PlacidSport (Hudsonian Newswire)

by **Hudson Islands** » Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:32 pm

Oh hello, I didn't see you there. Welcome to Placid Ocean. Our region loves basketball, so much so that our region's biggest sports league is a 12-team franchised basketball league.

The Placidbasket Championship features 12 clubs from across Placid Ocean- most of them are right here in Hudson Islands (8 to be exact), but one each from Auguste du Nord, Augusto del Sud, Patricana and Placidiana. Here is a helpful graphic of all 12 clubs' logos.

The league plays under the rules of the RL NBA, playing a 44 game schedule with each team playing each other team home and away 4 times. The top six teams all make the playoffs- the top two get an automatic bye to the semi-finals, with teams three through six facing off (3 v 6 and 4 v 5) in a three-game playoff. The semi-finals and finals are both seven-game series. St. Patrick's Saints are the defending champions, having beat Manchester Tigers 4 games to 2 last season.

2018 SEASON PREVIEW

St. Patrick Saints

The defending champions and representative of Patricana are a promising choice to take home the title this season as well. Their raucous crowds are among the most passionate in the league, and they've become a model of the modern, positionless, free-shooting basketball that fans love. They also, curiously, have built their squad almost entirely from Auguste/o- their star players include point guard Damien Labonté from the north, who had an earth-shattering season last year, averaging a triple-double. They also have a pair of young stars from the south thanks to some excellent drafting in Antonello Ciufo and Celso Iaquinta, both swingmen who can do everything. The most popular Saint, however, is the only local player- big Center Sean Oliver, who rarely starts, as the Saints prefer to use a smaller lineup. If the Saints have something resembling a weakness, it's the fact that between Ciufo, Iaquinta and Mohamed Lebel, they will have to find a way to keep the band together and under the salary cap soon.

Manchester Tigers

The Tigers are a fascinating matchup for the Saints because they love to play a huge lineup- perhaps the only remaining team that does. They have "Twin Tower" key big men in Andrea Cirillo and Bradley Walker, who are rarely on the floor simultaneously- both are excellent rebounders and rim protectors. Cirillo is an all-world interior scorer, Walker plays a more dynamic and floor-stretching game, but needs to learn to shoot better. Meanwhile, their scoring will be built around the excellent iso guard Kelly Douglas III. Their goal is a championship.

Stratford Storm

The team with the ugliest logo in the league is likely the best team to compete with the Saints 5-on-5, although they have some real issues with their depth. Center David Dunn, forwards Lou Montgomery and Mario Santeramo and point guard Jabari Mason are all among the best in the league, and they can shoot the lights out as a group. The rest of their rotation struggles, and they are susceptible to struggles should an injury hit, but their ceiling is league champion.

Charlottetown Mammoths

The last real contender in the league, the Mammoths have a perception of being a two-man team- veteran point guard Mohamed Zakaria Côté and 21 year old center Evan Watson. Watson stretches the floor and Côté is among the best playmakers around. However, they also rely heavily on swingmen Khalid Hussein and Ciro Caporaso, two of the league's more underrated shooters. The Mammoths are fun to watch, but need to do something in order to make the next step to a champion- you could equally see them making the finals and missing the playoffs entirely.

Trevona BC

The club from Augusto del Sud loves to play small ball and loves to shoot the lights out. Local boy Marco Zarelli is one of the most popular players in the league as a result of being the star for Trevona, and the swingman is seemingly the embodiment of the perfect scorer. He also benefits greatly from point guard Mickaël Deslauriers, one of the league's most innovative playmakers. The two of them are both in their prime and desperately want a title, but things seem to be moving backwards- "L'Arancione" can only really play smallball lineups and don't have a ton of major tradeable assets to acquire the bigs they seek. Their hope is that 24 year old DeAndre Carr can reach the next level, but he seems to be roughly at his peak- a serviceable Placidbasket starter, but not a superstar.

Wellington Polar Bears

Wellington feel like they're stuck between a rock and a hard place- they have no real future stars in their group, nor are they good enough to compete now. For a team that's long struggled, simply making the playoffs seems like it's enough, and they seem to be hoping their fans just enjoy the process, because the title seems well out of reach. That being said, things aren't all bad! Charlie Stone, their point guard, is a very good player. Isaiah Bilodeau, their center, is a fantastic rim protector and one of the better big men around. They also have guard Miguel Angel Alonso, who can shoot very well and is a deal. Their only real hope for the future is power forward Patrick Gibson, and unheralded second round pick from two years ago who has shown steady improvement in limited play.

Placidiana City Warriors

The team from Placidiana invest a lot in local swingman Isaac Moreno, one of the best scorers in the league, and also a lockdown defender. Their point guard Nathaniel Jennings is a great teammate and a great creator. Beyond that, they have no real prospects or no real stars- they live and die by Moreno. That may be enough!

Summerside Jets

Historically a very successful team, the current Jets are JoJo Allen's team. You could probably argue that the 27 year old is the straight up single best scorer in the whole of the league. You could also be optimistic with fairly good reason for their long term future- they have few long term contracts and are a desirable location for free agents to go, along with a decent collection of young talents (the best being 23 year old Center Gabe McCarthy, who could potentially wind up being an all-world defender). In 2018, though, the Jets are maybe a fringe playoff contender.

Botley Bulls

The club from the capital used to be very good. They are likely the most hopeless team in the league right now, though it's hard to say any team with Jahjesh Singh is hopeless. Singh has won three league MVP awards and two championships, but at 32 the chickens are starting to come home to roost. All the efforts to win with Singh have led to an old, worn down team with no real future and no salary cap space. Creative general management could get them out of this jam...or sending Jahjesh Singh to a team that wants to win right now and is willing to pay, although it's possible they wouldn't get what he's worth.

Dover Pheasants

These guys play smallball and have a lot of young players who could go either way- only 21 year old wing player Alexy Anderson is anything resembling a guarantee. He can absolutely create and score at the level of this league, but he can't play defense at all. Star point guard Jaylen Morris is a valuable trade chip, as his contract is up after this season, and at 28, he likely won't be on the next great Pheasants team.

Les Patriotes de Toureuil

The Pats, the sole team from Auguste du Nord are under new management, having just hired wunderkind GM Maxime Bruneau-Cloutier and just locked up 24 year old Center Paul Coulibaly long term. Point guard Sebastian Harris could be a player, although he has few teammates who can really shoot. Swingman Cassius Islam is 22 years old and already a Placidbasket level defender, although he too has few offensive skills. Confident coaching could turn them both into players, which would give this group a strong core. At the moment though, they will be pinned to the bottom.

Georgetown Puffins

Not unlike the Patriotes, the Puffins are in the middle of a rebuild. They have only one long term contract in 24 year old Center Alessandro Casagrande, a capable interior scorer. Expect them to be active this season figuring out what they have and what assets they can acquire cheaply.

by **Hudson Islands** » Fri Jan 05, 2018 9:54 am

2018 SEASON OPENING DAY

Summerside Jets 86–68 Manchester Tigers
Dover Pheasants 72–81 Stratford Storm
Trevona BC 80–92 Botley Bulls
St. Patrick's Saints 72–70 Patriotes de Toureuil
Georgetown Puffins 68–83 Wellington Polar Bears
Placidiana City Warriors 55–83 Charlottetown Mammoths

Saints Nearly Stunned By Pats

When the schedule came out and the Saints had the Patriotes on opening day, it's safe to assume they expected an easy W, but "Les Marins" kept it close, and in fact led through most of the game. The Pats' Paul Coulibaly put on a performance, with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks. The Saints' big four's ball movement was not as fluid as expected and their shooting was touch and go, but they eventually pulled out a win thanks to a last minute iso drive by Antonello Ciufo.

Jets Destroy Tigers

Manchester, full of hope on opening day, were humiliated away to the Jets, and to add injury to insult, lost point guard Jacob Stubbs, their starter. JoJo Allen had himself a game, putting up 30 points and after the fact declaring that "There's nobody on Manchester that can guard me- hell, there's nobody in the league that can guard me." Of course, Stubbs, injured in the first quarter coming down from a layup, is one of the best defensive point guards around. This might add some heat to future matchups.

Saints Fall For Real

The defending champions seem off to a sputtering start (although two games is not a sample size for rational types to freak out over, St. Pats fans...). They lost 73-63 to the Bulls in a scoreline that actually flatters the Saints. The Jahjesh Singh-Antonello Ciufo matchup was everything fans could hope for...at least fans of Singh, who locked Ciufo up and kept him to 7 points. After the game, Saints coach Mark Williams called out his players for perceived lack of effort, but it may just have been Jahjesh Singh elevating his game.

Storm Win On Buzzer Beating Steal

The Storm were up 75-74 with 6 seconds left, but Ezra Alexander stole the inbounds pass from Anouk Bernard and drew a foul, putting the game out of reach. Trevona had led this game by 11 points at one point, but their second unit left the door open for the Storm.

Pheasants Tame Tigers

In the game of the round, Dover got their first win of the season by taming the Tigers 82-78. Declan Byrne led the way with 21 points, as their small-ball lineup kept Manchester off balance. The Tigers seem to be missing Jacob Stubbs, as Kelly Douglas was struggling without him feeding him the ball, limited to just 11 points.

Botley Win On Buzzer Beater!

The Puffins were seconds away from a winning record up 80-79 going into the last possession, but Jahjesh Singh drew three defenders on his way to the bucket with 2 seconds to go, freeing up Rodrigo Crespo, not usually the star, from behind the arc. Crespo drilled his shot and the Bulls moved to 3-0.

Jets Also Unbeaten

JoJo Allen wants to win so bad he's dragging this group to the top, the Jets are 3-0 after a big win in Trevona. He's almost certainly the player on the best form in the league- he put up another 27 on Trevona.

Saints Beat Jets In Thriller

The marquee matchup of round 4 was the Saints and Jets, who played a surprisingly low scoring thriller. Viewers expected this to be the JoJo Allen vs. Damien Labonté show, but the star turned out to be 22 year old Saints swingman Maverick Barry, who rarely gets minutes but was brought in to defend Allen and did a very good job locking him down. However, he contributes next to nothing offensively, leaving the Saints seemingly playing 4-on-5 with the ball. Ultimately the game went into OT, when Labonté predictably took over, scoring 7 of their 12 points to put it away and go into first place.

Tigers (Not) Officially In Panic Mode

1-3 through four games is not the start Manchester expected, but that's where they were after a home loss to Wellington. Coach David Stoltz pleaded for patience with the fans as they try to figure out how to run their offense without their point guard. "I don't want to do anything shortsighted, but obviously we're having some problems- We're not creating our shots, and it seems obvious why that is. We'll figure it out, I promise."

A Wild Day In Placidbasket!

Almost every game had something noteable- the Tigers responded to being called out by putting up 91 on Trevona, led by Kelly Douglas and Kian Stevenson, who put up 24 and 22 points respectively. The Tigers absolutely pounded a Trevona side without much in the way of interior defenders repeatedly by simply working the ball down low and winning iso and rebounding battles.

Wellington look very strong at 4-1, putting a hurting on the Pats, and they got it through a balanced attack. 5 players scored in double-digits, led by Isaiah Bilodeau with 21.

The Saints won thanks to a last second stop by local hero Sean Oliver on Jaylen Morris, the big man blocking Morris's last second layup attempt. Oliver said after the game it was "The best experience I've ever had in a regular season basketball game!" as the crowd chanted his name for a minute after the buzzer.

The Jets and Storm both beat weaker teams on the road in OT and are both also 4-1.

Saints Make Trevona Fall to 0-6

Things look bad in Augusto del Sud as Trevona were visited by the defending champions and fell to 0-6. We may see some changes there sooner rather than later. Saints have had some issues with turnovers of late, which is concerning for a team that relies so heavily on fluid ball movement, but their shooting has been good and they've corrected any theoretical problems they had early on.

Jets Crash To Earth

The Warriors got a surprise win over the Jets, Isaac Moreno kept JoJo Allen totally locked down and the Warriors dared the rest of the Jets to beat them. They couldn't. Allen's claim nobody can guard him has now been disproved by Isaac Moreno and Maverick Barry, and after the match on social media site 140, Moreno said "I guess you can call me No one".

Saints Defend Crown Against Tigers

Damien Labonté tore the Tigers apart with 26 points on very efficient shooting and the Saints look to be cruising now. They gave 25 minutes to big man Bokandji Taylor, an underappreciated defender (they have so many of these!) to neutralize the Tigers' big men and were free to play their game on offense.

Trevona Get First Win

A 74-66 win over the hapless Puffins counts all the same in the standings as a win over any other team, and will hopefully do worlds for the confidence of "L'Arancione". Marco Zarelli put up 25 and looked like an elite scorer for the first time this year.

CURRENT STANDINGS

Code: Select all: Pld W L Win % 1 St. Patrick's Saints 7 6 1 0.857 2 Stratford Storm 7 6 1 0.857 3 Botley Bulls 7 5 2 0.714 Summerside Jets 7 5 2 0.714 5 Wellington Polar Bears 7 4 3 0.571 6 Placidiana City Warriors 7 4 3 0.571 7 Dover Pheasants 7 3 4 0.429 8 Manchester Tigers 7 3 4 0.429 9 Charlottetown Mammoths 7 3 4 0.429 10 Trevona BC 7 1 6 0.143 11 Georgetown Puffins 7 1 6 0.143 12 Patriotes de Toureuil 7 1 6 0.143

by **Hudson Islands** » Fri Jan 05, 2018 12:05 pm

HOT STOVE NEWS!

There were a handful of transactions after the first month of play in Placidbasket- Manchester wanted a point guard to fill in for Jacob Stubbs, especially with backup point guard Khalija Bernier also hurt. However, they're up against the salary cap, so they had to shop in the bargain bin- they made a swap with Georgetown that looked like this-

Tigers Receive:
PG Calvin Ward
PG Dajuan King
Puffins' 2nd Round Pick

Puffins Receive:
C Nathan Stewart
PG Khalija Bernier (injured)
International Roster Spot
Tigers' 2nd Round Pick

Instant Reaction
No young talent moved in this deal- every player is at least 28. Nathan Stewart is arguably the best player in the trade, but he is expendable within the Tigers' squad with their glut of big men, and his salary was necessary to make the trade work. He might go right into Georgetown's lineup, but he's not a long term solution. The Puffins getting a third international roster spot is exciting given rumors rumbling that Placidbasket teams are starting to contact players from outside of Placid Ocean, and the Puffins may be one of the innovators in that regard.

