Its been a few weeks since action in the Winter League due to other fixtures around the country and venue availability. However, we find ourselves a few days away from the week 4 game day and the final day of action prior to the playoffs beginning on March 29th. What better way than to look ahead than with some Power Rankings to get us up to speed and to create a bit of spice before the weekend as mostly all the teams and players in Winter League have been to either Flagging New Year or Flagging Iron Man with mixed success. How will this impact their WFL Power Ranking? Do we have some inside scoop of missing players? did this impact our 5 league pundits…. We haven’t been to bad so far so far with our predictions.
Well im not sure it comes as much of a surprise that Top Gun are still sitting pretty at number 1 considering we have had them here since AUGUST!!!, Do we see them dropping down any lower than this? we doubt it. However could we be up for a bit of a surprise this weekend with Callum Woods and Jamie Archibald taking on an adventure to the TUFF League (United States) or can Jules hold the fort with his other merry men and hold onto the Number 1 seed for the playoffs. Either way we are not too worried about the TopGuns in Week 4 as they have enough weapons to beat most teams they come up against.
Coming in at #2 is Rexy’s Midnight Runners, and so far every is holding place in our Power Rankings. The Rexy’s have been in action since January’s week 3 action and it was a tough loss by 1 point against the Carluke Cobras in the Quarter Finals. Over the day though at Flagging Iron Man, Rexy’s pulled off some big wins in a similar format against similar competition we feel as though they could be coming back into Winter League Week 4 action with a chip on the shoulder and look to finish the League Play on a high. Could they go unbeaten in week 4? Well we think so and even though they have 5 games including a Raptors showdown we can see them sealing the 2nd spot if TopGuns don’t drop any games.
Moving onto the #3 spot and again we still have no movement its Carnegie Flag Football. When we asked our pundits for the who they had picked they didn’t know the squad Carnegie would have for this weekend. At Flagging New Year they picked up wins against Manchester Titans, Reckless Russians, Warrington and even ran the London Smoke close while at Flagging Iron Man fell out at the Quarter Finals against the eventual finalists in the Glasgow Hornets. So the team have been showing glimpses of what to expect in April for BAFA however Winter League as previously shown may not have such a strong team coming to play with key players missing this weekend. So with that in mind we do think Carnegie could drop a couple games this weekend to the likes of Edinburgh and Rex’y but will still have the points needed to stay in the playoff Bracket for March. Could they rock up with a full squad in playoffs though and see if they can win it all… Time will tell…
Onto the #4 spot and we have our first sign of movement, and to many it may be an odd one. We are loving the improvements this team have been making over the winter and its really been noticeable with some great performances at FNY and FIM. Irrespective of results they played well only narrowly losing out at times and then to win the plate bracket at FIM this is definitely going to give you confidence. Are they in the playoffs…we think so, are they going to get the 10 wins they predicted of themselves… possibly they could. Its a tight one though as we only have to look back to January when they beat both Outlaws and Carnegie at Winter League however we also cant forget going winless at Flagging New Year which had a loss to the Outlaws included. So our pundits had this one pretty close with votes going either way to who was 4th and 5th.
Coming in our 5 spot though is the Edinburgh Outlaws, the only team to beat the TopGuns and beat Raptors at FNY yet we don’t give them any love!! Sorry Edinburgh. Are the sealed into a playoff spot already? we think so due to the teams below having to play each other it would take a miracle however its not guaranteed yet so they do have 4 fixtures left which could lead to a nail biting end to the year with games versus the Silvercats, Newcastle, Rexy and Carnegie with 1 win sealing that playoff spot. We have no inside scoop on roster or availability for this weekend but Liam Clutterbuck and crew will be looking to continue from Flagging New Year to make a push for the BAFA Div One Crown and we have no doubt they will come Sunday ready to play. Could they get a win over Rexy and take a win off both the 2 top seeds?
