This season was always going to be the last hurrah of the core members of the team and in the end, Elite was, yet again out of reach for the Janitors. With the recent years of tight budgets, it was still a pretty remarkable effort, though.

The team waves goodbye to 5 of it's veterans, to their well-earned retirements and they will leave a hole so massive it's uncertain if it's ever be truly filled.

This year's class is headlined by none other than Murray Hamilton, the Dragon King himself, who is well ahead of any player ever on the 'Most Touchdowns Caught' list within the league. He will be enshrined in the team's Hall of Fame, his number #81 retired, only the 3rd in the club's history. He leaves the team with the most games ever played for the club (499) and with his 30 personal records unlikely to be ever broken. Thank you, Murray, for everything.

Murray Hamilton/#81/TE (KR)

Matches: 499

Blocks: 2577

Kick/Puntret (att/yard/avg/lon): 1945/24109/12/89

ST TDs: 15

Catch (#/TD/Dropped): 1800/745 /515

Catch (yard/avg/lon): 41028/22.8/99

Tackles broken by: 995

ST Tackles: 57

MVP Awards/Points: 28/6202

#1 in TDs Caught in Dragons 1 All Time: 338 TDs

#2 in Catching Yards in Dragons 1 All Time: 19911 yards

The other retirees would be headliners by themselves in any other class:

Kende Láng, who played his whole career at the Janitors as CB1 and as the team's primary Gunner, with excellence, tenacity and and instincts rarely seen and righfully awarded several personal accolades for his accomplishments.

Matches: 337

(Tackles/missed/Success/TfL): 2324/383 /85.9%/0

Interceptions: 101

Fumbles forced: 1

DefTD: 52

ST Tackles: 405

MVP Awards/Points: 9/2668

Maurice Molen, who was one of the engines of the defense for the last decade, joins the team's HoF as well, being the team's sack and interception leader of All Time, #18 in sacks and #11th in interceptions Dragons 1 All Time, with only a handful of personal accolades to hang on top of all these. His number #52 will be the 4th number retired, never to be handed out again.

Matches: 364

(Tackles/missed/Success/TfL): 1284/106 /92.4%/184

Sacks/Yards: 184/1535

Interceptions: 153

Fumbles forced/recovered: 24 /22

DefTD: 81

MVP Awards/Points: 9/2668

Ilija Klein lead the rushing core for the past 9 seasons is also hanging up his cleats.

Matches: 326

Rush (#/yard/avg/TD): 7490/40911/5.5 /108

Tackles broken by: 1262

Kick/Puntret (att/yard/avg/lon): 715/10396 /15/90

ST TD: 7

MVP Awards/Points: 10/2465

To complete the quintet, last but not least, Emanuel Rizzo is joining the Ring of Honor as well; being the team's starting FS after his predecessor Brigo handed him the reigns 5 seasons ago.

Matches: 199

(Tackles/missed/Success/TfL): 896/163 /84.6%/23

Sacks/Yards: 23/189

Interceptions: 19

Fumbles forced/recovered: 2/2

DefTD: 10

MVP Awards/Points: 2/622

"This is a day for celebration and not a day for sadness."

Indeed.

13 season is a long time, even at this place. 438 games is a lot, especially for the same team. Brigo will finish his career this season, as the second longest tenured player on our team, just shy of Kelemen's 445 games for the team. Being the team's free safety for a decade, then moving to a pass rushing outside linebacker position he was always an ever-present leader on the defensive side of the ball, with his impeccable tackling and a couple dozen well-timed interceptions he always made his prescence felt.

He will be enshrined in the team's Hall of Fame, to nobody's suprise and his number #23 will be joining Kelemen's #88 in being retired permanently as well, while moved back to his original Safety position.

The management remained silent for seasons now, but certain milestones would still make them reappear from their torpor.

Kelemen Lakatos, who will retire very very soon, was special to us. Placing the team always before himself, playing every position he was ever asked to and being the very last player from the team inherited by the current ownership in season 34, he is truly unique and will rightfully claim his well deserved place in our Hall of Fame as soon as the opportunity arises.

Amassing 445 appearances, he found the biggest success in his TE years, achieving 2nd best in D1 and second best in League and D1 in back-to-back seasons.
Prior being WR and ST among a slew of other minor roles, need made him swap between RB and FB positions for the past 4 seasons, where he also proved that no matter what he'll find a way to help the team, discarding personal achievements on the way. He always knew there are people better than him, but being always 'good enough' to be relevant, never seeking the paycheck most do, he'll end his playing days with the most games played for the team in it's history.

Now, for his retirement, he will be honorably placed back to his TE role and his #88 be essentially retired, never to be assigned to anyone again. His prescence around will be dearly missed.

Kelemen Lakatos/#88/TE (RB/FB/WR/KR/ST/K)

Matches 445

Tackles/missed/Success/TfL
44/27/62%/6

Blocks 738

Kick (#/yard/avg/lon/Tb) 14/656/46.9 /57/0

PAT (good/missed) 8/4

Field goal (att/good) 2/1

Kick/Puntret (att/yard/avg/lon) 134/2145 /16/64

Catch (#/TD/Dropped) 853/182 /243

Catch (yard/avg/lon) 12673/14.9/89

Rush (#/yard/avg/TD) 1251/4715/3.8 /4

Fumbles (caused/forced/recovered) 16/3 /2

ST Tackles 22

MVP Awards/Points 4/1832

Seasons pass, players come and go, but true franchise players are not that often come by at the Janitors. As we continually strive to become as good as possbile, this means that every single player has to fight for his spot, in every game, in every season.

Today's league match will be the last game of Jimmy C., who came to the team as a mere 19 year old draftee running back, but will leave the team as one of the best quarterback Dragons 1 ever had. Still only 26 years young and - as it currently looks - staying in Dragons, will have the chance to become an all time great in the future seasons to come.

Thank you for your outstanding contribution and make us proud wherever your path takes!

Jimmy Creamer - QB - Budapest Janitors
07.09.2019. - 04.04.2021
189 games
48090 passing yards
1589 rushing yards
600 passing TDs
102 rushing TDs

Sitting in this press conference room feels strange, after 4 seasons of radio silence.

This season was arguably the worst the team ever had since it's promotion to Dragons 1, but we still reached play-offs, though our season ended at the Wild Card round to fellow countrymen Óbudai Egyetem. Good luck to them in their playoff run!

For the first time, we tried to keep a roster that was not so tight in numbers, to get a better understanding of what nuances make a difference at certain positions. Finding the right combination of personnel is key, we made some good calls and some not so good calls. Consistency is key and we failed on that part, unfortunately.

On a sad note, we are wishing the best for our 2 retirees, Bulcsú Kertész and Vinoth Prasad.

Bulcsú came to the team 5 seasons ago, from the venerated Free Agent Mascots, where he played as a linebacker. We thought his talents could be better suited for cornerback and life agreed with us. He's bound for the Hall of Fame, when the time comes. With 1051 tackles, 59 interceptions for the team (20 defensive TDs), he's retiring as the all time leader in all those categories, all the while earning best CB of Dragons in the previous 2 seasons. Always putting success ahead of money, he led by example during his time at our team. His prescence will be sorely missed.

Vinoth came to the team exactly 4 seasons ago (the last PR announcement included his arrival, funnily enough). He's retiring after a heralded 10-year carreer, where he amassed almost 8000 catching yards and 104 TDs. Thank you for your contribution Vinoth!