WXV: London Royals

[Purple 77]

Great review Ringo, looking forward to our upcoming match, I reckon it'll be a good one!

[Ringo]

Looking forward to it as well purps.  Will give us an indication of how much we have improved,

Hope to see the debut of our Draft Picks Danniher and Menzell soon.  Brent Staker is on track to resume in 2/3 weeks as well.

[ossie85]

What's Ben Hudson got to do to get a game Ringo? :P

[Ringo]

Bellchambers going that little much better atm Ossie. Tossed a coin this week and pulled the right reign. Hudson may be rested this week.

[ossie85]

Bellchambers going that little much better atm Ossie. Tossed a coin this week and pulled the right reign. Hudson may be rested this week.

Thought you might have gone the 2 ruck combo :) Bellchambers has been very solid!

Poor old Hudson, has averaged a 100 in the reserves over the past 2 seasons!

[Ringo]

Bellchambers going that little much better atm Ossie. Tossed a coin this week and pulled the right reign. Hudson may be rested this week.

Thought you might have gone the 2 ruck combo :) Bellchambers has been very solid!

Poor old Hudson, has averaged a 100 in the reserves over the past 2 seasons!

Thought of that one as well Ossie - but is a question of who to drop. Notice last week we played Reid as utility and he rewarded us. 

Team is starting to have a little depth now which it did not last year - Still a little light on in the forwards but all performing reasonably well.

[Ringo]

Round 6 Update

This week was time to test ourselves against another Top 8 contender in the Berlin Brewers.

This game was a very sloppy affair maybe due to the conditions bit neither side really wanting to take the game by the scruff of the neck as the opportunities presented. The Royals suffered a severe setback when their on field general and Captain Brent Stanton suffered a severe injury and did not appear for the second quarter. Fellow midfielders Dan Hanneberry and Jarrad McVeigh ensured that the game was kept tight but always under the control of the Royals.  The Royals eventually got over the Brewers in a low scoring game 17.20.122 to 16.14.110. Inaccurate kicking nearly cost us the game. The efforts of the backline especially Harry O'Brien and Brent Reilly kept the Brewers attacking weapons under control.

We must now consolidate our 3rd place on the ladder this week when we take on the 11th placed Tokyo Samurai. We have to find a replacement for Captain Stanton who will be out for a couple of weeks but thankfully David Mackay is performing well for the Princes.

[Ringo]

ROUND 7 UPDATE

We headed into this round full of confidence after our defeat of the Brewers last week. With the injury to Captain Brent Stanton we trialled giving the Captaincy to young gun Daniel Hannebery against the Tokyo Samurai and this experiment failed dismally with the added Captaincy burden effecting his game.  Hanners in a very disappointing game all round only scored 43 points.
Hanneberry was not alone however in that the whole of midfield were severely down on form with not one producing even an average game.  As a result of this the Samurai midfield was able to completely dominate and take control handing the Royals a significant defeat.
Tom Bellchambers tried hard in the ruck all day and the only other playesr worth noting were defender Brent Reilly who single handedly tried to repel the constant Samurai attacks from midfield and Chris Mayne forward who made the most of his limited opportunities from the midfield.
We will need to bounce back to form quickly if we are to defeat the improving New Delhi Tigers team this week. We return to our home ground again this week so get out to the Stadium and show the team your support.

Best Player Award Votes
5. Brent Reilly
4. Chris Mayne
3. Tom Bellchambers
2. David MacKay
1. Jarrad McVeigh

[Ringo]

Round 8 Update

London Royals (20.19.139) defeated New Delhi Tigers (18.15.123)

The London Royals returned home to take on the improving Tigers.  Although on paper this should be a win for the Royals the Tigers are starting to put up some fight.  The Royals got out to an early lead with Forward Josh Hill booting the first 2 goals of the game.  Although we welcomed Captain Brent Stanton back from injury he was well down on form allowing the Tigers midfield to gain some momentum late in the game.  The Tigers came home with a wet sail led by Leigh Montagna but thanks to the outstanding efforts of defenders Harry O'Brien and Andrew Mackie we were able to repel the attacks of the Tigers. Ruckman Tom Belchambers had another solid game but we were a little disappointing up front with only Hill showing any form at all. We may have to look at the reserves who continued on their winning way to see if we can add some more fire power up forward. (Andrew Moore one player worth looking at after playing his second game of the season in the reserves) Brent Staker returned from his long injury lay off and showed glimpses of form and may be another to come under consideration this week. Both imported trades of Quentin Lynch and Johnathan Brown need to be more consistent to give us the value we expect from them.

We really need to be at full strength, playing to our abilities and fully focused as we take on the 4th placed Buenos Aires Armadillos.  A win will keep us entrenched in the 8 but a loss may see us joining the teams in the race for 7th and 8th position.

