- Jul 16, 2015
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- #1
Hello everyone, welcome to 2020. The start of a new year, the start of a new decade and most importantly, the start of a new Qooty season. After a successful State of Origin series, Qooty kicks off once again with its 29th season. 29 seasons of Qooty, which means that we are only one season away from the 30-season milestone. We want the milestone season to be a great season, so let’s make sure that the build up to it is just as great.
It’s Round 1 and in this match, the Gold City Royals will host the Las Vegas Bears at The Golden Throne.
S28 Recap
The Royals had an inconsistent S28 on field and finished in 6th position with 8 wins & 8 losses. After winning their final two games of the season, they faced off against the Dragons in a cut throat elimination final, where an insipid performance handed them a 51-point belting.
The Bears were the lucky campaigners in S28. Following a Grand Final berth in S27, the Bears had a poor season and finished just outside the finals on 7 wins and 9 losses. However, like Carlton in 2013, they were lucky to get a second chance as a 2-point penalty forced the Gumbies out of the finals, replacing them with the Bears. However, the Bears could not take advantage of this opportunity and proved themselves unfit for finals when they were knocked out by the Wonders in the first week.
Off Season
After a disappointing Season off field for the Royals, they will have wanted to focus hard on recruiting active posters and rookies. They lost promising rookie cadsky to the Bombers and delisted McEvoy, Gentleman & burningdwarf. They gained a quality poster in spookism from the Hawks, a returning player in Kapow! and signed a rookie called Cesoir.
The Bears have had a disastrous off season. After losing Tandy and promising rookie Rioli8317, they have now lost EKA medal runner up Cadaver to the Warriors and ex captain and dual Beez medallist JoshWoodenSpoon to the Bombers. They have a glimpse of hope on the horizon however, with the massive signing of returning EKA medallist tgrs and singing a rookie, who wasn’t shy in announcing his presence during the SoO series, Lemon Boi.
Last time they met
S28 R4
Gold City Royals 15.10 (100) def Las Vegas Bears 13.8 (86)
The Bears got the best of the Royals in the first quarter, however could not maintain this for the rest of the game as the Royals dominated the final 3 quarters. Rookie cadsky had a clinic on the day with 33 disposals, 8 marks and 4 goals, his dominance in the midfield was followed closely by GreyCrow with 30 disposals, 9 marks and two goals. For the losers, Art Vandelay_ can hold his head up high, getting 27 disposals and booting 3 goals.
Skippers Interview
Throughout the week, I sat with both Royal captain The Filth Wizard, and Bears captain Test Tickle for a little interview on their outlook for S29.
ND: Hello Filth, Testy. Thanks for joining me here, hope you are both pumped for R1.
TFW: Hi ND
TT: Gidday Mate
ND: Typical country bogan Testy… Ok First of all, how do you each view your prospects for S29, on and off field?
TFW: Yeah, I'm bullish. S28 was good, not great and we might have been on the other side of history if we got over the Dragons first up. It's just consistency with us that needs work, and by that I don't mean consistently backing up a win with a loss. Off field I think our ins will cover the cracks and then some of our outs. I think Kennedy Parker has finally found his love again post admin days and I have heard Noobz0r wants to come back in a big way. We have a few great posters that have taken to cameo stints in recent seasons, one or two of them getting a spark will go a long way.
TT: yeh na, we’re really looking forward to this season as a group, JoshWoodenSpoon has left the club in a great place and we are ready to hit the ground running. We only have one thing on our mind right now and that’s to win our round 1 game and to also give ourselves the best shot possible at the title this season. We believe in the processes that the club has put in place for S29 and all we need to do on-field is to execute our game plan well and adhere to instructions from our senior coaching staff. We believe in our leadership group including, Matera92, MWPP, AuntyBlindEye and tgrs and our players to perform at our best, it’s a long season, but we think that will be enough to see us succeed on and off the field.
ND: A “great place” hehe
TT: Shut the * up.
TFW: beez does this better.
ND: Right, moving on. Filth, you’ve brought in spookism from the Hawks and you have a returning player named Kapow!! (Whom I’ve never heard of) First, can you please tell us a bit about the latter? How will both of these posters improve you, on and off field?
TFW: We've been pretty pleased to bring across spooks. Obviously, I've played with him before having recruited him initially to the Hawks, he's a good mate and I think has come off a return to form season which I'm hoping to take full advantage of. Kapow!!! really impressed the Royals scouts on the Fremantle tour - he's a league "old head", having played 74 games back in the golden years for the Gumbies, Sharks and Dockers but to be honest you wouldn't know it, he looks like a rookie and we've struck gold with a mature-ager. We were equally stoked to nab Cesoir who is a legit EKA contender. He's raring to go this season, has a good sense of humour and hasn't minded starting some pre-season spars already.
ND: Yeah, Spook is pretty good value, just watch out for the Barrels. Testy - You’ve lost your old captain as well as Cadaver, will the bears recover from this? Are you in rebuild?
You’ve also brought in the returning tgrs. How will he improve you as a posting team? Is he an adequate replacement for Josh and Dav?
TT: Yes, we’ve lost our captains but we think this just really sends a statement to all that the Las Vegas Bears are a strong cultured club and here to stay for a very long time. We are not in rebuild, it is business as usual down here, no one person is bigger than the club, we are hoping Josh will be back one day, however we will carry on without him until then, as stated before, we have our procedures to follow to ensure the success of our wonderful club. As for Cadaver, well, all we can do is wish him all the very best at his new club, afterall he did kick 8 on debut, only superstars do that, we will miss him.
We’re very excited about what tgrs will bring to the club this season, we believe a few of the more experienced players here have had dealings with tgrs, he has a real feel for the nature of the league and as an EKA Medalist, I think we have 3 on the list now, he knows how to get stuck in and attract some attention. We believe he will help fill the hole that Josh and Dav will leave behind along with the other numerous players just waiting to tear up our opposition apart each week.
ND: Filthy, Royals have never won a flag, when are you going to ******* win one for once?
TFW: We're all here for flags (I mean, I've won one but I'm keen for a second and it's my main driving force to lead the Royals to their first as I did the Dragons way back when). Saying that, there's a part of the Royals fabric that will fade with a premiership, the self-deprecation and good humour about it will dissipate but hey, I'm sure we can handle it.
ND: One for each of you, who do you believe will have a posting break-out season?
TFW: As far as breakouts, match thread posters know CakeEater and GreyCrow very well but I think both will become household names this season. It was very important to me to give both more ownership of the club by adding them to the LG and both were close to All-SFA form last season but were let down by presence. My ultimate dream is to see the likes of Blacky and brahj return to true form - recent posters don't know what they're missing with these two, probably the finest posters I've ever seen in this league.
TT: Ok Boomer and Lemon Boi are breakout contenders this season, Booms is a passionate Bear, very funny, stuck through some lean times on-field last season and we are very excited about what Lemon Boi will bring to our club, we also have many more breakout contenders ready to take the next step within the club ranks.
As a club at this stage there is only one game we are aiming to win, and that’s our Rd 1 game. At the end of the day, we are not looking too far ahead, we’re taking it one week at a time.
ND: If you had to insult each other, using only two words. What will it be?
TFW: Bears Captain
TT: …
ND: Bit shy there Testy? Come on, it’s only Filth. Alright, well, thank you very much for joining Filthy and Testy. All the best for the upcoming season! Any final words?
TFW: …
TT: …
ND: Gee, tough crowd.
Prediction
Royals by 14
Captains, please remember to post your team sheets by Thursday 11.59 pm AEDT.
Thanks to TheInjuryFactory for the graphics
