Making Waves - The Pacific Premier [S52]
Join OrangeStar as he previews all eight teams in Oceania's top flight for the season ahead. Who will rock the boat, and who will be the one making waves this season? It's all about to go down in the land of the Great Slug, with Season 52 kicking off on January 22nd. Let's get started!
**Teams Previewed in this article: SuperBoy77 (76981), Arms and Legs (37181), Yellow Ticket Ref (417994), Its Friday FC (424035)**
Hello and welcome to this special supplementary edition of The Oceanian! OrangeStar here, and we are just over a week away from the start of another season in the most beautiful of all the HT-Nations, Oceania! While the World Cup comes to a close, the National Team Manager Elections are around the corner and Hattrick International has brought some managers a third team, this week we take some time to look at what is really important - the Pacific Premier. Hopefully you've read Part 1, which means it's time for the second half of the table!
| SuperBoy77 (76981) |
|---|
| Manager | SuperBoy77 (11898036) |
| Region | New Zealand North |
| Established | 29th January 2012 |
| Stadium | Super Dome (65,025) |
| Pacific Premier Seasons | 1 |
| Pacific Premier Titles | 0 (Best: 5th S51) |
| Oceania Cup Titles | 0 |
| Best Cup Finish | Quarter Final (S51) |
| Team TSI | 2,750,420 |
| Wage | $786,372 |
| International Experience | NT: 0, U20: 3, HM: 0 |
| Best Player | Buassi Long (383400560) |
| 'One to Watch' | Gian Franco Fiorinelli (387135959) |
| Transfer Activity | IN: $0m, OUT: $4,000 |
| Key Match (S52) | vs Yellow Ticket Ref (Wk4) |
| Predicted Finish | 7th |
| SuperBoy77 has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past six seasons. After spending three of those seasons in III.9, Super managed back-to-back promotions to fly from III.9 Champion in Season 49 to competing in the Pacific Premier in Season 51. The New Zealand North side have not been relegated in their entire history, and their 5th place finish in the top flight is their worst ever league result, and the only time SuperBoy77 has failed to secure his side a top two finish. The performance of Gian Franco Fiorinelli will be crucial to Super's chances this season; if the Spanish 'keeper gets some support he may single-handedly win points for his side. At the other end of the pitch, Buassi Long and Frankie Jamima will be terrorising defenses with their technical abilities. They will need to score more than their combined 10 goals in the league this season if Super are to avoid relegation though. Every match against the teams in the bottom half of the league will be an important one for the only New Zealand team in the competition; they will need to make the most of their home advantage. |
| Arms and Legs (37181) |
|---|
| Manager | armsandlegs (9651257) |
| Region | Victoria |
| Established | 18th July 2009 |
| Stadium | Edith St (85,020) |
| Pacific Premier Seasons | 8 |
| Pacific Premier Titles | 1 (S47) |
| Oceania Cup Titles | 0 |
| Best Cup Finish | Final (S51) |
| Team TSI | 2,572,950 |
| Wage | $1,156,196 |
| International Experience | NT: 10, U20: 1, HM: 12 |
| Best Player | Izak Šprem (383621586) |
| 'One to Watch' | Cristian Iorgovan (392071018) |
| Transfer Activity | None |
| Key Match (S52) | vs SuperBoy77 (Wk1 and Wk14) |
| Predicted Finish | 5th |
| Arms and Legs just managed to survive in the Pacific Premier, after SuperBoy77 and UNPREDICTABLE DYNAMITE drew on the final day of the season, allowing armsandlegs' side to leapfrog DOOZER and gain a relegation Playoff. With the youngest squad in the top flight, armsandlegs looks to be trying to add to their already impressive run of eight consecutive seasons in the Pacific Premier. In order to do that though, his side is going to need to get their first win against SuperBoy77 in either one of the bookend games where they meet to open and close the season. We feel like armsandlegs would be pushing their luck if they were to try and perform the great escape for two consecutive seasons! The interplay between Izak Šprem and Cristian Iorgovan in the centre of the park is going to be crucial for Arms and Legs this season. If Iorgovan can score like he did last season (17 goals in all competitions), we think armsandlegs will be able to stay up. |
| Yellow Ticket Ref !! (417994) |
|---|
| Manager | stole13 (7284058) |
| Region | Victoria |
| Established | 28th November 2007 |
| Stadium | Communist Party Arena (60,000) |
| Pacific Premier Seasons | 0 |
| Pacific Premier Titles | 0 |
| Oceania Cup Titles | 0 |
| Best Cup Finish | Round of 16 (S48) |
| Team TSI | 2,844,700 |
| Wage | $858,684 |
| International Experience | NT: 19, U20: 23, HM: 0 |
| Best Player | Ali Abraham (365194693) |
| 'One to Watch' | Jan Vetter (388571588) |
| Transfer Activity | None |
| Key Match (S52) | vs SuperBoy77 (Wk11) |
| Predicted Finish | 6th |
| After five seasons of finishing in the top three of III.3, stole13 has finally secured a path to the top flight after winning back-to-back promotions over the last two seasons. Yellow Ticket Ref's Pacific Premier debut has not brought about a foray into the transfer market from the manager, who has only brought one player into the team in the last two seasons, Spanish winger Daniel Buades ($10m). Oceanic winger Ali Abraham makes up all but one of the team's international matches, having played for the Sea Slugs on 22 occasions and the Slugs on 19 occasions. Combined with Swiss midfielder Jan Vetter, Abraham will be looking to keep the middle of the park strong in order to support Yellow's strikers. If stole13's side are still in the hunt for survival come Week 11, their match against SuperBoy77 will be crucial, and could very well determine which team stays to fight another day and which team ends up going down. |
| Its Friday FC (424035) |
|---|
| Manager | turns87 (11380941) |
| Region | Fiji |
| Established | 11th April 2011 |
| Stadium | Tomorrow is Saturday (68,280) |
| Pacific Premier Seasons | 0 |
| Pacific Premier Titles | 0 |
| Oceania Cup Titles | 0 |
| Best Cup Finish | Round of 16 (S50) |
| Team TSI | 2,324,880 |
| Wage | $776,440 |
| International Experience | NT: 17, U20: 7, HM: 0 |
| Best Player | Klaudiusz Roch (395933483) |
| 'One to Watch' | Ciro Bortuzzo (385977992) |
| Transfer Activity | IN: $12.3m, OUT: $1.3m |
| Key Match (S52) | vs Yellow Ticket Ref (Wk1) |
| Predicted Finish | 8th |
| As much as we hate to say it, the odds are firmly stacked against Its Friday this season. Turns87's squad currently has the lowest wage budget in the Pacific Premier, the lowest team TSI in the league, and is the second youngest group. A defense-minded team, goalkeeper Ciro Bortuzzo will be the one to watch this season, while up front, Klaudiusz Roch will need to make the most of his chances on the counter-attack. The 25-year-old striker joined Friday a little over a season ago and managed 10 goals in all competitions in the Second Division. We imagine he will need about that in the league this season if Friday are going to survive. Keep a watchful eye on Bence Sikesdi too; the Hungarian midfielder just signed for Friday on a $12.3 million transfer. Opening weekend will be crucial for turns as they take on fellow promotee Yellow Ticket Ref in a match that neither side will want to lose. |
Thank you for joining us as we previewed Season 52 in the Pacific Premier! Let us know who you think has what it takes to win it all this season! Is it one of the 'Top 4', or is there a dark horse somewhere, set to take the competition by storm? Will we see a surprise relegation? Stay tuned for more highlights from "The Oceanian", coming back to the Oceania forum this season!
2017-01-13 06:19:05,
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