Sorry for the delay, I was on vacation. Honestly i couldn't even justify changing much of the rankings. The 5-8 teams got beat up or won against non playoff teams, and the top 4 teams continued to roll over whatever team was in their way, playoff or not.
1) Hawaii Phoenixes – Two weeks since my last rankings and nothing has changed, mainly because they have yet to play a single game against a playoff caliber team. And what would luck have? Another easy game for Hawaii. Im tempted to make them earn their number 1 by dropping them down the rankings just out of boredom and awarding a team that has beaten some quality opponents.. I digress.
2) Gold Coast Vipers – Two more wins for Gold Coast, although some impressive domination style games, they also have played zero playoff teams as of yet. I guess its easy to lock down the 1 and 2 seed in the power rankings when your schedule is soft in the first half of the season, although I can’t punish a team for playing the games the computer picked them to play. Drillers and Geelong next for Gold Coast, so after 2 more sims we will know if they are deep enough to make a run at the top spot or if they are just pretending.
3) Auckland Titans – Two sims against two good teams, and squeaked out wins against both. It seems since we came to Oceania we have been out leveled, but what happened over the past two weeks was a lower level team beating a higher level team, so you can take THAT to the bank. 2-0 against playoff teams, and playing Orlando next looking for the league leading 3-0 in games against playoff teams.
4) – Sack Sabbath – Sack is crushing people this season, perhaps this is the year that they live up to the potential that so many people thought they have. An A1 Alpha team transplanted into Zeta is looking deep enough to put the hurt on anyone that is on their schedule. They have earned their spot with a 2-0 record against playoff teams. Next week Sack goes 6-0 with an easy win.
5) Geelong – Rough last 2 sims for Geelong, after an impressive win over Orlando they drop two in a row against playoff teams in some tough fought games. Geelong is now 1-2 against playoff teams with a game they should be able to dominate coming next.
6) Orlando Lightning Bolts – Two straight wins over some “lesser” competition. It was definitely a needed event for Orlando who has a very tough early schedule and manged to walk away looking good. 1-1 against playoff teams with a pivotal game against Auckland this week.
7) Texas Drillers – Went 1-1 in the last two sims. Got brutally crushed by Sack, which I think opened the collective eyes of everyone in AA1. In the Drillers defense, they have had the toughest early season schedule of any team, and their 0-3 record against playoff teams is brutal. It doesn’t get easier either with Sack Sabbath up next.
8) Hamilton Hellcats – Won their last 2 sims. Close wins over non-playoff teams, but I wouldn’t sleep on Hamilton, they have the goods to pull an upset against anyone in Zeta and they will knock off a better team once or twice this season, so you better hope its not your team. 0-2 against playoff teams, and 4 very winnable games up next, look for Hamilton to go 6-3 after week 9.
9) Death Riders –0-2 after the past 2 sims, and losing to a team I figured they would beat. Things look rough for the Riders. They are 0-1 against playoff teams and lost to a non-playoff team. They need to pull together to get back into the mix. Beating Geelong this week might do it, but that would be an upset.
10) Melbourne Pred’s – 0-2 over the past couple sims. In their defense they have had an extremely hard schedule and their 0-3 record against playoff teams doesn’t hurt. Although I’m leaving them in the mix because of the strength of Schedule. Lets see how things go when they start playing some more winnable games, but don’t look for Melbourne to make a deep push this season. Sack, Death Riders, Gold Coast, and Hawaii are their next 4 games, I think after that gauntlet they will have the toughest schedule by far, although I just hope for their sakes they don’t go 0-4 against it.
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I thought about cheesing it up and making strength of schedule the rankings, I won’t write but the top 4 would look like this based off who is beating quality opponents and who is just steam rolling lowbies. Look out for this top 4 though.
1) Sack Sabbath – wins against Texas, Geelong
2) Auckland Titans – wins against Texas, Geelong
3) Hawaii – Win against Hamilton
4) Gold Coast – Win against Hamilton
1) Hawaii Phoenixes – Two weeks since my last rankings and nothing has changed, mainly because they have yet to play a single game against a playoff caliber team. And what would luck have? Another easy game for Hawaii. Im tempted to make them earn their number 1 by dropping them down the rankings just out of boredom and awarding a team that has beaten some quality opponents.. I digress.
2) Gold Coast Vipers – Two more wins for Gold Coast, although some impressive domination style games, they also have played zero playoff teams as of yet. I guess its easy to lock down the 1 and 2 seed in the power rankings when your schedule is soft in the first half of the season, although I can’t punish a team for playing the games the computer picked them to play. Drillers and Geelong next for Gold Coast, so after 2 more sims we will know if they are deep enough to make a run at the top spot or if they are just pretending.
3) Auckland Titans – Two sims against two good teams, and squeaked out wins against both. It seems since we came to Oceania we have been out leveled, but what happened over the past two weeks was a lower level team beating a higher level team, so you can take THAT to the bank. 2-0 against playoff teams, and playing Orlando next looking for the league leading 3-0 in games against playoff teams.
4) – Sack Sabbath – Sack is crushing people this season, perhaps this is the year that they live up to the potential that so many people thought they have. An A1 Alpha team transplanted into Zeta is looking deep enough to put the hurt on anyone that is on their schedule. They have earned their spot with a 2-0 record against playoff teams. Next week Sack goes 6-0 with an easy win.
5) Geelong – Rough last 2 sims for Geelong, after an impressive win over Orlando they drop two in a row against playoff teams in some tough fought games. Geelong is now 1-2 against playoff teams with a game they should be able to dominate coming next.
6) Orlando Lightning Bolts – Two straight wins over some “lesser” competition. It was definitely a needed event for Orlando who has a very tough early schedule and manged to walk away looking good. 1-1 against playoff teams with a pivotal game against Auckland this week.
7) Texas Drillers – Went 1-1 in the last two sims. Got brutally crushed by Sack, which I think opened the collective eyes of everyone in AA1. In the Drillers defense, they have had the toughest early season schedule of any team, and their 0-3 record against playoff teams is brutal. It doesn’t get easier either with Sack Sabbath up next.
8) Hamilton Hellcats – Won their last 2 sims. Close wins over non-playoff teams, but I wouldn’t sleep on Hamilton, they have the goods to pull an upset against anyone in Zeta and they will knock off a better team once or twice this season, so you better hope its not your team. 0-2 against playoff teams, and 4 very winnable games up next, look for Hamilton to go 6-3 after week 9.
9) Death Riders –0-2 after the past 2 sims, and losing to a team I figured they would beat. Things look rough for the Riders. They are 0-1 against playoff teams and lost to a non-playoff team. They need to pull together to get back into the mix. Beating Geelong this week might do it, but that would be an upset.
10) Melbourne Pred’s – 0-2 over the past couple sims. In their defense they have had an extremely hard schedule and their 0-3 record against playoff teams doesn’t hurt. Although I’m leaving them in the mix because of the strength of Schedule. Lets see how things go when they start playing some more winnable games, but don’t look for Melbourne to make a deep push this season. Sack, Death Riders, Gold Coast, and Hawaii are their next 4 games, I think after that gauntlet they will have the toughest schedule by far, although I just hope for their sakes they don’t go 0-4 against it.
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I thought about cheesing it up and making strength of schedule the rankings, I won’t write but the top 4 would look like this based off who is beating quality opponents and who is just steam rolling lowbies. Look out for this top 4 though.
1) Sack Sabbath – wins against Texas, Geelong
2) Auckland Titans – wins against Texas, Geelong
3) Hawaii – Win against Hamilton
4) Gold Coast – Win against Hamilton
Last edited Mar 6, 2009 13:01:48
