Tag: Dallas Jackals

MLR Player Movement Summary: November 18-24, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Although it may seem like the player signings are beginning to slow down, that doesn’t mean that teams aren’t busy! This is a summary of all the player moves around Major League Rugby from last week, November 18-24, 2024. This article dives into a little more detail around each move, and is the best place to stay up to date on the off-season movement from MLR. As always, here is a graphic summarising the first page of moves:

Player Moves Summary: November 18-24, 2024 (1 of 2)
Re-signings and Retirements

Starting (as usual) with the re-signings, of which there were 11 across 4 teams last week. The reigning Champion New England Free Jacks announced another quartet of returnees for next season, ensuring that the 2025 Free Jacks will look very similar to the 2024 squad. Fijian try-machine Paula Balekana returns for a 4th season with the Free Jacks, and 5th in MLR. Balekana currently sits T-4th all-time for tries scored, level with Chicago Hounds’ Julian Dominguez on 31. He hs almost guaranteed to move ahead of 3rd placed Mikey Te’o next season following Te’o’s retirement, but how close will he get to Seattle’s Riekert Hattingh in 2nd place, currently on 42. Also returning for New England are Canadian MLR veterans Conor Keys and Cole Keith. 6’6 Ontario lock Keys has earned 65 MLR appearances (41 starts) between Rugby ATL (2020-2022) and the Free Jacks (2023-2024), appearing in 3 MLR Championship games (2021, 2023, 2024). New Brunswick native Cole Keith has made 74 MLR appearances (46 starts) since 2019, playing with the Toronto Arrows (2019-2022) before joining the Free Jacks. Finally, a third Canadian international Ethan Fryer is returning. Fryer has 13 appearances for New England since 2022, including 10 in 2024 where he set career highs in starts (4), Meters Gained (235m), and Tackles Made (46).

The Houston SaberCats announced four returnees of their own last week, all of whom are MLR veterans. Forward-turned-centre Dom Akina is back for a 3rd season with Houston. He has 10 tries in 52 games (37 starts) since 2020, scoring 7 of these and gaining 1,422 of his 2,391m gained in two seasons with the SaberCats. A pair of South African forwards are also back, in Marno Redelinghuys and Justin Basson. Both Redelinghuys & Basson are former Rugby ATL players, although not at the same time. Basson played with the RATLers between 2022-2023 before moving to Houston. He’s averaged 2 tries a season for 6 tries in 42 games (38 starts), and passed 150 tackles for the first time in 2024 (151). Marno Redelinghuys played with ATL between 2020-2021 and returns for a 4th season with Houston in 2025. He has over 500 tackles in 53 games (48 starts). Redelinghuys will be deemed a domestic player for 2025, freeing up a valuable international player slot for the SaberCats. Finally for Houston, newly capped USA Eagle #576 Pono Davis returns for Houston. Davis has 40 appearances across 3 seasons with the SaberCats, and earned a career high 4 starts in 2024, completing 127 tackles (also a career high, by 52!).

The Miami Sharks continue to sprinkle a few re-signings into the mix, confirming the return of former Welsh international Kirby Myhill, and newly capped USA Eagle Tomas Casares. Hooker Myhill scored a try in his 7 games (6 starts) during the Sharks’ inaugural season, gaining over 220m. Casares scored 2 tries in 8 games (6 starts) in 2024, including a game-winner against the team that drafted him 17th overall in 2022, the New England Free Jacks. Casares earned his test debut as USA Eagle #583 just a few weeks ago when he came off the bench in a hard-fought 21-17 victory over Portugal. Finally for re-signings, the San Diego Legion announced the return of US-eligible Fijian forward Cyrille Cama for 2025. a MLR Champion with the LA Giltinis in 2021, Cama set career highs across the board for San Diego in 2024, with 3 tries in 16 games (2 starts), racking up 289m gained and completing 60 tackles. As one Legion player returns, another hangs up their boots. MLR Veteran and USA Eagle #564 Chris Mattina announced his retirement on instagram after 6 seasons in MLR. Mattina scored 6 tries and 120pts in 56 games (43 starts) between Rugby New York (2019-2021), the Austin Gilgronis (2022), Chicago Hounds (2023), finishing his career with the San Diego Legion (2024).

