- Sep 10, 2010
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As we look towards the weekend matches of round 5 league nice guy and two times All-SFA (S23, S25 vc) representative, Loonerty, looks towards notching his 150th match. To mark the occasion I gathered the 4 esteemed gentlemen that have captained Loonerty thus far in his Sweet FA career (for the heathens, TLDR in post 6):
Myself (the current East Side Hawks captain)
Himself (former East Side Hawks captain)
The Self Wizard (former East Side Hawks captain, and current Gold City Royals captain)
fitzroyselfiedog (Roys FFC captain)
As we sat down to instagram our brunch, we took time to muse over the league across the breadth of Loonerty’s career.
A93:: Thanks for joining me guys, so let's set the scene here, it’s the back end of season 18 and okeydoke7 is league admin meaning the official threads are somewhat chaotic.
TFW:: I remember you could sense the vibe of the league was changing... Qooty was taking a little back seat to the characters of the league, posting taking an equal footing with the game itself, surpassing in some instances. The social aspect of the league was really taking shape which is partly what led to the Club Room and the popularity of Werewolf etc. It was a real evolutionary stage.
FBD:: The feel around the league, honestly can't remember. Feel around the Roys was one of transition. We'd lost a few key posters in season 18 (pants/Broken), and a couple more leading into season 19. A few of the older hats were winding down. And outsiders thought we were a team on the out.
A93:: So, Loonerty, it was a December 20th 2014, a few days out from Christmas, and you decided to hit the sign up thread.
Loonerty:: I remember ClarkeM posted about it on the Essendon social board, thought it looked interesting so I decided to sign up. I think also SM and Hatchy1992 had it in their signatures, and I interacted with both a fair amount on the soccer board.
FBD:: Season 19 was going to be my first as captain so I did my best a recruiting, which was and is something I'm not great at. So I looked for help. ClarkeM was kind enough to help me and bingo bango… Loony turned up on my doorstep. His addition help kick on a nice revitalisation of the Roys list.
A93:: It seems quite fitting his first post in the team thread was “Need to lure some more rookies!“
FBD:: Yeah I think we nabbed Loony, Mighty P and RU_ that off season. Was a great trio, tremendous even. I ran a few off season sim games to keep things ticking over.
A93:: And tick over they did, season 19 was Loonerty’s debut, and also your debut as captain. Meanwhile on Dragon island The Filth Wizard was orchestrating his first takeover.
TFW:: It's a blur. I know I was running the podcast... we chatted plenty behind the scenes on that as to how the nWo was going to look.
Loons:: I had no clue what was happening with the nWo Dragons stuff. I just liked qooty and loved the match threads. Think I got a bit involved in match threads. Don't think I got anywhere near the EKA though - Willo_ got that but I don't remember the runner ups.
TFW:: Loons was a pretty quiet poster, noticeable because he was a good poster but was a bit lost early. Very likable though, just a slow burner.
FBD:: Actually in the EKA discussion TFW, you thought he'd been around longer and wasn't actually a rookie. He got a few votes, but wouldn't have quite made the top 3. It was pretty much a Willo_ and ParxBoy race with toxic, miss_kate18 and Loony fighting for 3rd.
TFW:: Well there you go, he had a silent dignity about him back then. Obviously it’s all changed now.
FBD:: Apparently in season 19 after a few rounds in Loony PM'd me and said his posting had been rubbish, super spammy, and that he was going to focus on posting less, and posting better. He was a dream rookie.
TFW:: I do appreciate the early work you out into him bowie. Adopting him was a great pleasure as he was so house broken.
A93:: Since Filth brought it up, let's talk about the switch to the Hawks. At the time I didn't realise Loonerty wasn't a Hawk the season before. I guess I just assumed him and Eric Bana biker guy were a natural fit.
FBD:: This cut me deep. I'd pegged Loony as a future captain, just wasn't expecting it to be somewhere else.
Loons:: Just to expand on the decision, I felt the Roys were in a good place at the time and wanted to move somewhere where I could help rebuild a club which I think I helped accomplish in a big way. Of course a few of those at the Roys who I thought would keep them really active ended up also leaving around the same time.
A93:: Who was that, just out of interest?
Loons:: Willo_ was the main one I think. There were others too but just not coming to mind right at the minute.
TFW:: You probably got a bit unlucky there, FBD. Loons and I became good mates and it was at a time where I either cut and run on the Hawks or take the reins. There was many posters I wanted to play with, there aren't as many that at the time I both really wanted to play with and thought we can make this team something working together. Loons bought into the project really quickly and I couldn't have done it without him. He can correct me but I think pretty much from day dot the succession plan was in effect. It was a pretty solid unit.
Loons:: Yeah pretty much. I said I had aspirations to be a captain and we agreed there that the reins would be handed over in a couple of seasons.