The Tigers made this move because they had no point guards. Ward is an excellent defender who can't pass or shoot, King is a league average playmaker who can't defend, they'll likely rotate minutes, and Ward is on a one year contract that could be easily moved at the trade deadline should they need to. It feels like a panic move, but one that won't have long-term negative implications.

The Maxime Bruneau-Cloutier Era Begins

Patriotes GM Maxime Bruneau-Cloutier made his first trade, and it was weeks in the making, talking to Stratford, who feel as though they have a real shot at a championship.

Storm Receive:
SF Isaac Rees

Patriotes Receive:
SF Anthony Savoie
SG Alexandre Monette
SG Andre Bowman
International Roster Spot

Isaac Rees is 32 years old and averaging 10 points a game, and becomes an immediate rotation player. Savoie and Monette, each 23 years old and from Auguste du Nord, are decent lottery tickets and local, so it was worth their while. Andre Bowman is the key player here, the rookie hasn't gotten much playing time with Stratford, but he's a highly regarded scorer. Rees is a short term upgrade for the Storm, so it is worth it for them, but this was a savvy trade for Tourneuil.

by **Hudson Islands** » Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:55 am

SESSION TWO

Round 8 Recap
Hands up if you saw the Puffins getting a win in St. Patrick's this season? Hands down, no way you did. The Puffins' young players showed great spirit coming together and sinking the defending champions. Less heralded swingman Guiscardo D'Esposito had the game of his life, scoring 24, including going 4 for 5 from beyond the arc, and big center Rasheed Harris protected the interior, forcing the Saints to play a game that was heavily reliant on their outside shooting, which went cold. Elsewhere, the Mammoths and Polar Bears both broke 100. Unheralded Wellington are into a playoff spot and got 30 from Charlie Stone. Charlottetown got 34 from center Evan Watson, who is becoming one of the breakout players of the season.

Round 9 Recap

All hail Paul Coulibaly! The Pats' big man put up a 30 point, 14 rebound, 5 block performance against the Jets, who are suddenly in a slump. The Puffins difficult schedule continued as they followed up their win over the defending champions with a game with the defending runners up....which they flopped dramatically. The Tigers' defense was in beast mode and held Georgetown to 57 points. Kelly Douglas led the way in scoring for the Tigers with 19. Dover had a rough go of it against Wellington, but don't blame Jaylen Morris, who was seemingly involved in every Pheasant bucket- he scored 19 and had 10 assists. Don't look now, but the Storm are in first place...

Round 10 Recap

JoJo Allen started the season off declaring that nobody could guard him, and that bit of braggadocio seems to have come back to bite him, as his Jets were sunk by the surprising Bulls (as surprising as any Jahjesh Singh team can really be). He's having maybe his worst season as a pro on the offensive end, currently 11th in scoring. He's never finished outside of the top 10! Elsewhere the Saints went down to Charlottetown thanks to an injury to big man Bokandji Taylor and a strong performance from Mammoth Ciro Caporaso. The trio of Caporaso, Evan Watson and Mohamed Côté are all having career years and are propelling the Mammoths into the title picture this year. The Tigers calmed the Storm 78-72 on the backs of 21 from Noah O'Neill and 9 assists from Dajuan King.

Round 11 Recap

After their third loss in four games, Saints coach Mark Williams called a closed-door meeting and challenged his players to do better. "I told them we're a championship team, and we're not playing like one right now. We owe it to our fans, and to ourselves, to win these games." Damien Labonté called his teammates out as well, saying "We're the only ones who can fix this. We don't have time to keep [censored]ing up like this." It would be unfair to give no credit at all to the Polar Bears, however, their game plan was savvy and they got a good outing from Miguel Angel Alonso. Elsewhere, the Storm and Jets played an OT thriller, wherein JoJo Allen tried his best to keep the Jets in the air with 32 points, but it was not enough.

Round 12 Recap

This league is crazy! JoJo Allen REFUSES to lose and scores on a buzzer beating drive through five Tigers to pull his team to 6-6. He's on a bit of a tear all of a sudden. Some neutral Placidbasket fans are tired of the Saints, but I'm sure they're revelling in their current struggles, having lost AGAIN, this time to a Pats team who have suddenly won two in a row. This time the Patriotes got a great effort from big Luke Johnson, who they are likely showcasing for a trade deadline trade when that time comes. We haven't talked a ton about Jahjesh Singh this season somehow, he basically beat Trevona by himself with a 35 point outing.

Round 13 Recap

Jahjesh vs. the big four went favorably for the Saints, who stopped their skid. Damien Labonté put the team on his back and put up 21 points, 9 assists and 9 rebounds. Stratford beat up on lowly Trevona to maintain a two game lead over second place- the Storm look like true contenders right now after their trade, even if Isaac Rees himself is disappointing a bit, he's been influential in helping them manage minutes. The Tigers' big win over C-Town got them into playoff position again. Georgetown's Rasheed Harris was the leading scorer in Round 13, putting up 29 points.

Round 14 Recap

The Storm are for real, y'all! Not that anyone had doubted Jabari Mason, but this served as a coming out party for the 24 year old Storm guard, who simultaneously locked down Damien Labonté AND put up 25 of his own with 10 assists. The Storm now are 3 games up on the Saints and 2 up on second place. There's still plenty of basketball to play, but fans in Stratford have lots of reasons to cheer. Meanwhile, Jahjesh Singh pulled the Bulls past the Puffins.

1 Stratford Storm               14   11   3    0.786
 2 Botley Bulls                  14    9   5    0.643
 3 Charlottetown Mammoths        14    8   6    0.571
 4 Placidiana City Warriors      14    8   6    0.571
 5 Wellington Polar Bears        14    8   6    0.571
 6 St. Patrick's Saints          14    8   6    0.571
 7 Manchester Tigers             14    8   6    0.571
 8 Summerside Jets               14    6   8    0.429
 9 Dover Pheasants               14    6   8    0.429
10 Patriotes de Toureuil         14    5   9    0.357
11 Trevona BC                    14    4  10    0.286
12 Georgetown Puffins            14    3  11    0.214

by **Hudson Islands** » Sat Jan 06, 2018 2:51 pm

SESSION 3

Round 15 Recap

The Puffins haven't won a lot of basketball games this year, but they've taken some big scalps, this time grabbing a buzzer beating win over first place Stratford. Momo Bertrand suffered a serious ankle injury in this game for the Puffins, but his replacement off the bench, Patricanan Finn Marsh put on a show, hitting the game winner and holding Mario Santeramo to just 11 points. The Bulls keep cruising along and are now just one game behind first place. Jahjesh isn't getting much support, but he's able to do it all himself. The Bulls have a little bit of salary cap space, so they may be a big buyer at the trade deadline.

Round 16 Recap

We haven't seen the vintage Saints much this year, but they shot the lights over Dover out tonight- the 80-75 scoreline flatters the Pheasants, as the Saints were up 51-30 at halftime. They went fairly deep into their bench for much of the 3rd and 4th quarters, and the result never looked in doubt. Antonello Ciufo was 5 for 6 from behind the arc and scored 23 points total. Elsehwere, Evan Watson's 30 helped Charlottetown cruise to a win over Botley. Paul Coulibaly dominated fellow local-boy Isaac Bilodeau who plays center for Wellington in front of a hometown crowd in the Pats' 81-77 win, putting them just two games out of the playoffs. Manchester have now won four in a row and are playing excellent power basketball, with their strong interior play allowing lots of open space for mobile gunner Kelly Douglas III, one of the league's leading scorers.

Round 17 Recap

Whoa. Trevona absolutely destroyed the Saints in a game which may be putting coach Mark Williams on the hot seat(!)- Full credit to Trevona though, they got dominating performances from their best players (Mickaël Deslauriers and Marco Zarelli) and lucked into some ice cold shooting from Saints. That wasn't all the wild results though- Stratford got absolutely demolished by a Mammoth team that seems underappreciated, Momo Côté, Evan Watson, Ciro Caporaso and Khalid Hussein all put up 20+ points. The Warriors also don't get much love, but they beat up on JoJo again, Isaac Moreno once again held him to just 13 points and put up 20 of his own. Manchester are up to five in a row!

Code: Select all: Pld W L Win % 1 Stratford Storm 17 12 5 0.706 2 Manchester Tigers 17 11 6 0.647 3 Charlottetown Mammoths 17 11 6 0.647 4 Botley Bulls 17 10 7 0.588 5 St. Patrick's Saints 17 10 7 0.588 6 Placidiana City Warriors 17 9 8 0.529 7 Wellington Polar Bears 17 9 8 0.529 8 Summerside Jets 17 7 10 0.412 9 Dover Pheasants 17 7 10 0.412 10 Patriotes de Toureuil 17 6 11 0.353 11 Trevona BC 17 5 12 0.294 12 Georgetown Puffins 17 5 12 0.294

by **Hudson Islands** » Sun Jan 07, 2018 7:24 am

SESSION 4

Round 18 Recap

The Tigers got Jacob Stubbs back in time for their matchup with the Saints, and they are extremely thankful. It was a shootout to the end, with Manchester winning on a buzzer beating slam from Bradley Walker working on Sean Oliver. The Tigers got 24 points from Kelly Douglas III, and the Saints, to their credit, got some decent outside shooting from their main unit- shooting 13 for 31 overall from three. Elsewhere, it's hard sometimes to feel bad for a player like JoJo Allen, but his Jets have had a steady stream of injuries, taking out starting small forward Rahul Morgan, point guard Liam Pearson, center Oscar Hall and guard Luca Cunningham. Elsewhere Trevona got a rare win behind a strong performance from David Howard, and the Warriors got a win in OT thanks to Gianluigi Pucciarelli's 14 points, 14 rebounds and 6 blocks.

Round 19 Recap

Manchester's strong streak came to a brief halt thanks to the GOAT, although he got an assist from power forward Damon Littlefield, who was able to grab 19 points of his own even against the Tigers' big men. Elsewhere the Pats got another win against a top team, holding the high flying Storm to just 67 points. The Pats' got bad news that Andre Bowman likely wouldn't be back this season, and seemed to be motivated by this news to play one of their best games of the year. Summerside's freefall has them in 10th place now, with the Jets falling again, this time to the Polar Bears. Shervin Matthews of the Polar Bears had his career high 19 points in the win.

Round 20 Recap

The league has been thrown into chaos now, with four teams (Tigers, Mammoths, Storm and Bulls) all at 13-7. The Saints are down in fifth, just a game behind. The Bulls' narrow win over Stratford (the Storm missed their last second shot to send it into OT) created this chaos, and their win was a result of, you guessed it, another dominating performance from Jahjesh Singh. 29 points, 10 assists, 12 rebounds, 5 blocks. What a line! Elsewhere the Saints are starting to play their game again, Paul Coulibaly put up 25 for the Pats against the rapidly fading Jets, and the Tigers continue to roar.

Round 21 Recap

...And just like that the Storm fall from first place to a game behind in fourth. The Tigers are absolutely cruising of late and look like possible champions, playing their game, defending well, getting phenomenal performances from their young stars. Meanwhile, the Saints fell to Charlottetown, who are looking more and more like title contenders themselves, big Evan Watson doing it again- 21 points on a very efficient 7-13 shooting. Botley got dragged over the line by Jahjesh Singh once again, in a matchup of two teams with big stars heading in opposite direction. JoJo Allen has to wonder when his Jets nightmare will end, although with a 6 year deal, it looks like it may not be for a while.

Round 22 Recap

We've reached the halfway point of the season! Player of the round this week goes to Saints' Damien Labonté, who ran the floor in the Saints' cruising victory over Wellington. He had 18 assists, a season high for any player in the league this year- the main recipients of those passes- Antonello Ciufo and Cristaldo Verga, scored 26 and 19 respectively. At this point teams should know if they will be buyers or sellers at the deadline this year, and although the standings are tight, it looks like the only likely sellers will be the Pats (just two games out, but realistic), the Jets, Trevona and the Puffins. This time of year players are being showcased for potential trades, as the Tigers' Andrea Cirillo is right now- the Tigers' big man put up 15 points and grabbed 11 boards against the Warriors in extended minutes. Cirillo was a starter for the Tigers for five seasons before being supplanted by Bradley Walker (and they have 20 year old Kian Stevenson who they are also high on), so we know he can compete at this level. He's on the last year of his contract and while the Tigers seem to be in great position to win this year, they could still use some perimeter defending for the playoffs- they don't get much of that from Kelly Douglas III or Noah O'Neill.

Round 23 Recap

The Warriors 1 point win over Charlottetown was a wild, back and forth affair. Despite the loss, Mohamed Zakaria Côté had a wonderful 26 point outing. The Warriors were led by Isaac Moreno who had 23. The lead changed hands repeatedly, and the Mammoths led by 5 with a minute and a half to go. Elsewhere, "L'Arancione" grabbed a big win over Jahjesh Singh and company, Singh was surprisingly neutralized by Marco Zarelli, who kept him to just 14 points. Zarelli himself scored 15! The Tigers cruised along, as did the Saints.

Round 24 Recap

The Mammoths play a smallball basketball that has occasionally flustered the Tigers, and Round 24 was one such occasion. Charlottetown was all over the floor and many of Manchester's bigger players weren't able to keep up. Neither side shot all that well, but the Mammoths were just efficient enough from three that they were able to snag a 7 point win. Elsewhere, Jahjesh Singh was held below 15 points for the second straight game as the Saints rained threes from all over to beat the Bulls by 23. Congratulations to the Georgetown Puffins on grabbing their seventh win of the season, beating the Patriotes by 9. Big Rasheed Harris, who definitely wants to be traded at the deadline, had a big 22 point, 11 rebound performance.

