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Season 2 Episode 13: From Blacktown to The Bay with Hayden Blankley
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After Round 11 of NBL1 East do you think we have a clear idea of the Top 8? Of course not! Teams are still fighting for their place on the ladder, with some teams needing to play 5 games in the last 3 round. Yikes.
00:00:00-00:01:37 Intro
00:01:37-00:18:33 Round 11 results and Ladder
00:18:34-00:45:49 Game Review: Manly Waringah Sea Eagles vs. Newcastle Falcons (women)
00:45:50-00-00:55:19 News and Gossip
00:55:20-00:58:18 All Star 5
00:58:24-02:00:44 Interview with Hayden Blankley (Bankstown Bruins)
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Transcript
Unofficial NBA One East 2024 Season Discussion
00:00:11
Speaker
Again, an unofficial podcast about the NBA One East season for 2024.
Introduction of Hosts: Jacinta and Locky
00:00:17
Speaker
My name's Jacinta and with me again in his very popular main jumper is Locky France. How are you Locky?
Locky's Busy Weekend and Key Game Insights
00:00:25
Speaker
I'm pretty good, Squint. Pretty lazy weekend, commentating four games, including a Lauren jacksonie lauren Jackson piece. You know, just a, just a crazy, crazy couple of days for me. Oh, look, it's, uh, people have made mention about your poor work ethic before mate. That's so unlike you. Four games is huge. Um, and being able to witness LJ's 50 piece in person. Must've
Recap of Women's Games and Key Performances
00:00:52
Speaker
been pretty special. It was pretty, yeah, was it was up there. It was definitely up there.
00:00:58
Speaker
and that loaded Aubrey Widonga Bandit team, who we'll probably touch on a bit later, in more depth when we get into our results and ladder. um Anything else significant from your weekend in terms of MB01 East Locky? Oh. Oh, did you see that? Nothing too major. I think we've got a little bit of news to go over later, which was good. so Bit of stuff up my sleeve for later. We do have some news and gossip to get into later.
Locky's Coverage Focus on Women's Competition
00:01:28
Speaker
So let's kick off the show with our regular format, I suppose. This week, who are you in charge of this week, Lockie? I was in charge of the women's side of the competition. And regardless of which side I was on, I'm just glad that this round didn't go for two weeks and 16 games. Like last round.
00:01:48
Speaker
Last round was huge ah it was cross the comp across the whole competition. Absolutely mammoth. But this way this round, round 11, it started off with an absolute thriller up on the Northern beaches as Newcastle eked out a 75-74 win over Manly Waringa. Again,
Key Games and Standout Player Statistics
00:02:11
Speaker
so they've had a one point game and a game that went to overtime this season, those two teams in the avian affray. It was Isla Jufferman's with a 20-20 game leading the way for Newcastle in the win.
00:02:26
Speaker
North faced comets who were missing Shyla Hill to Opal's duties and the Bears took full advantage winning 91-53 with Ariana Harris finishing with 21-11 and Matty O'Hare top scoring with 24 points. David Adale also with a double-double for comets.
00:02:45
Speaker
Penrith, well, it was the experience of Talia Tupiah who got Penrith over the line against the young Hornsby side who have been the the toast of the league in recent weeks. But Talia brought them back to earth, leading Penrith to an 86-56 win up there at the brick pit, 26-7 and 9 for Talia and a double-double for Mia Heide. Illawarra faced an understrength CLE team and got a 70-58 win, a vital win for Illawarra. Amelia Garcia lay on leading the way with 15.5 rebounds and three assists.
00:03:24
Speaker
Sutherland faced inner west also under strength with no Lauren Nicholson and a raft of injuries. They got a 79-59 win over inner west. Liv White 14 and 17, Maddie Norris a double double 20 and 10 and Maggie Robinson her first of two good games this weekend 15 and 18 to lead the way for inner west.
00:03:47
Speaker
Canberra faced Maitland at Belconnen and got an 81-62 win on the back of 21 points and four rebounds from Lizzie Tonks. Shakira Riley
Current Standings and Playoff Implications
00:03:58
Speaker
had a 16.11 rebound double-double for the Mustangs.
00:04:04
Speaker
Hills faced the might of Aubrey Wodonga at the hive and it was Aubrey Wodonga with a 94-49 win. Unique Thompson, an 18.12 rebound double-double. And Michaela Pibby, 21 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks for the big triple-double in the 45 point win. The next day Hills rebounded with a 72-67 win over Bankstown. Ji Hyun Park had 26 points 11 rebounds and 6 assists for the Bruins but it was a team effort from Hills with no players scoring more than 14 but everyone chipping in in the five-point win. Sutherland
00:04:46
Speaker
had ah to also face the might of Aubrey Widonga. And as we mentioned, Lauren Jackson putting up a 50 piece, 50 points and 15 rebounds at world famous turnaround was absolutely cooking for LJ. You need Thompson had 28 points and 15 rebounds. She had 14 and 10 after eight minutes of action. And I think 24 points at halftime and Michaela Pivock another triple double, 19 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists as she looks to, I'm sorry, on course now for a season triple double average.
00:05:20
Speaker
Can't forget to mention a Eliza Favreau 31 points in a valiant effort for the Sharks. COE still under strength with so many players at under 18's Asia Cup fell to an 88-53 defeat to Maitland, Sid Hunter 15 and 13 but Shakira Riley with a second outstanding performance of the week. 29.7 rebounds and five assists for the Mustangs.
Shyla Heal's Potential Return
00:05:44
Speaker
Inner West traveled up to Central Coast who were playing their only game of the weekend and a similar margin of defeat for the Bulls going down 60 to 78 to the Crusaders. Maggie Robinson, her second double-double of the weekend with 12 and 17 for the Bulls, but outshone by a big 31 points from Jazz Four, Cadilla and Christina Moore coming up just shy of a double-double with 18 and nine. So if we turn to the latter, or we were donger well and truly secured a top two spot 17 and 0 sitting atop the ladder north 14 and 1 have now secured a top four berth new castle 12 and 4 have secured a final spot because there are matches to come between lower place teams that will see other teams unable to top new castle merely in fourth at 10 and 4
00:06:38
Speaker
Central Coast in 5th at 9 and 7 Sutherland in 6th at 8 and 7 Centre of Excellence 10 and 9 in 7th just one game to play and then a whole lot of sweating on other results for the Centre of Excellence Illawarra and Comets sitting tied for 8th at 7 and 8 and then Hills at 6 and 8 in probably rounds out the teams with a realistic shot at finals so Starting to, uh, settle at the top and not many teams left in the fight, but the middle is an absolute dog's breakfast at the moment.
00:07:17
Speaker
just as we not suspected but we did have you know we're always conscious of that middle bracket fighting for the last two spots in the top eight always has potential to yeah just be a absolutely mathematician a mathematical disaster it so certainly is especially because we've got that hills and comets makeup game to come on wednesday night Oh, of course, of course. Now,
Illawarra's Top-Eight Spot Chances
00:07:45
Speaker
now that the Opals things are all wrapped up, it looks like Shyla should potentially be available now for that Wednesday night game. So that's a big plus for the Comets. And you mentioned that you rounded off, you know, uh, naming the ninth and 10th place teams on the ladder. Is there any possibility for this bottom end to change? So say seventh to 10th being COE, Illawarra, Comets.
00:08:12
Speaker
Hornets. Is there still potential that that could change in the next few rounds? The thing is having Shyla heal on your roster can change a lot of things for you. Um, I, I, obviously center of excellence, the best they can now do is 11 wins. So it's going to be tough for them to, to move very far. They could maybe get fifth or sixth. Um, I don't want to write Canberra off yet. Uh, seven and 10, they could still go 10 and 10, but, um, anything below that. Just so many teams to play each other that are sitting ahead of other teams. I think Illawarra might still have to play Comets as well at some point. So lots of teams that can win, you know, if one team wins, the other team loses kind of thing. So it's not going to be every team that's sitting in that mid pack flying up the table or crashing down to a earth kind of thing. I think after next weekend, a lot will have shaken out.
00:09:08
Speaker
Well, for Illawarra as an example, illawarra we both men and women, but using the women as an example in context of this letter, they have next round the Crusaders at home. They have Manly away and Maitland away in round 13.
00:09:28
Speaker
And then they've got Hills at home and Sutherland away in round 14. So they still got five games to play in three rounds. That's a lot of opportunity to cement yourself in the top eight. It is, but it's also a lot of tough games. Yeah, certainly against the Crusaders ahead of them, Manly are ahead of them, and the Sharks are ahead of them. So, Hills and and Maitland below them. ah Possible banana skins, as you would put as you would say.
Overview of Men's Games and Performances
00:10:01
Speaker
Yes, yes. ah I think Illawarra might have the toughest draw of that that group of teams to come. And Centre of Excellence, you mentioned only have one game left of the season, and that's against Manly.
00:10:15
Speaker
Yes, and they will be under strength for that as well. So it's just so tight. 10 wins might still get you in. Who knows? It is very, very tight. And one team I'm kind of keeping an eye on, you know, I suppose bias, but also because I know that this team has also gone through some absentees and some injuries recently is the Crusaders women. So they started off really strong and to finish off the regular season, they've got Illawarra as we mentioned, Hills, then Hornsby and then Manly. So three out of four they should get.
00:10:53
Speaker
crusaders it Crusaders on form, they should win three of those, go to 12 and eight at worst, and probably settle settle into fifth or sixth spot, which with the different finals format this year, get you a ah hosting and elimination final in week one if you finish fifth or sixth. We'll get into the four finals format ah in News and Gossip. um Thankfully, we've been very kindly provided with the the breakdown, so we'll get into that later. Over to the men's results now, and it started with manly Waringa Seagulls taking on the Newcastle Falcons at home, getting a win 87-75.
00:11:37
Speaker
Top performers for this game include Jonas Harper from the Sea Eagles with 27 points, followed up by Matthew Eldridge with 20 points and Nairie rebounds. And for Newcastle, it was Miles Cherry with 29 points, Nairie rebound six assists. And also Kobe Shannon had a big game with 19 points and four rebounds. The North Bears had another close contest with the Sydney Comets losing at home 90 to 99. Mandrell Worthy top scored again for the Norse Bears with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists and for the Sydney Comet's Bewally Bales exploded again with a massive 42 point game adding 5 rebounds and 9 assists as well. He was well supported by Obie Che who's back on court who had 21 points, 14 rebounds and 3 steals.
00:12:30
Speaker
And the wins keep on coming for the Hornsby Keringi Spiders as they beat Penrith Panthers at home 88-78. Aaron Redhead top scored for the Spiders with 22 points adding 8 rebounds and 4 steals. He was well supported by Stephen Hall who had 20 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. And for the Penrith Panthers it was Jaden Fatui-Famoah who had a massive game with 21 points and 7 rebounds. In an overtime thriller down at the Snake Pit in Wollongong, the Illawarra Hawks took on the Center of Excellence, losing just by five points, a 100 to 105.
