League A this season will have five teams battling it out to be the top team in the IOM. The Teams along with the Squads of players are shown in the Graphic below –
Defending champions easyGym have rebranded themselves as Mid-Court-Crisis this season, however the squad is unchanged. With three top 10 players in the form of Dave Norman, Malcolm Levy and Paul Barnett in the squad they will be hard to beat when they are at full strength.
The winners from two years ago are Team AON who also remain unchanged. They are a young squad headed by island players Pat Fitzpatrick and Robin Crease. This team is improving with every season.
StoneArt are a bit stronger having added ex IOM player Kevin Watterson to their squad. They have four of the best over 50’s players on the rock, but thankfully the youthful Jason Blue at number one brings the average age of the team down a long way.
Cannell Print have broadly speaking split into two teams with Thomas Whiteway looking after the younger players. Young Ben Peach and Joshua Green were two of the most improved players last season and if they continue to progress this team could challenge for the title.
The fifth and final team making up the league is the newly formed ‘Crazies’. This team is headed by Ashley Sandyford-Sykes and Mike Hayler, but they are backed up by former StoneArt player Allister Crossley and Mark Webster-Smith who has definitely earned his A league spot.
The competition promises to be fierce in League A this season.