Code: Select all: Pld W L Win % 1 Manchester Tigers 24 16 8 0.667 2 Charlottetown Mammoths 24 16 8 0.667 3 Stratford Storm 24 16 8 0.667 4 St. Patrick's Saints 24 15 9 0.625 5 Botley Bulls 24 15 9 0.625 6 Placidiana City Warriors 24 12 12 0.500 7 Wellington Polar Bears 24 12 12 0.500 8 Dover Pheasants 24 10 14 0.417 9 Patriotes de Toureuil 24 9 15 0.375 10 Trevona BC 24 9 15 0.375 11 Summerside Jets 24 7 17 0.292 12 Georgetown Puffins 24 7 17 0.292

by **Hudson Islands** » Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:36 pm

Session 5

Last session before the trade deadline!

Joy and pain for the Saints, getting something of a statement win over the Saints, but losing starting shooting guard Celso Iaquinta to a calf injury in the process. Cristaldo Verga put up 21 points, and Damien Labonté got 13 assists for the Saints. Huge victory for the Pats, who remain just two games out of a playoff spot and are starting to gel- young Sebastian Harris had a fantastic outing with 14 assists. JoJo Allen's inconsistent season had an up game, as he dropped 34 on Trevona in Trevona.

...And down goes Allen. JoJo was held to 10 by a majestic Saints side who stretched the floor and played nearly perfect basketball in a 34 point demolition. Damien Labonté got a triple double with 31 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds. The Tigers continue their winning ways with a 17 point drubbing of the Polar Bears, they got 25 from Noah O'Neill. Charlottetown got 25 from Khalid Hussein as they beat up on Toureuil. Paul Coulibaly led all players in round 26 with 35 points, despite the loss.

JoJo and the Jets now look like a real contender for the #1 draft picks after losing 77-73 to last place Georgetown. Jahjesh and the Bulls fell victim to the Mammoths' run-and-gun "total basketball"- they had 4 players in double digits in points. Big Andrea Cirillo's trade value surged up with a 23 point, 5 block outing against Trevona. Antonello Ciufo put up 26 and Damien Labonté kept up his double digit assist streak with 15 as the Saints snuck pack the Pheasants.

Lots to discuss this round- the Tigers demolished the Pats- Kelly Douglas III scored 29, and Bradley Walker grabbed 15 boards. Jahjesh put up 25 in an ugly ugly 64-59 win over the Polar Bears. The Mammoths won in Stratford to grab sole possession of third place, Khalid Hussein put up 21 on 8 for 13 shooting. The Jets won on a buzzer beater by...Samir Bailey? That's right, the 33 year old Bailey got his career high with...14. The Saints beat Trevona by 24.

The league was abuzz with the next Saints-Tigers matchup, and this round was never in doubt. Damien Labonté took over and ran the show, and neither Jacob Stubbs nor Calvin Ward could do anything about it, which may see the latter's ticket out of town. The Warriors got a big win and moved up a game on sixth place, Bakari Daly put up 18 points off the bench to lead the team. The Storm got a nice road victory on the backs of Mario Santeramo's 24 points.

It's the last round before the trade deadline! Jahjesh and the Bulls finally halted Manchester, Gennaro Pannaro helped out with 14 boards, and Singh put up 29 points. The Tigers suddenly look like they are having some defensive troubles, although it's likely just a blip. With teams at the top so tightly bunched, any loss is crippling, but the Storm falling to the upstart Patriotes dropped them down to fifth. Asante Armstrong scored 20 for the Pats. The Saints easily rolled over Georgetown, they were led by local fave Sean Oliver's 20 points, a career high.

Code: Select all: Pld W L Win % 1 Charlottetown Mammoths 30 22 8 0.733 2 St. Patrick's Saints 30 21 9 0.700 3 Botley Bulls 30 20 10 0.667 4 Manchester Tigers 30 20 10 0.667 5 Stratford Storm 30 19 11 0.633 6 Placidiana City Warriors 30 14 16 0.467 7 Wellington Polar Bears 30 13 17 0.433 8 Patriotes de Toureuil 30 12 18 0.400 9 Dover Pheasants 30 11 19 0.367 10 Trevona BC 30 10 20 0.333 11 Summerside Jets 30 9 21 0.300 12 Georgetown Puffins 30 9 21 0.300

by **Hudson Islands** » Mon Jan 08, 2018 8:11 pm

TRADE DEADLINE

Here were all the deals from the 2018 Trade Deadline.

SAINTS RECEIVE:
C Kevin Lynch

JETS RECEIVE:
2019 2nd Round Draft Pick
International Roster Spot

Ok, so the first deal of the day was not a huge impact move. Kevin Lynch is a 36 year old center who has a good career that is coming to the end, he's a rotation guy who puts up 8.5 PPG and 5.7 RPG in back of the rotation minutes. He's a big man for the playoffs, and he won't cost much- potentially just the last pick in the draft and an international roster spot.

WARRIORS RECEIVE:
C Rasheed Harris
SF Finn Marsh

PUFFINS RECEIVE:
PG Kai Jenkins
PF Samir Kelliher
1st Round Draft Pick

Good bit of business for Puffins in getting 24 year old point guard Kai Jenkins who was not getting a ton of minutes for the Warriors but was performing in those minutes- he's a Placidbasket quality defender who still needs to find his shot. Rasheed Harris is a pretty good big man averaging 13 points and 7 boards a game, and Finn Marsh is a decent back of the rotation 3 and D guy.

SAINTS RECEIVE:
C Luke Johnson
PF Raul Duran
PF Asante Armstrong

PATRIOTES RECEIVE:
PG Andrew Pearce
SF Maverick Barry
PG Mychal Brennan
1st Round Draft Pick

This is likely the blockbuster we were waiting for, and this is a savvy bit of business for both sides as well. The Saints have decided that interior defense is something they're going to need if they're going to win the title this year, and Luke Johnson is one of the best. Raul Duran is a huge, strong body off of the bench that can do the same thing and can play a more power based offense. Asante Armstrong is also a big body, but he's more of a throw in. Meanwhile for the Pats, Andrew Pearce is a rookie and is hurt but was the Saints' first round pick last year. Mav Barry is only 22 and already a great defender, the Pats likely hope he can turn into a 3 and D guy. Brennan is the veteran of the bunch coming to Toureuil at 25, he's a decent all-around back of the rotation type player.

TIGERS RECEIVE:
SF Rahul Morgan

JETS RECEIVE:
C Andrea Cirillo

Woof. Morgan will make an impact on the Jets come playoff time, he can score and defend, but he's hurt until roughly the playoffs and is only 2 years younger than Andrea Cirillo, who is arguably the best player traded today. The Tigers were desperate to move Cirillo and it's surprising they got no better offers, except that as a top team, the Tigers weren't going to get any help from fellow title contenders. Still, that feels like a fleecing by Summerside.

MAMMOTHS RECEIVE:
SF Ryker Fowler

POLAR BEARS RECEIVE:
PF Arthur Lawrence
2nd Round Draft pick

Pretty inconsequential deal- Fowler is a good defender who can't score or handle the ball, giving him some value in the playoffs in specific situations. Lawrence is only 20 and has played very few Placidbasket minutes, but his ceiling seems to be about that of Fowler.

by **Hudson Islands** » Tue Jan 09, 2018 7:20 pm

Session 6

Mostly blowouts in round 31- the Tigers won by 12 on a big night from Noah O'Neill who put up 25 with 8 rebounds. The Warriors loss combined with the Patriotes win put Tourneuil just one win away from a playoff berth. Saints beat the Warriors by 17 on the backs of another big Damien Labonté effort. Patriotes won with a big 20 point effort from Nathaniel Wright off of the bench, the only remaining Patriotes player over 30. Charlottetown put a beatdown on Trevona but lost Evan Watson to a potential concussion- the young big man has been one of the most impressive performers in the league this year, so the first place Mammoths hope he's not out for long.

It's rare we'd lead with a Trevona-Wellington game, but the Polar Bears won on a nearly half-court three as a buzzer beater after a bungled inbounds pass to Miguel Angel Alonso, which he was able to make anyway. Jahjesh vs. JoJo round 3 this season went to Jahjesh once again, he put up a season high 41 points in the Bulls' domination of the Jets. The Storm beat the Tigers and the Saints destroyed the Mammoths (no longer able to rely on their down low weapon Evan Watson), and suddenly the table showed the Mammoths and Saints tied on 23-9, each with two games up on second place.

This week's player of the round was Raul Nunez of the Mammoths, the sixth man point guard put up a rare point guard (non-Labonté) division triple double, with 11 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. This was a result of Nunez being assigned to guard Kai Jenkins, who had a rough night driving to the bucket. Saints squeaked out of Wellington with a 3 point win, they got a big night from Antonello Ciufo. We so infrequently get to say good things about Trevona, so let's give props to Anouk Bernard, who put up 11 and 10, feeding Mickaël Deslauriers, who scored 29.

Bummer for the Warriors, losing to Charlottetown and losing newly acquired Finn Marsh to an ankle sprain in the process. The Saints ran and spread the offense all over Patriotes, who looked like a lower league team. Dover destroyed a pretty good Stratford team thanks to a 28 point game from Jaylen Morris. Dover will need to re-sign him in the offseason, and he's looking like he may be a £10m+ player. Jahjesh scored 33 and his Bulls demolished Trevona, whose win streak got snapped at...one.

Tigers got dropped big time by a tiny Mammoth lineup- the most common lineup used in this game included only one player over 6'7. The Warriors are trying to build separation on sixth place and got a little bit with a big win over the Bears thanks to a strong performance from PG Nathaniel Jennings. The Saints beat the Bulls on the backs of yet another Damien Labonté triple-double. The Jets moved back out of last place, which shows that the team may want to tank, but the players don't.

The Warriors now have a two game grip on the last playoff spot as the playoff picture is starting to look fairly secure. Saints and Mammoths both won big, and both now have a 3 game lead on third place, meaning they should each get the first round bye. Things are looking bleak in Summerside, as the players had a players-only meeting after the game. You can tell there is some turmoil there. Georgetown seem to mostly beat good teams, as they beat Jahjesh and the Bulls by 2.

Don't you desperately want the playoffs to be here? How is your playoff fever? We have great doctors and hospitals here on Hudson Islands, and if our playoff fever is getting to be too much, I recommend a visit. We can officially now diagnose that neither the Summerside Jets nor the Georgetown Puffins have playoff fever, as both were eliminated from playoff contention in Round 37. Player of the round was Stratford's Jabari Mason, who scored 30 and had 7 assists.

Code: Select all: Pld W L Win % 1 Charlottetown Mammoths 37 28 9 0.757 2 St. Patrick's Saints 37 28 9 0.757 3 Manchester Tigers 37 25 12 0.676 4 Stratford Storm 37 24 13 0.649 5 Botley Bulls 37 23 14 0.622 6 Placidiana City Warriors 37 17 20 0.459 7 Dover Pheasants 37 16 21 0.432 8 Wellington Polar Bears 37 15 22 0.405 9 Patriotes de Toureuil 37 14 23 0.378 10 Trevona BC 37 12 25 0.324 11 Summerside Jets 37 10 27 0.270 12 Georgetown Puffins 37 10 27 0.270

by **Hudson Islands** » Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:43 pm

SESSION 7

The Puffins may have lost out on the first pick in the draft thanks to a last second layup from Guiscardo D'Esposito. The Puffins now hold one game over the Jets for 11th place after a complicated matchup between two groups of basketball players who want to win and two groups of basketball fans who want to lose. Meanwhile, the Saints lost to fellow small-ball runners Dover, who were led by 21 year old Alexy Anderson, a rookie of the year contender. He put up 23 points in the effort. However, the Saints didn't fall behind Charlottetown, as they also lost 82-74 to Jahjesh and Botley.

Placidiana City is inching closer to guaranteeing the 6th and final playoff spot with an 82-76 win over Summerside. Nathaniel Jennings put up 14 points and 14 assists in their win. Manchester barely eked past Patriotes, but the win combined with the Charlottetown loss put them only one game out of the first round bye. Louis Montgomery of Stratford was the player of the round, putting up 34 points.

This close to the playoffs, a Tigers-Saints matchup was delicious, and the Tigers crushed St. Patricks pretty handily in Manchester. Noah O'Neill put up 25 points and pretty much had his way with Cristaldo Vega, who was assigned to guard him. The Warriors eliminated the Pheasants from playoff contention thanks to a 30 point game from Isaac Moreno. Jahjesh Singh scored 29 points against Patriotes.

Manchester squeaked into second place and the bye after their hard-fought won over the Bulls. Despite the losing effort, Bulls' center Roman Harrison scored 25 with 15 boards. The Mammoths are suddenly oddly cold going into the playoffs and their fans are concerned, as their shooting went cold against Dover. They need to get it together before the playoffs, they look like they may be playing in round 1! The Jets' 21 point loss to the Polar Bears all but clinched the first pick in the draft.

Charlottetown won, Manchester lost, St. Patrick's lost, and all three teams are tied at 30 wins. The Warriors win clinched the last playoff spot, but there's a lot still to play with two games to go...

Who saw the Saints playing in the first round?! They've now lost to Charlottetown and Manchester in recent rounds, which is concerning going into a part of the season where they mostly play against those teams. Also, don't look now but the Jets have won two in a row! JoJo Allen put up 31.

...And that's a wrap on the 2018 Placidbasket regular season. Tigers clinched a first round bye with a tight victory over a very game Warriors team, who will be facing Saints in round one. Saints got a disappointing loss on the last day of the year against the Polar Bears, who were led by Miguel Angel Alonso's 25. Charlottetown got the other first round bye thanks to Ciro Caporaso's 24 points.

