A lot can change in a season that lasts all the way through to the fall, but looking at the first round, the South division may very well be a two team race for the top with Belgrade and Novi Sad looking to repeat last year’s score of reaching the semifinals. The North is a different matter, at least it still is, but this is a week in which we could see if that truly is the case.
The Ljubljana Silverhawks have, for the first time and in the third year, started the season with a win, though against a team not many are expecting anything in 2008. Their opponent from Austria won as well, in a more one-sided game then what can be interpreted from the score line, and against a more superior opponent. The Gladiators beat the Silverhawks both times last year, clinching second place in the North with a 34-0 win at home, so this will be a good indicator for Ljubljana to see how realistic their hopes of reaching the semifinals are.
“Yeah, that is our goal; we can make it with some luck. Next game we are going to see where we really are, against our main rival; the other one are the Monarchs”, says David Turšič, the Silverhawks safety, who returns full time to the team.
“It depends a lot on how many players we are going to have, if our US guys are on duty, and on the other side I don’t know how many guys are going to come with the Gladiators, because the Black Lions have an EFAF game on the same day.”
Turšič himself spent the year with the Black Lions last year, before an injury ended his season. Now back with the Silverhawks, he’ll get a chance to play his former teammates, if they come, but he says it’s no additional motivation.
“On the field I am playing against the other team; that could be anybody. I always want to play hard.”
The game kicks off at noon on the national rugby field in Ljubljana, Gunclje.
Belgrade’s game begins later, 6PM the same day, on the Ada Ciganlija field in Belgrade, the same place where the Vukovi won last year’s CEFL Bowl, and where they have been unbeaten since they started playing there a year ago.
It’s hard to imagine the new team, Zagreb, breaking the streak of six straight wins there, counting just the CEFL games, and much more if counting all the games they played there last year, by their CEFL and second team. That’s especially true now, considering Zagreb lost their starting quarterback, Alen Keranović, for the season in the opening game, and there aren’t many replacements to choose from.
At the start of the season, the Vukovi are probably thinking less about Zagreb than about defending the title they won last year. Beginning the 2008 season, they are stronger then ever, with two American import players, William Blocker and Jordan Green.
They had a great start preparing for the CEFL season, beating a team similar to Zagreb’s level 63-0 in the opening game of the Serbian League.
“I think next game will be a lot smoother looking, a lot of plays will be better looking and we’ll have a lot more organized game; it will flow a lot better and we won’t be as sloppy. The score was a little bit false; I expect us to be better looking”, says Blocker.
“Green will be playing a lot, probably the first half; me, I’ll be sticking with the special teams more and probably 10 more plays on defense.”