WXV: Cairo Sands

[ossie85]

I believe the new admin should provisionally suspend all Cairo players

We're struggling enough, show some mercy.

Or just suspend Mumford, same result  :P

Pls. You monster. I won't stand for such corruption.

says the Egyptian team

[Nige]

I believe the new admin should provisionally suspend all Cairo players

We're struggling enough, show some mercy.

Or just suspend Mumford, same result  :P

Pls. You monster. I won't stand for such corruption.

says the Egyptian team

I don't have a witty response here.  :(

[Nige]

If you're not last, you're trying too hard.

Cairo Sands - Your 2015 preseason champions.  ;)

[Nige]

Looking at doing some kind of first 7 rounds review or something.

Polo, Dave and Marlon (that's ML, GL and Pk for those that don't know) might contribute as well.

Hopefully it will shed some light on our deplorable start to the season.  :P

[Nige]

So yeah, too lazy for the above.  :P

However, here's a little something.

Cairo Sands Press Conference

In the wake of the Cairo Sands losing to the New Delhi Tigers and ultimately falling level with them on points and only above them on percentage, the club has decided to call a press conference to address the miserable season.

Nige: This whole season has definitely been disappointing. After our upset win over Moscow in Round 1, we've been downhill skiers. I'm a firm believer in Murphy's Law - anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. That seems to be the case this season. Injuries of course haven't helped. We lost Eric Mackenzie, a key part of our back 4 before the season began and the services of normal starters in Mark Hutchings, Chris Knights and Pearce Hanley also did not help. We still only have one of those at the moment.

Wavy: I love lamp.

Marlon: Do you really? Or are you just saying that?

Polo: Karen's still good everyone, we have plans to get ourselves out of this rut. More power to Wavy and Marlon this offseason before Nige ruins his and our reputation any further.

Nige: Um yeah, that's happening. Anyway, the whole #NoMummyNoCairo thing has surfaced once again with us losing Shane Mumford for the rest of the season thanks to ankle surgery. It's a shame and we were happy with his form of late, but we're still bullish that Rory Lobb and Tom Downie can get the job done for us. Tokyo's Andrew Phillips is certainly an offseason target for us.

Wavy: Priority pick!

Marlon: Yiss, me likey!

Polo: Yeah, sounds good boys.

Nige: As previously stated, we're not happy about being in this situation, but I guess you could say we're in a rebuilding phase. A priority pick would certainly help with that. Our use of it at this stage is up in the air, though initial discussions seem to be favouring the idea of using it to acquire better players. We're certainly entertaining all options and nothing is set in concrete.

Wavy: I want Pick 1!

Marlon: Me too!

Polo: Karen ain't actually that fussed.

Nige: At the moment, our percentage dictates that we'll get Pick 3 since New Delhi will get the picks before us. Our aim is always to win, but right now, with the absence of key personal and the lack of depth and form across the board, the chances of that are slim to none. The turnover of our list is definitely something we'll look at. Some harsh calls will be made for the betterment of our club. Rest assured that Karen's gonna thrive in 2016, that's a promise. I think we're done here.

The Cairo Sands thank everyone for their time and are willing to answer any more questions that people may have.

[ossie85]

Great stuff Nige... the others? Not so much :p

IF Buenos Aires, Cairo and New Delhi each finish on less than 4 wins, and the order of the bottom 3 stay the same, the picks will be:

1. New Delhi (priority)
2. New Delhi
3. Cairo
4. Buenos Aires
...
20. Cairo (priority)
21. Buenos Aires (priority)
22. New Delhi
23. Cairo
24. Buenos Aires
....

[Purple 77]

Lol, quality read!

[Hellopplz]

I thought Karen was a girlfriend ML/Nige were talking about :-[.

Polo: Karen's still good everyone, we have plans to get ourselves out of this rut.

Polo: Karen ain't actually that fussed.

Nige: Rest assured that Karen's gonna thrive in 2016, that's a promise. I think we're done here.