Code: Select all: Pld W L Win % 1 Manchester Tigers 44 32 12 0.727 2 Charlottetown Mammoths 44 32 12 0.727 3 St. Patrick's Saints 44 30 14 0.682 4 Stratford Storm 44 27 17 0.614 5 Botley Bulls 44 26 18 0.591 6 Placidiana City Warriors 44 23 21 0.523 7 Dover Pheasants 44 21 23 0.477 8 Wellington Polar Bears 44 21 23 0.477 9 Trevona BC 44 14 30 0.318 10 Patriotes de Toureuil 44 14 30 0.318 11 Summerside Jets 44 12 32 0.273 12 Georgetown Puffins 44 12 32 0.273

ROUND ONE:
(Best of Three)
ST. PATRICKS vs. PLACIDIANA CITY
STRATFORD vs. BOTLEY

by **Hudson Islands** » Thu Jan 11, 2018 6:37 pm

PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE
St. Patrick's Saints 86–63 Placidiana City Warriors
Stratford Storm 95–74 Botley Bulls

Placidiana City Warriors 68–71 St. Patrick's Saints
Botley Bulls 66–79 Stratford Storm

Both Stratford and St. Patricks got quick Round One sweeps- the Bulls were never really in either game despite two strong outings from Jahjesh Singh. The Saints blew the Warriors out in game one, but in Placidiana City it was a much closer affair. The Warriors led 41-38 at halftime, but Cristaldo Verga went on a 7-0 run. That's right, Verga went on a 7-0 run, all from Verga, who also got a steal. That helped turn the game around, and whilst the Saints never led by more than 5, they held out until the end.

SEMI FINALS
Charlottetown Mammoths 72–83 St. Patrick's Saints
St. Patrick's Saints 90–85 Charlottetown Mammoths
Charlottetown Mammoths 67–75 St. Patrick's Saints
St. Patrick's Saints 75–63 Charlottetown Mammoths

Manchester Tigers 76–59 Stratford Storm
Stratford Storm 83–74 Manchester Tigers
Manchester Tigers 84–70 Stratford Storm
Stratford Storm 84–63 Manchester Tigers
Manchester Tigers 85–70 Stratford Storm
Stratford Storm 76–69 Manchester Tigers
Manchester Tigers 71–62 Stratford Storm

The home team won every single game in the Tigers-Storm series, and the Saints won every single game of the Saints-Mammoths series setting up the final we all saw coming from far away...

PLACIDBASKET FINALS
Manchester Tigers 81–77 St. Patrick's Saints
St. Patrick's Saints 84–90 Manchester Tigers
Manchester Tigers 67–66 St. Patrick's Saints
St. Patrick's Saints 77–84 Manchester Tigers

What a disappointment! After a fairly fun season, the Tigers just absolutely blew the doors off of the Saints, who seemed rusty after the long break. Bradley Walker was the series MVP averaging 24.25 PPG and playing tremendous interior defense. The Saints looked largely useless and were incapable of doing anything but playing outside basketball- their 3 point shooting wasn't abysmal, but without the ability to go down low they were left high and dry.

CONGRATULATIONS TO MANCHESTER TIGERS!

by **Hudson Islands** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 4:49 pm

YOU CAN'T STOP PROGRESS? THE CHANGING WORLD OF FOOTY.

The Hudsonian Football Championship is big business in Hudson Islands, but can it conquer the world?

BOTLEY- The Hudsonian Football Championship will kick off it's 83rd season, and the 19th of the professional era in a few months, and footy fans who prefer to live in the old ways may be in for a shock. With each passing season, the game looks more and more different from the rough and tumble "run into the line and kick it high" era of years past. Indeed, the current game features less straightaway running than ever before- modern teams have been encouraged to offload more in the hopes of dragging defenders out of position or giving fullbacks enough time to set up for a perfect short kick to a forward running winger. In response, teams are also making frequent substitutions, often utilizing three or four forward players who strictly play defense, and with the increase in pass-kicks, are being required to carry backs who can defend wide players looking to receive forward kicks. This increased specialization is bringing the game more in line with a sport like gridiron football, and progressive teams have considered international scouting in the search for new players.

Indeed, searching outside of the Islands is seemingly half of the objective of the Hudsonian Football International Championship, along with an effort to grow the game internationally to bring eyeballs to HFC footy. There have been rumors that scouts from Botley, Wellington and Stratford have been scouting the World Bowl and Rugby World Cup in hopes to attract some players to potentially code-switch and come play the sport of Hudsonian Football. And of course, the extra money from bringing the sport worldwide can't hurt either- although critics are concerned that foreign money into Hudsonian footy would likely favor the bigger clubs and could reduce the level of parity in the competition.

HFC commissioner Alexander Ford III was glowing when speaking of the potential of "the International". "I think everyone who loves footy should be very excited for the competition and the promise and potential it brings- I don't expect to see footy become as big as association football worldwide in my lifetime, but we'd love to get it on the level of gridiron or rugby union or basketball. I think Hudsonians would love to be able to visit other countries and be able to watch the local footy and to talk footy with the locals- I think this is a sport that can unify the multiverse."

Critics however are saying that the competition is a naked cash grab and that the quality of football will be very poor. Ford's response to these allegations was simple- "These are going to be very talented athletes competing, and you've got to walk before you can crawl. And if you think wanting to expose our sport to the world is a cash grab, then I suppose that's what this is."

SEE ALSO:
Jahjesh Singh: "Bulls Can Win Title Next Season.
Placidbasket Free Agent Frenzy: Who WIll Your Team Focus On?
Should Hudson Islands Participate In The Olympics?

by **Hudson Islands** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:10 pm

INFINITE LAUNCHES 2018 HFC KITS

BOTLEY- Infinite, the official uniform and apparel provider of the HFC, has unveiled the all 18 home and away kits for the 2018 season. They will be available for sale at Infinite.hi and HFCShop.hi starting tomorrow. Each shirt is made from the "Infinilite" material, for maximum moisture wicking and to feel as light as possible on our footy stars. The replicas will retail for £65 and will be made in a roomier cut and less breathable material. The authentics will retail for £90 and be identical to the shirts worn on the pitch.

by **Hudson Islands** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:25 pm

Better Know an HFC Club!

With the 2018 HFC season not too far away and the league ready for its' first ever international close up, it's time to meet the 9 HFC Clubs! This post will be updated regularly until all 9 clubs have been written up.

BOTLEY FC

Who Are They?: The Hudsonian Football Championship's most famous and most decorated club, the Botley FC Blues have won 24 championships, most recently last season.
Where Do They Play?: Botley FC play at Placid Airways Park, which seats 22,000 people. Botley is the largest city in the Hudson Islands, along with its' political and financial capital. Botley is home to both Botley FC and Club Placidiana, and the metropolitan area also includes Holgrave United. Botley's fans tend to be wealthier and more urban, and they have a reputation for being on the quieter side- although many of their less well off fans will allege this is because ownership has begun to price out the "ordinary fan". Many Hudsonian celebrities famously support Botley.
What Are Their Traditions?: The Blues play a song called "Paint The Future Blue" after each victory. After each Botley goal, the PA announcer will let the fans announce the surname of the goalscorer. (For example, the announcer would say "Goal kicked by #11, Leo" and the crowd would should "MYERS!") The Blues' anthem singer, Cheryl Norris-DiNucci is locally famous for her enthusiasm and after finishing the song will always shout "COME ON YOU BLUES!"
Who Are The Key People?: The star is 31 year old Fullback Leo Myers, who is not far away from being the club's all time leading goal kicker. The next generation is 23 year old Center Mason Lyons, who may wind up getting moved to the wing. They also have big forward Gideon Campbell, who led the league in tackles last season.

CLUB PLACIDIANA

Who Are They?: Eighteen times champions of Hudsonian Football, Club Placidiana are the other team in Botley. They won the title in 2015 and 2016, and their rivalry with Botley FC is the fiercest rivalry in Placid Ocean sports. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but it may be one of the fiercest in sports full stop, but we're still learning a little bit about the world. Club Placidiana are nicknamed "The Eagles", along with occasionally "The Placid Ones", and "The Locals".
Where Do They Play?: They also play in Botley, at the National Football Stadium, which seats 25,000 people. Botley's fans tend to be more working class and suburban, and the crowds are much rowdier than at Botley FC. Placidiana is the name of the neighborhood that they used to play in, and they still have almost 100% support in the neighborhood. Their current stadium is technically in the neighborhood of Bridgeton.
What Are Their Traditions?: The Eagles play a song called "Where Eagles Dare" when they win. Their fans award a commemorative plate to the player of the game after each game- the plate usually includes a disparaging cartoon of their opponent. The Eagles have a "sibling" rivalry with Holgrave, as they're both poorer/more suburban rivals to Botley- many Placidiana fans say their ideal league table is Placidiana first, Holgrave second and Botley having folded.
Who Are The Key People?: 24 year old Half-Back Sa'Tal Doha is the ideal future star for this club and the league- indigenous and a tremendous all-around player, he is from the area and has connected deeply with the fans. Veteran Fullback Edward Turner does much of the goal kicking. Their manager Patrick Jones-Bryce is one of footy's more innovative and progressive coaches, which connects well with the club's general vibe. He is beloved, having led the team to the 2015 and 2016 titles.

DOVER FC

Who Are They?: Nine times champions of Hudsonian Footy, most recently in 2011, Dover FC are nicknamed "The Golden Boys", "The Stars" and "The Royals".
Where Do They Play?: Dover FC play in Dover, a small city on the West Island of Hudson Islands. Their stadium is the 17,500 seat Veterans Stadium, located right downtown. Dover has easy access to forest, mountains, and coastline, making it pleasant for anyone who is into the outdoors. Culturally it not as progressive as some other parts of the country, although they are beginning to get many immigrants from the rest of Placid Ocean because of the high quality of life.
What Are Their Traditions?: The Golden Boys play a song called "Dover Is My Home" after they win. Dover's fans are fairly loud and travel fairly well- there's usually a pocket of Dover supporters at opposing grounds. The Dover Telegraph newspaper publishes a centerfold spread of a Dover player's face during each matchday that has become a popular crowd accessory in recent years. Their goal horn is famously very annoying.
Who Are The Key People?: Dover have one of the league's strongest cores but also have a lot of poor players and players who are on albatross contracts. The three key men are Fullback Nathan Lane, Quarterback Maverick Carpenter and Forward Bakari Berry. Carpenter is an excellent kicker, but Lane is their main place kicker. There are rumors in Dover that Carpenter may be moved to halfback shortly, although he provides more value as a runner than anything else.

GEORGETOWN FC

Who Are They?: Georgetown FC have won the league three times, most recently in 2004. Their 2004 title ended a 51 season drought, so you can say that this is occasionally a long-suffering franchise. They are sometimes known as the "Reds", "The Flames", "Georgie" or "The G's".
Where Do They Play?: Georgetown FC play in the rough and tumble coastal city of Georgetown, at the Burnside Stadium, which seats 19,750. Georgetown is a working class city with a lot of beaches and a lot of history. Georgetown is home to the "Georgie Sandwich", a seafood and cheese sandwich that is beloved by locals but considered odd by many outsiders.
What Are Their Traditions?: When the G's win, they play a song called "Spark A Fire". Georgetown's fans are a paradox- one of the most passionate supporter bases in the league, along with being one of the most cynical. However, they are both sore winners and sore losers, so despite their lengthy drought they are not particularly lovable. Reds fans are honestly probably totally fine with that.
Who Are The Key People?: Halfback Ian Davis-Payne is a superstar of Hudsonian Footy, an absolutely tremendous passer and the all time Hudsonian Football leader for goals kicked by a Halfback, as he was assigned place kicking duties years ago. 21 year old Charlie Burke is one for the future, although management is uncertain what position to use him at- he looks likely to wind up as a Winger because of his speed and competence defensively, but he fancies himself a kicker as well.

HOLGRAVE FC

Who Are They?: Three times champions, though never in the professional era- their last title was in 1988. Formed in 1969, they won titles in 1972 and 1976, immediately building a huge fanbase at the time. They are nicknamed the "Niners" for being the ninth team, along with the "Lilywhites" and "Kings of the Metropolitan" (or "Kings" for short).
Where Do They Play?: Holgrave is a suburb of Botley, and Holgrave has one of the smallest geographical areas of support. They play at the XBET Arena, which seats 15,000, and is always packed. There is almost nothing notable about Holgrave as a place, aside from its' tremendous density and fairly significant immigrant population. Tourists rarely find themselves there, except if they are visiting supporters taking a trip to the XBET.
What Are Their Traditions?: When the Niners win they sing a song called "We Rise Above". The crowd always goes especially wild for their ninth goal of the game if it occurs, and will sing "Number Nine!" repeatedly if it happens. Fans also win a voucher for a free pizza from a local chain if they attend a match where Holgrave scores nine. For whatever reason, Holgrave specifically tends to have a lot of supporters with jerseys with their own name on the back- it's a community thing. Fans often will say "Hey (Name on Back), lookin' good!" to one another in the stands during stoppages in play, which is a little jarring to people unfamiliar with it.
Who Are The Key People?: Holgrave's best player is Forward Ravi Hunt, who is young and in need of a new contract- Holgrave sometimes struggle to maintain their best players, so expect there to be a full court press in effort to keep him around. Hunt is a highly competent runner, so he may get moved to Center. Quarterback Max O'Hurley-Windhurst is also a fan favorite.

by **Hudson Islands** » Tue Jan 16, 2018 4:48 pm

Better Know an HFC Club, part Two!

ROSE CITY FC

Who Are They?: Six-time champions of the league, most recently in 2001, Rose City FC are maybe the third biggest team in the league, behind the two Botley sides. They are creatively nicknamed "the Three Roses" (or just "The Roses"), or "RCFC".
Where Do They Play?: The Roses play in Rose City, the largest city on the West Island and arguably the "cultural" capital of the country. They play in the 20,000 seat RamTel Stadium. Their fanbase tends to skew a little more multicultural and a little younger than other clubs, and like the Botley sides, they tend to attract fans from other places who align more with the "Rose City vibe". Still, there has been some criticism of ownership for raising ticket prices in recent years in order to compete. Rose City itself, like most Hudsonian cities, is coastal and has access to a lot of wildlife, but is not necessarily a "beach" town.
What Are Their Traditions?: When they win, RCFC plays the song "The Sun Is Always Shining On Rose City". After a win, the player of the game is awarded a rose from the leader of one of the fan groups. Their main rival is Dover, and those games are always very spirited.
Who Are The Key People?: 25 year old Quarter-Back Felix Simon is the highest paid player in the league, and the Three Roses will need to break the bank to keep him around. He is among the league's best all-arounders, leading the league in yards gained last season and also chipping in some goals. The club is also very fond of Alexander Gardner, a 31 year old forward who is still among the best players in the side.