00:13:13
Speaker
um Illawarra had multiple scorers in double figures, led by Riley Abercrombie, who had a double-double in overtime with 33 points and 11 rebounds, and the addition of Lucky Dent, the hometown hero for the Illawarra Hawks. had 22 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals. For the COE it was Luke Fennell leading all scorers with 34 points and he added 5 assists and he was well supported by Emmett Adair who had 18 points and 10 rebounds.
00:13:45
Speaker
Then the Sutherland Sharks were back
Men's League Standings and Finals Competition
00:13:47
Speaker
in the Shark Tank. This time they were playing against the Inner West Bulls and they lost 79-95. Top scorers for Sutherland were Lockie Hutchinson with 24 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and Brian Williams had 23 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. For the inner west bulls, they also had 4 players in double figures, led by Alexander Higgins-Titcher, who had 21 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, shooting 64% overall.
00:14:21
Speaker
In a grand final rematch from the inaugural MBL1 East season and probably an ongoing, maybe historic rivalry, ah but time will tell, it was the Canberra Gunners who hosted the Maitland Mustangs at Belconnen Basketball Stadium. The Gunners got up 82 to 80 led by none other than the Brindabella Beacon himself Glen Morrison with 29 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists. Will Mayfield also had a big game for the Gunners with 16 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals and a block just to get some more stats on the sheet. For Maitland,
00:15:03
Speaker
Will Cranston-Lown had a double-double with assists, with 10 points and 10 assists. He also added 6 rebounds and 8 steals, whereas Dan Milburn was the top scorer for the Mustangs with 19 points. Then the Sharkies were back at home against the Aubrey-Wodonga Bandits and managed to get a win, 91-87. Another big game for Locky Hutchison who had 25 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists. And Jeffrey Gerlach had a double-double with 17 points, 4 rebounds and added 4 assists as well for the Sharkies. And for Aubrey Wodonga Bandits, Kevion Blaylock had a massive game playing all 40 minutes.
00:15:47
Speaker
scoring 31 points 12 rebounds and two assists and William Davo Hickey had 17 points 13 rebounds and nine assists so just one shy of another triple double. For their second win of the weekend it was the Basketball Center of Excellence hosting the Maitland Mustangs at the AIS Basketball and Netball Center. COE winning 121 to 99. Luke Fennell was again top scorer for COE with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. And for Maitland Mustangs, James Hunter had 35 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals. And Will Cranston-Lown had 32 points and added 5 steals as well.
00:16:31
Speaker
And last but certainly not least for round 11 of MBL1 East 2024, the inner west bulls had a home game against the central coast crusaders with a convincing win 111 to 79. Jacob Omar had a big game for the Bulls with 35 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. And Ramon Cowell had a double-double with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists for the Bulls as well. For the Crusaders, Robbie Heath had 29 points and 4 rebounds. Shan Nye had a double-double with 12 and 12. And Ben Stephens also had a double-double for the Crusaders with 15 and 11. So taking a look at the men's ladder now, the Canberra Gunners are certainly at the top.
00:17:21
Speaker
of the table with 15 wins and two losses securing their place in the finals. Despite the two losses this weekend, Maitland Mustangs are sitting pretty in second position with 13 and 3. Manly Waringa Sea Eagles are third with 11 and 3. Center of Excellence collected two must-wins over the weekend which sees them now in fourth position on the ladder with 14 and five. In the West Bulls are fifth with 11 and six and the Aubrey-Wodonga Bandits are also at 11 and six but placing at sixth position due to percentage.
00:17:59
Speaker
7th position is the Hills Hornets with 8 and 6 and in 8th position is the Sydney Comets with 8 and 7. But not too far behind them is the North Bears who are also on 8 and 7 and they're only 1% behind the Sydney Comets on the ladder. And in 10th position is the Bankstown Bruins, who are 8-8.
Analysis of Women’s Game: Manly vs Newcastle
00:18:19
Speaker
And the Sutherland Sharks are in 11th position with 7-8. So similar to the women's ladder, we certainly see an absolute dog's breakfast, as Lockie put it, in the middle of that table fighting for those last two positions for finals. So this week we decided to review the Manly-Waringa Seagulls versus the Newcastle Falcons women's game that was at Manly. It went down to the wire.
00:18:44
Speaker
Newcastle getting the win by one point as Lockie mentioned earlier so of course we had to take a look at it. We certainly did since two two real you know championship contenders as well who went to overtime last time they played how could we how could we not? Definitely were the all the green flags were there for us to take a look at this game. Lockie would you like to start us off with what you saw in the first quarter? What I saw in the first quarter was no Kate Kingham for Newcastle and of course no Kimberley, Honey Badger, Hodge or Dickinson now for the manly Warringah Sea Eagles which threw a bit of a spanner in the works for both teams really because Kate Kingham is Newcastle's outside shooting. She is it for them.
00:19:31
Speaker
Unsurprisingly, Newcastle going inside, even more than usual than they ordinarily would. But what I noticed was the way they went inside was Isla Juffamans putting it on the floor from the elbow. Which really surprised me because when you think Isla Jofferman's, she said she can shoot it. Isla Jofferman's getting it from the elbow could be just spot up shot or getting it right in the paint, laying it home kind of thing. So I noticed that which was very interesting. I can't say it was highly successful to say the least.
00:20:07
Speaker
um did notice that Isla just took a minute or so off in the middle of the first quarter, barely, barely time to rest. And she did it the same in the second quarter as well. Um, just a very short rest. And, um, of course, as soon as, as soon as Isla's off court, it's just Munger and Nichols just trying to get inside. But I thought in the first few minutes, um, before Iowa started putting it on the floor. Both teams looked to just play to their strengths, just do what we know well. And then it started looking like they were trying to outsmart each other and only serve to outsmart themselves. I think is the best way of putting it.
00:20:49
Speaker
um In the start, Manly, we know Zoe Miller loves a game against Newcastle. And they ran a few sets to get Zoe a lane straight into the paint and straight to the basket. And it was working. They also found some open threes. They didn't fall in the early stages, unfortunately, for Manly Waringa. but Um, yeah, just for a while there, it looked like they started going away from what has got them to their, you know, only having four, three or four losses a piece at this early, this late in the season, which was interesting to see, like they were trying to, they were solutions looking for problems.
00:21:27
Speaker
I noticed as well, like what I've come to expect particularly of the Manly women's program, whether that's MBL one or even times I've watched very successful under 18s women's team from Manly is that they are very disciplined in their team concepts in half court offense and they run sets straight away. They don't seem to be a team who will say, hey, let's just try and get stops and run first, get some transition buckets, run some motion first. see how that goes before we run some sets. they're They're into sets straight away and I thought they were very well organized straight away as well from the tip and I think that's what gave them the edge early over Newcastle. I really liked Josie Bullman in the high post. She's now someone that I referred to to myself reviewing this game as Minnie Munger.
00:22:16
Speaker
oh She has a similar um similar size, similar um wingspan, similar strengths and skill set to
Defensive Strategies in Manly vs Newcastle
00:22:28
Speaker
manga. And I think if Josie starts to develop an outside game and becomes more of a three point shooter, they would have very similar games. Just tenacious on rebounding loose balls. int can play inside. Jostie showed that she can shoot it from the short corner and the elbow a couple times too. So yeah, she's um among her in the making. Among her in the making. Geez, merely can have among her in the making. That's a, that's dangerous for a team that's already as good as they are.
00:22:56
Speaker
But yeah, I really liked Josie from the high post. um I really liked how she facilitated a lot of ball movement as well. ah She was able to be, you know, ah a point of access from the high post if she was didn't have a scoring option, she'd get it to the weak side straight away. She was providing some dribble entries or handoffs or pick and roll. She kept the flow going. And I thought that was one of those things that we said about Josie Bullman last season is that she does a lot of things that aren't accounted for on the stat sheet and that was something that was uh she was contributing really well for Manly but yeah their sets were really really good but like you said they just quickly went away from it
00:23:39
Speaker
I wonder if it was one of those games and to be fair both teams did this as the game went on. I wonder if it was one of those games where they saw a lot of one-on-one opportunities. The shot percentage on those one-on-one opportunities were only really like 55 to 70 percent going in versus when they stuck to their team concepts in ball movement, penetrate dish and getting it to their shooters like the Delaney sisters and Saree Mowbray. They looked like they were getting much better scoring options so I noticed that for Manly, but Newcastle certainly did the same. Too much one-on-one. Manly particularly in transition, just too much one-on-one and banging it off the backboard. And I was like, this isn't the Manly we know. It definitely was not at times. I noticed Alana Reddy coming into the game pretty early for Zoe Miller, which I always always like to see young players non players getting an opportunity, which is a just great to see. And as always, I mean, Isla Jufferman's shot.
00:24:37
Speaker
I think she only shot 35% from the game, but she was getting two or three opportunities. So it might've been seven or 20, but it was probably on about 12 or 13 actual scoring opportunities because she kept getting her own misses. Yeah, that's right. She just kind of kept going up, getting it, tapping it back, going up again. And she would do that with like two or three people around her. so There were a couple of times during the game where she had a box, she was boxed out. But the thing is when you're playing against someone like Ayla, who's not only tall and strong, but she has reach and her foot works quite good. you know only You don't just need to put a body in front of her, you need to get your body in front of her and then you need to push her back.
00:25:21
Speaker
Because even if you can't physically push her back, if you're still resisting and keeping her behind you and keeping her away from the basket, if she is tempted to go over the top of you to get a rebound, then you're more likely to try and ping and over the backfowl. So there are
Newcastle's Pressing Tactics Impact
00:25:37
Speaker
a couple of times where manly were in front, but they then needed to like push her back, which is easy for us to say as spectators when she's not the one pushing us over.
00:25:48
Speaker
watch Ayla Joffman's on a stream and you're look and you're like, is that Ayla? That doesn't look like a teenager. ah That is Ayla. Just going out there doing a thing like, I don't want to shoot. And so I'm just going to keep shooting under the basket as much as I can. To be fair, she did shoot from the short corner in this game. And I was like, hey, she can shoot. And before you rip on us for that comment, go back to our interview with Ayla. She's the one that said that she doesn't want to shoot. What did you see defensively? I've got a couple of notes just for the first quarter about the defense from Manly and Newcastle. I had more defensive notes in the second quarter and it was on the Isla Jofferman subject. Oh, I was just going to say just quickly in the first quarter, I noticed that Josie Boorman and Annie Henderson were guarding Isla and Munger.
00:26:42
Speaker
And I did notice that anytime there was a pick and Munger and Jufferman's, Josie and Annie were switching. But every other time there was a pick and roll, whether it was Isla and Munger with someone else, then they were staying. So I thought that was a pretty smart thing to do because both Annie and Josie can guard either one of them. um So I just thought that was interesting that was switching all of that. And Newcastle, They pressed straight after a free throw quite early and went back into a zone. And I think that 1-2-2 zone that Newcastle put on Manly quite early ah was pretty productive for them. Because even last season we saw a Manly struggle against a zone and it looks like they're still trying to figure it out as much as they would on on when they're playing against man-to-man. You mentioned
Quick Shots and Defensive Rotations
00:27:30
Speaker
the press.
