I've just been having a bit of a scout around the NZ player scene, and on Smoke's suggestion, thought I'd start a thread for NZ players. Whoever ends up as national coach is not going to have a very big pool of players to work with. Basically, there are only three decent NZ teams - Jake's Auckland Raiders, my own Shaky Islanders and Smoke's Dunedin Huskies. The Wekas Warriors also have a number of impressive-looking players, but they've gone bot, so I'm not sure whether those players would be eligible for selection. Ironically, the two highest-paid players in NZ (both kickers) play for the Wekas Warriors!

Anyway, I've put together a tentative list of possible candidates for national selection. If I do become the coach, I would be looking at things like fitness skills and consistency as well as core offensive and defensive skills. So a player with a relatively low wage, but extremely high speed and strength, may well get into the side, especially if it's an area where there aren't many good players available.

Obviously, I know my own team best, so the list of players from other teams is currently based mainly on wage, and also age to some extent.

This is by no means a final list; it's just the "first draft" to give us all a rough idea of who might make the national team in future, and the areas in which we have lots of talent, and conversely those where we don't seem to have much at all.

OK, here we go, beginning with the offence:

QUARTERBACKS

Shane Blair (Dunedin Huskies)
Michael Ingram (Shaky Islanders)
Mike Leota (Auckland Raiders)

Ingram has the highest wage (with 16 passing), but his fitness skills aren't great (although I'm working on them). The Wekas Warriors also have Phil Gibbon, but as I've said, they're bot.

RUNNING BACKS

Greg Bromley (Dunedin Huskies)
Tyler Fulcher (Auckland Raiders)
Geoffrey Rennie (Shaky Islanders)

There might be other possible candidates, but these three are the standouts at present.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Dan Barron (Auckland Raiders)
Hunter Van Noorden (Shaky Islanders)
Aaran Van Noorden (Phalanx - a UK team)

I found Aaran Van Noorden by looking on the list of top earners. His wage is higher than the other two, I think.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN

Jason Fisher (Dunedin Huskies)
Chris Close (Dunedin Huskies)
Tim Smeltz (Shaky Islanders)
Logan Van Dissen (Shaky Islanders)
Geoffrey Bannatyne (Bensheim Blizzards - German team)
Thomas Fletcher (Gold Seekers - Italian team)

Fitness skills are particularly important for offensive linemen. A lower wage could hide high fitness skills. So this is definitely a very tentative list. I find it hard to believe that the Auckland Raiders wouldn't have some OLs capable of making the team on fitness skills alone (although hopefully they'd also have some reasonable blocking and agility). Bannatyne and Fletcher have the highest wages of any of these guys, but they're also getting on in years and Bannatyne's energy is 89%.

The Wekas Warriors have two high-wage OLs: Hamish Sturgeon and Philip Hayman. But I guess they'll be reset at some stage.

TIGHT ENDS

Cameron Spoonley (Dunedin Huskies)

We're really struggling for decent tight ends. Again though, there might be some around with great fitness skills but not such high core skills yet. My own two best tight ends are foreigners. I do have a number of NZ ones, but they're all pretty young and inexperienced, and still developing.

So that's the O - now let's check out the D.

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN

Colin Cox (Shaky Islanders)
Joshua Glover (Auckland Raiders)
Isaac Gregorious (plays for Tree Hill Ravens in Portgual)
Tony Sanders (Shaky Islanders)
Jordan Smeltz (Shaky Islanders)

In addition to these five initial prospects, there were another five with impressively high wages in the Wekas Warriors. Such a pity they're bot now! As with OLs, DLs need high fitness skills, so there are probably other possibilities out there.

LINEBACKERS

Shane Burley (Shaky Islanders)
George Elliott (Auckland Raiders)
Ross Smeltz (Shaky Islanders)
Jesse Thorne (Shaky Islanders)
Cameron Wilson (Dunedin Huskies)

There's also Blake Gregorious in the Wekas Warriors. But an LB with say, 8 or 9 tackling but 17+ speed and strength would have a definite shot at this stage.

CORNERBACKS

Adam Vernon (Shaky Islanders)
Adam Coulter (plays for Hordes of Genghis Khan in Romania)

Not a great list at first glance, but again, there might be CBs around with high fitness or whatever. Many of my best cornerbacks are foreign, and I think the same might be true of other teams (well the Raiders anyway).

SAFETIES

Mike Leota (Dunedin Huskies)
Jack Riley (Auckland Raiders)

Ross Nelsen from my Shaky Islanders is an outside shot. If there are other players with good speed, reasonable defensive skills and maybe catching as well (for interceptions), then they would be considered.

Last but not least: special teams!

KICKERS

Moses Hagarty (Auckland Raiders)

The Wekas Warriors have two kickers who are the highest-paid two players in NZ - Matthew Gleeson and Shane Adams. I've also got a guy called Simon Campbell who's coming on. One of my former players, Danny Yates (who has 14 kicking and punting, if I recall rightly) might also be a possibility. But he has very low consistency. My current best kicker is a foreigner.

GUNNERS

Cole Burley (Shaky Islanders)
Hunter Leota (plays for Raccoon City Zombies in USA)
Ron Rzucidło (Shaky Islanders)

There just aren't that many specialist gunners around. Rzucidło is 30, so not a long-term prospect, but might have to do for the time being. The Wekas Warriors also have Craig Higgins.

If you have a player elsewhere in your team that you use as a gunner, and think he's got the right stuff to represent NZ, then by all means, please let me (or whoever the coach ends up being) know about him.

KICK RETURNERS

Norman Vidaković (Shaky Islanders)

We have a serious dearth of specialist kick returners. I have a couple of other guys who are coming on, but not really up to national standards (although I may have to use one if needs must). Again though, if you have a player in another part of your team that you use as a kick returner regularly, then please advise.

So that's it for now. There may seem to be a slight bias to my own team, but it's not intentional. As I said before, I know my own players the best, so it's just easier for me to work out which of my guys have the best skills. For other teams, I've currently relied on wages, but wages don't tell the full story, especially when it comes to fitness skills. It could be quite an interesting balance, actually - core skills vs. fitness. Also worth considering is that many of the top NZ teams' best players are actually foreigners. So the pool of actual Kiwi players is not that large, and the problem is compounded by many of the best players (in terms of wages, anyway) being in a bot team! But I'm sure the final makeup of the NZ team will look a little different to what's currently listed above.

I've made some selections now and managed to avoid picking any players from the Wekas Warriors. Jake and Smoke, I've sent you guys PMs with detailed explanations about which of your players have been chosen, and the areas I'd like to see them trained in. There's room for about another dozen players, so the lineup could very well be tweaked further before it's final.

Hi!

Tim Smeltz is in my team now, it's pretty cool to see the NT symbol on him

The National Team of New Zealand has a new fan

Bye, inglor