Subject: I.1

i do not have pro pack mr. trueblue

Ahhhhh

Hi guys, it looks like all of us from Australia are going to be bombarding you guys in the Oceania league next season. Thought I'd take the time to say hi.

Hey guys

As a former kiwi... I'm looking forward to destroying some kiwi teams. Lol

It's going to be like old times again when Otago United used to crush everyone in our division.

hey guys,

season is nearly kicking off..

this could be really interesting gentlemen

Hey New Zealanders from across the Tasman!! This season is sure to be interesting...

Hey does anyone know when we get our draft players from last season?

Aussies got them already, u should get them any day...unless u got them already this morning

The season has not started yet and we just got first boot team, is this a joke?

I agree. I suspect we'll have 5-6 bots pretty soon!

There has been a lot of discussion about how the teams were transferred to the continental leagues. We are lucky that all of our active teams made it into I.1. But some of the other ones like Europe & Asia have top teams in Div III and brand new ones (likely bots soon) in Div I.

Prior to the merge, we had 16 teams between Aus and Oceania who had logged in more than once. All are in the top division. There's a fair chance we'll have six bots soon but hopefully the other 16 will be solid and we'll have a better comp than last season.

Interesting to look at the team strengths in the opening round. Knights have muscled up strongest just ahead of Trueblue. Mission Bay and Tylko are next.

The way the draw works is the top teams (according to overall team rating) play each other first and then move down the list. Given Mission Bay and Tylko are both further down the list than their team strength would indicate, they get to play the top teams after those team have played a few games against other strong team where they will have lost some energy. So don't be surprised if one of those teams is leading at the halfway point of the season.

Old rivals Kangaroo and Terriers are next just ahead of Maranello then a gap to the rebuilding Colah who will hope to hold off Brisbane, DrkDrgNZ, Bar Reef, Warimoo and Fire Kickers, who will all be very competitive. A trio of younger teams, Llorens, Walth and Betas, are chasing that pack and hoping to catch them soon.

Interesting times all round

The Fire Kickers flew to Auckland for their first match against a favoured New Zealand side. Undaunted by Maranello's Haka, the Kickers put a lot of pressure on the home team. In the words of captain Billy Norris, "we had a double helping of vegemite before the match." Unfortunately, the Kickers were not able to equalise after a stunning goal in the 33rd minute. Congratulations goes to SF-Maranello for their clear win and 3 points on the table.

The Kickers are now going back to lick their wounds and show some fire in their next set of matches against a host of Aussie teams.