I really liked your piece about players, so Imma ask another. Who would be your TeamUK 21?
I’m gonna preface this by saying that I’m not one of those people who has a roster clearly lined out in my head; I’m really unsure how to pick within the wider pool of talent, and the job is much harder than this time last year. I’ve mulled this over a lot; for TeamUK 2014 although there were a lot of choices to be made, I feel there was a sizeable core that it would have been very controversial not to select. That’s not the case this time.
I’d hesitantly say there are two people whom nobody could really understand excluding from any 21; Ollie Craig, and Lucy B. Ollie has been a force majeure in every team he’s played for at every tournament this season, and I think offensively in terms of driving, passing, shooting, and knowing how to distinguish between them, he’s really raised the bar. Lucy’s the only beater I know of who can confidently and consistently take a bludger up to dismantle a defence, and as well as being an exceptional strategist and tireless worker is so valuable as an option that TeamUK just otherwise wouldn’t have at beater. The fact that she’s more than a competent chaser/keeper in a pinch doesn’t hurt either.
Rounding that out, my initial additions would probably be Luke Twist as another élite, experienced keeper who I think can organize a defence slightly better than Ollie at the cost of less offensive impact, and Chris Scholes-Lawrence. Chris would mostly be in as a chaser, since I think the team only needs two primary keepers, but having him as someone confident in green if a third is needed is relevant, and if we’re looking at TeamUK 2015 as a development process for the team who’re going to win Global Games 2016, Chris is a definite pick for someone who’s only a season of strong development from being world-class.
With keepers covered, I’m moving my thought process onto chaser defence. My immediate thoughts are that it’d be really tough to exclude Ashley Cooper, Jemma Thripp, Abby Whiteley, and Charlie Schofield from the line-up, all as people who understand the dynamics of a point-defence line-up intimately, are fearless in taking hits, and between them give some of the best tackles in the UK game. Three of them being experienced from Canada doesn’t hurt, and again, Charlie is a great choice from a development standpoint.
With that core, you’re looking at a basic game-plan which I won’t try to argue is influenced by my time with the Chimeras and TeamUK 2014. It might be the case that the latter seems a poor model, but in my (admittedly not uninvested) opinion the reason TeamUK 2014 underperformed so severely wasn’t tactical so much as training inconsistencies, inexperience, and in some cases sheer bad luck. In any case, the strategy is simply to hold together a rock-solid defence from the half-way line onwards, score where possible on quick counter-attacks, and when the team is playing into a set defence, use quick and intelligent passing to outpace the defenders.
So, the remaining chaser line should be suited to two things - providing that capacity to break quickly and pass through a set defence, and providing easy gear shifts to other options (something TeamUK 2014 was missing in both selection and training) if Plan A isn’t effective. With that in mind, my first thoughts for further chasers would be Tom Heynes, Aaron Veale, Evelyn Goodall, and David Goswell. My first thing in their favour is that just as all of the chasers I listed as the defensive core are skilled passers or otherwise capable of facilitating a fast break effectively (cf. Abby’s point chasing), whilst these four are primarily more offensive they’re all skilled tacklers unafraid of contact. Tactics all look good on paper, but if everyone on the team can’t do other jobs in a pinch, during that play when the team is pulled all in the wrong directions or when the wrong set of people are injured/carded/exhausted, the whole house of cards collapses. Beyond that, these four are just exceptional masters of the passing game; their catching, weaving within a defence, and positional senses are brilliant and they’d make a TeamUK offence impossible to pin down.
You’ll also note at this stage that between Chris, Tom, and Ash, we have some wonderful, physical drivers; if this TeamUK needed to shift its chasing line to become a battering ram to smash through a defence, it has that capacity. Rounding out this chaser line, I think what are needed are simply options - either people who can cover a multitude of these roles well, or who do something else. Charis Horn provides an option as a fierce tackler and point-chaser, positionally-intelligent outlet, and when it comes to it a competent driver. Bex Lowe, meanwhile is natural driving in possession, expands the option for a line who can move the ball around several driving options and then cut in from the best angle with one of three or four players, and again makes a fine development choice with a view to gold in 2016.
At beater, I’ve already mentioned Lucy, and I think I’d complement her with Jan Mikolajczak, Natalie A’Bear, Ben Dawes, and Dale King-Evans. Might seem heavy handed to just lay on a beater line in one sentence, but I think you have a solid game to regain bludger control there (Lucy or Jan with a bludger, Dale with their formidable physicality, or Ben with either method), as well as a pair of defensive stalwarts in Ben and Nat, the ability to dismantle a defence in Lucy and a simply uncontainable energy in Dale and Jan which can simply ruin an opposing team’s midfield game. One of the most important parts of beating is psychological, and Dale, Jan, and Lucy especially have the capacity to bring such movement and precision to their game that against them you simply never feel safe or like you have time to think because there’s always the chance of them coming down on you. Add to that two very solid on-snitch beaters in Nat and Dale (whom I can see working beautifully together) and I think that is a beater line which could bring any team to their knees.
Finally, seeker. Given the wealth of secondary seeking talent in the list I’ve given (Ben, Luke, Ollie, Tom, David to name just a few), I’d only want to pick one primary seeker, and at that someone who’s also excellent elsewhere. There’s a reason Dugald made two consecutive TeamUK rosters, and it’s also the reason he’d make the third if I were picking.
So I guess you have your answer;
Ollie CraigLuke TwistChris Scholes-LawrenceAshley CooperJemma ThrippAbby WhiteleyCharlie SchofieldTom HeynesAaron VealeEvelyn GoodallDavid GoswellCharis HornBex LoweLucy B.Jan MikolajczakNatalie A’BearBen DawesDale King-EvansDugaldYeah, that’s only 19. I’d only take 19, and even then I worry it’s a couple too many. Not for any reason of skill; there are plenty of players whose calibre is enough that they’d fit into the team. But every extra body comes at the cost of consistency and makes it slightly harder for the team to knit into one unit. From my own mistakes as beater coach for 2014 I can assure you that any more than five beaters would be a huge mistake, and whilst you could argue for more chasers, we’ve already got ten named (plus Dugald and Chris) in that list. I really don’t think filling out the roster ‘because we can’ is sensible and another two would probably be dissonant, obsolete, or just come along and sit on the sidelines doing nothing but make the coaches feel guilty. Team leadership can’t afford to be drawn between ‘I picked this person and owe them pitch-time’ and ‘the players we’re using now are doing fine and I’m not sure this person will fit into the game’ in a level of competition as important as TeamUK’s.
Final note;I should stress here that I have literally nothing to do with the selection process and this could not be more *personal*, as well as stating that I don’t even know who of the people I’ve named put themselves forward. I’m also going to throw out an apology to both Durham and Falmouth, who are teams doing very well this year that I just don’t know enough players from to do justice here.
