League Chat

[CactusMan]

Dam, I don't think I've seen Div 1's in NZ this strong. I'm having to stock up on 28-31yo's in order to just be semi competitive

Like, thought I had a chance at sticking round...

[Jim]

Our div 1 is now the number 1 div in FTP! Who's the #1 team in NZ? I'm now second after the rankings update, despite being 6th in the world

Edit: Ah it's the Bogans, if FTP stays around NZ should be a very competitive place for the next few seasons

And that with me in it semi re building lol. NZs always had the most consistent and hard D1. I remember a few season ago 240k teams were getting relegated. Always competitive!

[Muff]

I'm on track for my first title since season 22, which included re building from a hiatus from the game

I'm a win and NRR ahead of second in YOD 1.1 with only a matchup vs Kato to worry about while the 2 highest rated teams still need to face each other.

That should breakup starris' strangle hold on the YOD league

[Muff]

I'm on track for my first title since season 22, which included re building from a hiatus from the game

I'm a win and NRR ahead of second in YOD 1.1 with only a matchup vs Kato to worry about while the 2 highest rated teams still need to face each other.

That should breakup starris' strangle hold on the YOD league

Well I choked, in the final 2 rounds, congrats Starr is impressive comeback

[starris]

I'm on track for my first title since season 22, which included re building from a hiatus from the game

I'm a win and NRR ahead of second in YOD 1.1 with only a matchup vs Kato to worry about while the 2 highest rated teams still need to face each other.

That should breakup starris' strangle hold on the YOD league

Well I choked, in the final 2 rounds, congrats Starr is impressive comeback

I don't know how I pulled that one off... given I lost to you twice - well done by the way!
Guess I owe Kato a beer given he did what I couldn't!
I expected to lose on NRR in the last game given our opposition's place in the league table.

[CactusMan]

My lot are back in Div 2 where they belong lol. It's nice and comfy down there.

Been thinking about rebuilding for a while. Firing all my seniors, saving my money for a few seasons, investing in some good 16yo's. Anyone done this before who has some good advice for not letting the team fall off the face of a cliff while rebuilding?

[CactusMan]

Cheers Blain, yea fair point.

I think I have a senior squad who I can potentially finish top 2-3 in div 2 with, so I might just sell off the older players and try see how it goes with the mid 20’s players in the squad... Invest a bit more in the youth academy and go from there. If that doesn’t work then there will be a bit of a fire sale at the end of the season.

[DocVanNostrand]

@Cactus

A while back I sold off most of my starting lineup, because I had a monster group of players coming up. I was left with six 20yos (five of which I trained up from 16) and two 21yos (trained up from 17). I think the rest of the 4-5 other players were in their mid 20s, which helped to stabilize the squad. I was still in 1.1 in both senior leagues when I had the big sale. Obviously, I relegated the following season, but having that season in 1.1 (where I got my head bashed in on a weekly basis) was important for building experience and getting skills a bit higher. It made for a soft landing when I went down to Div2 and I was immediately competitive there. I only spent two seasons in Div2 before promoting back to 1.1, with a squad made up of primarily 23/24yos.

While this perhaps doesn’t directly address the question you were asking, I think one key lesson I learned is that if you start your rebuild when you’re kind of on top, it makes it easier to remain competitive through the transition (after that first rough year). You won’t fall as far and depending on what you’re able to reload with, you’ll bounce back up faster.

[Muff]

My lot are back in Div 2 where they belong lol. It's nice and comfy down there.

Been thinking about rebuilding for a while. Firing all my seniors, saving my money for a few seasons, investing in some good 16yo's. Anyone done this before who has some good advice for not letting the team fall off the face of a cliff while rebuilding?

I’m enjoying the full rebuild, I took a few seasons hiatus. But it’s actually a lot of fun once you get through the difficult first season, buying the dirt cheap players to stabilise yourself in a division then build from the youth set up. You could probably just start the youth build now an use the experience of higher divisions as you demote, but try to stay in div 3 if you can.

I’m happy with being in div 3 seniors and div 1 yod. I’ve currently had my second crop promote to the seniors this season so in maybe another 2 seasons they should be competitive enough to target a promotion to div 2.

Still got 7.5mil in the bank so going to be comfortable, but I’m offloading some more of my seniors to make sure the wage bill doesn’t blow out too quickly unnecessarily.

[CactusMan]

Yea, lots of good points there, cheers fellas.

Think I’m going to give my lot another season in this div then reassess after that. Probable get my seniors to a point where I can get max value out of them too.