THREE-TIME World Champion Jason Crump gave BSN his ROWE Motor Oil Premiership verdicts for 2025 as the new season kicks off with the KO Cup on Monday night.
He said: "It’s a really interesting looking league for me. Ipswich, Sheffield and Belle Vue look probably the most solid on paper. But that can mean absolutely nothing at this stage of the year.
"The one thing that no one can predict is luck. That is the key ingredient for any side to win the title.
"One thing for sure, it’s not going to be dull…"
BELLE VUE
"Mark Lemon has stuck with his philosophy of continuity. It has definitely served him well over the past few seasons. The Aces have been the biggest club since the pandemic. I expect much of the same from the top three but the key area will be the progress of Zach Cook and Tate Zischke. I expect them to reach the play-offs."
BIRMINGHAM
"You definitely can’t fault the Brummies for being brave. The last couple of seasons they have really tried everything to be competitive. Tobias Musielak, Michael Jepsen Jensen and Matej Zagar all have the know how. There’s a lot of unknown quantities in the team but if they all click, you never know how good they could turn out to be."
IPSWICH
"The Witches are clear favourites for the Premiership title on paper. It’s useless being dubbed as the best team at the start of the year, the key is to steer clear of injuries. They have a solid top five led by Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov but with Danny King, Tom Brennan, Adam Ellis, Dan Thompson and Jordan Jenkins, there’s not a weak link."
KING’S LYNN
"This is a solid side right through the order. They have a bit of a look like Dad’s Army a few years ago No one rated them at the start of the season - and they won the league. I think the Stars might just surprise a few people. Niels-Kristian Iversen is always a classy operator and they are likely to have a very strong reserve all season. Dark horses these guys."
LEICESTER
"The Lions also look really high quality, a very tidy side. Max Fricke, Sam Masters and Ryan Douglas are usually very consistent. Luke Becker will expect himself to go up a level this season. If he can do that, they really are in business. Kyle Howarth and Drew Kemp can both be very good in a winning side. Again, I like the look of them."
OXFORD
"Another really interesting side. Like Birmingham, there’s a few unknown quantities. We know that Rohan Tungate and Maciej Janowski will be a very decent spearhead. Although they’ll want Magic to start stronger than he did last season. Erik Riss and Charles Wright need to be consistent and Peter Kildemand and Francis Gusts have to hit the ground running for the Spires to succeed."
SHEFFIELD
"The Tigers look to have a really powerful top five. They will hope that Tai Woffinden returns from injury and is sharp having spent so much time on the sidelines. Josh Pickering is the key man, if he can go up a level which he has shown he’s capable of, they will be hard to beat. Likewise Anders Rowe, Danyon Hume and Leon Flint have to progress."
Jason Crump was talking to BSN in association with ATPI, the world’s leading travel and events solutions company.
Image by Taylor Lanning.
Words by Holeshot Media.