TFW:: IRC you had a tasty offer from Blacky as well to take over at the Royals. Sliding doors…
Loons:: Indeed, think after my first season at the Hawks he messaged me and said the option was there for me to take over as he was ready to hand it off. My first season at the Hawks was S23, and it was fantastic. I was sad to leave the Roys but the move really helped freshen my take on the league and I think it really showed with getting my first All SFA nod. And we definitely played off well, Agent93, though I don't know how many times I told you Eric Bana biker's name is Kenny Omega.
FBD:: Was it only season 23? feels much longer ago than that.
A93:: It was S23. The Hawks finished second last and it was shithouse season sim-wise.
TFW:: Those first couple of seasons were pretty great as we had been stuck in some shit by pantskyle and Wacky Tiger leaving and then Mr Eagle had also gone AWOL. Loons lifted about five levels as far as presence goes and we also had an invested brahj join him in S23. Bringing in blokes like BRAB, spookism, DapperJong and BigJoeD_ the next season and we had not only a two season overhaul but also a few fair campaigners. It was great fun.
A93:: Season 24 grand final guys. Probably my most fun time in the SFA - what did you all think of it? There was a point there that the Hawks had earned the right to be the home team in the match, yet it got simmer with us as the away team.
TFW:: Oh boy. That was a hell of a week. And just when we thought it couldn't get better, it got better.
If I recall it correctly we may have been asked about it prior to the match being posted and it's one of those things where it doesn't really matter. If I'll be honest our away form was awesome that season and knowing the game was already done I didn't really want to gamble with the fates - if we had won and I asked for a re-sim and we lost it would be way more painful and way more artillery for the Bombers. Realistically we probably could have had made way more of a deal about the Bombers fielding a banned poster but you could tell that Hate was really strained by that week. It's always a shame to be on the losing end of a grand final but it's unarguably the biggest Grand Final week we've ever had in this league, and in a new Star Wars week too. Popcorn sales went through the roof that week.
Loons:: Yeah agreed with Filth, I think we were approached prior to the game and chose not to worry about asking for a resim or anything like that.
A93:: OK, Loons, everyone thinks you're a good guy, but there's one SFAlien out there you're extremely salty with. Why Ant Bear?
Loons:: I wouldn't say I'm extremely salty with him, but I think he is very self indulgent. Even with giving heads ups to teams when they have made a team sheet mistake, he holds it over you. That's I think the first time I got bothered by him and it was a bit of a glass breaking moment.
TFW:: I've heard if he gets admin he's going to captain every team so of course I wasn't going to let that happen which is why I'm running for admin again.
A93:: So midway through last season Loonerty, real life gets in the way, and you relinquish the reins to my good self.
Loons:: Obviously I didn't want to give it up but I was just having too many issues IRL to be trying to maintain the team and keep everything to the standard I was trying to set for myself.
But happily, I didn't have to be concerned at all about finding my successor because you were the only contender really. Not to say that the others in the LG were bad options (well maybe aside from Noobz0r), but you were the stand out.
TFW:: There was an element of my admin handover to Hate about it I have to say and the echoes reverberated for me. I think we both knew A93 was going to be moving into a solid leadership position and I'm sure we spoke about it a few times before I handed over what the state of the future of the Hawks was. It's kind of like with Hate that I thought he'd go a few seasons and somebody like Cloud_ was a natural successor to him and it took a season. With you I thought you'd be a sensational 2-3 season captain, I knew you coveted it. It was a shame that it was cut short (RL is RL though) but end of the day having a suitable successor to a successor is a real benefit to have for a club. I know I'm not at the Hawks but it will always be my club, your club, Agent's club wherever we are. I did a lot at the Dragons but I never left thinking that was my club. Noobz0r is another I know left knowing it was in a great place but also knowing it was his club despite having many "homes" beforehand. We both left knowing it would be great to set that scene elsewhere.
A93:: Another thing that real life ™ swallowed up was your role as a match simmer.
Loons:: Yeah, that started when Wooshette decided to quit match posting because she was unhappy that some sim quirks/resims etc weren't communicated (which I don't think they need to be tbh but to each their own), I PMed Hate and said I'd be happy to take her spot. After that, I decided to have a look at the sim and basically became an emergency simmer. Later I think RU_ stepped down from it, so I became full time the following season.
A93:: Any good and bad bits in that role?
Loons:: Well, it’s pretty time consuming, and I got sick of knowing my team's result on a Friday night or Saturday morning. Being involved with running the most essential part of the league was a positive.
A93:: So let’s wrap this up with the traditional looking at a bunch of stats:
Wins: 75 - Draws: 1 - Losses: 73
TFW:: Yeah, those are definitely some stats.
Loons:: I’ve done alright for myself. The goal total is pretty nice.
A93:: Here’s another stat for you guys; did you know FBD has topped 100 DT points on 31 occasions? Next nearest of us four is TFW with 16.
TFW:: Bowie has the best ratio of achievements to posts I've ever seen.
FBD:: Yeah but I've spent a fair chunk at RR and the sim seems to think that's the only position I can do anything.
TFW:: You're a true fitzroybowiebear.
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