Well... damn

It's the same way as any season we played on this level, though... somehow we fail in the back half of the season to confirm the good performances from the first 8 games. And while we stumble and collect losses, teams like yours or Pizti gain momentum. Congrats on the wins to both of you, by the way

The SEA LIONS are, teamwise, not set up to succeed on the long run, I guess... at least that's my takeaway from scouting the opponents that we lost against. And of course those little mistakes like the ones we made in the game against the Kraken which likely cost us the game... the margin of error just is too narrow for us, at least at this point


I do not find much solace in that, that's true. In fact these words makes me a little sad, as they remind me of the reason why Bill Parcells quit: "The losses hurt more than the wins bring me joy." I hope you won't come to the same conclusion as he did

It's not my case. SOME LOSSES hurt me more than SOME WINS make me happy.

Last season my team was in Dragons and in week 1 we were excited to do well. An overtime loss hurts.

By week 14 we already know we're back in Dragons next season. A win doesn't taste so good.

Otherwise, my motivation to keep on fighting in RZA is still at maximum

I forgot to comment on this, sorry for the delay.

As far as I know and I did check again in the manuel, the Karma-stuff has no effect on regular games, so this is only a 'play pretty' feature at the moment, with no effect. It might be that in the future by (quite simple) playbook / setup gets some bonus, because it is not so onesided, but right now ... nothing.
I think the coaching changes + several seniors leaving did cost a lot of those games. It explains not, why by kicker has a .500+ season while his career average is 0.75+ but that's a different story any would not have changed a lot of those losses.

No problem, I'm happy that you do now


Yeah, I'm aware of that. I read that it once was a topic of open discussion and even a poll, but was voted against by the majority of players. As I understand the result it was decided that a manager should not be punished for being lazy with his play design. In small parts I get this, this game should be for everyone to enjoy, no matter how much he/she is willing to invest. But I don't like that these managers can be really successful, because then, in my opinion, it's the managers that invest time and creativity in formulating a varied playbook that are punished by this.


The SEA LIONS will have similar challenges next season. Now it's even possible that we'll have a hard rebuild, but that would throw us out of contention for sure... tough decisions are coming up

Game day 15 has a special match-up scheduled for the HAMBURG SEA LIONS. We have to visit VenoM today, and this constellation brings up some sweet memories to the people in the front office:

In S50, when we first played them in the second home game of the season, the offense exploded after being 2–2 from the games before. We won 51:21 and continued to win 9 of the remaining 12 games after that, earning our first ever spot in the playoffs. There, though, we had to go to VenoM for a re-match and lost 21:31 in the Wildcard round. And even in S51, when we met in Week 6 of the regular season, we were not able to overcome them at the Community Arena… in the only regular season game that we lost that season.

This is the first time meeting them again, since we moved to the Dragons region after that. But I’d think we’ll have a hard time again over there. We still need one win to stay Elite for another season, though, so we’ll try to keep up the good record in away-games… I hope

Good luck to everyone today

So Elite in season 56 is there.

I was so wrong, only 10 wins were enough to stay.

Now PO is almost there, one more win needed.

Hope that MOTY vs Blitz will help 😉

Match settings for that game are ON for like 30 days ago 🙈🙉🙊

It's 9 wins for us, but we made it, too

Congrats

Yeah...you'll MOTY and I'll be playing my B-team :-)


Steve
SD Blitz

You're all going to have to put up with me for another season as well.

WOOHOOOO

What a win it was for the SEA LIONS at VenoM yesterday. We already saw the second OT-game in a row coming up when the offense of the home team had 3rd&10 on our 13 Yard Line at the end of the game. But the ensuing pass attempt was incomplete, and they opted to go for the field goal instead of taking a lucky shot with 16 seconds to go.

So the big hairy fish ensured another season at this Elite level of RZA, which will be their fourth in a row. There was mild celebration on the way home as this truly is a great achievement. Even more so: This win kept this tiny flame of hope alive as they still can sneak into the playoffs, being only one game behind. They would have to win both games and the competition would have to lose both, due to the mediocre PD of the SEA LIONS… but it’s still possible

Speaking of the Postseason: let’s have a look at the current standings and what might happen with 2 games to go, no?

