In yesterday’s AUDL Tuesday Toss, Evan Lepler asks 17 specific questions that will define the 2017 season. Among them are… Question 8) Who’s Darryl Stanley? and Question 9) Can the Breeze-Truck partnership help D.C. reach its ultimate potential?
These are great questions! He also asks some others highly relevant to the success of the Breeze season such as whether Toronto’s rookies will be game changers, and which teams will most likely feel the sting of the World Championships of Beach Ultimate and the World Games, both taking place late in the AUDL season.
Lepler interviewed Breeze head coach Darryl Stanley, returning player Jonathan Neeley, and managing partner Don Grage for the answers to Questions 8 and 9. “There is so much talent here, and I’m hoping we can continue in their upward trajectory this year,” said Stanley. “I want to have this prepared to not only challenge but overcome East Division heavyweights New York and Toronto.”
“Last year, we had 14 guys who played both Truck and Breeze,” added Neeley. “With even more guys set to do both this year, it really just seemed kind of silly not to acknowledge the overlap and work with it rather than outside of it.”
And then of course there’s the effect of the rule change that thrower travels are no longer turnovers. Lepler got the perspective on this from AUDL Director of Officials Josh Cooper, who served on the 2017 rules subcommittee with Atlanta’s John Boezi and Grage.
“Moving forward, I agree that this was the right move for the league,” Lepler concluded. “In some ways, I found the dramatic shift of a pivotal travel call to be very entertaining and suspenseful, but the reality is it was probably an excessive penalty for the violation.” See a synopsis of all the rule changes here.
Read all 17 questions and answers in this latest Tuesday Toss to get the latest about offseason activities across the AUDL.