"Dayum boy!" O'Connell met the shout with an easy smile, laughing off his added weight over the off-season. Let's be clear - Kieran O'Connell's not been putting on the pounds on the sofa. Following disappointment as the third man in Colorado's three-headed beast, dropped to the bench despite his pro-bowl selection as the Yeti closed out the season with a Ultimus loss, the Glaswegian running back has shaped up to adapt for a new task in the offence.
Last season started brightly for O'Connell, fresh out of Pittsburgh and ready to rise to the challenge of the professional game. First match, on the road 1700 miles from Denver, his debut NSFL start racked up 86 yards at an impressive 5.1 per carry. Alongside Boss Tweed's pace, Colorado's backfield put up 179 yards on the ground and looked almost certainly the best in the league. From then on, it was a rollercoaster of a season for the lad from across the Atlantic. Just 33 yards from 12 carries led to O'Connell being dropped against the Wraiths, but returned the next week for another 52 yards at 4 per carry against the Hawks again. Halfway through the season, the Yeti were riding high at 6-1 only to lose the next three on the trot. Morale was scuppered and it looked as if the Yeti might even miss the post-season. As the season closed out, O'Connell found his legs once again putting up 3.3, 4.5 and 4.7 yards per carry to merit a pro-bowl selection - admittedly as RB3 - yet found himself dropped as Colorado scraped into the playoffs off his back. Without a single carry in either the NSFC Championship or the Ultimus Match, the Yeti managing just 95 yards per game and no more than 3.6 yards per carry, he sat back and watched Arizona take the trophy with a three hundred yard aerial performance.
It was clear throughout the season, draft to playoffs, Colorado always had the raw talent in the backfield. However, they were often unable to utilise it effectively and it was theorised that their variety on the field was a weakness rather than a strength, with a crowded depth chart and little rhythm in their ground game. It was a challenge their front office got to work quickly on, sending marching orders for Luke Tiernan - Ireland's "Tullow Tank" and a friendly rival of O'Connell's - to take up position on the defensive side of the ball as a linebacker. With encouraging signs from that transition, it was left to create an effective strategy for their two remaining star backs to complement each other. With Tweed offering more than enough pace, O'Connell was told his best option was to bulk for a more physical role leading the charge from FB.
"I've put twenty pounds on, aye." We managed to catch O'Connell as he emerged from the Yeti's weight room, sweat-drenched and noticeably larger. The change wasn't staggering, he was much the same player as at the end of last season - Yet, with new beard and a much heavier frame, he definitely appeared more intimidating. As I suggested his weight might slow him or reduce his late-game fitness, he vigorously dismissed the idea.
"No, not at all. I've been playing rugby my whole life for fuck's sake, I can last thirty minutes on the field alright." He scratched his new-grown beard and sipped at a protein shake before continuing. "I'm ready to play a more physical game, a tighter higher-impact style of play, but I don't feel I'm regressing elsewhere. The coaches have been getting me to run drills with the O-Line and tight ends, but I'm still on the field for every running back drill and doing a hell of a lot of sprint work. It's not any easier running when you're on the heavier side, but there'll be no steps backward for us this season."
What followed was the usual spiel, most commonly referred to as "talking trash" over here and "chatting s**te" in O'Connell's homeland. He's not necessarily the loudest in the squad, something that would be a mean feat given the vibrance of the Yeti's roster, but he can definitively talk like any other.
"I honestly reckon we've got the best defence in the league by some margin. I mean, just look at Tiernan out there right now - Never played linebacker in his life, but christ he's a beast. There's no dead weight, not in the front three, not in the four behind them or the lad's out wide. We've got eleven solid players out there on every play, we've built from what we had last year and in my mind that puts us ahead of every other cunt in this league. And that's just the one side of the ball, we've got some fucking receivers and Noble's just about learnt to throw the ball more than five yards." Whether his quarterback would appreciate that jab, or if it was a sign of simmering tensions, was unknown to me. "Tweed's running like there's a house fire following him, I'm on top of my game ahead of him. We've sorted our O-Line, we identified that as a weakness over the offseason and now we've got bulldozers where we had a turnstile last year. We're talking easy yards every game, where we fighting battles from the snap through most of last season. That does something for a team, more than the stat sheets might show."
"If we play like we've been training, we're going for all wins and not a loss without a doubt. We've got the drive, we've got the talent, we just need the results. Might be easier said than done, but I'm confident and our support should be too."