00:27:31
Speaker
um I would have liked to see it be committed to a little bit more, really go at it. um um This might be a r ah hallmark of watching Sutherland men get pressed and watching them have to fling classes cross court in their own back court in the last last week or so. But ah yeah, it just would have been good to put a little bit of pressure on them. You know, it shortens the shot clock a little bit for them, but I think it could have been a little more intense, but not the coach. think I think that about most teams, to be honest,
00:28:03
Speaker
I felt the same way about Manly's press, more than Newcastle's. Manly came out in a in a bit of a press back to her zone in the second half. And for me, I was like, the press isn't pressing. I just really liked the way that Manly swarmed her when she started putting the ball on the floor. But tell me about your notes from quarter two, going back to Isla Jafferman's and Detent's. I mean, somehow I'll have made it work, but you mentioned Josie and Annie and, um, I did notice Tim Hill was on the bench for, uh, Marley Ringer because Gail Henderson is off sunning herself in Europe somewhere. I don't exactly remember where, but I have seen the photos. So. She went away for her birthday, I think. And missed her own daughter's birthday in the process. yeah Um, and we all know that, uh,
00:28:57
Speaker
Tim loves to sing the ah praises of Annie Henderson's defensive ability. And why not? And why not? can guard one through five And that's the thing that, I mean, if you want to drop any combination of Bullman, Henderson, Flowers or Alex Delaney, any two or three of them on literally any player in the league under the under the basket, it's going to make it tough. but ah To be fair to Jofferman, she battled away really well. And that was that was really part of why I didn't want her putting the ball on the floor so much. It's because it just gives the t defense time to get there compared to if she just gets the catch in the paint. No, the commentators made a comment, or they referred to Annie as defensive player of the year. But she wasn't named defensive player of the year in NBA One East last season. Wasn't Laura Nicholson? Yes, Laura Nicholson was.
00:29:52
Speaker
Yeah, so maybe they maybe they meant the Manly Team Awards last year. Or maybe they're just campaigning for this season. Maybe they are too, yes. Like the old K.C. bomb, rename it. Yeah, exactly, exactly. For me the second quarter, pretty similar to the first in terms of strategy. I did like how this game was a little more a little bit more of a high IQ game for both teams. Yeah, lots of sets, lots of very specific defensive responsibilities like we mentioned before.
00:30:23
Speaker
Annie and Josie guarding Munger and Ireland them switching and everyone else just kind of staying, you know, presses zones, man, everything switching up. I really liked how this was a ah high IQ game. I liked Hannah chicken was very productive for Newcastle again, again, someone that you don't think is a teenager. Yeah, she was she was pretty good at being at the right place at the right time. Good to see Alyssa Brett play. have I haven't seen her play very much. I've only seen clips of Alyssa Brett playing when she was at University of Michigan most recently. So it's nice to see her play. It looks like she's still kind of adjusting though to the style of game. Oh, just going back to my point as well about when you box out Isla pushing her back of her 20 boards, 11 of them were offensive.
00:31:11
Speaker
Yes, that was yeah that was something I did notice. And I mean, some of those come from just getting her own misses, but it's not it's not all that. And in any event, not always an excuse either. the The shooter is not always in the best position to get their own miss. My other note from the second quarter was that Brooke Flowers comes on and this is the first time I've got to properly watch her play as well. And it was good to see her compete against a talented team like Newcastle. So she played 23 minutes and she had 13 points, 10 rebounds, to assist two assists, two steals and five blocks. And some of them were big blocks. Well, we were impressions of her.
00:31:51
Speaker
I mean, it was probably I've umve seen a little bit of her. um We watched a little bit of this game live. We tried. It was just while we were doing soundcheck for um Sutherland in a West. But I think that's the Brooke Flowers we expect or we all thought we'd see in this league after hearing about her exploits at St. Louis. She has the blocks record. She's all defensive player. She's this, she's that. she's And finally, yeah, we finally got to see her maybe being matched up against some much, you know, some tall players was just the tonic she needed. I feel like when being 6'5 in a league where you play a lot of teams where players are nowhere near that high, you probably don't get a chance to show off
00:32:39
Speaker
that kind of talent because the opposition is just going to avoid the possibility of getting blocked. Newcastle, they're big enough, strong enough and good enough to contend with anyone and they'll go at anyone. But what I thought was interesting, you know, all the hype around Brooke Flowers being this defensive player of the year type talk, avoids a lot of contact for someone that's supposed to be a defensive specialist. Actually blocking shots rather than taking contact kind of thing. Yeah, she even when she was part um you know when she was guarding a pick and roll, whether if she was receiving the screen or if she was defending the screener, just avoiding a lot of contact. Like she would prefer to run around the screen rather than just absorb it and get around it using physicality. Even when they were trying to seal her in the post.
00:33:31
Speaker
really didn't avoid contact. She just, and in their half court offense, she was definitely in the right spot in the right time. She got a ah lot of nice passes in receiver spots, like a lot of dumps down low. and She's not someone who you're going to and being like, Hey, go and create something. Or you dump it inside to her with eight seconds on the shot clock and she's going to create. Not that kind of player, which I was surprised about. Although when she did, when she did put shots up, they did go in. because she was it was six and nine overall and she canned a three. Yeah, it was late. It was when they started to really get rolling and because it was kind of off the back of some other big scores as well. But I think from what the commentator said, that's the only three of the season. So she's one from one. Yeah, good. Leading the league in three point percentage. Yeah. It's like it's like Lauren Nicholson leads the league in points per game at 44. Yeah.
00:34:28
Speaker
There really needs to be a minimum of like five games
Manly's Fourth Quarter Comeback
00:34:31
Speaker
or something. that what that stuff Third quarter though, the commentators didn't adjust their volume. So that was quite low for the third quarter. We couldn't really hear anything. Third quarter, I found ah there was lots of quick shots from both teams and there was a lot of loose balls. um The rotation on defense from both teams was really good, particularly in that second line. ah So making it very hard to get some easy points underneath. But it was a big question for both teams or whether they were rushing or whether they were playing with pace because I think they were both rushing rather than trying to play quick and make smart decisions. I think it was all just a little bit rushed and making poor decisions.
00:35:15
Speaker
Manly, it felt like, I can't say they came out slowly out of the locker room because they buried a pair of strays in either corner in the first minute, but it feels like they got ahead of themselves based on how good those first two possessions were. It was just like, bam, Annie bangs Nathan over three. Brie Delaney does the same. They were like, we're on here. Let's go. And then it just, it devolved into turnovers and tough looks. for them basically. And I mean, they scored 15 points for the quarter and six of them came in those first two positions, two or three positions. Yeah, this was the main quarter as well for Manly in particular, where I felt like they were taking a lot of those 50 to 70% type shots where I was like, oh, if you really just pulled it out, let the ball do the work and go back to running those sets and using Josie in the high post as a facilitator, like going back to that from the start.
00:36:09
Speaker
I think they would have had a lot better shot selection, but they were just kind of like taking it one on one in transition and throwing up a bunch of stuff that just kept hitting the backboard. It was all under pressure. There were no rebounders. I don't think anyone had an opportunity to get into position two rebound was the probably the issue half the time. That's right, actually, that is bang on. I was really surprised that there wasn't a a situation where they just kind of called a timeout and they're like, stop it, just stop it and settle down. They did call a timeout, but it came off the bat. I mean, Newcastle were off by 12 by then. Munger hit a three and finally did call a timeout, but I probably would have been
00:36:53
Speaker
a little bit earlier than that. But ah also big, big moment in that third quarter was when Annie Henderson ah caught one in the nose and wasn't seen for the rest of the game. So I hope Annie's all right. That was a big loss for them, like for both for you know what she brings to the team and for morale. Yeah, so i we hope that she's okay as well, because I'm sure that she would have jumped back on court as soon as she could have at any opportunity. So she must have received quite a knock.
00:37:27
Speaker
It looked like the cleanup took a while, so... Oh, gosh, poor girl. Wishing the best for you, Annie. I'm not sure if you noticed, but it was the third quarter I realised that Alex and Bri didn't play much together. I did notice that way. I noticed that when they subbed for each other, at one point in the third quarter, they actually subbed for each other. I was like, hey, they didn't play, they weren't on court very much this game. Um, I like it when they play together, they still compliment each other. Um, but I also feel like it's two strong leaders on at the same time. And I feel like that you're more likely to run your offense properly and be more disciplined when
00:38:08
Speaker
both of them are on at the same time. Like it gives the team a bit more of a direction, particularly in this game where there were big patches where it felt like they didn't have a lot of direction or um it got a little bit wayward. I think it would have been good if both were on at the same time. We talked about when that was with two players that we talked about in the men's game last week with Heath and Stevens both being off, but they looked, the Central Coast looked better when they were both on, you know, there's just some combinations when they're both on, the teams looked better. But it's probably made a little bit tricky when Brie had four fouls. And I can't quite remember the timings of fouls, so that might explain why they perhaps didn't get to play at the same time as they normally would. But yeah, third quarter was just a bit messy. And then fourth quarter, Brie Delaney came out firing and had like the first 10 points in the quarter.
00:39:02
Speaker
You reading my notes, Squint? Uh, she did. She hit two threes. They took her time out. Newcastle's took her time out and she got the next two buckets as well. And I think one of them was off a skip pass from Alex, one of those threes into the opposite wing. So. Sister the sister. That's right. Yeah. So she really got fired up. I think the team really got around her. The one thing I do like about Manly is that when the team's up, everyone's up. And I think some teams could be a little bit more like that. Like when good things are happening for your team, particularly in a close game, you got to get off the bench, wave your towel. Um, yeah, so everyone got hyped and everyone started to get really involved. Like this is when Brooke flowers started to get even more involved. Um, I think they looked a lot more relaxed and focused on defense.
00:39:52
Speaker
And that was when Flowers hit a three. Yes, that's when Flowers hit a three. After Bray went off, then Flowers hit one. And that was at the same time where shots started not to fall as much for, well, I guess they only scored nine points in the quarter for Newcastle, but for Juffman's around the basket. I noticed that, yeah, I wrote that down and straight after that Flowers can't a three, which as you As I said, one of one for the season. Yeah, that's when it when when everything was rolling for Manly. Flowers hit us three. They won that quarter 22 to nine. So they really made a great run for it and such a heartbreak then only losing by one point. um But yeah, Newcastle just couldn't couldn't hit anything. And I think they started to look ah a lot more disorganized in that fourth quarter. I think they then started to panic and rush and
00:40:47
Speaker
I wasn't too sure what they were running but then we can't really comment on how the game actually ended. We cannot because the last five minutes of the game do not exist on video as far as we know. Six minutes and four seconds to play in the fourth of a game that was a 1.4 game and it cuts off. So
Manly vs Newcastle Exciting Finish
00:41:10
Speaker
we cannot comment on what Manly did well to win that quarter 22-9 or what happened with Newcastle as to why they only scored 9 because there is no footage of it, which is a damn shame. There is not. It's like Wilt's 100 point game. Everyone wants to see it but there's just no footage. Oh, that's so disappointing that that does not exist.
