WXV: Beijing Thunder

[Purple 77]

Wow!

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-02-26/ive-lost-my-passion

Massive blow for the Thunder  :(

[Ricochet]

Yeh that's huge :-\

[Toga]

That's a bit of a pain in the ass for us - paid a pretty high draft pick for him but only got about 6 games out of him before his ACL :-\

Luckily we half expected him to miss the first little bit of the season so we tried to improve our defensive depth to counter that. Hopefully our younger boys like Thurlow, Mayes and Aish will be able to hold the fort.

[Toga]

Jaensch Retires

In disappointing news, star Beijing defender Matthew Jaensch has retired from the sport citing a loss of passion for the game as the reason behind his decision. Jaensch was recruited from the PNL Reindeers after a breakout 2014 season that saw the gun rebounding defender average nearly 90 points per game across 22 games. Beijing sent Pick #5 in the International Draft, which was eventually used by Cape Town to select big man Peter Wright, and a package of players to PNL in return for Jaensch's services. Unfortunately Matt only managed 7 games for the club in 2015 at a healthy 85 ppg average before rupturing his ACL in Round 7, in his last game of WXV football.

[Purple 77]

Jackson Thurlow not looking too great either  :(

This might be a testing year for the Thunder defence  :-\

[Toga]

Not great at all :(

Lucky we had Aish and Mayes unexpectedly keep DPP. Will be relying on them and then some second-choice blokes like Michael Talia, Tom Jonas to pick up from there :-X Would be handy if we had a breakout from a Daniel Howe or Nathan Broad type player!

[Toga]

Thurlow ACL Blow

In another devastating blow for Beijing's 2016 aspirations, young gun defender Jackson Thurlow has been ruled out for the entire season after rupturing his ACL in the weekend's preseason hit out. This is the second huge blow to the Thunder backline in just under a week, with Thurlow joining another first-choice defender in Matt Jaensch in being ruled out for this season (and beyond in Jaensch's case). Harry Taylor will shoulder the load as our backline leader with these losses, however a lot of pressure will be felt by youngsters Sam Mayes, James Aish, Michael Talia and Daniel Howe, who the club will be relying on to cover the holes left in our defence. The recruitment of experienced head Heritier Lumumba now looks to be a good move for the club with the backs now looking a little bit exposed.

So Thunder fans, who are your tips to cement themselves as first-team defenders with the loss of Jaensch and Thurlow?

H.Taylor, H.Lumumba, S.Mayes, J.Aish, M.Talia, D.Howe, T.Jonas, L.Brown, T.Clurey, N.Broad, T.Richards, A.Carlile

[fanTCfool]

Looks like Beijing will need the likes of Daniel Howe to step up this year!

[Purple 77]

Ted Richards is even handy depth, I reckon he'll get games.

I'll say Taylor, Mayes, Aish and Talia.

Lumumba isn't necessarily a walk up at Melbourne imo  :-\ but he should play more senior games than vfl ones at least

[Toga]

Preseason Review

After three preseason hitouts, Beijing has finished the competition in 14th place with a total score of 3,596 points, nearly 500 points behind competition winners New York Revolution. Despite losing young gun Jackson Thurlow to a year-ending knee injury, and not being able to put up a score to compete with some of the competition's heavyweights, there were some pleasing signs for the Thunder. Some younger fringe players have put their hands up for selection - none more so than forward Ben Kennedy (90, 76, 85), defender Daniel Howe (95, 54, 62), defender Luke Brown (71, 35, 90)  and the more experienced Matt Jones (96, 23, 95).

We are pleased with the signs shown by some of our more high-profile recruits; likely captain Callan Ward was very impressive in his one and only trial match with a massive 129, while new forward Dayne Zorko was also impressive with 122, although he now faces suspension for the first week of the premiership season. Brandon Ellis (116, 58, 105) also showed why the club targeted him hard in the offseason.

In the wake of our preseason trials, the Beijing coaching panel has put forward a likely Best XV ahead of our Round 1 clash with the Seoul Magpies. The loss of Jaensch and Thurlow in our back four will be the hardest hole to cover, and our forward line may come under fire if Dayne Zorko and Allen Christensen miss Round 1 as expected.

D: H.Taylor, H.Lumumba, S.Mayes, D.Howe
M: C.Ward (C), O.Wines, B.Ellis, L.Neale
R: B.Grundy
F: K.Lambert, J.Jenkins, B.Kennedy, B.Lennon
I/C: J.Caddy, J.Polec
Emg: J.Aish (d/m), B.Hill (m), A.Black (f)

Zorko and Christensen are expected to be available for our Round 2 clash.

This week will see the announcement of our five-man 2016 leadership group. Who do we think will make the cut, Thunder fans?

[Ricochet]

This week will see the announcement of our five-man 2016 leadership group. Who do we think will make the cut, Thunder fans?

Cameron Wood gets my vote

[Toga]

Come on Rico be adventurous! Wood is a sure thing ;)

[Purple 77]

Ward, Wines, Neale, Ellis and Zorks I reckon.

Although Petraccattack will come into it mid-way through the year.

[Toga]

Ward, Wines, Neale, Ellis and Zorks I reckon.

Although Petraccattack will come into it mid-way through the year.

And he's nailed it! Gotta say it's a far cry from two years ago when Harry Taylor was our skipper :o

[Toga]

Leadership Group Unveiled

Beijing is pleased to announce its leadership group ahead of the 2016 season starting next week. Congratulations to the following players on their appointment to the group!

Callan Ward	Ollie Wines	Brandon Ellis	Lachie Neale	Dayne Zorko
22 games	11 games*	22 games	22 games	22 games
105.5 avg	105.9 avg*	99.2 avg	104.2 avg	100.6 avg

*All sub-affected games have been disregarded.

As you can see we feel as though our five-man leadership group is filled out by some very durable players, with four out of the five playing every possible game last year, and with four of the five members posting an average north of 100 points per game in 2015. We hope the boys can continue to take their game to the next level going into the 2016 season in their leadership roles!