Season 69 is about to finish, and we have been playing some scrimmages for the past few weeks, so nothing big has happened since the end of EC.
I see this season as a turning point, turning the curve upwards for us. It was evident with results, which got significantly better as the last season's disaster at the consolation tournament, and also better as the EC two seasons ago. Additionally, the positive trend is also evident from our roster development. In the past seasons, we lost some key players, such as Tommy Fyhrhult and Petter Börjesson, who were both very difficult (or impossible) to replace. Now we got some push from below.
Younger players, who were not even a part of the team two or three seasons ago, finally emerged, and contributed significantly. The flux of younger players will now be more continuous, with some very exciting players maturing and reaching the last stages before the NT level. Simultaneously, the team leaders are now getting to ages of 30+, where the player can really be utilized to the best of his abilities, and there will be no retirement for quite some time (maybe with the exception of Finn Egghall (33, turning 34)).
Still, the rarity of our high players is a problem, which is now a limiting factor for us. But even here, the situation will only improve after time.
In this season, the core of the outside line consisted of:
Kristian Forsbratt, Afk Ballers, 30
Herman Hansson, Markushhh’s, 28
Sören Häggin, Field Mice, 31
Peter Danielsson, Afk Ballers, 31
Lasse Lundell, Pipa Warriors, 31
Finn Egghall, Glaskulans IF, 33
besides some seasoned veterans (Anders Matthiasson, Mikael Fjälltorp), I also used some younger players, at least two of them must be further emphasized;
Mats Josefsson of AfK Ballers is a 26 yo prodigy, who will be given a very serious role already in the next season, and will soon become one of the key players in the team. I can only hope he will further train in these final stages, and become the best he can be - a world-class player for sure.
Bengt-Åke Olsson , another 26 year old (trained by Field Mice), equally as tallented as Josefsson, but didn't polish some of the primary skills yet, so he wasn't given as many minutes. But in the next season this will change, and he will be another addition to our roster, which is already quite deep in outside positions.
Among 26-year olds, also Jim Berglind and Lars Håkansson are exceptional for their current age, both trained by Afk Ballers along Josefsson. Unfortunately, they are only MVP potential, but will still be able to contribute due to their good training.
In this season, and maybe already in the previous one, Michael Ahler, 25, trained by myself, emerged as a regular starter on PF/C positions. He is now reaching the final part of his training, and is now quite useful already. But naturally, he has many seasons of training in front of him, which will only get us better as a team. A veteran Håkan Dallius will retire soon, so we are left with Kalle Håkansson, Bernhard Rolffsson and Mattias Nilsson for PF/C rotation. Not very deep.
Next pack of trully talented center has left U21 ranks only recently, but Patrik Josefsson, 22, trained by bluehill, is the most talented swedish center, probably of all time. There are also Claess Rolfsson, Mats Jorgensson and Roland Ragnarsson, all 23, and all trained by foreigners, who are dedicated (and I hope it will last). So the situation here will improve, but it will take some time.
Among the 22-24 generation, the most talented outside players are Martin Ekwald (24), Björn Håkansson (23), Alexander Eckhult (23) and Patrik Skogstedt (22), but there are many other players who might become just as good or better - it all depends on future training.
For U21 generation it is too early to tell, but the trend is similar - good players and good work being done there as well.
Last edited by Deschamps at 10/6/2025 6:42:32 AM