AC

The Sunrise City Prairie Dogs (East) claimed the #1 seed yesterday with a record of 13–1 after the Peoples Republic of Yorkshire (South) lost their second game in a row. Due to being the last unbeaten team in this season before, the latter at seed #2 are 12–2, followed by the TigerCats (North) at #3 (10–4) und Melittlemenon thepitchhitchin (West) at #4 (8–6).

The East is decided, at least regarding the playoffs, and the Prairie Dogs will have seeds #1 or #2 in the conference at the end of the regular season as well.

The North is decided as well, and the TigerCats still have slim chances to even get to #2 in the Conference.

The South is close, with the Yorkies sitting atop the division with a 2 game lead on the Sydney Sea Eagles (10–4) and the Diorite Lions (also 10–4). Both teams mentioned last are already locked in as #5 and #6 in the postseason seeding, too, as they both have a 3 game lead on seed #7.

In the West, Melittlemen have a 1 game lead on 2nd place, the BobBoy Magpies (7–7). Whoever wins this division is playing in the postseason, second place is out.

Two tough conference match-ups are coming up on Tuesday: Yorkies@Melittlemen and Sea Eagles@Magpies. Those two South/West-games will have great impact on the West, as Melittlemen can claim the division crown for the first time ever with a win and the Magpies can maybe tie the record before going into the final game of the season.

But it will also have impact on the South: Should the Sea Eagles win and the Yorkies lose, the former might put some pressure on the division leader in the final game. But should the Sea Eagles lose, they would drop to #3 in the Division as the Lions will very likely get a win over the ChosenOnes. That would not get them dropping out of the playoffs, but they'd run the risk of playing the postseason as a team that will not return to the Elite in S56.

Still some drama in here

NC

The San Diego Blitz (South) once again underlined their claim to first place in the conference with a tough win against another playoff contender, keeping seed #1 due to a better PD over the Chelt Nam Bobbers (West) at #2. Both are 12–2 and share a 1 game lead on #3 Space Kraken (North) and a 2 game lead on #4 KMN Mandalorians (East).

The East will see the KMN Mandalorians reclaim the divisional crown, and they still have a chance to get to seed #3 in the conference with a huge match-up against the Kraken coming up.

In the North the Kraken (11–3) was the big winner from the game that the Dublin Oilers (10–4) at #2 lost to the Blitz. Both have tough games coming up on Tuesday. The Oilers should feel a bit more urgency to win their game, as they might get caught at conference seed #5 that they currently have.

One (and the hottest) of those contenders for seed #5 comes from the South: the Dumbarajko Elephants. They secured another season at this level yesterday and currently have seed #6, which they can secure also with a win on Tuesday over Raspberry Bush. It’s all about seed #5 or #6 for them, as they are unlikely to win the division due to the Blitz having a 2 win advantage over them… but they meet on the very last gameday this season, and the manager of the Elephants already talked about using MOTY in this game… maybe the Elephants can even claim seed #3 or #2 when it’s all said and done.

And finally the West, which is won for the 8th time in a row by the Chelt Nam Bobbers. They will definitely be a playoff playing team again this season. They could drop from current seed #2 all the way to seed #4 if everything falls apart, but that would be very surprising. The HAMBURG SEA LIONS (9–5) at 2nd place in the division still have very slim chances to participate in the postseason, but, as mentioned, there would be lots of luck involved.

The Blitz and the Bobbers have both supposedly easy games on Tuesday before facing their most nasty divisional opponent of this season again on Saturday. So it will very likely come down to the last game day to decide seed #1 and #2 in the division. A game with great implications comes up to decide or totally shake up seeding #2 to #4, when the Mandos visit the Kraken.

And with the Oilers visiting the AC-conference-leading Prairie Dogs, while the Elephants (vs. Raspberry Bush) and the HAMBURG SEA LIONS (vs. Olivos Borrachos) both play divisional opponents that already are sure to be relegated down again, seeds #5 and #6 may be shaken up again, too.

It’ll be a tough dance until the end for some