The new season starts tonight so it's the best moment to have a discussion with the successfull manager of Vottem, JoeMaverick.

One season ago you had 2 questions:"does Zabka have the good profile to play as SF for Vottem and how is important the foul problem of Freire". What's your advice about that now?

Zabka had a great improvement last season. If he can keep his improvement he will be perfect with 2 more seasons of training. About Freire it's a little bit more complicated. When he's not trained, it's not a problem. But when he has to stay 48 mins on the field, it's always a big tension. He has to get some trainings this season and I'm worrying about that. We will see...

Last season was great for your team but you had to give up the tournament. Do you think it was a good decision yet?

Maybe it was possible to win BBBL and tournament last season but that would have meant some sacrifices on training and when I made the decision, Phoenix was very close from us in the standing. I couldn't know that he will be kicked out from PO by Ventola. So I think it was the best decision.

And this time, what about the tournament? Winning is a goal or championship and training stay the priority

Well, now my main goal is to make "something" in B3. But actually the team is not ready. Zabka is not strong enough to play as starting SF and we still have a big problem in inside defense. Because Zabka has to be trained inside, we can't buy a new big man to help Mees and Julien. So one more time our main goal is training. The team won't be ready next season too so playing B3 next season is not a goal. That's why I think that we won't sacrifice tournament for championship. Winning the regular season is not a goal this season. But in 2 seasons I want to play B3 so next season the goal will be to win a major trophy, tournament or BBBL (or both).

You're talking about B3. What's your goal this season in regard of the schedule?

One more time we have 2 very difficult games away even whether I think the schedule is less hard than last season. But we are not strong enough so I won't keep a complete team just for B3.

What does that mean? Will there be some leavings?

Yes. If we want to be ready in 2 seasons, we need to make some economy now, also because we have no sportive goal this season. It's very likely that Chorev or Le Quellec will leave Vottem next Friday.

To conclude, how do you see this season? Which team has the best chances to win the championship

I think that Ventola will win a trophy, championship or tournament. Phoenix should be very competitive too in the first conference and AmenRa could be the revelation. In the second conference, Arlon is our main rival with Antwerp Angels. Stonestars stays very dangerous but actually nico needs one more player and I'm not sure he will buy him because he needs to earn money. I think that the Giants need money too and AnGi will finish 4th or 5th, as usual.

Thanks for this interview and good luck for this new season.

Thanks.

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New season: interview with JoeMaverick