00:41:34
Speaker
Um, so you'd have to try and piece the game together just by the play-by-play on the MBO1 website. Um, but basically... Manly manly took the lead with 4.57 to play on Alex Delaney's three and then tied up Elizabeth Brandt. And so it was 72.70 with 3.40 to play and it finished 74.75. So Manly with only two points, well, No points in the last two minutes and 18 seconds from leading 74-70. Oh, wow. So yeah, Josie made the layup with 2-18 to play to put them up 74-70, often assist. So in this play to get them up 74-70, it was a Josie Bullman block, Brooke Flowers defensive rebound,
00:42:28
Speaker
a Brie Delaney assist to Josie for the layup. So that sounds like they got a stop and they ran. So they were They were rolling. Alyssa Brett ends up with a jump shot. So it's 74, 72. They've missed a couple of threes in succession. Oh, and it looks like for Newcastle, so Alyssa Brett got that last shot to put them up to 72. then Brie Delaney fouled out. Oh no, sorry, she only had four fouls. Brie Delaney ends up fouling Isla Juffamans with 37 seconds to go. And then Isla makes her second free throw. So it's 74-73. Manly now call a timeout. With 18 seconds to go, Brie Delaney ah turns the ball over.
00:43:26
Speaker
um from Isla Jafferman Steele, gets it to Nicole Munger who makes a two point hook shot and puts them up 74-75 with five seconds to play. that's we we we We need the footage. We need the footage. This sounds so exciting, especially because everything was literally happening until the last five seconds of the game. i want to say this man a hook shot i just want to see the last six minutes of the game i was yeah
00:43:58
Speaker
um but that was more or less it from what we could see like It wasn't like manly did a lot of really great things and so did Newcastle. I think Newcastle at the end of the day were the team that stuck to their game plan the best and got the win. But their bench play is like Sophie Brennan, who probably wouldn't normally be starting because Kingham was out. She played really, really well. I really liked her game. Yeah, she made some really clutch shots. She controlled the tempo very well for a young point guard coming into an experienced team and against the good defense of the manly guards. I thought she held herself really well, Sophie Brennan. Hannah Chikin was really good. I think Newcastle are just really good at knowing, yeah, also knowing their roles and sticking to it as well.
00:44:49
Speaker
But yeah, I just feel like man that definitely wasn't Manly's best game. Like I think they went away from their game plan a little bit. And unfortunately you can't afford to do that against a team like Newcastle. Definitely not. so I mean, it's a team you've already gone to overtime once against this season. I think we all knew it had the you know pretends a propensity to be a close game, but yeah, Manly gave Newcastle too too long of a rope.
League and Player News
00:45:17
Speaker
too long of a leash really to get out, get ahead, get too far ahead. I mean, yes, they got it back to the lead, into the lead manly, but you can't, you know, you need, it's tough to reel in that kind of deficit and maintain the lead against the team as good as Newcastle. I wonder if these two teams are going to fall in a position on the ladder where they're going to meet each other in the finals. Well, we'll get to the finals, new finals format soon.
00:45:46
Speaker
and discuss what might happen. So let's head in into news and gossip and Locky, you gave me the impression earlier in the episode that you have some breaking news or some, some juicy news. No, I don't do juicy news. I just want to, you know, something I didn't mention last week that I should have mentioned, but I completely forgot about is Manny Piljevic from the Sutherland Sharks. recently been training with the Serbia under twenties national team in a combined camp with the full national team. So she's been going up against some absolute stars over there. She was ah
00:46:29
Speaker
playing against Angela Dugalich from our UCLA who's on that Serbian national team was one of the players mentioned. So congratulations to many because as we saw in last week's Women's All-Star Fire, we've got plenty of players playing in senior or junior national teams at the moment. And then we've got another one to add to the list. Very good. So MBL1 East coming up with a lot of um international talent. Certainly are. and on that, Fever Under 18 Women's Asian Cup started today. So the GEMS team featuring I think four, five, six, seven, ten players who have played in MBL1 East or with a few ex-COE players and a lot of current ones, ah beat Malaysia 124 to 38.
00:47:24
Speaker
Just the way you go sometimes in these these tournaments. You play some of the lower ranked teams. Lara Sonfly finished with 28 points, but we had eight players in double digits in that one. Meanwhile, in Division B, Samoa beat Kyrgyzstan 84-42 with Bankstown Bruins, Kirame, Philamu racking up 15 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in the win. Nice, very good. Let's go Samoa. Also competing in division B at the FIBA under 18 Asia Cup is Jolzene Imprezo from the Inner West Bulls. She's representing the Philippines and in their opening match against the Maldives she had 18 points in just 17 minutes. So best of
New Finals Format Discussion
00:48:12
Speaker
luck to all of those young female athletes at the Asia Cup and we'll see you soon when you return to MBL One East.
00:48:19
Speaker
And you can watch a lot of these games on the Phoebe YouTube channel and you can follow along on social media at Next Gen Hoops. They put up some pretty cool clips on Instagram. Have I used Squint? Do you have any news and or gossip? Yes, I certainly do have some news. So one of our loyal listeners has let us know that the MBL One East 2024 competition format has been released as it reads. Week one will be the 20th slash 21st of July, which will be the qualifying slash elimination finals between the top eight teams. So one it will be one versus four, two versus three, five versus eight, six versus sevens. So in one versus four, the winner goes straight through to week three and the loser has a second chance in week two. The same for the game between second and third.
00:49:20
Speaker
In the games between fifth and eighth, the bottom ranked loser, which means the team that loses will be eliminated. And the team that wins will go ahead and play the loser out of one and four and two and three. So week two will be the 27th or 28th of July with the loser of one and four playing the winner of five and eighth. and the loser of two and three playing the winner of six and seven. Week three, which is the third and fourth of August, the winner of one and four will play the winner of the games before. I'm i'm pretty sure people are going to understand what I'm talking about here now. So the winner of the semi of each semi-final will then play the winners of the preliminary finals from week two. And then we have our grand final on the 10th of August.
00:50:13
Speaker
ah venue however, TBC. I think the best, the easiest way to explain it to people is it's the same as the footy finals people. It's identical to the AFL and NRL finals. Then we've also got some other gossips that came through our Instagram handle at East Got Game. So thank you for this anonymous person. Apparently for 2024, Basketball New South Wales were keen to drop two associations from the NBL1 East competition. But by the time the steering committee finally decided to drop two teams, it was too close to the season starting so they just allowed everyone to play. Apparently the same process will happen at the end of this season with the aim of relegating two teams from NBL1 that are not performing and not putting in the time and effort and money apparently either.
00:51:05
Speaker
So we have often thrown around the idea on East Got Game about relegating the bottom one or two teams from MBL1 East into the State League competition in a similar way that they currently do in the Youth League men's competition. But I wasn't aware until our anonymous ah tip on the gossip hotline mentioned that that was actually a possibility. Thoughts and feelings. I mean, I like the idea of licenses not being permanent. I don't want teams to be able to coast. I don't know if teams were given a kind of like, this is the timeline of your license kind of thing. I would hate to just bring this up at the end of, well, I mean, now they know. Unfortunately it didn't happen in 2024 where it was just sprung on teams. And now teams actually, you know, it feel hopefully assuming this is all
00:52:02
Speaker
true, teams have actually had the opportunity to, you know, put forward their case and say, you know, this is what we're doing. This is what we're doing. This is how we're looking to improve. We're trying to build a base here. It could take a while kind of thing. Not every club has the player base at the moment, but hopefully you'd like to see everyone growing their player base where they could at least make a case to remain in the league. Yeah. And I think if it's about making a quality of the league, and then I imagine that if it goes back to 14 teams, we'll probably only have a top six instead of a top eight. I prefer that, but you never know. but Because I know that the rule, the rule in the old Warrata League was top six, um unless it had fewer than 10 teams. Very good. So thoughts, feelings, ah or any other news and gossip? Remember, you can send us a DM on Instagram at East Got Game. Otherwise, do you have any other news or gossip? No, I do not have any other news or gossip.
00:52:59
Speaker
So that means it must be time for Jersey of the Week. But it's not Jersey of the Week. It is. Jersey's. It's Jersey's of the Week. And I have a big require because over the next, well starting today and in the last few weeks and in the next few weeks, we've got, we've had the Opals go to China and Japan. We've had the Baby Boomers go to Japan. We've got the Gems at the Asia Cup, the Sapphire's at the World Cup, the Crocs at the World Cup, The boom is going to the Olympics, the opal is going to the Olympics and the roll is going to the Paralympics. So I've just gone up with the all out Australian national team set up. Two Australia jerseys and the boxing kangaroo flag. Aside from the fact that makes it an absolute pain to get out of my living room because it's hanging over my door, it's probably going to stay up until the Paralympics are finished.
00:53:51
Speaker
Wow, that is commitment. And so I know you've got an older looking Opals jersey, a number five. So that's certainly a Leilani Mitchell jersey. Incorrect. Oh, is it a Kristi Harawa? It is neither of those players. That is from the FIBA Oceania 2015 down in Melbourne that qualifies for the Rio Olympics. That is a Tessa Lavey number five jersey. Oh, wow. Okay. You're going deep. You got, you got a deep cut there. Yes. It's funny. I was che tossing up between wavy or magic and the magic jerseys was spelled incorrectly and it was being heat pressed on site at on the night. So anyone who ordered a magic jersey got one with incorrect printing. And the other ones are Christy Wallace from the 2022 World Cup. It's at number three, Christy Wallace.
00:54:50
Speaker
So do you reckon Christy Wallace is going to be donning number three at Paris 2024, Lockie? I hope so. Yes. Yeah. I don't care what number she wears, it's just as long as she's in the team. Yeah,
All-Star Five Round 11 Announcement
00:55:02
Speaker
that's kind of more what I was alluding to. Yeah. Picked for Paris 2024. Well, I hope so. I think so. Jeez, good luck. Come on. Good luck to those Opals and Boomers selectors, because it's no, no, it's a it's it's too hard. It's a good problem to have. Time now for our All-Star Five for Round 11 of NB01 East 2024 and at the top with the women's competition we start with Talia Tupaya from the Penris Panthers. She had 26 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists against the Hornsby Spiders.
00:55:38
Speaker
And next we have Isla Juffamans from Newcastle Falcons who had 20 points and 20 rebounds in that thrilling win against the manly Waringa Sea Eagles. Now the next three are the big three of the East, arguably, all coming from the Aubrey-Wodonga Bandits. We start with Unique Thompson who had 18 points and 12 rebounds against the Hills Hornets and then backed up with 28 points and 15 rebounds against the Sutherland Sharks.
00:56:09
Speaker
Next from the bandits we have Michaela Pivik who had 21 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists against the Hills Hornets and then 19 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists versus the Sharks. The walking triple double was also named the NBL1 East Player of the Week. And last but certainly not least, it's Lauren Jackson who had 50 points and 15 rebounds versus the Sutherland Sharks and that alone obviously gets her in the All-Star Five this week. In the men's competition, we start with another 42 point game from Bewale Bales for the Sydney Comets versus the North Bears. He had the 42 points, five rebounds and nine assists overall.