Intra-League Moves

Last week saw five players move to new teams within Major League Rugby, including a trio of Dallas Jackals following the withdrawal of the team from MLR in September. 2024 All-MLR Second XV scrum-half Juan-Dee Oliver signs with the Houston SaberCats after the team selected him 30th, the final player selected. Oliver scored 5 tries and 55pts in 13 games (all starts) for the Jackals in 2024, and was a standout when Dallas stunned the SaberCats in the Western Conference Semifinals. Also selected in the Dallas Jackals dispersal draft was Argentinian fly-half Martin Elias. Selected 25th and signed by the Miami Sharks, Elias was the Jackals’ all-time top scorer with 1 try and 116pts in 23 games (all starts) since 2023, and will fit in nicely with the Sharks’ strong South American influence. The Miami Sharks didn’t stop with Elias, however. The Florida team also announced the signing of Argentinian centre Tomás Cubilla, who was not selected in the dispersal draft, instead signing as a Free Agent. Cubilla has earned 11 MLR appearances for the Dallas Jackals since 2023, including 8 in 2024 where he scored all 5 of his MLR tries to date and amassed over 600m gained.

The NOLA Gold had a case of revolving doors last week. The Louisiana team announced the signing of Irish born USA Eagle #537 Luke Carty from the Chicago Hounds. A 2021 MLR Champion with the LA Giltinis, Carty has scored 1 try and 177pts in 45 games (31 starts) since 2021, representing the Giltinis until 2022, before being selected in the dispersal draft by the Chicago Hounds. Following the departure of Rodney Iona, Carty will fill that gap nicely. On the subject of Rodney Iona, just as the Gold were welcoming Luke Carty to the team, the Seattle Seawolves announced the signing of Iona’s NOLA & Samoa teammate OJ Noa for their 2025 squad. Noa scored 1 try in 9 games (all starts) for the Gold in 2024, running for over 520m gained.

New Faces

To wrap things up, two teams announced new signings from further afield than Major League Rugby. Also signed by the NOLA Gold for 2025 is 29yo Kiwi centre Isaac Te Tamaki who joins from the Southland Stags in New Zealand’s National Provinicial Championship. A capped former All Blacks Sevens player, Te Tamaki has played with Southland since 2018 with a season in France with Valence Romans Drôme in 2023. He earned his 50th Southland appearance in 2024, where he played alongside a number of familiar MLR names including Nic Souchon, Michael Manson, and Shneil Singh. Staying in the Southern Hemisphere, the final move of the week saw the Seattle Seawolves announce the signing of South African prop Njabulo Gumede. Gumede came up in the Blue Bulls system, also playing for Valke and the Pumas in the Currie Cup before joining the Griquas for 2024. A former Junior Springbok, Gumede will link up with former Pumas teammate Malembe Mpofu in Seattle.

Thus concludes a far more digestable summary when compared to the last few weeks. It seems that the ‘first wave’ of teams (Free Jacks, Legion, SaberCats, etc.) are coming to the end of their announcements, but with Rugby FC LA starting their announcements on November 25th, and both Old Glory DC & Anthem RC staying quiet, the ‘second wave’ could start any moment. This doesn’t even include the teams going steady with announcements like the NOLA Gold, Utah Warriors, and Miami Sharks!

A reminder that NARugbydb.com is the only place to find weekly movement summaries this off-season, providing a easy way to stay up to date with all the movement of the Major League Rugby off-season. Be sure to follow James and NARDB on Social Media, @MLRStats on Instagram & Threads, @JamDelay and/or @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky. Also make sure to check out the Youtube Channel, NARStats!

Jump into the sales at shopmlr.com before the #MLR2025 gear comes out! Use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

Dallas Jackals Dispersal Draft Results

NAR Database

James Deeley

In an article from two weeks ago on this site, I mentioned that Major League Rugby had held the Dispersal Draft for Dallas Jackals players on September 25th, 2024 following the announcement on September 19th that the Jackals were withdrawing from the 2025 MLR season. We have heard nothing since then, and the MLR Trade Wire was only updated with trades from the 25th TWO WEEKS later, on October 9th.

While fans have been left out in the cold for the last few weeks, NARDB has obtained the results of this Dispersal Draft and is very happy to finally share these with you. The results of the 2024 Dallas Jackals Dispersal Draft are as follows:

No.TeamViaPlayer
1Sam Golla
2Makeen Alikhan
3Marques Fuala’au
4Nic Benn
5Via Old Glory DCVaughen Isaacs
6NOLA rugbyKyle Steeves
7Darius Law
8Sam Tuifua
9Jason Tidwell
10Dewald Kotze
11Jero Gomez Vara
12Tomas Bekerman
13Lucas Bur
14Ronan Foley
15PASS
16Old Glory DCJP Zeiss
17NOLA rugbyJavon Camp-Villalovos
18Jonah Auva’a
19Evan Conlon
20PASS
21Brock Gallagher
22PASS
23PASS
24PASS
25Martin Elias
26PASS
27Old Glory DCKieran Farmer
28NOLA rugbyPASS
29PASS
30Juan-Dee Oliver
31PASS
32PASS
33PASS
Results not confirmed – Players are not forced to sign with the team that selected them. Any Jackals players not featured above were either not selected, or opted out.

