. For their opponents, things might just be on the up. Still searching for win number three, the return of Tom Rockliff is a blessing and you can be near certain he's their captain until kingdom come after last week. Given he's back (like, well and truly back), you can't write off the Bison but Svalbard should take the victory here.

Russian Roulettes vs Croatian Crushers
The Roulettes are still sitting pretty in the top 4 and no doubt will want to keep it that way. Their team hasn't had too many issues like some of the competition and they're a fairly consistent outfit, which really goes a long way. In a very un-Russian way, they quietly go about their business and don't make a fuss about anything, but they should probably be a little cautious this week given their opponent. This is the feel good story of the year folks! The Croatian Crushers, a team going through a rebuild were not expecting much success at all, but last week this team managed to defeat the ladder leaders in the Titans who hadn't lost a game. They'll ride that high into this week and dream of another amazing upset. Will Russia be the next team to be #crushed? Time will tell, but I think they'll humble the Croatians.

Hungarian Hulks vs Swiss Storm
The Hulks aren't very happy at the moment despite sitting in second at 7-2 and having the second most points scored. Coach Holz is a tough customer and runs a tight ship over in Hungary and would expect nothing but brilliance week in and week out. He'll see this week as one of those game his men must win and win well to truly establish themselves as a team that can win the flag. Their opponents are the Swiss Storm who are barely hanging on these days. Their grip seemingly gets looser week by week and at this point of the season, finals may just be a pipe dream. A loss last week hurt immensely and the loss of both Tom Hawkins and Jon Ceglar this week to suspension as well as Toby McLean this week is going to be felt and probably mean the Storm are in for a miserable week ahead.

Spanish Stallions vs Swedish Metal
The Stallions have surprised many of the pundits this season with a new coach delivering some nice surprises. Spain are in a similar position to Croatia in that they probably didn't expect to be within striking distance of the top 8, but amazingly that's exactly where they are and a win here could keep the dream alive. Could we witness an absolute fairytale in the making? The Swedish Metal certainly wouldn't mind some luck of their own as they continue to battle away to avoid the spoon. Coach Atto isn't letting the lack of success get him down though, but he'll recognise this as a big chance for a win given the two teams are fairly well matched. This could come down to the home ground advantage the Stallions have, but I might get behind the Swedes for a win here.

Round 10 Spreadsheet Link

[Nige]

Oh dear, Ceglar and the Tomahawk copped one match bans from the MRP.

Toby Mac might miss with injury too. Looks like it could be a tough week ahead (in a game that was gonna be hard to win to begin with).

At least Conca should be back.

[LF]

Croatia Crushers

Def: Shane Biggs,Ryan Harwood,Jeremy McGovern,Dylan Roberton
Mids: Rory Sloane(C),Hamish Hartlett(VC),Mitch Wallis,Connor Blakely
Ruck: Ben McEvoy
Fwds: Tom T Lynch,Daniel Wells,Shane Edwards,Chris Mayne
U: Sam Gray,Kane Lambert
E: Callum Mills,Dean Kent,Sam Gilbert,Jordan Roughead

[Spinking]

The Stallions are coming...

Def: S Docherty, D Rich, M Baguley, T McDonald
Mid: P Dangerfield (C), J Macrae, L Whitfield, D Parish
Ruck: N Naitanui
Fwd: S Lycett, S Kersten, T Miller, D Lang
Utilities: L Taylor, J Weitering

Emg: P Wright, S May, J Neade, J Impey

[Hellopplz]

Bashers have never lived up to their potential, this week will be another showing of that >:D. Bring it Ele/Rico!

[Holz]

Bashers have never lived up to their potential, this week will be another showing of that >:D. Bring it Ele/Rico!

bashers will score anywhere between 100 and 200

hardest team to predict in the comp

[LF]

#bewareofcroatia

[Nige]

Probably gonna have to play an OOP ruck it seems, but Witts might get named so I'll probably just name him and cop the OOP player if, or more likely when, he doesn't make the cut.

Swiss Storm

Matt Dea, Alex Rance, Josh Wagner, Taylor Hunt
Ollie Wines, Dion Prestia (vc), Shaun Grigg (c), Kieren Jack
Jarrod Witts
Luke Dahlhaus, Michael Walters, Reece Conca, Daniel Menzel
Ciaran Byrne, Clayton Oliver

Matt Taberner, Danyle Pearce, Orazio Fantasia, Nick Suban

[nostradamus]

Russian Roulettes

B: Enright, Savage, Burgoyne, Mayes

M: Ablett (c), Boak, Greenwood, Miles

R: Tippett

F: Zorko (vc), Motlop, Montagna, Greene

U: Bontempelli (evc), Kreuzer

Emerg: Garland, Bell, Gorringe, Petracca

[Hellopplz]

The Belgian Bashing, Always Dashing, Icelandic Polar Bears

Backs: A. Mackie, J. McVeigh, C. Dempsey, T. Sheridan
Mids: J. Lewis (C), M. Duncan, A. Swallow, D. Tyson
Ruck: S. Mumford
Fwds: Z. Merrett (VC), J. Westhoff, S. Kerridge, C. Rioli
Int: L. Picken, J. Waite

Emg: J. Harbrow (D), I. Heeney (F), C. Sinclair (R), L. Henderson (F)

IN: C. Rioli, I. Heeney
OUT: N. Riewoldt, J. Waite

Roo out injured so in comes Rioli. Waite has dropped form a bit so narrowly stays in ahead of Harbrow and Heeney. Another mediocre showing and he could find his place slipping from the team :-X.

[Atto]

The Belgian Bashing, Always Dashing, Icelandic Polar Bears

This is brilliant! :D

[Spite]

Great write-ups Nige!

Some interesting choices for the Titans this week...we also have a proper bench for the first time this season!

Marley Williams   Rampe   Pittard   Vlastuin
         
Sidebottom (C)   Hanners    Coniglio   Libba
         
Gawn (VC)         
         
Jmart    Billings   Daniel   Tom Phillips
         
B. Ellis   Ross      
         
E: Scully (M)   Tomlinson (B/F)   Litherland (B)   Stanley (R/F)

[Holz]

Fantastic wirte up as usual Nige, always a great read.

your right im sitting 7-2 and despite already doubling my wins last year I feel we should be doing abit better.

my defense is letting me down.

psted my team in the google doc

[elephants]

Bashers have never lived up to their potential, this week will be another showing of that >:D. Bring it Ele/Rico!

bashers will score anywhere between 100 and 200

hardest team to predict in the comp

Can't disagree, would love some consistency!

[Ziplock]

Svalbard

B: Laird, Bugg, Spurr, Grimes
M: Hunter (C), Ward (VC), Gaff, Ziebell
R: Nicholls
F: Hickey, Watts, A Walker, Johnson
U: Mundy, Caddy

E: Haynes (B), Kelly (M), Lynch (F), Cunnington (R)