00:56:59
Speaker
Next we have Jacob Omar for his first entry into the All-Star Fire for Eastcott game. He plays for the Inner West Bulls and in round 11 against the Central Coast Crusaders he had 35 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. Next is Luke Fennell from the Center of Excellence who had a big couple of games in the double header over round 11. Firstly versus the Illawarra Hawks he had 34 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists and versus the Maitland Mustangs he had 22 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists shooting at 69.5% over both games.
00:57:42
Speaker
and the last two entries for this week are both from the Maitland Mustangs. First we have James Hunter who versus the Centre of Excellence had 35 points and six rebounds and Will Cranston-Lown in the same game against the Centre of Excellence had 32 points, two rebounds, three assists and five steals. Special shout out to Riley Abercrumby from the Illawarra Hawks who had 33 points and 11 rebounds in an overtime game against the COE and Lockie Hutcheson and Alex Higgins-Titcher also had big weekends.
00:58:18
Speaker
Alright, so we're going to take a quick break and then we're going to come back with an athlete interview very shortly.
Interview with Hayden Blankley
00:58:24
Speaker
Our very special guest today is a Bankstown boy currently, but he's also played all around the world, including the likes of Asia and America. He is someone who was racking up a lot of big stats in NBA One East 2023 and has done the same in 2024. Our very special guest was also requested by one of our loyal e-scot game listeners, it's Hayden Blankley. Welcome Hayden.
00:58:53
Speaker
What's up, everyone? Excited to be on the show. I've been following you guys actually since I played last year. I've been checking out some of the stuff you guys have been posting on the podcast, so I'm glad to now be a part of it, so yeah. Well, it's a good I'm glad to hear that ah you decided and chose to be a guest based on what you've heard as well, because that really could have gone either way. Yeah, I I was actually pretty excited. i've been I was hoping last year I got the chance, but It's all good. Came here later. Surprisingly last year, considering it was our debut season and you know, not really a lot of people knowing about it, we filled up our schedule quite quickly, like quicker than we realized. And that's when, uh, yeah, so that's why we had to do our second round of desired guests for season two. So I'm glad that you were able to join us for season two. Hopefully we will be a little bit better in season two compared to season one in our skills as well.
00:59:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's all about growth. We're all trying to get better. so yeah That's right, that's right. ah So as you know, the question that we like to ask all of our guests to start the interview is how did your basketball journey start? Okay, ah so I originally played rugby league, just sort of for fun, I guess, growing up and then made the switch to play basketball at the start of high school. year seven so I was about twelve for me so that was when I first started playing and I was actually a Blacktown junior because that's just where I grew up around Blacktown area so Blacktown juniors and I was with Blacktown all the way from bottom age 16s to the end of Youth League and did some New South Wales stuff like played for New South Wales Metro ah played for the New South Wales team like under 20s team so I did all the New South Wales programs and then
01:00:49
Speaker
And then towards the end of high school is when you know we're looking to like, wherever where do we go next? And I was able to go on an America tour with AUSA Hoops, also Hoops at the time. And I got lucky enough to get recruited to West Texas A and&M, which was fun. and then Actually, what helped me play in Asia is that I'm half Chinese. My mom was born and raised in Chinese. No one can really tell. I don't look half Chinese. but
01:01:20
Speaker
That sort of, when that sort of got out, when the coaches at Bay Area, who are now the Sydney Kings coaches, when they found out I was half Chinese and I would be able to play for their team as a as a local Chinese player, they were quick to you know recruit me. And then that's sort of how I've been able to now explore playing in Asia. And then, yeah, just come back to, during the the off, I would call it my off-season, because it's off-season to overseas. During my off-season, I come back and played MBL1 with Bankstown last year with my first year. ah I don't know, I don't exactly remember what it was like that made me choose Bankstown as opposed to like, you know, Penn River Hills, like other Metro MBL1 teams, but I ah knew are some of the players at the time on the team, so that definitely helped me. and
01:02:12
Speaker
and now it's a new team, new new coach and it's very exciting year this year so that's sort of my journey to where I am now and yeah. I remember you playing for absolutely tearing up Youth League. I think it was in 2018, you were playing alongside baby Chol, weren't you? Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I was team mates with Chol a little bit, friends with him growing up, because I also did a lot of the, ah you know, the Sudanese, I think it's Savannah Pride. I don't know if you guys are familiar with Savannah Pride. So I did a lot of a lot of stuff with those guys as well in my juniors time. And so I got close with some of the the high level Sudanese guys here. and
01:02:49
Speaker
didn't he? So played with baby cho and youth league, which was fun. We had some crazy games. I think but if if you're, you were worked with Sutherland or something at the time, maybe, because there's a game where I can settle in that, cho and I had fun. So I'll, I'll ask some of the boys about it when I'm down, down at ah Sutherland next time. But yeah, so yeah, cho played with cho played with some other guys, but yeah, Blacktown was my home, I guess, all from juniors to... i didn't I had the chance to maybe look to play elsewhere, but something about just playing for Blacktown with the guys that I started with and with similar coaches to the ones that I was there when I was younger just made me want to stay all throughout. So I just stuck it through and then, yeah.
01:03:40
Speaker
So were you part of that Blacktown Storm Youth League men's team who a couple of years in a row would have a battle with the Central Coast Crusaders in the finals and then I think ended up either knocking them out in the semis or even beating them in the championship game? Okay, I think ah maybe ah there was one game, I think, and it was the year after it was my the year after my last year, but Blacktown had a ah really big battle with Central Coast in Blacktown in the semifinals. um But no, my my last year in Youth League was unfortunately cut short. we made We had a really strong team, we were a top four team, so we were in that finals weekend.
01:04:20
Speaker
And um I had left to go to college like that weekend before, and two of our other sort of key players on the team were injured. So had a rough finish to the year, but we could have had an exciting one and made things interesting for Blacktown. But yeah no but playing against Central Coast is definitely one of my least favorite things to do. they Those guys play hard and very annoying. So yeah, had definitely had some battles with them over the years. Yes. I remember now, now you mentioned that era and when Lockie mentioned baby troll as well. It's like, Oh, I remember this team. Yeah. And if it wasn't black town, it was a Penrith Panthers in that year of youth league men. Yeah. Penrith with their coach, Steve Saudi at the time. And he came and coached me for my last year of black town youth league. And now I play for his son, which is cool. So yeah. Keeping it in the family.
01:05:16
Speaker
I'm getting very familiar with the Saudi family now. so So you mentioned you didn't pick up basketball until high school. So who who were your basketball idols growing up? And I guess do you take inspiration from any rugby league idols as well? So when I first started watching basketball, I was just mesmerized at the time. It was around 2012. So Blake Griffin at the time was a household name just because just exciting play to watch. And I think he played a part in
01:05:50
Speaker
why I tried to develop like my athleticism and and have that be a big part of my game. yeah When I was younger, I wanted to jump high and do the things that Griffin could do, so he probably played a big role. On Rugby League, i'm actually huge I was a huge Greg English fan, so I don't know if that... you know And he's sort of a a bigger guy who has skills that smaller guys you know would have, so maybe that had some influence on my basketball game. um But right now, I mean, I wouldn't say he's ah an idol or a hero, but a player I like to watch is Giannis. And I don't try to copy anything he does, because that's impossible unless yeah you know he's just just gifted. But I just i just like watching his his demeanor and stuff in his work ethic. So I would say those three, I guess, yeah. Are there any players you do try to model your game on or take bits and pieces from?
01:06:47
Speaker
when i When I come back here, it's it's ah when I play NBA 1, it's a little bit different. Your roles changed as to when I play over in Asia. When I'm in Asia, I don't necessarily have the ball in my hands all the time. I like to shoot and just space the floor. I've had a lot of coaches tell me to watch film of Klay Thompson. um Obviously, when I come back, I try to expand it a little bit and and then I start watching players like Paul George or ora Devin Booker, you know, smooth, silky sort of shooting players. So i'd say I'd say those guys, yeah. You know, good question from Lock who you would want to model your game from because um that's kind of how you pick up a lot of skills. I think a lot of kids underestimate
01:07:32
Speaker
um how helpful just watching other basketball games can be and how much you absorb so much of the skill or like the read and react or the IQ just from osmosis of watching other people play. So it's always good to have those couple of players in mind that you could model from. I think so too. Yeah, no, just watching like helps. I feel like young players develop like movement patterns, like watching how the players move and learning through just like, just like, you know, visually learning. So it's a huge thing. and I feel like ah I watched a lot when I was younger. So that helped. It helps if you really like, really enjoy basketball and really love basketball. You can sit there watching it for hours. So yeah, that helps.
01:08:18
Speaker
ah So tell us what the triple four is in reference to so just for listeners if you follow Hayden on your social media platforms like Instagram I notice a triple four in your handle. Are you able to share with us what that refers to? I can I'll be honest It's not like a super meaningful thing, but it is just an and it's an angel number you might be aware of like angel numbers and ah I have a tattoo of it and I got it in my year in the Philippines, oh after my year in the Philippines, just that year for me, I feel like was my favorite year playing basketball. And there are a lot of key moments that I remember where I, it was sort of like I saw something, like I saw maybe the clock and it said four or something where it was like, and there were during big moments and big sort of meaningful like moments for me during the year on the basketball court and even off the court. So I just sort of took it and ran with it and like,
01:09:14
Speaker
There's no crazy meaning to it, I guess. It might be silly to some people, but I guess, yeah. Just because that year alone for me was so fun. I took that angel number and just took it around with it. It only has to have meaning to you. It doesn't have to have meaning to anyone else. I should have just said that.
01:09:35
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think that's fair enough. Like Lucky said, it's almost it's meaning for you and it's working for you. Then who's anyone else to question it? Because I mean, ah you've already, I mean, you're only like 23, right? Yeah, yeah, 23, 24 next month, actually. So oh getting on now, Hayden, you're getting on. I want to act you around my team when I come back here to the NBA one. but then i But then I realized I'm actually, like, you know, we've got guys like Charlie McBeth on our team who's 17 years old. And and then it then that that but that's when me make that's when it makes me feel old. When I'm overseas, I'm, you know, part of the younger group in the team. And then I get to act like a little baby on the team, but now now I've got to try. and
01:10:17
Speaker
be more mature and stuff and be a bit of a leader, which is an adjustment. I think when we spoke to Sharif Saipaia last season of Eastcott game, he also mentioned how he was looking forward to being a little bit of a leader in that Hornsby team last year and ah working on those qualities about himself in his game.
