World Footy News

In worldfootynews.com's third preview of teams for the 2009 EU Cup, we spoke with coach of the England Dragonslayers (and new assistant coach of the GB Bulldogs) Robert Fielder about their preparations for defending the title, as well as Juan Martin and Antonio Avila in Spain and Doug Pate in Andorra about their respective teams.

Footy in the Madrid area took an important next step this year with the creation of a second team and the commencement of a local league. The Andorrans completed their debut season in the Catalan league and will be keen to make a good impression in their first EU Cup appearance.

In other EU Cup news, team Catalonia have announced their withdrawal due to financial difficulties, meaning organisers are currently looking at 14 national sides, plus the EU Crusaders to be confirmed. A finalised draw will be available soon.

Our final preview, covering the Irish Exiles, Germany and the Netherlands, will be on WFN soon.

England Dragonslayers

Rob Fielder from the Dragonslayers tells World Footy News that the squad's coaching staff have monitored a large number of players through the national leagues this year. Of the numerous new clubs playing in ARUK this year, some have geared up to push their players for England, while others aren’t quite there yet.

Fielder explains "We ran two trial sessions in Durham and London respectively. Players were assessed for specific fitness and skills, some players are still talking about the fitness tests. We then scrutinised them in a game situation and discussed which players should get the jumpers for the Dragon Cup."

"Commitment to the game was an important factor. We’d rather take someone who wants to put the sport 1st ahead of rugby, soccer and basketball. The first ten players were chosen after the match with the Irish Exiles and the final lucky five after the first Dragon Cup match on Saturday."

Fielder tells us the squad will be English only, adding "this will always be the case unless there is a mass plague, like Swine Flu... We have some real quality to play at this level. Many of the lads from last year have improved and we will have our strong spine again."

"Last year’s EU Cup Final best on ground Adam Ballard will again be tough to beat in the Ruck and energy around the ground for a big man. Great at leading by example."

"Will Worthington is a cracking onballer, many think he’s an Aussie, who has the skills and composure to cut any team to shreds."

"16 year old Lewis Brackstone is a real handful in defence and playing with the West London Wildcats all year has pushed his game."

"Danny Armitage is a prospect for the future, dives everywhere and leads the line well. I’ve retired my No.9 jumper to him now that I’m coach only."

"Rob Kerr is here for his third year in a row, along with Mark Todd, and is getting all the bits of his game together. He works hard off the ball and has the skills to hurt your defence. "

"Martyn Hinchey has improved markedly in only his second season. Adaptable in Ruck or Defence, he will spoil the hopes of many a side."

"I could go on!"

As for their aspirations going into the tournament, Fiedler says "Five wins by minimum one point each time will do. Seriously though, We’re more focussed on our performance processes. We cannot tell how our opposition will play. Therefore, we will have a number of game plans in place to ensure we get maximum use of the ball."

"It’s quite bizarre, but I never imagined I’d be this excited about coaching from the sidelines, instead of playing. The Dragon Cup has been excellent this year and I can’t wait to get to Croatia. My 3 year old son Finlay will be there as mascot, he follows me to every match nowadays!"

Spain

In the twelve months since the last EU Cup, the Madrid Bears have been joined by a second club in the region, dubbed the Móstoles Kangaroos. Selection for the Spain Bulls has taken in players from both the Bears and Roos, although the more established Bears have supplied the majority.

As Juan Martin from the Madrid Bears explains, "There are about 25 Spanish players between both teams, the rest are Australians or English."

"As we don't have any sponsor to support the travel costs, the selection of the players was done between those that can afford to travel. There are some young players, students most of them, that have no incomes and unfortunately cannot travel but with quite good skills for the game."

"The President of the CAMFA, Jeff Callow made a 15 player selection between some spanish and Australian players. Some of these Australians have both a Spanish and Australian passport so in the EU Cup are considered as Spanish nationals."

Australian Trent Davis is a stand-out in the squad, along with his teammates at the Bears Daniel Ribas, Pablo Mas and Manny Fernandez. From the Móstoles Kangaroos comes strong rover Mario Vazquez - who only started playing the game this season.

Juan adds, "In my opinion, and I have travelled with the Spanish Bulls in all the Championships we have participated since 2003, even 2005 IC in Melbourne, we have our best team ever. It's an interesting mix of strong youth and expert veterans that is quite confident in the possibilities of winning the Cup."

"We are training hard during the month before the Championship and we hope at least to get the semi-finals and fight hard for getting a place in the Final and play our best footy."

Andorra

For anyone who's isn't sure where to place it on a map, the tiny nation of Andorra sits high in the Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France, a few hours from Barcelona.

The Andorra Crows were formed only in 2008 and this will be their first EU Cup after playing their debut season in the Lliga de Futbol Australià de Catalunya in 2009.

Coaching the team will be Doug Pate, a Briton who previously played footy in Denmark. Pate is keeping his cards pretty close to his chest, stating simply that the squad selected are a great bunch of blokes who are aiming to get in some experience for the upcoming season.

The Crows are on the draw for the next French national league season, planned to kick off later this year and continue over the northern winter.