Month: September 2024

Player Moves around MLR: September 23-29, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

After a few weeks with very little to no news around player movement for the 2025 MLR season, the last week of September saw a relative flurry of activity! With still no confirmation regarding the Dallas Jackals dispersal draft, let’s jump in to what we do know.

The week began with an announcement from Anthem Rugby Carolina announcing that they had acquired 2024 Rookie of the Year Junior Gafa from the New England Free Jacks on a permanent basis in exchange for quite the haul. I won’t dive into that trade here, as I wrote an article doing just that earlier in the week. Anthem RC announced this trade on the 24th which is why it’s included in this Player Move summary, despite the MLR Trade Wire stating this transaction was from September 21st (see below).

Source: MLR Trade Wire

As well as this big trade between Anthem RC and the New England Free Jacks, last week saw a trio of MLR players hang up their boots. Ben Fry, a former Wales U20 back row who represented the Dallas Jackals for his lone MLR season in 2024. Fry’s season was heavily impacted by injury, although he still made an impact with 2 tries and over 375m gained in 6 games (all starts). Nick McCarthy, the Michigan-born Ireland U20 scrum-half and UAS Eagle earned 16 MLR appearances (13 starts) for the Chicago Hounds in their best MLR season to date in 2024, starting both playoff games as the Hounds gave the Free Jacks a run for their money in the Eastern Conference Final. It’s worth stating that McCarthy has the honour of being the first player to ever win test caps for a major rugby nation as an openly gay man, what an inspiration! Finally on the retirements front is McCarthy’s teammate, Leinster legend who represented Ireland at the 2015 Rugby World Cup and owns a minority stake of the Chicago Hounds with his brother Rob, Dave Kearney, who announced his retirement in an interview with the Irish Independent. Kearney, who turned 35 mid-way through 2024, seems to have taken a chance to paly for a team he co-owns, and started 8 of his 9 MLR appearances.

Player Move Summary: September 23-29, 2024

Last but by no means least, the Seattle Seawolves announced an addition for the 2025 season, 6’6 South African lock Malembe Mpofu! 28yo Mpofu joins the Seawolves from the Airlink Pumas in South Africa’s Currie Cup competition, where he was playing alongside former Toronto Arrow and Rugby Canada scrum-half, Ross Braude. Mpofu helped the Pumas to their first ever Currie Cup championship in 2022, earning his debut in Round 1, and helped them return to the final one again the following season, finishing as runners up to the Free State Cheetahs in 2023.

Player move summaries like this will come out almost every week of the MLR off-season, assuming there are moves to cover. Stay up to date with all the movement around MLR with NARDB!

Source: @SeawolvesRugby on Instagram

The Top 10 MLR Try Scorers of All-Time!

NAR Database

James Deeley

Although a young league, MLR already has it’s fair share of legends, with try-scoring machines coming and going, or 1-season anomalies lighting up opposition and scoring week in, week out then struggling to repeat that scoring prowess the following year. This post will highlight the Top 10 MLR Try Scorers of All-Time (2018-2024), some of the most consistent scorers in the league. Here is that List:

To those already familiar with Major League Rugby, you are bound to know Dylan Fawsitt. The league’s all-time leading try scorer is no stranger to that title, and 2024 marked his 3rd MLR season with 10+ tries scored. Although fans may think of Fawsitt in a New York jersey, a personal best of 14 tries for the Chicago Hounds (that jointly led MLR in 2024 with Utah’s Michael Manson) ensured that plenty of Hounds fans got to know him very well. Fawsitt was MLR’s all-time leading scorer heading into the 2024 season and he still holds the crown, adding another achievement to his long list as the first player in MLR history to pass 50 tries scored in the competition. Fawsitt‘s 14 tries this season are now that gap between him and 2nd place, Seattle Seawolves talisman Riekert Hattingh.

Hattingh sat 3 tries behind Fawsitt entering 2024, but an injury-marred season affected his bid for first, scoring 3 tries and being sidelined for large chunks of the season. A formidable tackler with a nose for the try line and the only forward in MLR history with over 5,000m gained, Seattle fans will be hoping to see their Captain return to form and close the gap to Fawsitt in 2025.

Photo: Mike Conners (@mikeconnersphoto23)

A long way behind Fawsitt and Hattingh comes the pack, led by Utah Warriors & San Diego Legion legend Mikey Te’o on 32. Te’o announced his retirement following the 2024 season so 32 is where he will stay (notwithstanding a comeback!), along with the only other inactive player on this list, John Ryberg. Affectionately nicknamed the ‘bicep with eyeballs’, Ryberg is worth mentioning because he hasn’t played in MLR since 2022 but still sits 7th on the all-time list with 29 tries, helped by a 13-try season for the Glendale Raptors in 2019, and 9 tries for the LA Giltinis in their 2021 Shield-winning season.

Sandwiched between Te’o & Ryberg are some of the most lethal runners in MLR today. Back-to-Back MLR Champion Paula Balekana, ferocious runner Julián Domínguez, and MLR legend (and current USA Eagle) Nate Augspurger, sat on 31, 31, and 30 tries respectively. This is where I think the real fight is going to go down in 2025, with 3rd place on the all-time list up for grabs. Any fan who wants a little something extra to cheer for next season should keep an eye on this!