Hayden's College to Professional Transition
01:10:35
Speaker
And I was like, but aren't you also only like 23? But for some of these MBL1 teams, you know, a lot of the majority of the team, like in the East, a lot of the majority of the guys, it say some of the some of these ah teams are a lot younger. So guys like Sharif and I end up being mental figures on some of the, like on the team, like my Bankstown team last year, and he was on Hornsby last year. So we probably had similar challenges there that years with that. so Speaking of ah being young, you you went over to college and you played alongside another MBO1 player in Austin Shelley at West Texas A and&M, which is
01:11:12
Speaker
a D2 school in Canyon, Texas, and it's now a regular destination for Aussies. So what was that experience like as a player? Uh, that was fun. I had, uh, at the, towards the end of high school, I had, I was sort of was going through this thing where I was thinking, uh, I don't really want to go anywhere if it's not division one. And I had this little crisis, but once I got over that and just realized like, you know, I've got this very good high level division two offering me and they've when you go there it feels like you're ah it's at a division one sort of setting. So that was super fun going there. I had an amazing experience. I didn't actually get to finish because it was the next opportunity that sort of came up when I was going to head back for my fourth and senior year. um So I did three years there and I was the i was the first like i think international student they recruited. I definitely was the first Australian
01:12:05
Speaker
player they've ever recruited and then so I spent two years there as the only Australian. My third year is when Austin Shelley came in and then I wasn't able to return but ever since then just recruited like two or three Australians each year. ah Coach Brown or the and the coaching staff over there obviously really like the ah I think the selflessness that Australian players bring when they go over to it over there and still play at a high level. So that's definitely a reason why he he keeps looking for them now. And he'll probably keep, you know, each year grabbing one to wherever he can. So from wherever he can. So yeah. So I think among MBL one East players alone, he's got Noah Pagotto, Isaac Ayubi and Mackenzie Morgan.
01:12:54
Speaker
Yeah and i've I've run into them a lot actually since coming back just during like some high-level pickup runs and stuff that we've been doing throughout the week and I've ended up on teams where it was me and two or the other ah two or three ah other West Texas guys and I'll make a little joke like oh it's it's uss West Texas along versus the rest or whatever so I'm trying to also whilst I'm back take time off where I can just cut just to take care of like some niggling injuries ah that I pick up playing overseas. And then, you know, I come back and I got to find a balance to be able to handle those. So Canyon, Texas, I mean, it's a small town and even the nearest city, Amarillo, isn't huge. What's life like in in Canyon, especially for a boy from Western Sydney where, you know, but a fairly large city?
01:13:48
Speaker
Yeah, well, I'll be honest, it wasn't, there's no disrespect to Amarillo or Canyon, but yeah, it's not the most, there's not that much to do outside of like college. So when I was over there, I sort of was just all off locked into the academic side of it and just in training and then getting close with that group of guys. And that's that that's what helps too is, you know, having that group of friends, because when I went in there, we had a recruiting class of like, I think seven of us all came in together. So we had seven new players or from, you know, I'm from Australia, but these guys were from different parts of the US and we all didn't know, we were all new, didn't know anything about the the team. So we all got to learn together, which made it fun. So it didn't really matter to me that outside of the court, there wasn't
01:14:41
Speaker
the most fun place to be at like it's very flat open country road everywhere but i guess it helps help me build like strong relationships with my friends and coaches and other people associated with the team that we met so but i'll still i still enjoyed my time there because of that i wouldn't say i'm too high maintenance i don't really care for all the i for there to be a big city without so much to do i had i still had a good time with my with with my teammates there. So yeah. West Texas A&M, I just, ah every time I hear about D2 schools ready to go to D1, they always mentioned West Texas A&M. So it must be a pretty high level school, considering how much buzz they get about potentially going D1. Yeah, no, before I went there, they were like nearly every year, I feel like for this past six or seven years, they've made, they've had like a legitimate chance at making a run to the
01:15:41
Speaker
the national, the final, you know, division two tournament, which is like a, where they started the sweet 16. So, you know, my second year we actually made it to the national championship game. So we were, you could say we were a top two team in division two. So that would put us, you know, we would, we would compete against a lot of division ones for sure. And, you know, my, my three years there, I feel like we only, Like in 90 games played, I feel like I only lost maybe like seven or eight games. So that was like, that's a fun thing too. That's like, that was another thing that helped, you know, my, when I was considering going there was I would be able to get to play a lot and win a lot, which is like a win-win in my eyes. So that's, ah but yeah, we' were we're a successful school there. The coaches there are very, ah very good. They bounce off each other really well. and
01:16:37
Speaker
they They teach their guys the right stuff, I think, so they'll continue being successful, I feel like. A lot more fun being in a D2 school winning 30 games a year than a D1 school winning six. Exactly. and And, you know, sometimes the guys that get there, it's just such a battle and for them to get minutes and which there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying, you know, run away from that battle, but so if they're losing all whilst doing that and, you know, maybe there's problems with within the coaching staff or like people pointing the finger at each other. It's just not really, not the most fun situation to be in, which is why I feel I've been able to enjoy the game for so long is because I had a really fun college experience, which some kids don't, like some guys don't aren't as lucky. They go over and have really rough college experiences, which is, which doesn't help, but yeah. And did that opportunity with the West Texas A and&M come from that AUSA American tour? Because I think that's how,
01:17:36
Speaker
ah Noah and Mackenzie and perhaps Isaac, they were part of AUSA as well. Yes, so I think after my year, there was the the coach, our assistant coach at the time, who watched me play in person. I didn't meet him at the tournament, but he contacted me as I went back to Australia. But I think after watching us, they probably kept you know kept their relations with AUSA and made sure to keep up with them the following years and stuff. So they probably watched them play AUSA.
01:18:09
Speaker
the year or two after I was there watched them play in person. Did you have offers from any other colleges from that tour? I had a lot of division two interest and like I was like part of it was my mindset I was a bit I wasn't as active replying to some of the division two coaches because I had that you know that bad mindset I just wanted to be division one and I probably missed out on a lot of offers because I wasn't as active in, you know, keeping the contact like between us. But with West Texas, they were the ones that I would definitely contact back and forth. I don't think I i never really had any Division I offers. I only played the one AAU tour and I guess the level I played at during that two weeks was
01:18:55
Speaker
Like, you know, it's ah it's rough because we only get, us Australians, when we go over there, we only get like that one tour to really show it. It's is different, you know, compared to like the US kids who are playing there all year long for all of high school. So, but yeah, I had a ah had a bunch of division two schools contact me, but i I was only really active, actively speaking with West Texas and I get i was happy i I did that, so. And
Hayden's Experience with Bay Area Dragons
01:19:21
Speaker
so after you had such such a successful playing career as a junior here at home and then went to West Texas A and&M, you found yourself playing for the Bay City Dragons. So just before you get into that experience of playing for Bay City and then your other team and the league, just tell us a little bit more about this league. So we were a team that was formed
01:19:48
Speaker
by I don't know i't know exactly who the owners were, but they formed this team and it was ah it was ah it was supposed to be a Chinese-based team representing Hong Kong with future plans to join and a league, but for that first year we played in the Philippines in their national league, the PBA, which is a pretty, you know, it's their national league and in the Philippines basketball is is like religion. so You know, we had all eyes on us over there and we were, so we were a guest team sort of just joining the Filipino league and played against all the Filipino teams. And we were, we were called the the Bay Area Dragons, Bay Area City Dragons, representing Hong Kong. And so we were a guest team and we actually made it all the way to finals in that year. And we had a lot of fans enjoy us just because it was something fresh to their league.
01:20:40
Speaker
because they they watch the same sort of eight teams play all year long, so to just have a new fresh team with fresh faces and different play styles, I guess, to their Filipinos was was fun. and But yeah, so we played in the PBA and we made it to the finals. We went to game seven in the finals. ah We lost in game seven in front of 50,000. Oh, I think it was 50,000 we played in front of, which is actually one of the like the largest like basketball stadiums in the world. They have there in the Philippines. um But still just making it to game seven for me in my rookie year and I had ah actually played a pretty big role and playing for Gorgen like I couldn't have asked for anything. You know losing game seven was upsetting but couldn't really ask for anything else in terms of like a rookie experience.
01:21:30
Speaker
Yeah. So to say that basketball is like a religion in the Philippines is no lie or exaggeration. It's onre live it and breathe it. And I was saying off air how I went to the Philippines on holiday, the end of last year, when I turned on the TV, at least three channels had some kind of basketball. including the grand final rate your grand final replay where you played for the bay is it Bay Area or Bay City area.
01:22:01
Speaker
I think it's Bay Area. Bay Area Dragons. So you you were playing gorgeous coaching and had to do a double take. I'm like, Hayden Blankley? Like surely there's only one Hayden Blankley did a Google message locky while I was overseas. I'm like, oh yeah, I'm watching Hayden Blankley while being on holiday. I'm like, hey, I'm talking about this kid on the MBL1 show. Small world, small world. Walking up and down this like up and down like the the food district in the Philippines, if you're looking, just ah pop your head in in each of the stores, like every TV would have a replay of the games and we would be we might have just finished the game and returned back to where we live from and we'll just watch and pop in and, hey, look, that's all of us on the screen and stuff. and
01:22:47
Speaker
fun Wow, that's incredible. I passed a lot of different basketball hoops in the Philippines and managed to take a few photos and um and stuff of all the ones that I passed and they'd be in some pretty unique places. And a friend of mine was there again recently and she filmed a game that was pretty much like on the end of a beach or an island where it was just this one random kind of rock platform and they thought let's just put a basketball court.
01:23:20
Speaker
Yeah, anywhere that's flat is good enough. Two meters squared, like great distance is good enough for them to shoot and play one-on-one and stuff on. So yeah, they love that. No shoes required required. No shoes required.
Philippines' Passionate Basketball Culture
01:23:35
Speaker
Oh, my TikTok sometimes fills itself with Filipinos playing in some pretty crazy conditions. The hoop is bent or in six different directions. we know the And they're out there battling. But yeah, they loved their basketball out there, which was fun. So it just made it, it gave it like a sort of a, like we felt like a, or I felt like a celebrity at times when just walking the streets and stuff. Cause it's like nearly every, every male in the Philippines knew about basketball or played basketball and they were probably following.
01:24:10
Speaker
the PBA in some you know so at some level. So it was pretty cool just walking the streets and stuff over there and getting recognition for it. It was fun different it was like a fun different lifestyle to live sort of going during that rookie year. I can't remember if you mentioned it off air or earlier in our recording that um once the some of the Sydney coaches realized that you were half Chinese, that was a great opportunity for you to join the Asia, like to play in Asia. um Hence why you found yourself playing in the PBA. but who like So connect the dots for us. Who was it that A found you and worked out you could play as a local player and set you on your way to be coached by Gorge in the Philippines?
01:24:54
Speaker
Okay, so ah i think he coaches at the COE now, Robbie McKinlay. He was one of my New South Wales Metro coaches, I think in under 18s. And I had a really good tournament with him that that year. And so I think he must have just remember just remembered me and he knew he met my parents and stuff during that whole year, just with the New South Wales team. and So he knew I was ho ho like i was half Chinese. and he he played a big action He played a big part of my development in the Australian basketball scene because you know he helped me get invited to like the TAP programs or whatever they're called down to the COE. and like and like I went on an Asia-Pacific tour with some of the Aussie guys. so
01:25:46
Speaker
And I'm pretty sure he um he's ah he's friends with Billy Tomlinson, who's the assistant coach of Sydney right now. But he was also the assistant coach with Gorgon in the Philippines. And he was the one that reached out to me and said, hey, a friend of mine, Robbie McKinlay, your old coach. uh let me know that you are half Chinese and we might actually be we might actually be able to you know that might be all we need to qualify you to play as a local for our new team that we're putting together so they got confirmation from um the Filipino league and the other league that we were playing in the EASL which is a new sort of Asian league that they're putting together so they got confirmation from them to that
01:26:30
Speaker
I wasn't the only one but there were a few players like myself that were half Chinese in the team and that would that would that was enough to qualify us as as Chinese local players just having Chinese blood. So that's sort of how when it was like Robbie McKinlay to Billy and then Billy obviously went to Gorge probably and that's sort of how it all went down. Wow, that's really cool. That's a really cool story. Robbie McKinlay. Shout out Robbie McKinlay. Sutherland championship winner Robbie McKinlay. It's funny how you say Tomlinson, the the new current coach, cause he actually used to. Oh, well, you know, yeah, you're right. He was, they were, they were both on the staff before, right? Way back in the day, that's why I was like trying to do math in my head. I'm like, I'm not sure how old Hayden would have been to know that they had been the Sydney Kings coaches.
