FLM Super League player draft sees new faces on old teams
Incumbent MVP Merola rejoins Henchmen in quest to defend title
The squads have been selected for the upcoming FLM Super League to be held at the Queen’s Club from 8-11 April, following the player draft conducted on Friday afternoon.
After an introduction from IRTPA Chief Executive Susie Falkner and FLM representative Sam Candy, the draft began. The four team captains were the four best players in the event, each looking to select a team of four players. They each have an eponymous team, with the same identities as the inaugural edition in 2024: the Fahey’s Forcers, the Matthews’ Mavericks, the Shenkman’s Henchmen and the Sayers Slayers.
Firstly, the four teams were drawn into their positions in the order of play, with the Mavericks drawing the triple prime-time slot of the 6pm match on each day. The draft then followed, with each captain selecting at most one player from each of the four pots, but with any pot available for selection at any point during the draw. The draft cycled through the captains, with Sayers, the highest handicapped captain drawing first and Fahey, the lowest handicapped captain, drawing last.
Bryn Sayers lent into home court advantage when selecting for the Sayer’s Slayers. With the first pick of the draft, he selected fellow Queen’s Club professional Neil Mackenzie. Mackenzie resumes his spot on the Sayers, having been the penultimate pick the previous year. Sayers also picked up top Queen’s Club amateur, Bertie Vallat.
With his first pick, Robert Shenkman chose last year’s Most Valuable Player, Nino Merola for the Shenkman’s Henchmen. Merola will therefore return to the Henchmen for the second straight year, and has an excellent record at the Queen’s Club. He also selected his current season doubles partner Louis Gordon, though the draw of the fixtures has meant that they will not share the court together during the event. In the fourth pot, the Henchman have selected James Medlow, now also working at Queen’s and was the doubles amateur champion in 2024, a useful pickup for a doubles-heavy role. as the Henchmen look to defend their title from last year.
Ben Taylor-Matthews had to pick an all new squad for the Matthews’ Mavericks, with all three of his teammates from last year not available in the player pool. His first pick was Vaughan Hamilton, one of the stand-out performers at last year’s event. Henry Henman will make his Super League debut, being selected for his doubles prowess as well. Lewis Williams rounded out the squad, currently serving as Taylor-Matthews’s second at his Eliminator match in Aiken.
Rob Fahey picked his wife, Claire Fahey as his first pick for the Fahey’s Forcers, an identical opening move to last year’s draft, although this year the two will not share the court together. He also picked up fellow Australian John Woods-Casey as his second pick, currently on tour in the UK, and who will also make his FLM Super League debut. The team is capped off by Craig Greenhalgh,
The round robin matches will take place from 8-10 April, with an afternoon fixture at 2pm and an evening fixture at 6pm. The best two ranked teams will move on to the final on 11 April. The IRTPA are offering free tickets throughout the event, with each match live streamed via the T&RA.
