Lewis Ratcliff

I took a look at the NLL website yesterday and saw one thing I was hoping for. The Rock got a big power forward, which is one thing they desperately need. They also traded one of the best play-makers of all-time in a deal which made sense.

Here is a quotation from our favourite guy, the Director of Lacrosse Operations for the Rock, one Mike Kloepfer: "Kloepfer admitted that replacing the burly Doyle, one of the catalysts of the Rock's early decade dynasty, has been difficult, but felt that Ratcliff could solve the team's scoring woes."

OK. I have no problem with getting Ratcliff. The problem I have is that Kloepfer seems to think that there was some external force acting on him back in December of 2006. He believes that God spoke to him one night, saying that he needed to trade Colin Doyle for immortality. The owner of a local Tim Hortons franchise offered him free donuts for life if Doyle were traded, particularly if his favourite player, Chad Thompson came back in return. He may have also played that crossword lottery, and managed to put together a series of words saying "Trade Colin Doyle".

The point being that Kloepfer did not need to trade Doyle back then. He was still in his prime and still is. If replacing Doyle has been so difficult, then why do it in the first place? There was no need to trade for him. Had he not traded him, then there would no need to trade a premier playmaker like Sanderson for a power forward. Not to mention we lost a first round pick in the deal.

Lewis Ratcliff will solve a lot of the Rock's offensive needs. But where is the offence going to to run out of now? I'd expect to see a little more Jimmy Veltman out there as the quarterback in the last 5 games.