On Friday afternoon, Dignitas tweeted out a video announcing that they would be parting ways with their Jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett. The team cited behavioral issues as the reason and announced they would be replacing him with Dignitas Academy Jungler Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham.
The move comes close to a week after Dardoch was benched following the team’s stunning loss against last place Golden Guardians, in which they blew a big lead. After the benching, Dignitas would go on to lose the rest of their games in week three.
“We are more than just one player, we are a team,” said Dignitas Director of Esports James Baker in a video posted by the team’s Twitter. “Our key goal is growing our players, developing them, giving resources that they need to be better people both inside and outside of the game.”
The 2021 Spring Split third team All-LCS Jungler has performed well thus far this split, ranking first among Junglers in kill participation at 83.7% and tied for second in gold per minute with 351. This is now the seventh team he has departed in the last five years.
“Dardoch’s actions on Friday were not in line with what we consider acceptable for a player at Dignitas,” said Baker. “The things that we saw were just not something that we could work with moving forward.”
Dignitas currently sit at 14-13 and are tied for fifth place with Evil Geniuses. The team is set to kick off week four against 100 Thieves on Friday at 6:00 pm.
Our statement regarding the #LCS roster. pic.twitter.com/qyRidgrRbg
— Dignitas (@dignitas) June 25, 2021
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