01:27:23
Speaker
The new Sydney coaches to me, but to other people, yeah, the the old boys coming back. sir But yeah, those those two obviously get along, they they stick around. I think they they're both, Billy came out of retirement to coach with Gorgon for i take a four the team in the Philippines, and they obviously had a blast together. And um actually with that Bay Area team, that end of that season, we disbanded. Fortunately, so that's why and George and Billy obviously still had enough passion to want to coach again And then they know they were the Kings for a while. So we'll see how that goes for them Exciting big changes to the King.
Life in Manila and Adaptation Challenges
01:28:05
Speaker
So I'm excited to see how they go Yeah, cuz Billy Tomlinson son Nate Tomlinson also played at a high level and played nbl Possibly won a championship when he was playing for a Melbourne team um And then I think he's a coach as well now
01:28:21
Speaker
Yeah, he coaches Colorado, Colorado State, or one of the Colorado schools in division one. Yeah. Yeah. Billy keeps me informed on it. hu I'm sure he does. but yeah no That year we, cause we spend a year in the Philippines and like the English speakers just all get closer. Cause half the team was, you know, majority speaking like Mandarin. And some of us could speak a little bit of both. But, you know, Billy and Gorgon don't know a lick of Mandarin, so we we all like the English speakers in our group or in our team got pretty close with Gorgon, Billy, and got to learn a lot about them and stuff. So that was a fun experience. So when you were in the Philippines, did you live what city did you live in? um Manila. Everything sort of just happens in Manila, like their basketball league.
01:29:13
Speaker
the ah The teams don't represent a city or anything. They just represent like a company or an organization. So and all the basketball was played in Manila. So Manila is, to me, well, that was as as far as like my Philippines sort of experience. We did a little bit of traveling, but we basically stayed in. in like in the one place the whole year which wasn't bad but um manila traffic can get crazy oh yeah oh yeah you're better off walking like 100 meters down the road like it would it would get you there quicker and once you can handle the humidity oh yeah that was i got used to just wearing t-shirts and shorts like all year round
01:29:56
Speaker
And now that I come home now, and it was sort of the similar, it was similar in Taiwan. It's sort of a more humid climate over there. So coming back to this, I sort of, I really hate it. Cause I don't even, I don't have any of my winter clothes cause I haven't needed them for the past two years. But yeah, we'll get to Taiwan
Coaching Influence and Career Highlights
01:30:13
Speaker
in a sec. I just wanted to quickly ask too, what was it like being coached by gorge? And what was that first season like for you? Was it a bit of a reality check with a change of schedule to being in a professional league? it was a bit of a reality check it was just it was an immediate like jumping level for sure just from college you know i played indivision two small small ball like i was almost a five man in indivision two at times and then i go to the bay area and i'm getting to play like the shooting opposition like the two and the three play on the wing more but yeah playing for gorge was he brought like ah he i think he brought
01:30:53
Speaker
the best out of me. um I made a huge jump by the end of that year. I feel like because of the way they they coached me and they were really gorgeous, I think has a so like has a special place for some younger guys and on the team. like On some of his teams, I remember like with Illawar and stuff, he challenges some of the younger guys to play big roles in the team. so me and a few other the a couple of the other guys in the team he was definitely on us a lot like every day all week so that was fun i got to i got to be coached by him every day all week for eight months and that just helped me develop so much so and just having just sort of being able to say you were coached by gorgon like in itself is sort of like a
01:31:38
Speaker
ah verification sort of thing like so I had i had a lot of fun and he he he brought a lot out of me and it and helped helped teach me about how how that level of basketball is like the ins and outs it's it's almost a different game it's like at each level you play it's almost a different game so he was able to teach me and introduce me to what that professional sort of stage is like and and now I'm able to explore Asia a little bit. so Super fun time there with my bri rookie there. Like I said, we were fairly successful as a team. like We came in right away and made a lot of noise. um had I had an up and down year as I expected sort of being a rookie, like but I finished the year super strong, which is what i which which was a goal of mine, obviously which is a goal of mine everywhere to at least
01:32:28
Speaker
you know, progress and and end the year better than I started. So the way I ended I think I was i was pretty happy with it. I think a lot of it, a big part of it was thanks to Gorge and Billy and how they, how hard they coached me even though I was just a younger guy on the team. They could have easily sort of just let me play that young guy role and just be a guy of like a sort of a bench piece that just competes at training, but they instead gave me They allowed me to to play freely and in growth on the team. So yeah, I want to, I want to ask you about one game in particular, uh, against the rain or shine in 2022, 17 of 21 from the field, 10 of 13 from three point rage, 47 points and 10 rebounds in a 126 to 96 win. What happened that night?
01:33:28
Speaker
that was That game itself just felt like a dream. Sometimes I'll go back and watch it you know as you do. I'm too proud of the moment not to look back on it. um That was the first round in the playoffs and the way the playoffs work over there is because we had the first seat and so we're playing. I think it was the fourth seed. That was a do or die game. If they were able to beat us twice, that would knock us out, but we just had to beat them once to move forward. So we played them, and up that year, like that was up and until of the playoffs is when it was relatively up and like pretty up and down for me. And I think heading into the playoffs the last few weeks was sort of ah i could on the way down. So exploding like that was crazy. um I remember the
01:34:16
Speaker
Like there was some, there was a an interview that the coach or the other team sort of said something like he was sort of complaining about how our team had access to all these high-level young players that the philippine like the the Filipino teams didn't have access to and he mentioned everyone's name except myself because we had ah we had all these younger guys on the team. like around so i was twenty There were two of us 22-year-olds and there was a few 25, 26, but that's still pretty young in the Philippines like in their professional league.
01:34:49
Speaker
And so he sort of said those things and he never said my name. So I felt like it was a little bit of a like, you like, remember me, hopefully he remembers me now, like remembers my name now. But yeah, every shot, i like, the my teammates just did a really good job in sort of finding me. I've spoken about it before, my career high before that game was like 15 or 17 or something earlier that year. So every time I'd gotten closer to like 20, then my friends, on well everyone on the team was like okay now keep being aggressive, try and get 30 and then it was, I got 30 and then it was 40 and I think a lot of the guys were super surprised. like Sometimes when I watch it back you can even see like Gorgon and Billy like a bit wild like that's number eight, that's number nine.
01:35:36
Speaker
the that game yeah it felt like a dream and that's a game that everyone likes to talk about and everywhere I go and it's a game I'm pretty proud of just because it was first round of the playoffs it was like you know the next step up it wasn't just regular season anymore that helped my confidence too with finishing the rest of the playoffs because I was able to continue to play at a pretty high level for the for the guys. So that that game was just a huge confidence boost for me. And yeah, that was a super fun game because I was, it was like I was just playing a video game. Every shot I took, it just felt like it was going in. So yeah, and the guys just kept passing it to me. So I wasn't complaining. And we play actually over there, you play 12 minute quarters. So 48 minute games can get
01:36:26
Speaker
they can get pretty long. So, and sometimes with the high pace offenses, like there's a lot of shots to go around. So I had 47 and now one of our imports also had 30 something. And it was like, it was a high scoring game, but yeah, it was a, it was a dream game for sure. I'm yeah i'm just looking, um, Andrew Nicholson, 32 for the game, but he averaged 38 for the season. Whereas You dropped 47 whilst averaging 9.3. Yeah, yeah yeah so so the imports in the Philippines, so the import rules is is each team only gets one import per team.
01:37:08
Speaker
And there was a height limit of 6'10", so every team, yeah, there like for the imports. So they couldn't go and get like seven foot imports that would just absolutely destroy the league. They kept the limit at 6'10". So majority of the imports were all literally on the dot 6'10", big men who could do it all. And Andrew Nicholson was one of those. But if you looked at like the the points per game leaders for that year, I bet you like, all of them were imports averaging 35 plus. like Don't get me wrong, Andrew Nicholson, was it was he's one of the best shooting bigs in the world in my opinion. I've seen him shooting like shooting workouts. He played in the NBA for for a little bit, had a solid career, and um but he shoots the heck out of the ball.
01:37:54
Speaker
And yeah, that's just sort of how it is ah in the Philippines. The imports are brought in sort of just to be like Superman for the team and everyone else will play the role around them. But yeah, that was one game where I got to, how was I got to go off a little bit and that was fun. Oh, you mentioned the height um height limit for imports. That's why, I don't know if you know Brandon Bates who played for Sutherland. I hate him being that tall and he's Filipino Aussie. That's why he's so valued. Exactly. Yeah. Some of the the taller Filipino guys over there are just their roles on the team are huge because, you know, each team will get the one center import. But you know, if there's if he gets fouled out or, you know, whenever he's not on the floor,
01:38:41
Speaker
that that next whoever that you know those taller Filipino guys that can play the five like Brandon Bates can in that league and there were some other guys ah that you guys probably wouldn't know yeah they're super valuable so yeah I i think um I wasn't able to play against Brandon because he got drafted I think the year after I left but yeah I've been I've been following it a bit so yeah he's there now so that's cool but ah actually they do have a They have, the Philippines is a weird one. They play basketball all year round. They've got three three, they call them conferences, but it's like three seasons they play in a year. Each of them lasting like three months. And one of them is an old Filipino, like no imports.
01:39:25
Speaker
once So then that's really when like players like Brandon Bates and there's a few other like bigger Filipino guys that really Their role is just huge on the dead. They're like that's what makes or break some of the teams who their big man You know is who their Filipino big man is so and it's always the same eight teams the same eight like Organizations that and they play all year round so they're like they'll do three months. It's the the all Filipino conference then they'll finish that and there's like All the two, whoever the two teams in the finals might get like two or three weeks off before they start. the The next one is, I don't remember the name of it, but they have an import, one import and it's six five and below. And a lot of it, and then a lot of those teams will get six five guys who can still sort of play like a four or five man position like stockier guys. Because even those guys are still pretty big compared to like
01:40:20
Speaker
the Filipinos in that league. And then, yeah, then they have the 610 import, which is where that changes up a lot because then you've got real big, really talented big guys out there as well. So... Sounds right up your alley, Squin, just watching 6 foot 10 big guy. You love a battle of the bigs. I do. I do love a battle of the bigs. Yeah, no, watch some Filipino games. Watch some Filipino games because there's some good battles between like, you know, import versus import. There's some good battles there. But sometimes they don't defend each other because they want to take it. They want to take it. So they sacrifice one of the tougher Filipino guys to go try their luck against them. And then it's just a back and forth game like that. They don't want to defend each other sometimes, which is funny. Soft. Yeah, too. They want to save themselves in the defensive end. I don't want to say this soft thing about how to play defense. Get out of here.