[Nige]

Mid Season Trade Review

Cairo give: Clancee Pearce, Kyle Hartigan, Lewis Johnston and Sam Kerridge
New Delhi give: Matt White, Rhys Palmer and Pick 60

Verdict: Odd trade here honestly. Palmer's been good for us when not injured, Matty White was on-traded and so was 60. Clancee was a big loss as he's been good, Hartigan is meh, Johnston was delisted and Kerridge hasn't shown his potential yet. If it's considered Clancee vs Palmer, I think we lost.

Cairo give: Nick Malceski, Seb Tape and Pick 49
PNL give: Chris Dawes, Matt Thomas and Pick 33

Verdict: Somewhat controversial at the time. Malceski's drop off in scoring, form and eventual injury means we've kinda dodged a bullet as this could have gone pear-shaped. Tape meant nothing to us as and we got 49 upgraded. We also on-traded everything we received in this trade which seems to have worked out. I'd say this was a win.

Toronto Trade: Ben Brown and NAT #50
Cairo Trade: Richard Douglas

Verdict: Douglas has been fairly good this year and we've been struggling for mids, Ben Brown's been solid with our shortage of available forwards and thus handy in that regard, 50 got us Josh Deluca who has been okay in WAFL. Unfortunatley, probably another loss given Douglas > Brown scoring wise and given our mid struggles.

Cairo trade: Andrew Carrazzo, Jamie Cripps and Charlie Cameron
Tokyo trade: Sam Mitchell and Pick 45

Verdict: Another trade that turned out to be a loss. Carrots and Cripps has been solid this year and Cameron would have been handy. Smitchell has been amazing and would be very handy. 45 was on-traded.

Pacific give: Phil Davis + pick 76
Cairo give: Michael Rischitelli + Matt Thomas

Verdict: Another shocker honestly. Rischitelli's seemingly getting better with age and has scored very well, something our midfield needs. Seems to be a recurring theme.

Beijing give: Rory Lobb + Pick #77 ID
Cairo give: Chris Dawes + Phil Davis

Verdict: This one is kind of hard to call right now. Defenders haven't been a problem for us, Dawes isn't getting games but Lobb although only playing one game so far this season was an important piece of our GWS rucks puzzle. Might be important in coming weeks so we'll call this a win. Finally!

Cairo give: N45 and N67
New York give: Matt Arnot, Arryn Siposs and Jake Batchelor

Verdict: Arnot's been stuck in the VFL, Siposs has been injured but is a hack who can't live up to his potential but Batch has actually been fairly handy this season for us, overall a nothing trade but conider Batch has saved us a few times this season, we'll call it a win.

NDT give: Ben Stratton
Cairo give: Jarman Impey

Verdict: Straight swap. Nothing much to say here. Stratton was acquired purely because Polo wanted him and he's been okay. Impey hasn't been much better. Don't think there's a winner or loser to this trade yet.

Cairo give: Sam Mitchell and Pick 33
Christchurch give: Nick Smith and Travis Colyer

Verdict: Smith has been a starter for us all season and handy in the absence on Mackenzie who did his ACL, Colyer has been a godsend considering our mid shortage. Mitchell however has been scoring incredibly and better than Colyer who is now gone for the season. Another loss here.

Cairo trade: Pick 85
Christchurch trade: Tom Downie

Verdict: Again, Downie is a piece of the GWS ruck puzzle and hopefully come in handy. For the pick we gave, I believe it's a win.

Cairo give: Jon Giles + Pick 60
London give: Andrew Mackie + 65

Verdict: Giles isn't getting games which wouldn't help us and Mackie missed a number of games and has since been up and down, we also on-traded him. A win really, though some may disagree.

PNL Trade: Nat #51.
Cairo Trade: Jed Bews.

Verdict: Bews has been decent, 51 got Josh McGuinness who hasn't yet got a game, but has come close and been solid in the NEAFL. Nothing trade atm.

Cairo trade: Tory Dickson
Christchurch trade: pick 85

Verdict: Dickson's actually been pretty decent, we got that pick back for some weird reason. Loss.

Cairo trade: J.Clarke & T.Chaplin
Dildos trade: N38

Verdict: 38 got Lonie who has been pretty solid and played pretty much all year, our wealth of defenders means this trade was a nice win.