Last season started brightly for O'Connell, fresh out of Pittsburgh and ready to rise to the challenge of the professional game. First match, on the road 1700 miles from Denver, his debut NSFL start racked up 86 yards at an impressive 5.1 per carry. Alongside Boss Tweed's pace, Colorado's backfield put up 179 yards on the ground and looked almost certainly the best in the league. From then on, it was a rollercoaster of a season for the lad from across the Atlantic. Just 33 yards from 12 carries led to O'Connell being dropped against the Wraiths, but returned the next week for another 52 yards at 4 per carry against the Hawks again. Halfway through the season, the Yeti were riding high at 6-1 only to lose the next three on the trot. Morale was scuppered and it looked as if the Yeti might even miss the post-season. As the season closed out, O'Connell found his legs once again putting up 3.3, 4.5 and 4.7 yards per carry to merit a pro-bowl selection - admittedly as RB3 - yet found himself dropped as Colorado scraped into the playoffs off his back. Without a single carry in either the NSFC Championship or the Ultimus Match, the Yeti managing just 95 yards per game and no more than 3.6 yards per carry, he sat back and watched Arizona take the trophy with a three hundred yard aerial performance.
It was clear throughout the season, draft to playoffs, Colorado always had the raw talent in the backfield. However, they were often unable to utilise it effectively and it was theorised that their variety on the field was a weakness rather than a strength, with a crowded depth chart and little rhythm in their ground game. It was a challenge their front office got to work quickly on, sending marching orders for Luke Tiernan - Ireland's "Tullow Tank" and a friendly rival of O'Connell's - to take up position on the defensive side of the ball as a linebacker. With encouraging signs from that transition, it was left to create an effective strategy for their two remaining star backs to complement each other. With Tweed offering more than enough pace, O'Connell was told his best option was to bulk for a more physical role leading the charge from FB.
"I've put twenty pounds on, aye." We managed to catch O'Connell as he emerged from the Yeti's weight room, sweat-drenched and noticeably larger. The change wasn't staggering, he was much the same player as at the end of last season - Yet, with new beard and a much heavier frame, he definitely appeared more intimidating. As I suggested his weight might slow him or reduce his late-game fitness, he vigorously dismissed the idea.
"No, not at all. I've been playing rugby my whole life for fuck's sake, I can last thirty minutes on the field alright." He scratched his new-grown beard and sipped at a protein shake before continuing. "I'm ready to play a more physical game, a tighter higher-impact style of play, but I don't feel I'm regressing elsewhere. The coaches have been getting me to run drills with the O-Line and tight ends, but I'm still on the field for every running back drill and doing a hell of a lot of sprint work. It's not any easier running when you're on the heavier side, but there'll be no steps backward for us this season."
What followed was the usual spiel, most commonly referred to as "talking trash" over here and "chatting s**te" in O'Connell's homeland. He's not necessarily the loudest in the squad, something that would be a mean feat given the vibrance of the Yeti's roster, but he can definitively talk like any other.
"I honestly reckon we've got the best defence in the league by some margin. I mean, just look at Tiernan out there right now - Never played linebacker in his life, but christ he's a beast. There's no dead weight, not in the front three, not in the four behind them or the lad's out wide. We've got eleven solid players out there on every play, we've built from what we had last year and in my mind that puts us ahead of every other cunt in this league. And that's just the one side of the ball, we've got some fucking receivers and Noble's just about learnt to throw the ball more than five yards." Whether his quarterback would appreciate that jab, or if it was a sign of simmering tensions, was unknown to me. "Tweed's running like there's a house fire following him, I'm on top of my game ahead of him. We've sorted our O-Line, we identified that as a weakness over the offseason and now we've got bulldozers where we had a turnstile last year. We're talking easy yards every game, where we fighting battles from the snap through most of last season. That does something for a team, more than the stat sheets might show."
"If we play like we've been training, we're going for all wins and not a loss without a doubt. We've got the drive, we've got the talent, we just need the results. Might be easier said than done, but I'm confident and our support should be too."
- The Denver Post
Code:
1,021 words, ready for grading = $1,621,000 including bonus
[div align=center]![[Image: 87TOyVe.png]](http://i.imgur.com/87TOyVe.png)
[div align=center]
Best Feature Back in the League
Player Page || Intro and Presser
@KieranOC_RB
[div align=center]
Best Feature Back in the League
Player Page || Intro and Presser
@KieranOC_RB
![[Image: XSfVUgo.png]](https://i.imgur.com/XSfVUgo.png)
