2018 started perfectly for PlusLiga’s Trefl Gdańsk, as the team was able to knockout title favorites Zaksa and Skra Belchatow en route to winning the Polish Cup. A few weeks later, it broke PlusLiga 2017-18 season’s attendance record, by drawing 9781 fans to Ergo Arena.
With that kind of performance, and knowing that the team doesn’t have one of the biggest payrolls in Polish volleyball, it’s easy to assume that for next season, Poland’s most powerful and rich clubs will be looking at Gdanks’ roster with greedy eyes. In fact, it didn’t take long for the team’s success to call attention to one of its members, as head coach Andrea Anastasi was recently announced as the new head coach of Belgian’s male national team. Anastasi will, however, keep his job with the Gdansk as well, as is common in volleyball, but the team won’t have this kind of luck when it comes to its players. The team’s president, Dariusz Gadomski, is perfectly aware of this (Siatka.org):
“The budget we have is not of the the largest. Some players will definitely go away. How we play today, how they perform, it is the coach’s merit. Four years ago, we focused on this trainer and we are happy that he wants to continue working with us.”
Such an occurrence is predictable in volleyball. Most times a low budget team experiences success, it ends up soon losing most of its players to higher bidders. Such was the case with Brazil’s JF Vôlei, who last year qualified for the playoffs as a respectable 7th seed, saw its roster be depleted afterwards, and was relegated this season after finishing Superliga in last place.
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