Cairo give: Matt White + 85
New York give: Nick Kommer + 53

Verdict: Kommer's coming back from a decent injury layoff but I believe he's underrated and has a spot in the Bombers 22, particularly with Colyer now out. White's been decent for Port but is now also injured. More or less a nothing trade right now.

Cape town gives: Nat 52.
Cairo: Karpany + H Marsh

Verdict: Nothing trade here, but 52 got us the LTI'd Ed Vickers-Willis.

Cairo give: Mackie + N53
Rio give: Thompson + N10

Verdict: The original version of this was without 53 and was knocked back. We added the extra pick which could have been used to get somebody like Oxley which could have been huge for us. Thompson hasn't been used yet but also been injured. 10 got us Paul Ahern who should hopefully get games soon and be M/F down the track. Thoughts on Mackie in an above verdict. Probably a loss at this point in time.



Overall, it was less than successful trade period for us, with many of our gambles not paying off. Some draft decisions also proved detrimental. Clearly there's a correlation between our success this season and our offseason happenings, though injuries have also played their part. Suffice to say we'll be looking to go back to the success of the 2012 and 2013 offseasons to improve our list and make it much more competitive.

[Nige]

Shane Mumford's doing well in his recovery from ankle surgery, even got a cool new ride because of it.  8)

It's been said that Shane isn't happy with assistant coach Wavy "GoLions" Davy who is trying to steal Mummy's new ride to show off to his new girlfriend.

Rory Lobb and Tow Downie are said to have Mummy's back though and are keeping a watchful eye for when Dave comes lurking.

[MajorLazer]

Full leaderboard for our B&F. Beamer won by just a little.

1st. Beams   1330
2nd. Breust   808
3rd. Mumford   709
4th. McGovern   621
5th. Prestia   594
6th. B.Smith   545
7th. Puopolo   540
8th. Dunstan   528
9th. N.Smith   505
10th. Colyer   352
11th. Hanley   333
12th. Laidler   311
13th. Brown   275
14th. Rowe   267
15th. Lobb   259
16th. Lonie   230
17th. Stratton   135
T18th. Palmer   113
T18th. Batchelor   113
19th. Gordon   77
20th. Hutchings   68
T21st. Goddard   47
T21st. Downie   47

[Nige]

Love it.

[Nige]

Cairo Sands

Senior List
1. Dylan Roberton
2. Eric Mackenzie
3. Jeremy McGovern
4. Nick Smith
5. Dayne Beams
6. Taylor Adams
7. Pearce Hanley
8. Mark Hutchings
9. Shane Mumford
10. Shaun Higgins
11. Paul Puopolo
12. Travis Colyer
13. Rhys Palmer
14. Luke Dunstan
15. Ben Brown
16. Kamdyn McIntosh
17. Jack Lonie
18. Jake Batchelor
19. Ben Stratton
20. Hugh Goddard
21. Heath Hocking
22. Karl Amon
23. Rory Lobb
24. Tom Downie
25. Dawson Simpson
26. Nick Kommer
27. Sam Rowe
28. Rory Thompson
29. Josh McGuinness
30. Ed Vickers-Willis
31. Josh Deluca
32. Alex Woodward
33. Charlie Curnow
34. Rhys Mathieson
35. Tom Cole
36. David Cuningham
37. Oleg Markov
38. Rupert Wills
39. Lincoln McCarthy
40. Will Snelling

Rookies
1. Fletcher Roberts
2. Jesse Glass-McCasker
3. Simon Tunbridge
4. Dougal Howard
5. Paul Stewart
6. Dale Morris

[Nige]

So, if our one trade in the final round of trades passes, our new best XV is something like:

D.Roberton, E.Mackenzie, J.McGovern, N.Smith
D.Beams (c), T.Adams, P.Hanley, M.Hutchings
S.Mumford (vc)
S.Higgins, P.Puopolo, T.Colyer, R.Palmer
L.Dunstan, K.McIntosh

Should be a hell of a lot more competitive than last year.

[Nige]

Cairo Sands 2015 International Draft Selections

Charlie Curnow - Pick #9

Rhys Mathieson - Pick #13

Tom Cole - Pick #29

David Cuningham - Pick #33

Oleg Markov - Pick #42

Rupert Wills - Pick #56

Lincoln McCarthy - Pick #82