One of NRG Esports’ players is considering stepping down from his position after this weekend’s North American League Championship Series games, in the hopes that the team will see some success without him.
Rookie jungler Galen “Moon” Holgate expressed his interest in stepping down to the team’s management and coaching staff this week, sources close to the player and organization tell the Daily Dot. Whether Holgate will actually step down is uncertain, but the team has already begun looking for replacement options.
Among the list of potential replacements is former Team Liquid starting jungler Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera, who retired from his position on Liquid earlier this split. He cited his reason for leaving as wanting to create content full-time, but privately Rivera expressed that he was unhappy playing with Liquid, according to sources close to the player.
NRG’s management met with Rivera yesterday, but have not yet decided to sign him, according to sources close to the team. It’s likely they will meet with other junglers throughout the week, if Holgate does decide to step down.
If he does step down Holgate will move to a live-in-house substitute position, but will no longer serve as the team’s starting jungler in LCS games.
Before the split, the team looked to pick up two junglers: Holgate and veteran Marcel “Dexter” Feldkamp. But the organization decided to go only with Holgate—primarily due to a lack of budget for two junglers, and a previous working relationship between Holgate and NRG CEO Gerard “Atlas” Kelly.
NRG Esports have had a choppy start to the year. Coming into the split they were expected to be a top-three team. But now they sit in fifth place, under Immortals, Team SoloMid, Cloud9, and Counter Logic Gaming. But top five doesn’t seem to be enough for the team, as NRG isn’t producing the results they want.
A lack of jungle talent in North America, aside from Rivera, will make it incredibly difficult for NRG to find a solid replacement.
NRG Esports did not respond for comment by the time of publication.
Photo via Riot Games/Flickr (All rights reserved, used with permission)
