WXV: London Royals

[Ringo]

Front page now up dated with current team and previous post been edited to add coaches comments.

[Ringo]

Round 1 Report

The Royals have not started the season well despite the high hopes given our record against the Brewers.

Berlin Brewers (19.16.130) defeated London Royals (17.15.117)

This was a very disappointing effort by the Team after so much work in the off season.
Ball was continually turned over and it was only the excellent work of Defenders Andrew Mackie  and Heritier Lumumba that prevented a bigger blow out in the scores. Dannyle Pearce toiled hard in the mid field but was not helped with below par performances for Captain Brent Stanton and Vice Captain Jarrad McVeigh allowing the Brewers midfield to dominate.
Johnathan Brown showed a welcome return from injury to kick 4 goals despite the limited service from the mid field.
Injuries are not helping our cause especially in the Rucks where we are unable to field a ruck.
We have our first home game this week so get out to the Stadium to cheer against the Armidillos who will be a real test.

MVP points for week
Danyle Pearce    5
Andrew Mackie 4
Heritier Lumumba 3
Johnathan Brown 2
Brandon Matera 1

[Purple 77]

Was tough seeing Matera and Edwards play reasonably well for you  :(

[ossie85]

Was tough seeing Matera and Edwards play reasonably well for you  :(

Yeah..... but victory would've softened that blow

[Purple 77]

Was tough seeing Matera and Edwards play reasonably well for you  :(

Yeah..... but victory would've softened that blow

This is true. But still, Edwards won my first coaches award and I only traded him thinking he wouldn't have forward status lol

[Ringo]

Thought I would provide a mid way update on the performance of the Royals:

Royals currently sit in equal 7th position but outside the 8 on % with a 5 and 5 record after 10 rounds.
We were hampered in the first 9 rounds with having to play makeshift rucks but with Bellchambers returning to match fitness this should assist our run to the top 8.
The standout for the Royals has been Dan Hannebery who has been outstanding in recent weeks. McVeigh and Stanton have been the other standouts.
Johnathan Brown despite the calls for him to retire still provides forward leadership and leads the young forward group.  Joe Daniher is improving with every game and looks the likely replacement for JB when he retires.
Team on a whole have been up and down recording some good wins but then throwing in a disappointing performance.

At the half way stage of the season the MVP Points are
Hannebery 30
McVeigh 26
Stanton 20
Lumumba 13
Broadbent 11

Watch the Royals make their presence felt in the next few rounds,

[ossie85]

London are a real shot of making the finals!

I think we have a clear top 4 (Dublin, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires), a next 3 that I'd be surprised to see miss the finals (Moscow, PNL, Cairo) but the 8th spot could really go to any of these teams: Seoul, London, Toronto, Cape Town, Berlin.

[ossie85]

Joe Daniher out for 3 weeks for the Royals, barring an extended run for London in the finals, done for the year

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-07-21/surgery-for-daniher

[Ringo]

Will hurt us unless Bellchambers is his replacement.

Jarrad McVeigh seems to have locked up the club Best and Fairest for this year, Hannebery's injury could not have come at a worse time as he was on target for a really strong showing.

Best and Fairest Points at end of Round 15:

Jarrad McVeigh 39
Daniel Hannebery 30
Brent Stanton 28
Andrew Mackie 20
Matthew Broadbent 16
Heretier Lumumba  16

Injuries have hurt the Royals this year and we will be seeking depth in some areas during trade period.

[ossie85]

Bad news for London with Hannebery looking likely to miss its crucial clash against Sao Paulo, with the Royals in a good position to upset:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-07-24/hannebery-unlikely-for-hawks

[Ringo]

Strategy backfired so some adjustments required this week - Waiting for teams to be named.

[ossie85]

Hannebery to miss last game of the season!

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-07-28/swans-star-to-miss-again

[Ringo]

Oouch again.

[Ringo]

In a low key affair the Royals best and Fairest Results were presented with Jarrad McVeigh a convincing winner.  Congratulations to Jarrad and was pushed all the way by Dan Hannebery who unfortunately was injured for the final 9 games:

Best and Fairest Points for year
McVEIGH, Jarrad  43
HANNEBERY, Daniel 30
STANTON, Brent 28
MACKIE, Andrew  21
LUMUMBA, Heritier 20
BROADBENT, Matthew 18
PEARCE, Danyle  14
WINDERLICH, Jason 13
MACKAY, David 11
MATERA, Brandon 9
MAYNE, Chris 9
RAMPE, Dane 9
EDWARDS, Shane 8
BROWN, Johnathan 7
WRIGHT, Sam 6
DANIHER, Joe 3
GORRINGE, Daniel 3
LAIRD, Rory  2
REILLY, Brent 1

Congratulations to all.

[Ringo]

2015 Team Updates with retirements and delistings:

The following players have retired and we wish them well in their retirement.
Johnathan Brown, Matthew Warnock, Stephen Gilham, Qeuntin Lynch and Ben Hudson.

We thank the following players for their services and wish them well in the future and will be delisting them from the Royals:
Kaiden Brand, Sean Gregory, Jarryd Cachia, Tom Young and Mitch Brown

Jason Winderlich is still considering his position with the club and we will support him whatever he decides to retire or continue on for one more season.