Best Player award votes

5. Harry O'Brien
4. David MacKay
3. Daniel Hanneberry
2. Josh Hill
1. Andrew Mackie

[Ringo]

Round 9 Update

London Royals (20.20.140) lost to Buenos Aires Armadillos (21.18.144)

We returned home for our match against the fourth placed Armadillos and a win would have given us a chance to cement ourselves in the top 4. Unfortunately this was not to be despite a very strong performance by the Royals.
The Royals were on the back foot when Matthew Broadbent was nominated as a sub and as such we had some catching up to do. After the epic efforts of our back 4 over the last couple of weeks they were found wanting when the pressure was put on by the Armadillos and collectively put in their worst performance of the year.
Captain Brent Stanton looked as though he had a point to prove after last weeks disappointment and was the outstanding player on the field. He was well supported by vice captain Jarrad McVeigh who never seems to have a bad game.
Brent Staker played his first match for the Royals after a long term injury and showed what we have been missing for the last year or so.
The Reserves side continues on their winning way and some players are putting pressure for selection.
Our task does not get any easier this week when we take on the second placed Pumas but if all players play to their capabilities we may cause the upset.

Best Player award Votes:
5. Brent Stanton
4. Chris Mayne
3. Daniel Hannebery
2. Jarrad McVeigh
1. Brent Staker

[roo boys!]

Bellchambers going that little much better atm Ossie. Tossed a coin this week and pulled the right reign. Hudson may be rested this week.

Thought you might have gone the 2 ruck combo :) Bellchambers has been very solid!

Poor old Hudson, has averaged a 100 in the reserves over the past 2 seasons!

Due to let's say an.....uh....administrative error at the Wolves ;)

[Ringo]

Round 10 Update

Sao Paulo Pumas (25.12.162) defeated London Royals (19.13.127)

A very disappointing match against the second placed Pumas. The class of the Pumas told and just showed how much more work we need to do if we are to challenge these top teams. We were on the back foot early with injury to David MacKay in the midfield which left us a little undermanned.  Still that was no excuse for the number of players that underperformed with only 3 players getting more than 100 SC points. If everyone put in the effort that Captain Brent Stanton result would have been closer,
With the reserve grade side continuing on their winning way there will some pressure at the selection table this week with the likes of Laird, Touhy, Rampe, Pearce and Winderlich putting their hand up for promotion or return to the Senior side.
We take on the Reindeers away and a loss will see us drop out of the eight so we need everyone selected firing this week.
After a strong start to the season it would be a shame to see our season wilt away.

[Ringo]

ROUND 11 UPDATE

PNL Reindeers (23.14.152) defeated London Royals (17.17.119)

This was a game we had to win if we were to be serious contenders for the Title with the Reindeers below us on the ladder,  This was not to be the case and as a result we have dropped out of th eight for the first time this season.
We could blame our injury crisis but we put 15 players on the field and they have a job to do. Team chnges for the week: we were unable to field a ruckman relying on Rory Laird to fill that role and although he performed admirably our midfield were unable to get their hands on the ball. David Mackay also succumbed to injury and was replaced by Danyle Pearce with Ben Reid moving to the interchange bench.

With an improvised ruckman one would have expected Brent Stanton to really stand up and be counted but for the second time in three matches he was well held an put in a very sub par performance allowing the reindeers midfield to run riot, maybe it is time to relieve brent of the Captaincy and allow him to regain some form without the pressure. Contenders to replace him as captain would be Jarrad McVeigh and young gun Daniel Hanneberry but is too soon to place the captaincy pressure on him. Despite the one sided score line our the balance of our midfield performed admirably including our latest draft promotion Dane Rampe. McViegh, Pearce, Rampe and Hanneberry all put in sterling performances.
Our defence and forwards continue to be our problem will both lines being atrocious in this game. If the reserves were not beaten and if we did not have injuries axe would be wielded for next game.  Club lacks depth in the forwards and this is one area we will be targeting in trade period. However Winderlich made the most of his promotion and will stay in the side.
To sum up a very sub standard from the team and we will be looking for vast improvement in next game.

Best and Fairest Points:
5 Dan Hanneberry
4 Dannyle Pearce
3 Jarrad McVeigh
2 Dane Rampe
1 Chris Mayne

Leaders Progressive Totals after Round 11
24 Dan Hanneberry
21 Jarrad McVeigh
21 Brent Stanton
14 Tom Bellchambers
13 Harry O'Brien
13 Chris Mayne

[Jukes]

iirc Stants has had great games last time he played WCE and last time he played at Subi...would keep it on him another week.

[CrowsFan]

Games against Eagles last 2 years... 30 (R7 2011), 110 (R22 2011) 165 (R7 2012). So as you can see he is just getting better every game. Due for a 200+ score this time!