STRATFORD UNITED

Who Are They?: Stratford United are three-time champions of the league, and were formed in 1965 through the merger of two Stratford clubs, the Stratford Greens and the Stratford Roughriders. Neither team was particularly successful, so a merger seemed necessary to keep the team alive. They are thus nicknamed "United", "The Greens" or "The Roughriders".
Where Do They Play?: Stratford is an up and coming city on the interior of the East Island, surrounded more by forests and mountains than suburbs. Their stadium is called the James Winter Memorial Stadium, and it seats 16,500. Many people in the area are employed in energy, as there is a hydroelectric dam, along with wind and solar power farms in the area that provide energy to most of Hudson Islands.
What Are Their Traditions?: When the Greens win, they play a song called "We Are United". The rabid fanbase tends to prefer a rough and tumble, hard-hitting, lunchpail sort of footy and favors those types of players. They are maybe more apt to give a huge cheer to a hard hit than to a beautiful goal, although the changing demographics are impacting this.
Who Are The Key People?: The most popular player is forward Callum Rose, a hulking brute of a man who has played his whole career for Stratford, but the fans may fall in love with rookie Kian Hussein, the top pick in the draft. At only 19 he seems to already possess the running skills of a star, it'll be important to find a good position for him and get him regular playing time.

VICTORIA FC

Who Are They?: 13-times champions of Hudsonian footy, most recently in 2013, Victoria FC are a historically very successful side, nicknamed "Vicky", "The Union" and "The Red And Orange".
Where Do They Play?: Vicky plays at the 21,000 seat HIIC Park, the nation's first retractable roof footy stadium. Victoria is historically a very progressive, working class city that loves a drink. Hudsonians are occasionally seen as gruff and impolite, but never in Vicky, the city voted "The Friendliest in Hudson Islands".
What Are Their Traditions?: Win OR Lose, they will play a song called "Power To The People", along with "The Internationale". The Union have a generally far-left supporter base and are unafraid to mix politics and football, as such they are a popular team with the indigenous and non-ethnically Hudsonian crowds. As much as they have any rivalries, they tend to especially dislike Botley (as many do), but it's not really reciprocated.
Who Are The Key People?: 29 year old Fullback Simon Power is one of the game's best goalscorers, but at the moment he's really the only great player on this Victoria side.

WELLINGTON FC

Who Are They?: They are the long suffering Wellington FC, only twice champions of Hudsonian Football, most recently in 1974. They are nicknamed "The Sharks", and attempted to officially rename themselves Wellington Sharks FC, but the tradition obsessed HFC gently coerced them into not doing so.
Where Do They Play?: They play in the highly laid back coastal city of Wellington, at the 16,500 seat Wellington Community Park. Wellington is fairly wealthy and the city is best known for its tremendous weather and many beaches more than any cultural achievements.
What Are Their Traditions?: When the Sharks win they play the song "Into the Deep". The Sharks have a mascot named Wellie who routinely will harass opposition players and fans from the edge of the sidelines and has been ejected on more than one occasion.
Who Are The Key People?: Perhaps the most key person is manager Trevor Baines-Owen, who is trying to build a strong squad on a shoestring budget and has eschewed traditional stars in place on fielding a roster without any key weaknesses.

by **Hudson Islands** » Tue Jan 23, 2018 11:55 am

Soccer: What Is It And Why?
We Love Our Basketball. We Love Our Footy. The Rest Of The World Loves Soccer- Can We Possibly Fathom Why?

Soccer's history in Hudson Islands is brief- it's popular in the rest of the world, including the majority of Placid Ocean, but it has always been seen as something of a foreign oddity. 12 (editor's note: 11) players kicking about a nice round ball, looking like they don't have a care in the world. In theory with all of our athletic prowess and all of our money, we could be a super power in the world of soccer, but technically we've never even entered the World Cup and it'd be generous to even refer to Hudson Islands as a nation that has ever spent much time thinking about the sport. However, if economics class has taught us anything, money can solve all our problems and all those with money are those who have earned it fairly and thus are more highly meritorious and deserving, which can never be questioned! Ergo, a cabal of wealthy types are looking to help Hudson Islands' newfound embrace of globalism by getting into the soccer game by forming the Hudson Super League: Presented By Hudbank.

Sure, it may be foolish to think that soccer could ever compete with the sold out arenas of Placidbasket and the Hudsonian Football Championship, but we have a lot of television channels now and more and more people are moving here from abroad, so let's give it a shot. With remarkably little fanfare the first season has already taken place featuring 12 teams consisting entirely of Hudsonian (and a few stray low level players from around Placid Ocean) "talent" on modest salaries, but there are already rumors that the plan for season 2 involves splurging on some major foreign talent to serve as mentors for the local players. As an effort to appeal to fans of existing sports, some of the team names make indirect references to other clubs in the same city, and most of the clubs are playing at existing Hudsonian Football stadiums, but with some of the seating tarped off.

Here's what happened in season one:

Code: Select all: Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 Holgrave Gulls SC 22 12 7 3 29 21 +8 43 2 Blueport United 22 12 4 6 45 32 +13 40 3 Botley Bears SC 22 10 6 6 33 24 +9 36 4 Manchester Cats SC 22 10 5 7 34 23 +11 35 5 Georgetown Crimson SC 22 10 5 7 37 30 +7 35 6 Wellington Waves SC 22 9 7 6 29 25 +4 34 7 Dover Hudsonians SC 22 9 6 7 21 20 +1 33 8 Twingate SC 22 7 7 8 30 36 −6 28 9 Summerside Bombers SC 22 7 6 9 30 29 +1 27 10 Broxton City 22 8 2 12 32 36 −4 26 11 Rose City Athletic 22 3 9 10 28 39 −11 18 12 Stratford Emeralds SC 22 1 4 17 18 51 −33 7

The champions were Holgrave Gulls SC, who will be Hudson Islands' first ever representative into the Champions' Cup. In as much as any Hudsonian soccer team is fashionable, Holgrave, true to their city, were not especially fashionable, playing a very defensive style led by goalkeeper Bobby Boyd and hard tackling defender Caleb Williams. Meanwhile, as much as any team in our little league could be exciting, runner up and Globe Cup entrant Blueport United were- playing something resembling (if you really squint) an all-action style led by 26 year old attacking midfielder Gabriel Garcia and strikers Jude Fraser and A.C. Daly. Fraser led the competition with 17 goals in 22 matches, and also as a result picked up the MVP award. Also entering the Globe Cup on our behalf will be Botley Bears SC- if rumors are to be believed, they are the most likely team to be splashing big cash next season when the league opens up to the outside world, and they will have Globe Cup soccer and lots of shopping to lure players in with. Any new arrivals will likely be in attack, as their squad is semi-sturdy with goalkeeper Owen Blanchet, promising young defender Frankie Roche and star defender Riley Lane. The final Globe Cup side will be Manchester Cats SC, whose leading scorer Archer Doherty scored 16 goals in 21 matches- Cats fans felt he should have been declared the scoring champion, not Jude Fraser.

Hudson Super League: Presented By Hudbank- Season 1 Best XI
GK- Owen Blanchet (Botley) Conceded the league's fourth fewest goals on the third most shots faced.
D- Ibrahim Barrett (Dover) Anchor of the league's best defense
D- Quenton Gibson (Blueport) Attacking fullback who was vital to the counter-attacking game of United.
D- Joseph Kennedy (Georgetown) Very tall and sturdy center-back.
D- Blake Parsons (Rose City) Dynamic fullback with tremendous speed.
MF- Alfie Robertson (Dover) The only Hudsonian player with significant time abroad, having played in Auguste du Nord, was an excellent box-to-box midfielder for a disappointing side.
MF- Elliot Green (Stratford) Stratford were abysmal but it wasn't his fault.
MF- Gabriel Garcia (Blueport) Tremendous pace and passing, some think he was the best player in the competition.
MF- Harley Bailey (Rose City) Controversial inclusion, contributed a lot to Rose City's attack because of his vision and pace, and is one for the future at 21, but may not have actually been one of the four best midfielders.
F- Archer Doherty (Manchester) Scored 16 goals in 21 matches.
F- Jude Fraser (Blueport) Scored 17 goals in 22 matches.

by **Hudson Islands** » Mon Jan 29, 2018 2:29 pm

5 STORYLINES FOR THE NEW HUDSONIAN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON!
A Guide To The 2018 Season

The 2018 Hudsonian Football Championship season is set to kick off shortly, and with the casual and new fan in mind, we present to you the top five storylines to watch out for this season-

1. New Talent
The Hudsonian Football International Championship may have had lukewarm results at the gate, but HFC clubs have signed five players who participated in the competition, the shining star of which is 26 year old Freydoun Rahnema of Banija, who signed a £5,000,000 deal with Club Placidiana to immediately join a star-studded group of backs including Sa'tal Doha, Edward Turner and Charlie Pearson. Allegedly all nine clubs were in on Rahnema, and Botley FC, rarely spurned, are very upset to have missed out on his signature. Rahnema, however, is just one of three Banijans signed to HFC contracts- Dover FC committed to 22 year old forward Kooroush Aslani and Holgrave FC picked up centre Mostafa Mashayekhi.

Alongside the Banijans, the stars of the International, there is also Tatton Taylor of Drawkland, who signed for Stratford United. Stratford are looking like potential favourites this season with the addition of Taylor, an ex-rugby union star in Drawkland, along with Kian Hussein (the first pick in the draft), and also Nicky Wright, also selected in round one. Long considered one of the more adventurous teams in the league, they're allegedly in contact with trying to get at least one other major rugby player to switch codes. Victoria FC have also been looking abroad extensively and the rumour mill is swirling that they may be close to putting pen to paper on contracts with two players from a major rugby nation.

Yet foreigners are not the only source of young talent- the 2018 draft class was also one of the deepest ever- even Botley picked up a blue-chip potential starter in the draft in forward Spencer Wynyard, whom they are very excited about. Other top picks that are likely to get starting jobs this season are Dover forward Patrick Good, a bruising big man, and Victoria quarterback Kyrie Gregory. All told nearly a dozen players in teams' best XIs on opening day look likely to be new to the Hudsonian Football Championship.

2. Botley FC- Will They Defend Their Title?

The Blues were heartbroken to miss out on Freydoun Rahnema, but in the offseason they seem happy with consolation prize Marquis Taituha, who they were able to sign away from Georgetown. Taituha is a surging winger that represents an upgrade on old Harvey Wright, who may well be on his retirement tour. Yet while they largely stayed the same, many teams around them managed to get better- their eternal rivals Placidiana added Rahnema and scooped up veteran centre Dougie Len on a 1 year deal. Their forward group is old and not as good as Botley's, but their attack is likely to be the best in the league. They currently do not have a starting gig for 22 year old quarterback Anil Singh-O'Neill, who may be a valuable trade asset. Rose City, meanwhile, also look poised to compete with the big two, especially if the league's highest paid player, Felix Simon, plays like the league's best player just as he did last year, which leads us to...

3. Felix Simon & Maverick Carpenter- Will They Stay Or Go?

There are two HFC superstars whose contracts are up after the season who are in undesirable situations, Felix Simon of Rose City and Maverick Carpenter of Dover. Rose City are one of the wealthiest clubs in Hudsonian Football yet currently have the league's second smallest wage bill, so money is no issue for Felix Simon- he's currently the league's best paid player and RCFC are willing to go even higher to keep him around. However, the reason he's on a one year deal in the first place is that he issued the club an ultimatum to demonstrate that they're committed to winning- by rights they did that this offseason by bringing in draft picks and young players, but the muckracking newspapers have been trying to link him to Botley FC for years, and HFC's leading runner may very well wind up there if the Three Roses don't perform better this year.

Mav Carpenter, meanwhile, may also be able to fill Botley's hole at quarterback, and is arguably better. Dover have over-committed money to albatross contracts- they have nearly £33 million tied up in old players who are likely to not even make the 16 on matchday one! Unless Mav Carpenter does not want a raise, they will almost certainly need to find a way out of some of these deals in order to retain Carpenter- the rumour mill will likely be churning all season long with different trades that may help them out. We'll see if management is willing to make a deal. Of course- there's the other issue of "Does Carpenter even want to stay?" and with the Golden Boys looking like they may be competing for a wooden spoon this year, it may be time for them to move on.

4. Is This The Year Wellington Break The Bank? Is This The Year Wellington Break The Glass Ceiling?

Wellington manager Trevor Baines-Owen tries to build a strong team through acquiring a deep squad of talented players from top to bottom, but the results thusfar have been middling- impressive only because of their small wage bill. With a new international sponsorship, pressure may be on Wellington to spend big money, but TBO responded by signing....nobody. Although they too are rumoured to be speaking with a prominent code-switcher, the Sharks' offseason transfer list is empty, adding only draft picks (18 year old forward Brent Martin is likely to have a starting job on opening day). Wellington's squad is very young, so the patience is understood. Their starting lineup should contain only two players over 26, but if they don't make a big jump this year there's a good chance the pressure will be on Baines-Owen.

5. Will The International Challenge Create an International Audience?

Hudsonian footy fans are likely tired of reading thinkpieces about the International Challenge, but multiversalism is changing the sport. The HFC has a fairly diverse base of players and fans...of Hudsonian citizenship, but at the moment there are no international television deals, one of the main objectives of the HFIC. (OOC: TG me if you're interested in broadcasting the HFC in your country!) Despite the (legitimate) objections of much of the rest of Placid Ocean to Hudsonian hegemony in the continent, HFC is getting it's first foreign players with no ties to Hudson Islands and only one of them (Malachy O'Dowd) is from elsewhere in Placid Ocean. If HFC really wants to grow, it's stubborn refusal to appeal to fans elsewhere in Placid Ocean is a big hindrance. This season HFC should be producing a highlights package in various languages to sell abroad, but at the moment they are doing no such thing, hoping foreign fans can find hudsonianfootball.hud can read/speak English. This is a failure, and hopefully it will be righted this season.

