Rattlesnakes

Coach: Tys

Home Ground: The Snake Pit

Ranking history:

• 2010 – 1st
• 2011 – 1st
• 2012 – 4th
• 2013 – 3rd
• 2014 – 1st
• 2015 – 5th
• 2016 – 4th
• 2017 – 7th
• 2018 – 8th
• 2019 – 4th
• 2020 – 5th
• 2021 – 6th
• 2022 – 3rd
• 2023 – 2nd

Team/Coach bio: The premier club of the competition. 3 premiership cups in  5 seasons is a staggering achievement and makes the ‘Snakes the most successful club in Keeper history by an enormous margin. The Rattlesnakes won the opening two premierships of the league, and then won the most recent premiership in 2014. Winning the inaugural premiership and then the most recent shows the consistency and staying power of this side.

The coach has a relentless and ruthless ability to get the best out of his players, and push them to the very edge of their playing careers. Cox was supposed to retire a year or so ago, but Tys kept naming him on the team sheets so Coxy kept turning up. Chapman and Harvey continue to pump out big scores, despite having a combined age of 102. The most decorated player in Keeper history and ‘Snakes captain, Matthew Boyd – will probably play until 2020.

Can this incredible run of success continue? The league has been predicting the demise of the ‘Snakes for years – claiming they are too old and too slow… is 2015 when this prediction finally comes true,  or will Tyson prove the haters wrong yet again?

2015: Is the unstoppable Keeper train that is the Rattlesnakes finally starting to slow? The ageing list might finally be starting to drag down this powerful club. They missed the finals in the first time in Keeper history, which is a remarkable achievement considering how long the league has been going for.

Tyson will be quick to say this was just a blip on the radar and they’ll be challenging again next year. Meanwhile critics are starting to predict it’s finally time for this club to endure a little bit of a rebuild. 2016 will be massively telling. Watch this space.

2016: The club again proved haters wrong, making the finals for an astonishing 6th time. A league record by quite some margin.

Aged stars Hodge, Burgoyne and Boomer all performed well and look set to continue on, as is the Snakes way.

The club did lose Ceglar late to an ACL injury which could cause force the hand of the coach to make some more list managements decisions he didn’t previously have in mind.

In any circumstance whoever, the ‘Snakes will be around the mark – as they’ve shown every single year since the inception of this league. Powerhouse.

2017: This year marked a low point for the club, finishing an unspeakably low 7th on the ladder, the worst on record for the almighty Snakes. Tyson was quick to put this blip on the radar down to some atrocious fixtures and a slight re-calibration of the Snakes list..

The Snakes are finally cooked, right?

2018: The Snakes are indeed cooked. Tyson was another to punt the ruck line, and the results were immediate. The club recorded its worst finishing position in history, and looks set for another grim year in 2019. Potential ruck rule changes might make things a little easier on the coach, but the once powerhouse Snakes are now a distant memory.

It’ll be interesting to see how quickly and ruthlessly the coach can move back to the pointy end of the ladder.

2019: Hang on, are the Snakes back? Or was this just a flash in the pan before the downturn described in the previous paragraph? Either way 2019 was an improved season, with some monster scores and a return to finals. Tyson is convinced this is sustainable, but time will tell.

2020: Narrowly missed finals, and never really set the world on fire – but the coach continues to show enormous confidence in his troops and has big plans for the coming years. Critics do worry that Casboult, Daw and a spluttering Brayden Fiorini might not be the solution.

2021: The club was performing strongly mid year, but critical injuries to key staff including Dunkley haltered the clubs progress and ended up missing finals again. Dubious drafting decisions to bring in Tex Walker and Orazio Fantasia had punters amused, but Tyson is convinced he’s on the right path. Traded Fiorini to the Stars who then went onto explode back into form could prove a costly mistake.

2022: Tyson and his crew finished strongly in the second half of the year, putting up some monster scores that helped them forget the midseason loss against Blaze. The club dropped out week 2 of finals against the Warriors. The strong finish to the year will have the Snakes brimming with confidence heading into its 2023 campaign.

2023: The dominant team for most of the year, finishing on top and looked set to finally break the Cartel stranglehold on the competition, but stuttered at the big dance and went down to a late charging Turtles. Tyson will be bitterly disappointed but will without a doubt be back bigger and stronger next year.

Theme song:

Favourite opposition player within the league:

Christian Howard

Favourite Keeper ‘moment’:

The Heat thinking the answer to their problems was to draft Chip Frawley

Worst player you’ve ever drafted:

Michael “The Golden Fist” Talia

Player you’re most proud of drafting:

Brad Crouch