Like @ginger I was thinking with Archambault, the theory might be he would be the playmaker to Balmas the sniper.
Very early days of course, but feels like things shaping up positively so far.
Remotest of chances I know, but I really hope something can be done to see Ritchie return.
I'm less bothered on Ritchie. When he wanted it, he was unplayable. But he didn't always seem to want it, and his back checking efforts sometimes reflected that. Now seems he may have had other things on his mind (given his wife's pregnancy and by the sounds of it was not straightforward), so it might not be an attitude problem as such.
If he wants to come back and is fully bought in then he'd be a great signing at the right money.
I don't think he'll be back though - get a feeling he was not impressed by ref standards
With Belfast being the benchmark, I'm going to do the Belfast test this season. Any player who signs, I'm going to ask myself how I'd feel if they'd signed for Belfast.
Regards
Doom
Quoting myself again.
Needless to say, I would have been gutted and very concerned had Belfast confirmed Balmas.
Just to add, it was great to get this announcement out of the blue on a dreary Saturday morning.....no big build up in advance.
Regards
Doom
Amen to that Doom, It was a great way to start the weekend off. No matter who else we sign, I think Balmas will be the most important signature. Is it September yet?
Just to correct myself on the number of players on for 25+ season. There were some who didn't play a lot of games, the most notable being Booth with 11 from 11.
Delighted with the re-signing of the league mvp. He was my number choice to be re-signed.
There’s no fuss with Balmas, he’s brilliantly consistent almost every game. Wouldn’t say he’s an obvious/mega noticeable game changer like someone like Brabant was, he just consistently puts up league leading numbers. He’s also nicely in his prime at 28.
I’d have been gutted if one of our rivals had signed him that is for sure.
I was just having a bit of a reconciliation of my pre-season scoring predictions and I reckon for at least 75% of the players on the top 4 teams their actual scoring was less than my prediction.
Having just had a look at the league scoring, there were only 5 players on for a 25+ goal season last season (Balmas, Conway, MacDonald, Pearson and Marcinew). The previous season there were 13 players.
Overall there were approximately 100 less goals scored across the league.
It would appear goals are a little harder to come by now, but I also suspect there's more of a spread in the scoring across the 3 (or 4) lines on the top teams?
The relevance of this is that in the past I've always considered we need 2 or 3 25+ scorers to challenge for the title, but it would seem now you can get away with 1, as long as you've got a few other players contributing high teens/low twenties.
For the record I think Jasper, Dowd and Archambault all look like mid teen scorers to me, so we will need a few higher end scorers signing if we want to be up there (fingers crossed for Balmas).
Regards
Doom
Now Balmas is confirmed, I won't be shocked if Archambault is on his line since he seems to be considered an excellent set up guy. Give them a high end centre and that could be a very scary line
Signing high end centres hasn't been Fox's forte bar Watling. Frequently he gets guys who played as lower line centres to hopefully fill that role (as top two line centres) or wingers who can play at centre and most of the time it hasn't been a success.
