M.B.B.A. 2025 Premier League Season Preview

With just two weeks to go before the season kicks off I want to take a second to introduce the teams and coaches who will be battling it out for ultimate glory, and become crowned the M.B.B.A. Premier League Champion. We've got an intriguing roster of teams, lots of familiar faces and even some new ones all duking it out in this years installment of the M.B.B.A. Premier League.

But before we take a look at whats in store for us this season lets take a look back at the seasons that have come before and reflect on some of the moments and storylines that have got us to this point.

M.B.B.A. 2022 Premier League Season

The first installment of the Premier League saw 10 coaches battle it out across 8 rounds. 4 coaches qualified for finals. Josephine Mills, Andy Smith, Seve Kranz and Daniel Griffin. An incredibly tight finals campaign was fought between these 4 coaches with 3/4 matches going into extra-time.

The Grand Final was played between Josephine Mills' Cemetery Dropouts (Necromantic Horror) and Andy Smith's Dingley Bypass (Amazons) with Andy completing a 2-1 victory, scoring the final touchdown in T5 of Extra-Time. Andy was crowned our very first Premier League Champion and had his name engraved on the Perpetual Trophy.

M.B.B.A. 2023 Premier League Season

The 2nd season saw the league expand from 10 teams to 12 teams. Again the top 4 included familiar names. Andy Smith, Josephine Mills, Seve Kranz and making their finals debut, Scott Comber. Scott was the Dark Horse of the top 4. The other 3 had proven track records in the M.B.B.A. with the results to cement themselves as the leagues best, but Scott was relatively unproven.

But after finsihing 4th, and with a little luck when Seve's Dark Elves managed to kill one of Jo's Werewolves in their Semi-Final, Scott managed to come from 4th to win his first Premier League title. Proving to everyone that he is a force to be reconned with and demonstrating that you don't have to be the best coach in the league to win a title. You just need to play well and peak at the right time, and thats what he did! Scott finished the 2023 season crowned champion and now has his name carved in perpetuaty on the Premier League Trophy.

M.B.B.A. 2024 Premier League Season

Unfortunately the decision was made to cancel the league for this year. I had a child. What can I say?

M.B.B.A. 2025 Premier League Season Preview

This brings us to the 2025 installment of the M.B.B.A. Premier League. 8 Teams will suit up for another cracking installment of Blood Bowl League Play. 8 Teams will compete over 7 rounds where the top 4 teams at the end of the regular season will qualify for the Finals. The stage is set for redemption. Can Josephine finally climb the summit and win her first M.B.B.A. Premier League Championship or will Seve complete what he started last season and coach his team to victory?

Can Daniel break the early season curse and break back into the top 4, can Andy make it back to the top of the mountain or will we see a newcomer make an inspired run? The stage is set for what will surely be bloody, exilerating competition and I am here for it!

Introducing the Coaches for 2025

Mike Kelly

Jo Mills - 26th Century Fox (Gnomes)

Having already established herself as one of the leagues top coaches with a Grand Final appearance in 2022 and a top place finish, and Best Coach result in 2023, Jo only has one thing left to achieve. A Premier League Championship. Will this be the season to do it? After the bitter disapointment of 2023 Jo has moved on from Cemetery Dropouts and signed on with 26th Century Fox. Hopefully the Gnomes will give her the lift she needs to get over that final hurdle.

Strengths

• Acess to multiple Treemen

• Stunty team with flexible positionals

Weaknesses

• No dodge

• Stunty team

  
  

Seve Kranz - Aging Action Heroes (Dark Elves)

After being oh close in last the 2023 decider and making it to the preliminary final in 2022, Seve has a score to settle. A winning score in a Grand Final. Seve is running the Aging Action Heroes back for another season. The Dark Elves were oh so close to clearing that final hurdle but were brought low in Extra-Time by Scott Comber and Re:Dead. We here at the Melbourne Blood Bowl Association expect big things from Seve in 2025 so keep an eye on this one to make a deep run.