This isn’t to say that the other names in the Top 10 can’t set the cat amongst the pigeons. A strong bounce-back season for the Utah Warriors could see Mika Kruse (8th – 26) and Joe Mano (T-9th – 25) close the gap, or even Michael Manson if he can get close to the 14 he scored in 2024. There’s also the 4th Chicago Hound on this list, Mark O’Keeffe (T-9th – 25). A strong runner and prolific scorer in his own right who could notch up a few of his own to interfere with his teammates’ numbers. Let’s not forget about the names sitting just off this list looking to crack the Top 10, the likes of Ed Fidow with NOLA, Ina Futi in Seattle, and Te Rangatira Waitokia with Anthem RC (all on 21). Everyone likes to see tries, and this list is a long way from settled.

Photo: Utah Warriors

MLR Holds Dallas Jackals Dispersal Draft

NAR Database

James Deeley

On September 25th, 2024, Major League Rugby held it’s 3rd dispersal draft in as many seasons following the news on September 19th that the Dallas Jackals were withdrawing from the 2025 MLR season, becoming the 5th team to withdraw from the competition since 2022.

The dispersal draft functions very similarly to the Collegiate Draft, with teams drafting in reverse order of where they finished in the 2024 season. As the bottom team during the season, Anthem RC drafted first and the Champion New England Free Jacks drafted 11th, with the order repeated until no more Jackals players are available. As with the Collegiate Draft, teams are free to trade dispersal draft picks and no doubt we will see these appear on the MLR trade wire in about a week.

Now, just because a player is selected by a team in the dispersal draft does not mean they will play for that team. For example during the Dispersal Draft for NY & Toronto last year, star winger Nate Augspurger (who had moved from San Diego Legion to the New York Ironworkers in what would’ve been a high profile move…if it were ever announced) was selected by the NOLA Gold, but traded to the Chicago Hounds shortly after. I would expect to see a flurry of trades in the weeks that follow this Draft, as teams and players pivot to find teams and locations preferable to them.

For Dallas fans waiting to hear where their favourite players are headed, or fans of other teams waiting to hear what new players their team has looted from the Jackals wreckage, I wouldn’t hold your breath. In the previous two dispersal drafts, no results have been published by MLR and instead fans have had to wait for the information to leak (which it inevitably does), or for teams to announce the newly acquired players themselves. While some may argue that this is because the events surrounding the need for an dispersal draft (a team withdrawing) is something that MLR does not want to highlight, it’s worth pointing out that in the past MLR has not even published the results of expansion drafts for new teams joining the league, such as Chicago or Miami.

The Dallas Jackals have not yet folded like the other four teams to withdraw from competition (Austin Gilgronis & LA Giltinis in 2022, and the Toronto Arrows and NY Ironworkers in 2023) and are instead “continuing to evaluate a controlling interest transfer”, which essentially means a sale. As a fan who has lost an MLR team, I remain hopeful that a sale can take place even if the rumor is that this would result in the team relocating. Losing the Arrows has decimated support for MLR in Toronto and I’m one of the very few Arrows fans who still follows the league closely. I hope this doesn’t happen in Dallas, and with MLR’s HQ there, it should be in their interest to bring a team back.

For now, we wait to see if the results of this draft are made public, either by MLR themselves, or another source. You can watch my reaction video to the League’s announcement below, or by clicking here.

Rookie of the Year Gafa to Stay in Charlotte

NAR Database

James Deeley

Anthem Rugby Carolina announced yesterday that they have acquired 2024 Major League Rugby Rookie of the Year Junior Gafa from the New England Free Jacks on a permanent basis, having spent his rookie season in Anthem Country on loan.

The New England Free Jacks receive quite a haul in exchange for Gafa, who they drafted in the 2nd Round (23rd Overall) of the 2023 MLR Collegiate Draft. They receive Anthem‘s 2nd Rd Draft pick in 2025, taking their number of picks for next year’s draft to 5 already, as well as 2025 Salary Cap Considerations ($ amount unknown) and an International Player Slot for the 2026 season (yes, 2026!).

Source: Major League Rugby

We’ve already seen that Anthem RC is not shy about trading away International Player Slots, having already fired 4 2025 slots into the sun. This is no surprise from a team who’s mission statement is to develop the next generation of US Men’s Eagles, but I did raise my eyebrows when I saw they were already jettisoning Intl. Slots for the season AFTER next. ARC clearly see the value in keeping Junior Gafa, which is no surprise after the rookie scored 4 tries in 13 games (all starts) in 2024, completing over 125 tackles and finishing 10th league-wide in Meters Gained, earning him Rookie of the Year honors, as we was also named to the MLR Honorable Mention XV. If Anthem wanted to keep Gafa that badly, it wouldn’t surprise me if Scott Lawrence already has his eye on the Brown University alum.

As for the Free Jacks, while some fans who noticed Gafa tearing it up with Anthem might be disappointed that he won’t be appearing in a Free Jacks jersey in 2025, he would’ve had a tough fight for consistent game time with the likes of Canadian international Ben LeSage, Namibian international Le Roux Malan, and 2024 MLR Player of the Year Wayne van der Bank already competing for those two centre spots. It shouldn’t be a huge loss for the reigning champs, and I wonder if Free Jacks GM Tom Kindley was secretly smiling to himself as he saw Gafa‘s value skyrocket, it’s a tidy bit of business from New England!