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Post by bvbllr on Aug 6, 2021 1:41:23 GMT -5
Any thoughts on which teams will break up after the Olympics? For me some of the changes on the men’s side could be: - Herrera retires and Gaviria could be picking up a young talent - Poland needs to make some adjustment - they obviously have quality players but the current team setup isn’t giving them great results. Also expect them to have a decent talent pipeline so potentially an option to pair veterans and younger players for Paris - Are Nicolai / Lupo staying together? Any viable alternatives for Nicolai? - Pretty sure we’ll see some change at the Dutch teams. The key questions here are whether Brouwer/Meeuwsen will both continue their careers and who is going to pick up DeGroot (…would be very exciting to see Vaarenhorst/DeGroot or new teams like Brouwer/Vaarenhorst and Meeuwsen/DeGroot) - Krattiger/Gerson would be the best team Switzerland could assemble but I don’t think they will break the current ones up
One the Women’s side: - Can’t see the top 2 German teams continue - likely see some major shifts once things get into motion. Biggest gap are quality blockers so will be interesting to see if Laura Ludwig would be willing to take on one of the younger players - I guess we’ll see some change in Canada - especially if Bansley finishes her career. - In Switzerland it will probably depend on whether Anouk can tolerate Heidrich for another 3 years or not. A really interesting yet unlikely pairing would be Anouk and Betschart - this would put the 2 mentally stronger players on one team (but would then obviously leave 2 blockers with Heidrich and Huberli). Pretty funny how Switzerland is missing world class defenders while Germany is starving for blockers
Let’s keep this thread to non-US teams as there are already separate discussions for the US going on.
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Post by bvbllr on Aug 6, 2021 1:46:07 GMT -5
…missed Brazil up there but I guess we’ll see completely new teams across the board given their recent performances. Would love to see Guto and Evandro together and Duda getting a quality blocker.
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Post by guest2 on Aug 6, 2021 2:06:27 GMT -5
Any thoughts on which teams will break up after the Olympics? For me some of the changes on the men’s side could be: - Herrera retires and Gaviria could be picking up a young talent - Poland needs to make some adjustment - they obviously have quality players but the current team setup isn’t giving them great results. Also expect them to have a decent talent pipeline so potentially an option to pair veterans and younger players for Paris - Are Nicolai / Lupo staying together? Any viable alternatives for Nicolai? - Pretty sure we’ll see some change at the Dutch teams. The key questions here are whether Brouwer/Meeuwsen will both continue their careers and who is going to pick up DeGroot (…would be very exciting to see Vaarenhorst/DeGroot or new teams like Brouwer/Vaarenhorst and Meeuwsen/DeGroot) - Krattiger/Gerson would be the best team Switzerland could assemble but I don’t think they will break the current ones up One the Women’s side: - Can’t see the top 2 German teams continue - likely see some major shifts once things get into motion. Biggest gap are quality blockers so will be interesting to see if Laura Ludwig would be willing to take on one of the younger players - I guess we’ll see some change in Canada - especially if Bansley finishes her career. - In Switzerland it will probably depend on whether Anouk can tolerate Heidrich for another 3 years or not. A really interesting yet unlikely pairing would be Anouk and Betschart - this would put the 2 mentally stronger players on one team (but would then obviously leave 2 blockers with Heidrich and Huberli). Pretty funny how Switzerland is missing world class defenders while Germany is starving for blockers Let’s keep this thread to non-US teams as there are already separate discussions for the US going on. Why is it Anouk tolerating Joanna? Joanna is one of the top blockers in the world, its Anouk that often struggles to fulfill her responsibilities on defense. Weird dynamic during these games where tons of fans have turned on Joanna for shouting the way their favorite teams do constantly. Germany maybe but who does Laura go to? Maggie has been improving, although I doubt she ever gets there. All the Brazilian teams need to break up. Both mens and womens. I'd like to see Taliqua take on a project and I wonder if some American defender might not be willing to move to Canada. There will be at least one phenomenal blocker available there.