Strengths

• Human statline with better agility

• Flexible and can facilitate multiple roles

Weaknesses

• Expensive

• Frenzy can be a liability

  
  

Andy Smith - Bjork (Orcs)

Our 2022 Champion has moved on from Dingley Bypass and signed on with a new team of Bloodbowl Hooligans. The OGs themselves, Bjork. Andy is one of the most technicaly proficient players in the league with a win/draw/loss record to back it up. Andy won in 2022 off the back of the stingiest defence in the league and he'll be looking to replicate that game plan in 2025. The difference is The Orcs are going to be looking to pummel teams into the pitch so expect Andy to rack up the casualties this season as well. Andy is always one to watch make a deep a run into the finals so don't sleep on this one, or else you might just wake up with an Orc fist to the face.

Strengths

• Very tough

• full access to the best skills

• Strong positionals

• Cheap

Weaknesses

• Animosity

• Slow

Tom Prince - Sons of Northern Darkness (Khorne)

Tom was a newcomber to the M.B.B.A. in 2023. Tom took home his first major award by winning the M.B.B.A. Spirit Awad, given to the player who exemplifies the M.B.B.A. spirit of tough, fair and ruthless play. Fast forward 2 Movembowls and a full season later and you can expect Tom to keep pace with the field and give it a red hot go. You might not see him in the finals but you will see him with a smile on his face, dice in his hands and ever ready to collect Skulls for the Skull Throne in the name of the Sons of Northern Darkness!

Strengths

• Strong

• Great skill access

• flexible positionals

Weaknesses

• Very few starting skills

• Frenzy can be a liability

  
  

Daniel Griffin - Orion's Belters (Wood Elves)

Daniel's time in the league has been up and down. The Pantheon have been a solidly mid tier team. Just scraping through to the finals in 2022 and finishing outside the 4 in 2023, Daniel has decided to sign on with a new teeam. Orion's Belters, the Wood Elves of Athel Loren are a new team to the M.B.B.A. Premier League. After posting positive results in the M.B.B.A. 7s competition they're now ready to try their hand at the big leagues. How will they fair? only time will tell.

Strengths

• Very fast

• Agile

• Arguably the best positional in the game - Wardancers

Weaknesses

• Fragile - AV8+ across the board

• Expensive

  
  

Michael Clements - Gold Diggers (Dwarfs)

Is this the year of the Dwarf? After spending 2022 and 2023 towards the bottom of the ladder, Mike has amassed some serious draft capital. His team is scary and could very easily put other teams in the bin. I expect this season to be a year where Mike climbs the ladder.

Strengths

• Very tough

• full access to the best skills

Weaknesses

• Slow

• Expensive

  
  

Tim Potter - The Crocamole Cold Ones (Lizardmen)

A newcomer to the M.B.B.A. Premier League. Tim will be piloting The Crocamole Cold Ones straight out of Lustria and into your living rooms. Tim has cut his teeth in the M.B.B.A. 7s system where he'll be applying his trade in the big leagues for the first time. While this is his first time, i expect him to do well.

Strengths

• Saurus/Kroxigor

• Skinks

Weaknesses

• No starting skills on the Saurus

• Isolated ball handling

• Isolated crowd control

Michael Kelly - Pestigormageddon (Nurgle)

A newcomer to the M.B.B.A. Mike has taken the proverbial bull by the horns and has signed on with the chosen of Nurgle. Grandfather Nurgle is pleased. Nurgle pose an interesting challenge for the field. On one hand they're slow with limited ball carrying across the roster. On the other hand their postionals can make life very challenging for different teams. Teams that rely on agility and staying out of harms way will have a hard time containing the Rotspawn. Tenticles makes getting away from it very tricky.

The question is, will this translate to wins? The answer lies in how the Pestigors develop and how Mike handles them. Despite this being his first outing in the M.B.B.A. he is no stranger to marshelling his troops for war (plays a lot of wargames) and i expect he'll be able to apply those skills to Blood Bowl very soon.

Strengths

• Strong

• Good crowd control

• cheap linemen

• resilient

Weaknesses

• Expensive blockers

• Few highy impactful starting skills

• Slow

• Limited ball handling

And that brings us to the end of the 2025 season preview! The only thing that is certain is that none of these predictions will come to pass. Nuffle is a fickle deity. What we can expect is blood, touchdowns and prayers to the God of Blood Bowl. See you on the field.

Daniel Griffin (League Commissioner)