PlacidSport's Projected 2018 Standings
1. Botley FC
2. Club Placidiana
3. Rose City FC
4. Stratford United
5. Holgrave FC
6. Wellington FC
7. Victoria FC
8. Dover FC
9. Georgetown FC

by **Hudson Islands** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:32 am

2018 Season Part One!

ROUND ONE
Dover FC 9–12 Rose City FC
Club Placidiana 14–7 Georgetown FC
Botley FC 11–5 Wellington FC
Stratford United 12–4 Victoria FC

The 2018 season kicked off with the big Dover-Rose City derby, which was far and away the most spirited matchup of the round. Rose City were led by a very strong performance from Felix Simon, who kicked five goals from over 250 metres gained. Not only were the Golden Boys humiliated by losing at home to their arch-rivals, they also lost top prospect Patrick Good to an ankle injury that may keep him out for weeks and may sink their season before it even begins.

So far so good for the Freydoun Rahnema era for the Eagles, he chipped in two goals and had some excellent runs- his side had no trouble putting away the Reds 14-7 at the National. The Eagles' forward line isn't known for being overpowering, but they savvily tried to double-team Ian Davis-Payne all night and force the G's other backs to beat them...and they couldn't. Winger Charlie Burke in particular, usually a safe pair of hands, had a couple of key drops that turned into turnovers that killed Georgetown momentum.

Botley's title defence got off to an easy start as they held the Sharks to just five goals. The highlight of the match was a high risk attack wherein the Blues were clustered near the left touch line and Mason Lyons launched a cross-field kick that was caught by Marquis Taituha who was off to the races and kicked an easy goal from a short distance after he blew past the only Wellie defender near him.

Is there a curse at the top of the 2018 draft? Kian Hussein was also injured in Stratford's 12-4 decimation in Victoria- a disappointing debut for Victoria's pair of Lisander rugby league stars, Florentim Correia and Cesário Stunn, who signed a week before the season and were immediately inserted into the starting lineup. Neither looked particularly lost in the code switch, but Stratford are a tough week one opponent. Callum Rose and Ezra Moore built a wall, garnering 37 and 34 tackles respectively.

Player of the Week: None other than Sa'Tal Doha of Club Placidiana, who kicked six goals- including two where he broke the line and earned an uncontested down.
Dog of the Week: The injury bug, taking top picks Patrick Good and Kian Hussein.
Beef of the Week: The Dover-Rose City matchup featured a lot of pushing and shoving at the final whistle, with Dover's Jude Harrell specifically upset at the Three Roses' Lucas Fleming, who Harrell felt injured Patrick Good. After the match on social media Dover players Ahika Wagner and Zachary Cook both implied Rose City was a dirty team.

ROUND TWO
Wellington FC 11–6 Stratford United
Georgetown FC 13–11 Botley FC
Rose City FC 9–11 Club Placidiana
Holgrave FC 18–4 Dover FC

Wellie! They were singing "Into the Deep" at the Community Park after the Sharks easily handled Stratford in a wild one that was much closer than it looked- the score was 6-6 going into the fourth quarter when fullback Lucian Dixon went OFF- he was involved in four of the Sharks' five goals in the final period, directly setting up two (one to Owen Ellis, one to Tui Ray) and kicking two of his own- one from open play and one on a spot kick after a high tackle from Callum Rose.

Georgie!! If you thought that Wellington result was crazy, the defending champs got beat by one of the top wooden spoon contenders at the Burnside. This win over Botley will be something they talk about in Georgetown for a long time- Ian Davis-Payne had an all world performance absolutely running wild all over the Blues, showing why he may be the best player there is. It was a brutal introduction to the league for Spencer Wynyard, who got bowled over twice, once by Davis-Payne and once by Charlie Burke. Despite the loss, Archie Tiopira had a career high four goals for the Blues.

The Eagles are the only team at 2-0 after two rounds after they won a squeaker in Rose City. The backs were humming once again, creating tremendous pacing and succeeding on their high risk passes. Rose City's pack is one of the better ones around, but they did not have the speed to keep up. Unfortunately, Placidiana's forwards couldn't quite keep up with the Felix Simon-Daniel Robinson combo for the Three Roses, who were able to keep them in the game.

Things are not going well in Dover, as they traveled to Holgrave and got demolished 18-4. Holgrave's Charles Johnson picked up 8 goals, and it was a strong debut for Banijan centre Mostafa Mashayekhi. After the game the Dover players had a closed-door players only meeting- two rounds seems early for such an event, but who knows if anything can turn them around at this point.

Player of the Week: Charles Johnson of Holgrave- 8 goals is a tremendous outing, even if it was against woeful Dover.
Dog of the Week: Easy to pick on Dover's players, so instead we'll go with Stratford's Muhammad Lucas, who at 36 no longer has the pace to be a starter in the league- even if pressed as a result of the Hussein injury. Wellie's Winston Harrison torched him repeatedly.
Beef of the Week: Nothing especially notable, although the national newspapers are once again agitating for Mav Carpenter to head to Botley- the latest rumours suggest that currently Botley quarterback Benjamin Scott has been telling his agent he feels unwanted with the Blues and that he does not expect to be back next season.

by **Hudson Islands** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:45 am

2018 Season Part Two!

ROUND THREE
Club Placidiana 12–7 Holgrave FC
Botley FC 11–10 Rose City FC
Stratford United 15–8 Georgetown FC
Victoria FC 10–10 Wellington FC

A couple of procedural notes before the round- a pair of additional rugby union code switchers have signed HFC contracts- Savojar Valeri Kravchuk is a new forward for Stratford United, and Victoria FC have added Darmeni Anselm Ryder, giving them a total of three foreign players! The league also signed its' first television contract outside of Placid Ocean, with Busoga Public TV broadcasting Club Placidiana matches and an additional match of the week in Busoga Islands, with potential for imminent expansion into Banija. Banija may be a poor nation, but it seems to be taking to Hudsonian football, so HFC brass must be chuffed.

Footy is a beautiful sport- a ballet of the human condition, demonstrating all the magic the body is capable of, but also the frailty of these vessels we are given. The Club Placidiana-Holgrave matchup was a good example, a fantastic footy match (there were three this week!) but also a heartbreak for both sides. The Eagles grabbed their third consecutive win but new star Freydoun Rahnema left the game in the third quarter with an undisclosed injury. For everyone's sake, we hope he is back soon. Meanwhile, Holgrave's big forward Ravi Hunt landed awkwardly after tackling Scott Hurst and had to be stretchered off with an apparent back injury- although post-match reporting indicates it is solely muscular and he is not expected to be out for long.

The Blues and Roses played a slugfest with many lead changes, but ultimately "Paint The Future Blue" rang out into the Botley night. Rose City had last possession but were unable to break the Blue pack and were forced into a very long field goal at the death. They set up Felix Simon from very long distance, but his kick was just wide as the final whistle blew. Botley's best on the ground was young Callum Wagner who looks ready to get more minutes and whose rookie contract is about to run out. Keep your eye on him for the future.

Stratford beat Georgetown 15-8 in an unremarkable blowout. Georgetown's forwards are perhaps the weakest group in the league and they were repeatedly victimised.

Victoria and Wellington played the season's first draw in a beautiful match. Anselm Ryder got a trial by fire after immediately being thrust into the match in the first quarter after an injury to forward Elliot Davies and he acquitted himself well, getting involved on both sides of the ball. The Union's new Lisander duo both accumulated over 200 metres gained, although Florentim Correia missed a fairly short kick. Wellington gave Vicky fits by repeatedly switching up the attack with long overhand offloads (for those new to Hudsonian football, the ball is slightly closer to an American football than a rugby ball, so whilst rugby style short passing is still much more common for safety reasons, some teams may choose to pass backwards overhand across the field, a tactic Wellington used often in this match). Victoria's wingers and forwards were not able to keep up with Wellie's players in these one-on-one battles, although the Union's Liam Bull also intercepted one of these passes and ran for an easy down that he converted.

Player of the Week: Let's go with Wellington's Owen Ellis, far from a superstar, he still was the key winger for Wellington today.
Dog of the Week: Victoria's Kyrie Gregory is struggling despite his blue chip pedigree- the curse of the 2018 draft continues! He did not score a goal in Vicky's draw with Wellington despite three kicks for goal- he seems to have the kicking yips, we'll see if he's allowed to play through them.
Beef of the Week: Channel 5's Mitchell Daniels absolutely ripped into Rose City's Alex Gardner for what he felt was a dangerous tackle that was not called on Botley's Samuel Harrison that knocked him out of the game with a concussion. Daniels implied Rose City are an intentionally dirty team, which is now twice in three matches that has happened.

ROUND FOUR
Georgetown FC 7–6 Victoria FC
Rose City FC 12–10 Stratford United
Holgrave FC 6–6 Botley FC
Dover FC 9–12 Club Placidiana

Georgetown and Vicky played a technical footy festival, a clean game with only one penalty. It was a bit of a field position battle as there were few big breakouts, much of the match fell to long positional kicking. Ian Davis-Payne of Georgetown scored three goals.

The Three Roses notched a big win in a slugfest with the Greens. The lead changed hands 7 times, with Stratford leading 9-8 going into the fourth quarter. However, at the start of the fourth quarter Stratford lost HB Joshua Wells, which will certainly add to Rose City's rough and tumble reputation. There was a bit of a kerfuffle after the tackle, but it seemed to energise the Roses, who went on a run, led by Felix Simon and Prahir Power, who notched two big goals a piece.

Holgrave and Botley drew, but it felt like a win for the Suburban side. Whilst the Blues are still in second place, at 2-1-1 they are panicking a little bit, and they are certainly going to be stressing about blowing this one. The oft-reliable Archie Tiopira missed a fairly easy kick from about 25m that would have put the Blues ahead with 4 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and whilst their big pack was able to keep the Lilywhites from scoring again, they will be ruing that miss.

Dover were mercifully spared from losing last week by the bye, but a visit from the Eagles was always going to end badly for them. The Eagles got a bit of good news before the game, that whilst Freydoun Rahnema would watch that match from the coach's box, he'd be able to return next week. Meanwhile, Dover got less positive news about their top recruit Patrick Good- he'd be out for the rest of the season. The Stars put up an OK fight against the Eagles, and you cannot fault Mav Carpenter, who notched over 300m gained, but Placidiana were just too strong- Sa'tal Doha once again the star.

Player of the Week: Sa'Tal Doha is arguably the biggest star in the sport right now, and he put up another dominant performance this week with 278m gained, 4 goals and a pair of big goal assists late in the match.
Dog of the Week: Archie Tiopira- the Botley halfback missed a fairly easy kick late in the match that would have likely won it for the Blues, who are already a game and a half behind the Eagles.
Beef of the Week: A surprising one this week! Victoria's 21 year old forward Liam Bull called Georgetown's Ian Davis-Payne "the most overrated player in the competition" despite the loss. So far, no response from IDP, which makes sense- he has nothing to prove to a player like Liam Bull.

by **Hudson Islands** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:52 pm

2018 Season Part Three!

ROUND FIVE
Botley FC 13–2 Dover FC
Stratford United 10–6 Holgrave FC
Victoria FC 6–7 Rose City FC
Wellington FC 12–4 Georgetown FC

Dover are probably done, eh? Botley had absolutely no trouble dispatching the Golden Boys, who seem to be about ready to tank for the top draft pick, which will give us some time to discuss big Rapata Newton, the likely #1 pick in the 2019 draft. The 2019 draft is not as deep or good as the 2018 draft, but there's reason to believe in the 6'7, 259 pound Newton as a player to build around. If Dover end up with him, Patrick Good recovers from his injury and becomes the player Dover thinks he can be, and Bakari Berry doesn't regress, they'll have an elite pack (when you throw in Banijan Kooroush Aslani and Jude Harrell) next season, which may be enough of a selling point to keep Mav Carpenter, but they are going to need to shore up their financial situation.

Stratford got a convincing 10-6 win over Holgrave at James Winter Memorial, and it was the Kian Hussein show in his 2018 debut as he broke through for two big downs and converted them both, along with a goal from open play. He earned a total of 278 metres gained and even notched a few tackles. Holgrave have scored five more goals than they've conceded this season, but have only one win, so statistically there's reason for hope.

Vicky blew a 5-2 lead in a low scoring affair against a Rose City team that is currently in the mix. The Roses were once again driven by Felix Simon, who kicked three goals. Rose City are very impressed this season with 19 year old centre Alex Sutton, in his second season and first as a starter- he is being utilised more defensively than offensively but has become one of the team's go-to kickers for field position and his tackling ability is quite good. He had a very strong match today, as Channel 5's Mitchell Daniels gushed in the post-match broadcast.

Georgetown's forwards are just brutal, they seemed helpless against a fairly mediocre Shark attack that overcomplicated things for themselves by once again utilising the wings more than most teams and then switching up the point of attack with long offloads. This time the Georgetown defense was absolutely useless, but Wellington's attack took so much time they had remarkably few possessions. Georgetown fullback Sonny Edwards was considered one of the revelations of the season last season, but this year in a contract year he's seemed adrift in attack- Ian Davis-Payne is truly all on his own.

Player of the Week: It's almost unfair, since every fantasy footy player saw this matchup coming, but Leo Myers was transcendent against Dover, 7 goals, 381 metres.
Dog of the Week: Holgrave's forwards are the oldest group in the league, and they were far too slow for Stratford today.
Beef of the Week: Anil Singh-O'Neill's agent took a shot at Maverick Carpenter on social media site 280- "If Mav is worth £14m, Anil should get 10 on the open market. Anil has won more in less time."

ROUND SIX
Rose City FC 13–9 Wellington FC
Holgrave FC 9–12 Victoria FC
Dover FC 8–10 Stratford United
Club Placidiana 13–8 Botley FC

The Three Roses played a strong complete game in their 13-9 win over a game Sharks team that came to play. Despite losing halfback Daniel Robinson mid-match, their attack was still capable of breaking the cohesive Wellington line repeatedly, and their one on one defenders shut down any trickery from the Sharks. Prahir Power and Felix Simon each scored 3 goals for the Roses. The Sharks were led by 3 from Lucian Dixon.

Vicky notched their first win of the year on the road at a Holgrave side who are now panicking a bit about their underperformance. To make matters worse, the injury bug is starting to add up for the Niners, who lost winger Daniel Jones in this game. For the first time all season the Vicky backs kicked into high gear- the Lisander pair of Stunn and Correia both looked like their pedigrees, and Kyrie Gregory's kicking yips finally dissipated as he was 3 for 4.

