Cool idea, however one or two things.

With the way things work at the moment, I'm not sure we actually have to replace our QBs or Kicker too soon. Particularly Mason Lucas the K, I don't see anyone here replacing him pretty much ever for a variety of reasons. Both these positions don't have any evidence where they need physicals at all - though I know we all (myself included) love our agility on QBs.

The other thing is, the FAQ states there's a definite hardcap of 12 which player skills drop to. I interpret this as reference to all a player's physical skills which would be fine as our best QB in Bandy always had lower stamina anyway and could still definitely play with 12. The reason why I interpret 'player skills' here to reference physicals including stamina is purely because no other 'playing' skills go down with age, so if they didn't refer to physicals then what do they mean? The future linking of Agility to BMI (like str/spd) and being the only non-fitness coach skill to decline indicates to me that Agility is sort of considered a physical skill by the game anyway. Anyone have any hard info if this lowcap of 12 is being interpreted correctly by me?

Finally, the other age barrier is retirement. Do they retire if NT listed? I know Serbia's Brett Favre is around, but is that because he's on a bot team? Has anyone seen an NT player retire naturally (i.e. not transfer market stuff)?

In short, Bandy, Watt, Boyle, Sellar, and Mason can keep playing most likely to very close to their same performance levels. Replace them with better guys by all means, but I wouldn't write them off and replace them with potentially inferior guys just cause of age.

The rest of the positions probably do need replacing. Whoever gets the job, consider G. Johnson for an OL spot. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you look at him and wonder why he wasn't picked last cycle...

JA is still probably our #2 TE even though he is retiring. I have a dual role 4.5 TE/RB that will be better than him by season's end. And is a better option than Gale and Gourdis.

Gale from memory was a 17 one skill wonder I called up about 4-5 cycle ago from the wolverines. Might have a couple of yellows in other skills. The wolverines went bot soon after, and his skills went nowhere. My player above will be 17 catching next friday, 17 stamina the following friday, and 17 agility soon after than. So he probably is ready to be #3 TE for Australia now. Tacticals will decide if he is number #2 by the end of the season. Although JAs retirement will mean he defaults into #2. Which is the same thing happening in my Wildcats team.

I'd be dropping Gourdis before JA. Gourdis dropped so much ball last cycle is wasn't funny. Surprized he kept getting run ons considering that fact.

There is also Dane Betts a 5.0* TE worth having a look at. Dont know nothing about him except his wages are 68K, so skills could be good/high, is 5.0 * and a TE. Up to the coach doing the callups to sus him out more.

As for the aging roster. It's not as bad as it seems. We just didn't have any callups last cycle, so there is just double what there should be.

The positions you have listed as 'needs', I have all except kickers and gunners. Skills currently 11 up to 17 depending on player.

projectrracing wrote: There is a few good OL current floating around. Panthers, Jinx, Wildcats are all homing a few. Fabian Somi, Jack Houlihan, Jacob Groom, Raymond Griffin, Flynn Arrowsmith, Aisake Holland, Edward Shirley, Matt Watt and the above Garrick Johnson all need consideration.

Somi could do the job back when I last saw him, but definitely a guard. Jack Houlihan was rubbish I last saw with his salary coming from one high secondary (or even tertiary) skill in vision, another guard type but with borderline str. Jacob Groom is 5* but just didn't have it when I last saw, no agility which could have been fixed but he just didn't have the strength.

I haven't seen the rest (apart from G. Johnson obvs), though the last time I looked was like two cycles ago. Another one to look at could be: Brad Schmidt. Was on my watch list a while ago and it looks like he's been developed somewhat since. On a bot team, but it was probably one of the most successful teams of all time in GI so... (still very much a guard build, but high consistency and 5*)

I don't really have anything else on my list as I haven't kept up with it in recent times. Just one of the Berger's former Gunners: Chad Griffiths who had reasonable physicals and skills.

AtlantaFalconsGuy84 wrote: 30yo's (can be replaced now if there's a viable option behind them, otherwise need to go within the next two seasons) Bryan Bandy - QB - as daudy said, but consider Trons QB and what i said in other thread. Mitch Watt - QB - as above. Leigh Bootsma - RB - probably can just be dropped, we have too many RBs on the roster. free up a spot for another position. Lyle Cartledge - WR - still our #2/#3 WR and #1 KR, all skills will be XX.9X by the end of the season, so his physicals will be fine for the whole WC. Easton Johnstone - OL - as above. John Anderson - TE (project said that he's retiring at the end of this cycle, so he's gotta go) - even though 30, still our #2 TE. My other non aussie rostered TE should be fine to replace him by season's end. Nicholas Bate - SF - Still one of our best. Keep him around for this cycle. Lachie Sellar - K - same as the QBs.

I think though our OLine looking at all this needs a major overhaul. I didn't think it was a bad as it was until we all started to converse.*** Luckily I have a 16 and 17 skill OLinemen with secondries and stamina not far behind. And will be better with more training between now and when the WC actually starts.

We got a while to do a little research. Voting for coaches is until Friday. So most likely callups won't start until next Monday.

*** = Conversation and ideas being thrown around is great. Was missed last cycle.Last edited on 2014-04-07 at 0:22

projectrracing wrote: AtlantaFalconsGuy84 wrote: 30yo's (can be replaced now if there's a viable option behind them, otherwise need to go within the next two seasons) Leigh Bootsma - RB - probably can just be dropped, we have too many RBs on the roster. free up a spot for another position.

Be very careful when axing positions, as there are a lot of duals on that team. For example, one of said RBs in Mason Whitecross is actually on the team because he's one of our best CBs (which was what he was first, before his club owner converted him to RB as well). Leigh Bootsma is also an LB, though admittedly he's backup in both his positions (which is a shame given his physicals and 5* BPOS that he wasn't more prominently trained). There's no way I would have chosen 4 RBs ordinarily haha!

RBs are another position where I don't think we'll really see noticeable replacements anytime soon unless they're also a TE/LB or something. I think there's one or two floating around that I may have dropped or looked at in the past, but they'd be around the same age as the McCullums and Garlands already on the team (who aren't that much younger).

Also note the Americans are doing the same thing, and their coach has the same opinion in regards to QB/K. Must be the timezones though, cause it feels like an echo in here!