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Post by bvbllr on Aug 6, 2021 4:07:07 GMT -5
Yes I fully agree it’s unlikely that Anouk / Heinrich would break up given the recent success. Still, she was also a successful blocker and has had great results on the world tour before teaming up with Heidrich - and that was all without a Betschart-level defender / side-out player.
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Post by stephenasinjin on Aug 6, 2021 8:55:18 GMT -5
Brazilian men will be interesting for sure. Evandro and Guto looked to have a very strong dynamic playing together, and Evandro even seems like a pleasant individual playing with Guto, but assuming evandro gets his pick as top blocker would he pick Guto over Filho? Filho in my opinion had a very strong Olympic showing. Gotta be frustrating to watch a 6’ 8” dude fail to sideout at the pin around a 6’ 3” blocker.
As for Poland not sure what change ups can be made. I didn’t get to watch a bunch of fijalek/Bryl but it’s hard to imagine Kantor Losiak splitting so not sure why fijalek and Bryl would split since the next option is considerably worse. I would be curious for a Bryl/Losiak pairing. I consider losiak an elite international defender currently stuck with kantor.
Dutch men might be interesting, or it might not. As the only team to qualify and still having world class success would Breeuwsen break up? Why would Varenhorst dump vande velde if they’ve had historically more success than Dutch 3? Admittedly I need to watch more of De Groot.
As for Latvian men, I want to see Tocs/Smedins. I know Samsme is sticking together at least for the rest of 2021 but I’d rather watch Mufasa get trampled to death by wildebeests on loop until Paris than continue to watch Smedins drag the Lion King to international wins.
Nicolai has no other options besides Lupo and frankly Lupo is a great option. Carambula is just not physical enough when it matters as seen in his match vs. Heidrich. He can go on runs of being world class, but when the world figures out his new wrinkles in his game he’s back to being a tier 2 player unfortunately. I’d love for this to change and I think the difference is purely physicality. I also think he should run backsets to the left side almost every time in system. It just opens up his offensive options so much more.
German men, I’d love to see Fluggen ditch that lumbering blocker and bring the bucket hat into the spotlight. Love his game so much and can’t stand watching Ehlers.
I’d be interested to see Rubio from Mexico with somebody else. Can he play defense? Splitblock? That dude is a BAAAAAD man and frankly outclasses Gaxiola. Not sure if he has other options though. Love the chip on his shoulder as well and it’s humorous watching him bomb wide open options or overpasses at people intentionally to establish dominance.
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Post by bvbllr on Aug 6, 2021 9:45:43 GMT -5
Brazilian men will be interesting for sure. Evandro and Guto looked to have a very strong dynamic playing together, and Evandro even seems like a pleasant individual playing with Guto, but assuming evandro gets his pick as top blocker would he pick Guto over Filho? Filho in my opinion had a very strong Olympic showing. Gotta be frustrating to watch a 6’ 8” dude fail to sideout at the pin around a 6’ 3” blocker. As for Poland not sure what change ups can be made. I didn’t get to watch a bunch of fijalek/Bryl but it’s hard to imagine Kantor Losiak splitting so not sure why fijalek and Bryl would split since the next option is considerably worse. I would be curious for a Bryl/Losiak pairing. I consider losiak an elite international defender currently stuck with kantor. Dutch men might be interesting, or it might not. As the only team to qualify and still having world class success would Breeuwsen break up? Why would Varenhorst dump vande velde if they’ve had historically more success than Dutch 3? Admittedly I need to watch more of De Groot. As for Latvian men, I want to see Tocs/Smedins. I know Samsme is sticking together at least for the rest of 2021 but I’d rather watch Mufasa get trampled to death by wildebeests on loop until Paris than continue to watch Smedins drag the Lion King to international wins. Nicolai has no other options besides Lupo and frankly Lupo is a great option. Carambula is just not physical enough when it matters as seen in his match vs. Heidrich. He can go on runs of being world class, but when the world figures out his new wrinkles in his game he’s back to being a tier 2 player unfortunately. I’d love for this to change and I think the difference is purely physicality. I also think he should run backsets to the left side almost every time in system. It just opens up his offensive options so much more. German men, I’d love to see Fluggen ditch that lumbering blocker and bring the bucket hat into the spotlight. Love his game so much and can’t stand watching Ehlers. I’d be interested to see Rubio from Mexico with somebody else. Can he play defense? Splitblock? That dude is a BAAAAAD man and frankly outclasses Gaxiola. Not sure if he has other options though. Love the chip on his shoulder as well and it’s humorous watching him bomb wide open options or overpasses at people intentionally to establish dominance. To me the points that make De Groot an interesting option are: - He has proven in Gstaad that he can perform at the highest level and win tournaments - He's a true defender which are hard to come by in NED (e.g. Van de Velde is just a converted blocker with subpar defense skills on the worldtour) - He's only 21 years old and still has a ton of opportunity to improve further I think with Flueggen there is a possibility that he'll unfortunately retire from international competitions after this year. You're right that Nicolai / Lupo would probably only split if one of them decides to retire - but if that happens there should be some very talented young players to pick up. I think Italy did really well in youth world championships in the past years.