Dover put up a fight but lost for the fifth time in a row to streaking Stratford, who, despite the close scoreline, were never really afraid of losing. They gave their bench players significant minutes in the second half of this match, and Alex Barker, who has gotten a bit of stick on social media from fans for being overrated, had a good match with 2 goals.

But when you saw the calendar for the 2018 season, you likely circled THE BIG ONE, so let's discuss the first Botley derby of the year. The Eagles had their way with the Blues, quite frankly! There was a lot of chatter in the media that Freydoun Rahnema would wilt under the pressure of this match, but he was admirable in his first ever Botley derby, breaking the line for a 51 metre run that he easily booted through the uprights at the death of the first quarter. Let's also give some great credit to Dougie Len, an underappreciated Eagle who distributed the ball magically- not a single one of his offloads was mishandled all match. This result puts Botley 2 wins behind the Eagles...who also have a game in hand! The Blues have to be very concerned, as a spot in the Grand Final is considered their birthright- changes may be coming imminently.

Player of the Week: If this is Felix Simon's last season in Rose City, he's acquitted himself well. He kicked three goals but was just as critical for his running, and he was on the field for every Rose City goal.
Dog of the Week: Even though it was the derby, it's crazy to think about Botley as the team that suffered the greatest defeat this week, so for the second time this season they provide the dog- this week it's forward Jack Harrison, who missed a few key tackles that led to big gains for the Eagles, including one on the 51m Rahnema run.
Beef of the Week: Sa'tal Doha, from Club Placidiana's post-match press conference- "I hope they feel as miserable as they played." Savage!

Code: Select all: Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1 Club Placidiana 5 5 0 0 62 40 +22 10 2 Stratford United 6 4 0 2 63 49 +14 8 3 Rose City FC 6 4 0 2 63 56 +7 8 4 Botley FC 6 3 1 2 60 49 +11 7 5 Wellington FC 5 2 1 2 47 44 +3 5 6 Georgetown FC 5 2 0 3 39 58 −19 4 7 Holgrave FC 5 1 1 3 46 44 +2 3 8 Victoria FC 5 1 1 3 38 45 −7 3 9 Dover FC 5 0 0 5 32 65 −33 0

by **Hudson Islands** » Fri Feb 02, 2018 10:09 am

2018 Season Part Four!

ROUND SEVEN
Stratford United 14–12 Club Placidiana
Victoria FC 14–7 Dover FC
Wellington FC 12–9 Holgrave FC
Georgetown FC 12–7 Rose City FC

ROUND EIGHT
Holgrave FC 10–7 Georgetown FC
Dover FC 5–8 Wellington FC
Club Placidiana 15–13 Victoria FC
Botley FC 18–4 Stratford United

ROUND NINE
Victoria FC 12–13 Botley FC
Wellington FC 10–10 Club Placidiana
Georgetown FC 13–14 Dover FC
Rose City FC 11–9 Holgrave FC

TABLE

Code: Select all: Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1 Club Placidiana 8 6 1 1 99 77 +22 13 2 Botley FC 8 5 1 2 91 65 +26 11 3 Wellington FC 8 4 2 2 77 68 +9 10 4 Rose City FC 8 5 0 3 81 77 +4 10 5 Stratford United 8 5 0 3 81 79 +2 10 6 Georgetown FC 8 3 0 5 71 89 −18 6 7 Holgrave FC 8 2 1 5 74 74 0 5 8 Victoria FC 8 2 1 5 77 80 −3 5 9 Dover FC 8 1 0 7 58 100 −42 2

Instead of straight match recaps this session, we're going to try something different. Welcome to Optimist/Pessimist! For each of the 9 HFC clubs, we'll give a reason to be optimistic and a reason to be pessimistic with half the season complete!

BOTLEY FC
Optimist- The loss to the Eagles really stung, and they feel entitled to lead the league wire-to-wire, but right know the Blues are in pretty good shape. Second place still means the Grand Final, and at +26 they have the best goal differential in the league. Until Benjamin Scott's injury in the Stratford blowout victory, they'd stayed relatively free of the injury bug. Their forwards have been absolutely exceptional as expected, and whilst the Blues have not been as tactically innovative as some other teams, they make fewer errors than any other team- no team in the HFC has fewer turnovers, and no other team allows less distance gained.

Pessimist- Well, first off, the Blues are not in first place, and will need to win the home derby in order to potentially be able to play a home Grand Final. They've also had some minor kicking troubles early in the season (although they've been worked out in the last two weeks)- Archie Tiopira, Marquis Taituha, Edward Patterson and Harrison Kennedy are all kicking at a lower efficiency rating than usual. Leo Myers is also having a slightly down season, his kicking is still impeccable but his 31 year old body can't take as much as it used to, and he's been subbed off for defensive possessions with some regularity.

CLUB PLACIDIANA
Optimist- They are in first place! They beat the Blues! They have scored the most goals in the league by some distance! Their big offseason foreign signing, Freydoun Rahnema, has had a great year! Sa'tal Doha is the best player in the world! There's really little to be concerned with if you're an Eagle fan, even if the last three weeks have been a little shakier than the first six...

Pessimist- Ok, we have to talk about the last three weeks I guess. Stratford and Wellington are both good opponents, but they more specifically exploited the Eagles' biggest weakness- tactics and defending the wide areas. Both teams roughed up the Eagles using precise kicking and long directional change passing, rather than a straight-ahead running game, and the Eagles' forwards and wingers were not quite prepared. The good news is that Botley doesn't play the new "progressive" footy, but the Eagles may need to adapt in the near future.

DOVER FC
Optimist- You'd think this would be the hardest part of this whole column to write, but honestly it's not that tricky. Dover fans are probably not enjoying watching their team get shellacked week after week (they did just squeak out a win AT Georgetown!!) but they'll enjoy the composition of their team next year if things break right. Yes, they need to shed salary, but next year a returning Patrick Good and likely #1 draft pick Rapata Newton will allow them to build a killer pack, and they may be able to shed some of the salary as a result of being the biggest seller at the coming trade period- they can package some dead money with a competent player like Malachy O'Dowd, Axel Harper or Wyatt Johnson and ask for nothing in return and still get better, knowing they can try to lure Mav Carpenter. Usually in such situations other teams know a side like Dover has no leverage because they need to retain a star, but there's 8 teams in HFC who have no desire to see Mav leave for the Blues, so they may be more apt to help.

Pessimist- This team is awful right now. No team in the competition gives more minutes to replacement level players than Dover- the Atkinson brothers are a joke up front, and their bench is incredibly thin- Bobby Hunter has been one of their minutes leaders this season and I'd expect him to be out of the league next year. They make a lot of unforced errors and their kicking has been atrocious- only Carpenter and Nathan Lane are kicking at an above league-average level.

GEORGETOWN FC
Optimist- Ian Davis-Payne is doing his thing, leading the league in Win Shares, but this is a rough team with nowhere in particular to go. There are rumours that they may be considering a full teardown shortly, and that may be the best plan of attack, Sonny Edwards hasn't been as good as he was last year, but he's still a strong fullback on cheap money- he may wind up the most valuable asset at the trade deadline.

Pessimist- All 9 teams are going in different directions, and Georgetown are maybe the only one who feel like they are in a holding pattern. They may be able to make up the numbers in a postseason game, but they won't be doing anything special for a few years.

HOLGRAVE FC
Optimist- The Niners have had rough luck but really aren't a bad team- their 0 goal differential suggests they're a lot better than their results, and they may be able to creep up an open table in the second half. They do the little things better than almost every other team- Banijan centre Mostafa Mashayekhi has been a critical part of their possession kicking game, both in passing and in turning the ball over- he's already established himself there, even if his pace is not exceptional. They also commit very few errors- they have the third fewest turnovers, and they also concede very few breakaway runs. There's a lot of reasons for Niner fans to be positive, so long as they don't want to play in the Grand Final.

Pessimist- They've gotten bit with the injury bug pretty bad, and neither Ravi Hunt nor Daniel Jones will likely be back this year. They also quite simply do not have a particularly dynamic attack- they lead the league in straightahead running. One has to think that with the other "small-market" teams trying to be innovative that Holgrave would have to join them if they want to compete in the near future.

ROSE CITY FC
Optimist- With 5 wins, they are very much in Grand Final contention, and they've been playing fairly well this season despite all their injuries, which is a testament to their depth. 19 year old Alex Sutton has been a revelation as the key distributor to the Three Rose attack, and their young forwards have filled in admirably for the injured starters. They even have some money to spend at the trade period, so they may be able to get better for the home stretch.

Pessimist- This season Rose City has earned a reputation for dirty play, and it's killing them. No team has conceded more penalties, and it killed them in their Georgetown matchup a few weeks ago. This is a young team, but discipline needs to be instilled fast.

STRATFORD UNITED
Optimist- Very much still in the chase, and have a win against the Eagles! There's a lot to like with the Greens, who are playing interesting and fast footy- with the injury to Harley Hopkins their starting backs have an average age of 21.5 and they are showing it, playing the "footy of the future" with a lot of long punted passes, short punted passes, dynamic direction switching, you name it. They are not afraid to take risks, and it's largely paid off (in part due to some very competent defending from the likes of Ezra Moore, Callum Rose and Savojar newcomer Valeri Kravchuk).

Pessimist- Consistency, consistency, consistency. This is a young team, but in consecutive weeks they beat the Eagles 14-12 and then lost to Botley 18-4. Playing the two Botley sides consecutively is a tough beat, but getting blown out by 14 is unacceptable for any reason. Their aggression has left them prone to being exploited by savvier teams, and that means that even though they are a contender for the Grand Final, you have to think that if they face one of the Botley teams they may get picked apart.

VICTORIA FC
Optimist- Sure their results have been disappointing, but this is a growing, rebuilding team that added three code-switchers this season. All three of them are getting better every week, as is Kyrie Gregory, who needed to adjust to HFC footy. They played highly competent games with the top two, and are looking more like a team to watch. With the season essentially over for them already, they may be the only other true seller at the trade period, with a couple of decent pieces (most notably LW Xavier Carroll) to offload.

Pessimist- This team does not kick goals very well, simply put. They're kicking a very disappointing 73% as a group on field goals (league average is 84%), and they simply have nobody they can fully trust on penalties. They actually are kicking better from open play than on field goals, which had led to them playing a little more conservatively, a major potential problem.

WELLINGTON FC
Optimist- Wow! Lots to be happy with here, the Sharks are this year's big overperformer and it can be quite simply narrowed down to three main causes. One is that no team has lost fewer man games to injury, which has been very helpful. Two is the surprising emergence of Owen Ellis as the key to their innovative new offense. And three is that innovative new offense, that like Stratford involves much less straightahead running than any other team.

Pessimist- These guys are pretty easily pushed around- the more physical teams have tended to get them off their game, and as word of that spreads you may see teams who are inherently less physical change their game up to beat them. The Sharks' luck with injuries is also not guaranteed to last forever, and although they play the most "team oriented" footy in the league, they do not have the deepest bench due to financial constraints.

by **Hudson Islands** » Fri Feb 02, 2018 2:06 pm

2018 Season Part Five!

ROUND TEN
Rose City FC 16–11 Dover FC
Georgetown FC 6–8 Club Placidiana
Wellington FC 12–11 Botley FC
Victoria FC 16–7 Stratford United

ROUND ELEVEN
Stratford United 16–4 Wellington FC
Botley FC 18–8 Georgetown FC
Club Placidiana 13–13 Rose City FC
Dover FC 8–10 Holgrave FC

ROUND TWELVE
Holgrave FC 9–13 Club Placidiana
Rose City FC 10–4 Botley FC
Georgetown FC 10–11 Stratford United
Wellington FC 7–9 Victoria FC

ROUND THIRTEEN
Victoria FC 15–4 Georgetown FC
Stratford United 9–10 Rose City FC
Botley FC 12–4 Holgrave FC
Club Placidiana 12–3 Dover FC

TABLE

Code: Select all: Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1 Club Placidiana 12 9 2 1 145 108 +37 20 2 Rose City FC 12 8 1 3 130 114 +16 17 3 Botley FC 12 7 1 4 136 99 +37 15 4 Stratford United 12 7 0 5 124 119 +5 14 5 Wellington FC 11 5 2 4 100 104 −4 12 6 Victoria FC 11 5 1 5 117 98 +19 11 7 Holgrave FC 11 3 1 7 97 107 −10 7 8 Georgetown FC 12 3 0 9 99 141 −42 6 9 Dover FC 11 1 0 10 80 138 −58 2

Music begins to play "It's the most wonderful tiiiime, of the yeaaar..."

That's right everyone, it's time for the TRADE PERIOD, the most exciting moments of the HFC season, when for one week there are no games, but all 9 teams are allowed to make trades with one another. We have three definite sellers in Holgrave, Georgetown and Dover, who seem unlikely to be playing postseason footy and want to build for the future. We have five likely buyers, and then Vicky who could go either way. The rumours are fast and furious, the storylines are many. Will Dover blow it up entirely? Will Botley splash their cash to try to get into the Grand Final? Who will make moves that set their team back a few years? It's all so exciting, let's get to it.

All moves are in chronological order

TRADE:
Georgetown sends FB Sonny Edwards to Wellington for C Tui Ray.

Analysis- This is an interesting one, Georgetown lost Ian Davis-Payne to an injury and clearly are trying to tank for the draft pick. Sonny Edwards is a high risk/high reward player who has proven this year he is not quite a flash in the pan but is not quite the status he earned for himself last season. The Sharks will also have to move Lucian Dixon to HB to accommodate Edwards. Wellington must however be confident enough they can re-sign Edwards if they traded for him. For Georgetown's part, Tui Ray is a decent project who at 19 gets a chance to grow in a low-stress environment. He has already shown himself as capable of doing the offensive parts of footy at a high level, but provides a negative defensive cover despite being a centre. Overall, we'll give a slight edge to Wellington here, but it could go either way.

TRADE:
Victoria sends F Rohan Matthews to Wellington for F Xander Stevens and a 3rd round draft pick.