Effectively with the number 6 seed this is the team who we see making the playoffs. However it was only 2 of the 5 pundits picking them at 6, 2 had the colts and 1 had the Blackhawks. So with our precise and modern Analytics along with our serious ‘Math’ skills we have found the Silvercats coming out on top from Sunday. They have 5 games to play against Colts, Raptors, Outlaws,Newcastle and Killerbees which they must feel as though are all teams they can beat on their day. However this could be the downfall of the Silvercats, Who will turn up for them. Can we have MVP QB Jamie Bennett controlling the field and Wiley veteran Scott Forbes coordinating the Defence while leaving the big plays coming from Eli, Cameron and Nick Gordon!!.. We hope so!!!. Its almost like looking at the Oilcats from 2019 again where your best receiver is your QB and with Cameron Reid having shared the QB duties this year we think they success of the Silvercats could be down to the QB position. Can they do it or will they lose those key games against the Colts and Blackhawks
Position 7 as we said above wasnt an easy one and with also 2 votes for 6th,2 for 7th and 1 for 8th we have the Grangemouth Colts. We do feel as thought the Colts schedule is more difficult than the Silvercats with games against Rexy, Silvercats, Killerbees, Raptors and TopGun to go the fate of the colts could be down to beating the Silvercats and then the Killerbees but also nicking something from the Raptors game to seal the 6th spot as 2 wins might not be enough. The Colts are sitting in the tied 6th spot right now with the Silvercats however due to losing the first matchup Vs the Silvercats 24-7 the colts would occupy the 7th seed due to the head to head. So if things did come down to a tie at the end of the day and the Colts Beat the Silvercats this could go down to Points Difference. We are super excited to see what happens throughout the day and we are going to try keep the standings up to date as the day goes on which will be on our website by heading to the Winter Flag Page.
Taking up our 8th Spot is also Playoff Challengers in the Newcastle Blackhawks. Another team who got a vote for the 6th spot from one of our pundits and we feel as though all season long they could of and should be higher in the standings with narrow losses to what feels like every team and with a tie against Rexys in Week 2 and some strong performances at FIM they may just creep into the 6th spot. The Blackhawks in week 4 will face the Outlaws, Rexy, Chargers, TopGuns and Silvercats in what could be a playoff seeding battle in that last game if all goes to plan on the day but we feel as though Newcastle have the toughest fixtures from the 3 teams which may not help them and the playoff push. Could they get one better over the Rexys Midnight runners after the 13-13 tie back in December and with a slightly short handed TopGuns is this a possibility of an upset and seeing the Blackhawks secure that final playoff spot. We think that if they turn up ready to play and play hard throughout the day we also couldnt be that surprised either to see them beat out the Silvercats and Colts to that spot.
Taking up our 9th Spot in the West Lothian Chargers, they continue to hold the 9th Spot after the week 3 Power Rankings and although they haven’t been in action recently their strong performances at Week 3 of Winter League has us optimistic. They come into Week 4 with a mathematical chance of making the playoffs however with a tough schedule its not looking likely as the face the Raptors, Killerbees, Newcastle and Rexys Midnight Runners. It goes without question the biggest issue the chargers face is scoring points this year however the Defence has been on top form recently and if they can give the offence some good field position with some interceptions then this could propel the Chargers to some wins. They biggest fixture of the day is the return leg of the Killerbees which they won 14-0 and with better results against Carnegie, Silvercats and Outlaws respective they do show signs of what could be in 2020. Right now we see them in the 9th Spot however the Killerbees are lurking hot on their heels.
Taking up our final spot is the Glasgow Killerbees, which to some has been a bit of a disappointing start to life as a premiership team but one they can fix we feel. They main issue has been the QB position as for most teams this ultimately is the key to success of protecting the ball and scoring when needed to win crucial games. The team have a bunch of talented players like Robbie Menzies, William McNab, Aynsley Barclay and Calum Bell to name but a few however they need to find a way of them making plays. They Killerbees have certainly an easier schedule this week if we are allowed to say that missing most of the top ranked teams and we fancy them getting back to winning ways if they can sort out the QB position as they face the Chargers, Colts,Carnegie and Silvercats and if the Killerbees do go on to win some games they could impact the playoff teams the most with the Colts and Silvercats being the main 2 in with the hunt. Could the Killerbees find form? could they through a spanner into the works and help out the Blackhawks….
All the results and standings will be update over the duration of the day so you can see how your team are getting on. We will also be live streaming games from fields 3 and 4 on both our Facebook and Youtube Channels so make sure to Like and Subscribe to our channels for those live events.
https://www.facebook.com/CarnegieFlagFootball
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZ69ZZc1U4h2MuHSUQ74mw