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Post by stephenasinjin on Aug 6, 2021 9:54:06 GMT -5
Brazilian men will be interesting for sure. Evandro and Guto looked to have a very strong dynamic playing together, and Evandro even seems like a pleasant individual playing with Guto, but assuming evandro gets his pick as top blocker would he pick Guto over Filho? Filho in my opinion had a very strong Olympic showing. Gotta be frustrating to watch a 6’ 8” dude fail to sideout at the pin around a 6’ 3” blocker. As for Poland not sure what change ups can be made. I didn’t get to watch a bunch of fijalek/Bryl but it’s hard to imagine Kantor Losiak splitting so not sure why fijalek and Bryl would split since the next option is considerably worse. I would be curious for a Bryl/Losiak pairing. I consider losiak an elite international defender currently stuck with kantor. Dutch men might be interesting, or it might not. As the only team to qualify and still having world class success would Breeuwsen break up? Why would Varenhorst dump vande velde if they’ve had historically more success than Dutch 3? Admittedly I need to watch more of De Groot. As for Latvian men, I want to see Tocs/Smedins. I know Samsme is sticking together at least for the rest of 2021 but I’d rather watch Mufasa get trampled to death by wildebeests on loop until Paris than continue to watch Smedins drag the Lion King to international wins. Nicolai has no other options besides Lupo and frankly Lupo is a great option. Carambula is just not physical enough when it matters as seen in his match vs. Heidrich. He can go on runs of being world class, but when the world figures out his new wrinkles in his game he’s back to being a tier 2 player unfortunately. I’d love for this to change and I think the difference is purely physicality. I also think he should run backsets to the left side almost every time in system. It just opens up his offensive options so much more. German men, I’d love to see Fluggen ditch that lumbering blocker and bring the bucket hat into the spotlight. Love his game so much and can’t stand watching Ehlers. I’d be interested to see Rubio from Mexico with somebody else. Can he play defense? Splitblock? That dude is a BAAAAAD man and frankly outclasses Gaxiola. Not sure if he has other options though. Love the chip on his shoulder as well and it’s humorous watching him bomb wide open options or overpasses at people intentionally to establish dominance. To me the points that make De Groot an interesting option are: - He has proven in Gstaad that he can perform at the highest level and win tournaments - He's a true defender which are hard to come by in NED (e.g. Van de Velde is just a converted blocker with subpar defense skills on the worldtour) - He's only 21 years old and still has a ton of opportunity to improve further I think with Flueggen there is a possibility that he'll unfortunately retire from international competitions after this year. You're right that Nicolai / Lupo would probably only split if one of them decides to retire - but if that happens there should be some very talented young players to pick up. I think Italy did really well in youth world championships in the past years. I just watched their final vs. Qatar and another match from a different event. It’s very apparent that De Groot covers court extremely well as well as playing the game very ohysically and rips jumpers. Love it. I’m ready to anoint him top Dutch Defender just based on that.