This was a very savvy piece of business by the Sharks, who got a good rental defensive forward in Rohan Matthews at cost of a player whose peak is probably not as high, but is 3 years younger. Wellie are clearly bullish on the season, and seemed to want to make the first moves in order to send a message to the league. For Vicky fans, they got a little younger and likely wouldn't re-sign Matthews, so they didn't lose out here either.

TRADE:
Holgrave sends QB Max O'Hurley-Windhurst to Botley for QB Benjamin Scott, 1st round draft pick, 2nd round draft pick.

Wow. This was not the big move we were expecting. Scott is out for the season, but is an expiring contract- Holgrave essentially now gets the first shot at him, which is a good consolation prize considering they seemed to have some inside info that O'Hurley was leaving. Meanwhile, they also land two draft picks that may be late in the round but are useful assets to a team on a budget. They also seemingly deflated Dover's tires by undercutting the Mav Carpenter market, as Botley now have the goal kicking, speedy QB they wanted, albeit a much older one. It's entirely possible he is just a rental, but this move sent shockwaves through the market immediately.

TRADE:
Dover sends F Jude Harrell, C Malachy O'Dowd, HB James Mitrou-Long, LW Axel Harper to Club Placidiana for 3rd round draft pick.

Wow, once again. Dover shed a LOT of salary here, and all Placidiana really got out of it was a pretty good big man in Jude Harrell, some veteran leadership in Axel Harper and a piece of coal that may be a diamond in Malachy O'Dowd. It's safe to say the Eagles really don't want Botley to wind up with Mav Carpenter, so this almost seemed like a charitable move. Advantage: Dover, 100%.

TRADE:
Club Placidiana sends QB Anil Singh-O'Neill, RW Pascal Edwards to Stratford United for F Charlie Perkins

What on earth are the Eagles doing? Anil Singh-O'Neill looked like one of the most valuable deadline assets, so to swap him for a so-so forward like Perkins seems like madness. They save a little bit of money by moving on from Edwards, who at 32 has his best years behind him, but not enough to send away one of their best assets for seemingly no reason.

TRADE:
Holgrave send F Parker Hollis-Jefferson to Georgetown for LW Phoenix Bates

Classic footy trade- two mediocre players for one another- Georgetown needed some rotational forwards, Holgrave needed a rotational winger.

by **Hudson Islands** » Fri Feb 02, 2018 2:22 pm

2018 Season Part Six!

ROUND FOURTEEN:
Dover FC 5–8 Botley FC
Holgrave FC 10–10 Stratford United
Rose City FC 10–7 Victoria FC
Georgetown FC 5–8 Wellington FC

ROUND FIFTEEN:
Wellington FC 9–5 Rose City FC
Victoria FC 12–7 Holgrave FC
Stratford United 13–3 Dover FC
Botley FC 6–6 Club Placidiana

ROUND SIXTEEN:
Club Placidiana 11–14 Stratford United
Dover FC 8–14 Victoria FC
Holgrave FC 7–7 Wellington FC
Rose City FC 15–5 Georgetown FC

ROUND SEVENTEEN:
Georgetown FC 15–14 Holgrave FC
Wellington FC 12–4 Dover FC
Victoria FC 13–11 Club Placidiana
Stratford United 9–12 Botley FC

TABLE AFTER ROUND SEVENTEEN

Code: Select all: Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1 Club Placidiana 15 9 3 3 173 141 +32 21 2 Rose City FC 15 10 1 4 160 135 +25 21 3 Botley FC 15 9 2 4 162 119 +43 20 4 Stratford United 16 9 1 6 170 155 +15 19 5 Wellington FC 15 8 3 4 136 125 +11 19 6 Victoria FC 15 8 1 6 163 134 +29 17 7 Holgrave FC 15 3 3 9 135 151 −16 9 8 Georgetown FC 15 4 0 11 124 178 −54 8 9 Dover FC 15 1 0 14 100 185 −85 2

Round Eighteen matchups-
Botley vs. Victoria
Club Placidiana vs. Wellington
Dover vs. Georgetown
Holgrave vs. Rose City

Everything is on the line in round 18! With an effort to get the world's eyes onto the Hudsonian Football Championship, you couldn't draw it up much better than what we have in round 18. The top two go on to the Grand Final, third and fourth go on to the Third Place Final and fifth and sixth go on to the Fifth Place Final- I know this is an odd postseason for many foreigners, but the Third Place Final is also fairly prestigious. The Eagles, Roses and Blues are all competing for a Grand Final spot- Rose City seemingly has the easiest route- even though they are behind the Eagles in goal differential they travel to a Holgrave side with nothing to play for. The Blues may be currently on the outside looking in, but they have a home fixture with Vicky, who are good but don't have much to play for. The Eagles, in first, could wind up outside of the Grand Final if they struggle with a VERY strong Sharks team- who themselves are looking to leap into the Third Place Final.

ROUND EIGHTEEN:
Botley FC 22–6 Victoria FC
Club Placidiana 11–5 Wellington FC
Dover FC 10–12 Georgetown FC
Holgrave FC 8–11 Rose City FC

Well, that was a bit of anticlimax- only the meaningless Georgie-Dover game was close, and that was played at half speed. This season will go down as an utter failure for Botley FC, who consider the Grand Final their birthright. It will also go down as a bit of a shock for a Sharks side that looked prime to play in the Third Place Final.

FINAL 2018 TABLE

Code: Select all: Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1 Club Placidiana 16 10 3 3 184 146 +38 23 2 Rose City FC 16 11 1 4 171 143 +28 23 3 Botley FC 16 10 2 4 184 125 +59 22 4 Stratford United 16 9 1 6 170 155 +15 19 5 Wellington FC 16 8 3 5 141 136 +5 19 6 Victoria FC 16 8 1 7 169 156 +13 17 7 Georgetown FC 16 5 0 11 136 188 −52 10 8 Holgrave FC 16 3 3 10 143 162 −19 9 9 Dover FC 16 1 0 15 110 197 −87 2

POSTSEASON GAMES:
Fifth Place Final: Wellington vs. Victoria
Third Place Final: Botley FC vs. Stratford United
GRAND FINAL: Club Placidiana vs. Rose City

by **Hudson Islands** » Tue Feb 13, 2018 7:39 am

It's time for the postseason!

Fifth Place Final: Wellington FC 9–7 Victoria FC

All things considered, the Sharks will be happy to finish fifth this season- it was easy earlier on to think they may be a serious contender, but pre-season I think most Sharks fans would take fifth. There's reasons to be optimistic for the future, and this was a good stage for them to learn. Sonny Edwards looks like he's fitting in nicely with the Sharks, playing his best game of the 2018 season when it counts- kicking 5 of the Sharks' 9 goals and winning man of the match.

Third Place Final: Botley FC 16–6 Stratford United

This was a pissed off Blues side that knows they should be playing in the Grand Final and wanted to let the league know they'll be back next year. The media around this team is always crazy, and it was remarkably negative going into the week- it will be temporarily quieted thanks to an absolutely dominating performance. The Blues spread the ball around and got a starmaking turn from Callum Wagner, who has looked like he's been ready to break out for a while. With his contract up, he'll have a big offseason where he figures out his future.

GRAND FINAL: Club Placidiana 8–10 Rose City FC

Wow! All week coming into this matchup there was talk that this was the Eagles' title to lose, and that the big bruising Roses were just happy to be there. It was a good back and forth matchup between a fast and aggressive Placidiana and a tough defensive Roses side. The Eagles got off to an early 3-1 lead and profited from some excellent ball movement early on, keeping the Roses on their toes. Ultimately, however, the Roses seemed to adjust, sending Ravi Daniel and Alex Robinson way out wide and forcing the Eagles to go after them heads-up through the middle, where they had more trouble. The Eagles' kicking also let them down after a while, with Edward Turner, Sa'Tal Doha and Sonny Ryan all missing key kicks in the second half. The match had a wild ending as well, with Placidiana receiving the ball with about a minute left and down 9-8, on the second tackle Dougie Len went to make a safe offload to Ronan Foster, who mishandled the ball and it was recovered quickly by Alex Gardner of the Roses. Gardner, a rare goalscorer, just let loose a roaring kick that went through the posts to seal the match.

by **Hudson Islands** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 12:43 pm

2018-19 OFFSEASON PREVIEW

The fun never seems to stop in the Hudsonian Football Championship- seemingly just as soon as the champagne dried in the Rose City changing room, the 9 clubs were right back at it preparing for the new season. As the offseason begins, here are the storylines to watch for for each team.

BOTLEY FC
Last season: 3rd
Draft picks: 25th
Potential free agents: F Jack Harrison, F Asher Carpenter, QB Max O'Hurley-Windhurst, HB Callum Wagner, LW Harvey Wright, F Muhammad Fletcher

Nobody will be under more pressure this offseason than Blues manager David Regan, who is under eternal instructions from above to win the Grand Final. The Blues are always willing to spend money (and will be freeing up some big cash when Fletcher and Wright, part of the last generation of Blues, have their big contracts off the books), but will have some big decisions to make- is it worth continuing to rely on 32 year old Leo Myers? Is Max O'Hurley-Windhurst a long term solution? What will they do with young Callum Wagner, who looked like he could start in this league? Every rumor site has linked them with Maverick Carpenter, even after the O'Hurley trade, so by all accounts they should be one of the busiest teams this offseason.

CLUB PLACIDIANA
Last season: 2nd
Draft picks: 9th, 18th
Potential free agents: C Dougie Len, HB Thomas Bartlett, LW Axel Harper, F Toby Rice, QB Rajon Gallaher, C Ces Coleman

The Eagles were sad to have lost the Grand Final, but look to be in fairly strong position- Dougie Len is the only regular starter they need to retain, and they likely will have plenty of money. Like most teams, they are going to be looking to upgrade the forward position, although in all likelihood the free agent market will be thin. They may be interested in parting with some extra assets in order to move up in the draft, which seems unusually forward heavy.

DOVER FC
Last season: 9th
Draft picks: 1st, 10th, 19th, 27th
Potential free agents: QB Maverick Carpenter, LW Zachary Cook, C Wyatt Johnson, HB Bobby Hunter

Perhaps the key team to the offseason- they were atrocious last season, but have a lot of reasons to be optimistic, not the least of which being a potentially elite group of forwards assuming they use the first pick on Rapata Newton, considered a generational top pick. A full season from Patrick Good, along with Bakari Berry (getting old but still one of the league's best big men), and this should be a tough unit to score on. The question now becomes- how do they try to keep Mav Carpenter? Dover doesn't have the money (and some of it is tied up in old players) to give it to him AND to additional backs to try to score goals, so they will need to be innovative. Their best bet might be to try to work on a sign-and-trade and get a draft pick or low level asset out of it and start over- Berry aside, their team will likely be one of the youngest in the league next year no matter what.

GEORGETOWN FC
Last season: 7th
Draft picks: 3rd, 12th, 21st
Potential free agents: F Jagmeet Lane, LW Charlie Burke, LW Kent Hicks

The rebuild is on. Seemingly going nowhere, latest reports suggest Georgetown is open to moving on from Ian Davis-Payne, perhaps their all time greatest player. The halfback is 30 and has two years left on his deal, and although he's the league's highest paid player he's also one of it's best. The Lilywhites will need to retain Charlie Burke, a burgeoning star, and if they can get a savvy enough return for IDP can potentially set themselves up to be a strong team in the near future. Rumor also has it Georgetown has been inspired by the success of foreign code switchers and will be reaching out to some in the offseason.

HOLGRAVE FC
Last season: 8th
Draft picks: 2nd, 7th, 11th, 16th, 20th
Potential free agents: F Robert Taylor, QB Benjamin Scott, HB Ravi Fisher, QB Muhammad Newman, F Frankie Bailey, F Eroni Morrison

Holgrave have an old squad and seem to be in neutral, so they too seem like they may be interested in blowing it up. Both Robert Taylor and Benjamin Scott may be the gems of the free agent class if Holgrave opts not to retain them, which may be in their best interest as they have one of the smallest budgets in the league. They're already in the process of hoarding draft picks, so expect a potential sign-and-trade or two.

ROSE CITY FC
Last season: Champions
Draft picks: 8th, 17th, 26th
Potential free agents: F Alex Gardner, F Michael Nichols, QB Felix Simon, HB Arthur Hunter, F Olly Lewis, C Jonathan Jennings

The defending champs were concerned going into last season about being able to retain Felix Simon, but it's all but a formality that he'll return to the team he won the title with AND will make him the league's highest paid player. Alex Gardner is still one of the league's best forwards, but at 32 they'll have to decide if they're willing to sign him for more than a year, or if a team like Club Placidiana will be able to lure him away by being willing to give him tenure. Still, they're obviously in a good place.

STRATFORD UNITED
Last season: 4th
Draft picks: 6th, 15th, 24th
Potential free agents: RW Pascal Edwards, C Nathan Harrison

The Greens will lose no key players and are in decent position financially- they may have the league's quietest offseason, although that doesn't mean manager William Holmes-Norris won't be answering the phone...

VICTORIA FC
Last season: 6th
Draft picks: 4th, 13th, 22nd, 23rd
Potential free agents: F Liam Bull, RW Louie Hicks, F Finlay Fisher, F Rhett Ahmed

The Union Boys had a busy and progressive offseason last year, and are likely to keep fairly quiet and let their young squad get a year better. They are hoping for a big step forward from Kyrie Gregory, along with their three foreign players to be better with another year of training in the sport. They have a high draft pick and a little bit of cash available, so they too may be talking trade.

WELLINGTON FC
Last season: 5th
Draft picks: 5th, 14th
Potential free agents: F Miles Hawkins, F Rohan Matthews, FB Sonny Edwards, FB Zachary Kerr, C Jacob Anderson, RW Nathan King, F Ethan Edwards

The Sharks are in a tricky position- as always they are short on funds and will have to be innovating. Sonny Edwards fit in well after the trade and likely will be rewarded with his first ever big money deal, wihch may suck up the rest of their budget. They don't really have anything you'd consider a star, which has been a hallmark of Trevor Baines-Owen's tenure, but there's some pressure from above to perhaps move some of their assets for a star player to market and work around.

PlacidSport (Hudsonian Newswire)

PlacidSport (Hudsonian Newswire)

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