Let's ignore the football politics for a bit.
How does YOUR perfect offseason look for your team? What moves would you do as GM/HC and what moves would you like to see? What's necessary for your team to take the next step?
I created a similar post last year sparking some very good discussions, and I want to do it again.
I will start with a paragraph I wrote last year:
>· GM and HC need to be replaced. Hard to predict candidates with the current situation. Shuan Fatah is available – would they give him another chance? Would Sean Shelton want to leave Munich for his home team, and would they even want him? Not these 2 together obviously though 😊
So, HC got replaced directly after with the available Shuan Fatah - got it. GM got replaced after this season at least, we will come again in this post to the reason why.
So, obviously we don't need to write about the results here. The season got declared as a rebuilding season and it turned out as exactly that. After a very rough start of 0-7 (with 2-3 absolutely close games), a 2 win streak then and at least a deciding game at home in final, at least we can say it was somehow ok. Although obviously everyone with the Raiders expects higher, no doubt.
I want to start with the positive aspects.
+ LOADS and LOADS of young HG from the own programme got very meaningful snaps and/or started and played well in stretches. Are there mistakes and deficiences, especially in size & strength - yes, absolutely, no doubt about that. But just to name a few for this season:
WR Felix Kantner (20), CB Berend Palz (20), LB Jakob Scheucher (20), RB Tim Tonko (21), T Vincent Lutz (20), G Jonas Stelzer (22), LB Raphael Stauder (19), Lorenz Kriwak (20), Dobpson Hopson (22 - from IT!). Excuse me if age may be 1 year off, not easy to find the exact dates. These are the future of the club
+ Aaron Jackson: The guy is a machine. Size, speed, strength, hands. Re-sign him immediately!
But the negative aspects surpass the positive aspects in a 2-7 season unfortunately.
- A-Imports: Omg, where do we start. I count 8 imports for 4 spots, exactly every spot got changed at least once. Aaron Jackson is the exception and to a certain degree Kenyatte Allen who gave a spark when joining late, everyone else was a mixed bag or just not the difference maker they should be. Krajewski never really arrived and threw too many picks, Carter had a nice game, but otherwise nothing, DBs Rucker, Hylton, Grose, Wilson were servicable at best, but mostly below that mark.
- I-Import: Dibula played almost every snap I think and was servicable at DT, but hasn't made the difference when joining mid-season. I like the spot though, can surely be used to upgrade the roster more.
- E-Imports (and W): That's another really sad situation. Jai Jackson played a nice season and led the team in sacks - probably the only 1 I can see returning from the group. Puustinen and Krajnovic were alright, although not sure what happened at the end (injuries, discipline?). Duce played a lot, but got instantly replaced when HG C Haslehner returned. Djouma and Salonen (and Kouoh as waiver) were only rotational players. That's clearly not enough.
- HG Recruiting: Recruiting in Austria almost didn't happen at all (for different reasons I guess). We need that as well.
That brings me to the conclusion and season outlook for 2027.
The base is clearly there, still most of the impact HG are ages 24-28 and have many years on the top level left. The young core got their feet wet this season and will continue to work this offseason to have an even bigger impact next year.
We need to find a QB solution, I don't think Allen is that solution either. We need someone that can stay for 2-3 seasons at least and grow into the system. It's for sure the hardest part, but it's vital.
We need to up the recruiting for HG, A and E imports. We don't need to discuss that A imports should be the impact players, in my opinion E imports should start at least - otherwise these spots are "wasted". While other teams get the league leading rusher with an import slot, we get a backup LB. And we got to use the great HG talent that's around in Austria, not within the own programme only. Imagine recruiting someone like Noah Toure (what a waste in Vienna in that group) or Franz Korger (previously already with a short stint with Raiders).
This offseason will hopefully be less crazy and will hold more focus on the recruiting. Unfortunately our GM failed with that tasks multiple seasons and got replaced for that reason. I hope Shuan leading the task can succeed and can make the right moves.
What do you think? How's your summary? And what is needed for the future? Let us know!
First, I really like the waiver addition and I think it has a lot of potential. With some additional details coming out now and others get added for sure over the weeks, we get a better idea. Apparently there's a salary range included as well according to Stormcast.
And I think the league should expand on that. Here's my idea:
Limit E spots to 4 per team, thinking it more in terms of keepers (for fantasy football enthusiasts). The 4 best E imports can be signed first based on the existing rules.
I spot can stay although I miss the impact mostly tbh. I think an A OL would help more and be really fun to see.
Now 3-5 W spots are added per team, in the offseason already! After the teams signed their 4 E imports, all remaining interested players can join the waiver list. Think about entering a draft - and actually it can be handled like a draft. The worst team from previous season picks first, best team last. Expansion team can have multiple/early picks as well. Do that in multiple rounds, bad teams likely have more picks.
Of course this waiver draft can be a real life event during a boring offseason. Someone like Matt Bressington can absolutely handle that and will have the early picks prepared.
I know some will now reply that it's not possible with EU laws - but on a voluntary basis almost everything is possible. If teams, league and players see the idea behind it, I'm sure there's a way to implement it and we see the first steps with the waiver already.
What do you think?
A recent post on Facebook by their game day manager suggests that Fire only had 48h to prepare for their home game and there was an emergency call with Heisler (AFLE COO) and Thywissen (Fire CEO) on Wednesday before the game to save the game when many thought it won't take place.
So far no rumor, but stated by a team official. However, there's no reason stated.
Does anyone know what happened? Financial issues? London not sure to play? Stadium availability?