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Post by tamz on Aug 6, 2021 10:22:37 GMT -5
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Post by gauchoball11 on Aug 6, 2021 14:15:33 GMT -5
Samoilovs is brutal. In my opinion, Smedins is a top 10 player in the world. He is so dynamic, and has no weakness to his game. It is a shame he has to settle for "The lion king." Tocs would be interesting.
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Post by tamz on Aug 7, 2021 10:42:33 GMT -5
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Post by bvbllr on Aug 7, 2021 11:58:11 GMT -5
Doppler/Horst announce retirement after the Euro Champs next week. I wonder if ‘last tournament together’ suggests that Horst is continuing. I think it’s quite unlikely as there isn’t any blocker who could play at world tour level outside of Seidl and Ermacora and both of them have solid defense players.
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Post by guest2 on Aug 7, 2021 11:58:17 GMT -5
Yes I fully agree it’s unlikely that Anouk / Heinrich would break up given the recent success. Still, she was also a successful blocker and has had great results on the world tour before teaming up with Heidrich - and that was all without a Betschart-level defender / side-out player. I agree with you they should split, I was just contesting which one is better. I also agree that both should be blocking, although I think Anouk splitting with someone could be interesting
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Post by swift on Aug 9, 2021 3:40:11 GMT -5
It's going to be interesting to see what happens in Brazil. They have good players but right now I don't see a team that can keep up with Norway or Russia. Ever since Evandro and Andre split Brazil was not really in the mix anymore. I think Evandro should definitely pick up a new partner. Maybe Evandro/Guto and Andre/Alvaro? I also wonder if there is a better partner for Duda? A more dominant blocker maybe.
The Dutch seem to have some good teams right now. The two guys who won in Gstaad definitely looked promising. The Czech team will also be in the mix. The Latvians on the other hand are done I think. They need new players. Same with Spain. Herrera / Gavira was a great team and they are still playing solid volleyball but obviously not till 2024.
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Post by 23flavors on Aug 9, 2021 5:10:20 GMT -5
It's going to be interesting to see what happens in Brazil. They have good players but right now I don't see a team that can keep up with Norway or Russia. Ever since Evandro and Andre split Brazil was not really in the mix anymore. I think Evandro should definitely pick up a new partner. Maybe Evandro/Guto and Andre/Alvaro? I also wonder if there is a better partner for Duda? A more dominant blocker maybe. The Dutch seem to have some good teams right now. The two guys who won in Gstaad definitely looked promising. The Czech team will also be in the mix. The Latvians on the other hand are done I think. They need new players. Same with Spain. Herrera / Gavira was a great team and they are still playing solid volleyball but obviously not till 2024. Bruno is retiring, pretty much positive it will be Evandro/Guto and Andre will be staying with George. Not sure what Alison’s plans are long term but for now he and Alvaro are sticking together
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Post by guest2 on Aug 9, 2021 5:24:54 GMT -5
It's going to be interesting to see what happens in Brazil. They have good players but right now I don't see a team that can keep up with Norway or Russia. Ever since Evandro and Andre split Brazil was not really in the mix anymore. I think Evandro should definitely pick up a new partner. Maybe Evandro/Guto and Andre/Alvaro? I also wonder if there is a better partner for Duda? A more dominant blocker maybe. The Dutch seem to have some good teams right now. The two guys who won in Gstaad definitely looked promising. The Czech team will also be in the mix. The Latvians on the other hand are done I think. They need new players. Same with Spain. Herrera / Gavira was a great team and they are still playing solid volleyball but obviously not till 2024. Bruno is retiring, pretty much positive it will be Evandro/Guto and Andre will be staying with George. Not sure what Alison’s plans are long term but for now he and Alvaro are sticking together Can you confirm it will be Duda and Carol? Someone posted that elsewhere and I meant to tag you to ask since you are the expert on Brazilian teams. I like watching them, but Evandro/Guto is disappointing. They will win one every now and then, but I'd love to see the big guy with a partner with whom he could go toe to toe with Norway, Russia and Qatar every week.
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