There are a number of things to mention regarding these results. They are not 100% confirmed, but have been verified with a number of sources so until (if) we hear something official, this is what we know. The MLR Trade Wire is notoriously slow to update, so I would not be surprised if we see a flurry of trades from the days immediately following the Dispersal Draft (confirmed to have taken place on September 25th, 2024). Indeed, three trades from the day of the draft were posted yesterday (October 8th), as mentioned at the start of this article.

Just because a player is picked by a team does not force that player to sign there. We have seen with previous dispersal drafts that players picked are often traded to more preferable teams (in the players’ mind). Whether this be because it is closer to a players’ current location or family, or a player feels that they may get more game time with another organization. It may also come from the teams, who could have just picked up players rights to use as assets to flip for Cap Space, draft picks, etc. We already have a player from this dispersal draft on the move. Argentinian prop JP Zeiss was picked 16th by Old Glory DC and, according to the Trade Wire, was traded from the Flags to the Seattle Seawolves on the same day he was picked by DC.

Source: MLR Trade Wire

There are also some things of note among the 33 (22 if you exclude the 11 ‘PASS’ selections). Firstly is the wasted pick by Rugby FC LA in selecting Lucas Bur 13th. Bur has already signed a contract to play with the Sitav Rugby Lyons in Italy, and it’s unlikely he will return for the 2025 MLR season. Anthem RC continue to stock up on promising young USA-eligible talents like Sam Golla (already a capped Eagle), Jason Tidwell, and Canada-born, UK raised USA U20 back row Makeen Alikhan. Alikhan joined the Jackals for the 2024 season on loan from Harlequins of the English Premiership, so it’s still unclear whether he will stay in MLR for 2025.

The Seattle Seawolves grab a pair of Canadian internationals in Brock Gallagher & Dewald Kotze, which is no surprise given their proximity to the border. Kotze will serve as a nice replacement for Peter Malcolm who announced his retirement earlier this year, and Gallagher earned his test debut for Canada in the Pacific Nations Cup in August/September. Gallagher also gave an explosive interview on The Fantasy Ruckers podcast, discussing just how in the dark the Dallas Jackals players were to the team’s troubles.

It’s a slight positive to see that although MLR is losing the Dallas Jackals, many of the players could return to MLR next season for different teams. It’s doubly good news to see that Darius Law, a Life University alum and the Jackals’ sole selection of the 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft, was picked up by the San Diego Legion and will have another chance to make the MLR in California. On the other hand, it’s surprising to see Canadian internationals Mitch Richardson & Liam Murray not selected. Richardson (and fellow Toronto Arrows teammate Nic Benn, selected 4th by the Utah Warriors) has gone through 2 dispersal drafts in as many seasons and although he missed the 2024 playoffs and the PNC after suffering an injury playing for Canada in the July tests, he deserves a spot on a MLR roster in 2025 should he want one. My understanding is that both Richardson and Murray opted out of the Dispersal process.

It’s been two weeks since the Dallas Dispersal Draft took place, and as with other Dispersal Draft before it, fans have had to rely on leaks to find out the results. In fact, we haven’t even received confirmation from MLR that it took place at all. Why? What’s so important about this Dispersal Draft (or any dispersal draft for that matter) that MLR has not made the results, or the date it took place, public? Could it be because MLR is aware that many of the players selected in this draft may not end up on the teams that selected them? Maybe it’s because MLR doesn’t want to raise the issue of a team withdrawing? The cynical view is that MLR just doesn’t care to tell you. It’s the off-season, teams (and probably the league) are running on skeleton staff and some players aren’t even in the country!

I care. Fans care. Especially Dallas Jackals fans that want to know where their favourite players might be playing next season. Especially those hardcore fans that are reading this far into an article in the depths of the off-season. It’s an awful situation to have a team withdraw and leave players and staff in the lurch, but the Dispersal Draft was an opportunity to look forward towards MLR2025, begin to get fans excited again, and show that MLR cares about the fans and players. With new signings beginning to be announced by the likes of the Seattle Seawolves and Old Glory DC, the public release of these results could have marked the start point of the hype train for next season. We all want to see this league grow and succeed, and all want to come along for the ride. Instead, it’s a missed opportunity that has damaged fans’ trust in the league.

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

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.