He didn’t have to wait long to embark on the next chapter of his career. On June 23, Rúben "rhuckz" Barbosa officially announced his retirement from professional play to pursue a coaching path. According to sources close to Sheep Esports, the Portuguese former support has reached a verbal agreement with GIANTX to join the main team in the LEC as Assistant Coach. While he has spent most of his career moving between Spanish teams in SuperLiga— Movistar Riders, Fnatic TQ, KOI, Ramboot Club, and others — this will mark his first time joining GIANTX. A new environment awaits him.

Rhuckz will serve as the right hand of his compatriot, André "Guilhoto" Guilhoto. The two previously worked together at Case Esports, in Spring 2024. Before joining Case as a player, Rhuckz had already held a brief coaching position within the organization, owned by footballer Casemiro. He played a role in the club’s promotion to Spain’s top division, helping guide the team to a SuperLiga 2 championship in Summer 2023 and securing a LVP slot in the Up&Down series.

Aiming higher than fifth

GX, despite demonstrating a wealth of competitive potential in the LEC, struggled to live up to the expectations. The team, featuring Fnatic's former bot lane in Oh "Noah" Hyeon-taek and Yoon "Jun" Se-jun, was expected to be a top contender off of Adam "Jackies" Jeřábek's seemingly prodigious growth as a midlane talent. After Can "Closer" Çelik departed the team ahead of Spring split for personal reasons, however, the roster clearly needed time to adjust to Ismaïl "ISMA" Boualem's style.

Head coach André "Guilhoto" Pereira Guilhoto, has remained confident, however. Despite placing 5th, GX made no roster changes, betting on a young, high-potential roster to push powerhouse lineups on Karmine Corp, Movistar KOI, and G2 Esports. Rhuckz comes in as an assistant coach to help support that growth — as a former professional support himself, he could be the key to helping ISMA and Jun find the jungle-support synergy that other top teams have shown this year.