01:41:14
Speaker
Yeah, it was like that a little bit in Taiwan too. I'm not sure what it is. They just want, I think they want to, because they know that their load is just so huge on the offensive end, they want to. They just, they just saved themselves a little bit.
Philippine League's Physicality
01:41:27
Speaker
And so there there's usually always like a six, four or five Filipino or Taiwanese guy that is like sort of sent out there to, you just try your hardest on the input, and just rough him up. and And there's always one on the team who has that role. So played against a lot of those guys. They didn't have to defend me, but it's funny watching them really battle some of that these imports that are just so talented.
01:41:53
Speaker
Wasn't that Chris Dancy's role in the and NBA was to just go out there, foulshack, come off? yeah that's like Yeah, that's basically what it is with some of these guys. And it it got a bit crazy in the Philippines. like You could for sure find like little compilations of like how physical that league can get and how chippy it gets. They're just so passionate about the game and sometimes their emotions go crazy in the game. so and We mentioned Taiwan because after the Bay Area Dragons disbanded, as you mentioned, you signed the next season with new
Transition to Taiwan and New Experiences
01:42:26
Speaker
Taipei. So is that in a different league? Is that just the Taiwanese professional league you played there? Yeah, so they're in the Taiwanese league, but they also that year they qualified for the EASL, which is what I play, which is what my main job is. Like, because each team that qualifies for the EASL,
01:42:47
Speaker
they get to sign an Asian import, and because I'm considered a Chinese local in that league, New Taipei were able to sign me as their Asian import for that league. So I would be over there, and they would also be playing in their Taiwanese league, which is called the P League, the Plus League. So they would be playing in that, and I would just be a training player kind of. And then within our schedule, we would have these games where we played in Korea against one of the Korea top teams, or we went to Philippines, played their top team, Japan, and I would be playing those games. They did like suit me up for five of their P League games, and I just played as an actual, as an import those games, which was a different experience, because you feel a lot more pressure. But I did all right actually for for my, I was probably the youngest import in the league.
01:43:42
Speaker
and I didn't even know I was going to be playing as an import in any of their games. So that was sort of my situation over there. I didn't play too many games just with how The rules worked. like i was I was contracted and signed to play the EASL, which is only, I think, eight games or nine games max, because it would be six like regular seat like six games against the other teams, and then the finals weekend or something was like two or three games. But yeah, they they also allowed me to play in there.
01:44:17
Speaker
Regularly which so I got to play against the other Taiwanese teams and see what that was like. So that was cool I got to play with Jeremy Lin who was on my team this year. So That was that in its that in itself was another experience like I go from playing for gorge and who's like an Australian icon to playing with Jeremy Lin and learning from Jeremy Lin who's like a literal Asian icon in basketball, school so That was full circle. Cause that was just super fun. plant Yeah. Just learning from him and getting to watch how he operates. And it's almost like watching an Asian like LeBron, like in terms of how much, just how much he attracts, like not in terms of basketball, but you can just, you know, just his social influence, everything like that. Like, yeah, that was an experience in itself too. So getting, the getting to play in Asia is actually is like,
01:45:12
Speaker
I'm getting to meet some pretty cool people, which is fun. Wow. You've had some incredible experiences playing
Future Aspirations and Team Dynamics
01:45:19
Speaker
nature. Like we said earlier, you're only 23 that dream see near dream season with Bay Area having played in front of 50,000 people coached by gorge 47 point game. Like that's a pretty remarkable rookie season. Yeah. I've had two back to back seasons that I can't really complain about. Um, I'm hoping to continue the trend and just keep growing.
01:45:45
Speaker
um you know i'm um I'd love to play in the MBL one day too, come back and play in the MBL one day too if I can reach that level where you know a coach trusts me to sign me for their team. so For the time being though, I enjoy exploring Asia and getting to meet people and just experience sort of different aspect in like a different way of life I guess and also learn more about the game and stuff so yeah um um'm I'm very blessed and like uh what's the word I'm looking for I mean I'm just just blessed to be given that opportunity being I guess being half Chinese helps but uh definitely worked I feel like I've worked pretty hard to get to have this opportunity and still want to like you know continue to work hard and
01:46:35
Speaker
see where it takes me Right now, you are looking to help the Bankstown Bruins into the playoffs. They're looking much better this year. um Some changes to the roster. You got Shareefing, got Andre Walford in. um How has the season been for you guys this year? It's been fun. It's been super fun for me. ah ah It feels a lot more competitive in some of these games than it did last year. Your last year was like a I feel like we we tried really hard, and we we played our hardest out there, but we were just a little bit on demand. And um now that we've added some some pieces that you know help us compete against ah some of the better teams. We've struggled against some of the top teams, actually, thinking back on it. But I i remember moments in those games where it felt like if once we get it right, you know we'll be able to hopefully contend with these guys if we might if we can make a playoff push. so
01:47:31
Speaker
um Yeah, playing with a ah bit of a higher level team and a new coach has definitely helped us. and Yeah, enjoying it so far. We're hoping we're hoping to make a little late season push. We've got to be near perfect here to finish to to sort of solidify a spot. So that's the goal for now. is like We're playing as if each game is is that last game that's really important. We've got to look at it like that since we've dropped some we've dropped we've sort of dropped some important ones you know in this middle area of the season. So now we've got to make this
01:48:06
Speaker
big loss push that I think our guys are ready for. We just won that game on the weekend against Hill, so that's a start for us. um We've had some injuries to some key players. We've had guys in and out just with different reasons. Like I said, injuries, whatever. so Now I think the group that we've got, we can hopefully ride this momentum off that one win we just had and see what we can do this weekend. We've got two this weekend, so trying to, yeah, like I said, just trying to make a late push and excited to do it with these guys. I think everyone's like, got this we've all got this vision and we all want to we all want to go for it, so we're all pretty motivated right now, so that's exciting.
01:48:48
Speaker
And how has your role changed this season playing yeah know with those new additions to the roster? Yeah, um definitely. Like I don't have to do it anywhere near as much as I thought I had to you know try and do last year. And that's been a bit of an adjustment just because trying to find out like how to share exactly with certain guys where to where we all feel comfortable in the game. you know and all like We all feel likere like we're all being optimized, if that makes sense, like together rather than having to butt heads or compete with one another. so you know Because we've got we've got two imports and myself and we've got other key players, like Sharif has a lot of important games for us. We've got a lot of lot of other key players that could have bigger roles.
01:49:36
Speaker
But um it's just about finding the balance with all of us and all feeling you know comfortable at the end of the day within those roles. So it's definitely been a bit of an adjustment, but I enjoy it because it just getting to play with higher level guys is just going to help like my development too. getting to like ah The quality of our practices this year with a more stacked team, it definitely helps. Practices have been hard. It's almost like this off-season I'm still being challenged to grow by Coach Saadi, whereas last year maybe it wasn't like that just because of it the team you had was on demand at times. so
01:50:18
Speaker
Yeah, this year im I'm trying to take the positives out of it, so this year has been a bit more exciting and yeah. Yes, motivation is high. I imagine at the moment with yourself having a great game against Hills last round to get that win. 31 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, a steal and a block and you shot at rounding it up to 65% overall. So not too shabby. Yeah, no not not too bad, especially well I was happy with that one seeing, like especially following the game I had last week against Manly where that game just didn't start too well and I got very sort of in my own head and just finished the game very mentally weak and just not really as locked in. But now, now that we all know
01:51:05
Speaker
Like that each game is so important. We're all trying our best to avoid that type of stuff where we sort of break in the game. So especially that's been a big thing I've been trying to work on too. It's just like that mental toughness. So that'll be a good challenge for us to finish the year and for myself. But yeah, I had a good one. I had a better one and I'd like to continue to try and you know, play like this a little bit while still contributing to wins for the guys. So yeah. say what are some of the parts of your game you're focusing on improving while you're here in the east for this season.
01:51:41
Speaker
uh... i'd say like i always wanted would challenge myself to just keep getting better in defense just cuz just cuz at the next level uh... like if i if i'm referring to like asia for example where on the offensive side my role might be a lot less you've got to be able to go out there and be trusted to defend and do those things so i do wanna try and focusing on that this year and continue and try and end the year maybe Focusing more on the defensive side and that way you know that in itself could help us but on the offensive side of things like I Guess different ways to score like when I play overseas. I it's fairly straightforward stuff like just catch-and-shoot stuff or straight-line drives, but here it's
01:52:28
Speaker
I'm sort of like having to add little little moves to my bag, I guess, and different other ways to score that I might be able to implement when I go back overseas if given the opportunity. So ah yeah, but I think I just want to try and come back and also be ah be a little bit of a leader. That too, the leadership thing and and the mental toughness sort of side of things, like we talked about before being like a younger guy when I go overseas. I never really have to worry about that. I just go over there and be a sort of a younger, like fun energy kind of guy on the team. But then coming back here is an opportunity for me to to learn how to be a leader, I guess. There's that too. You mentioned earlier,
01:53:14
Speaker
that when you were playing for Youth League, for Blacktown, that playing against Crusaders was always a little bit tough and not your ah really your favorite people to play against. But ah have you got any players in the eighth at the moment that you like competing against? Ooh, I mean, I'll say like a little bit of like a shout out to like some of the guys that I work out with. every now and then with Coach Hesh. I work out with, play like, sometimes with, like, you know, plays like, or Alex Titcher, Bawali, like, that that group of guys. I i played against Titcher once earlier this year, and that game didn't go too well.
01:53:58
Speaker
and haven't played haven't been able to play against Bawali because he was injured against when we played against Comets, and he's been tearing it up recently. um And also, some of the some of the imports, I guess, just to challenge myself and see sort of where I'm at in terms of that level of things. Well, there's Will Cranston in there too. I mean, it's fun to just, he's reigning MVP and maybe, I don't know if he's the MVP front runner this year, but it's always fun to compete against just like those high level guys. and And I also did a lot of stuff with Cranston growing up with the Savannah Pride thing actually because he was also involved with some of like the Savannah Pride Sudanese program stuff growing up. so
01:54:40
Speaker
and I also met him ah played against him and with him in some of the New South Wales program stuff, so I'll throw Will Cranston in there too. But yeah, I'll say i'll say that three. Will Cranston, I'm definitely forgetting someone, I'm blanking right now, but Cranston, Kitcha and Bawali, just because those are guys that I played going up with and practiced and trained with over this past few years, so I'll say those guys. That's a pretty fun set of players. Yeah, yeah, I know. So yeah they're all killing it this year, actually. So we're going to end with the the same question we ask of everyone, because we've talked a whole lot about basketball. But who is Hayden blankly off to the court? I'll be honest, I feel like I'm pretty low key. I don't when I'm here in Australia, like when I'm here in Australia,
01:55:29
Speaker
i don't I don't really do much off the court. like I don't really ah don't go out too much. I'm sitting here at my currently at my place with the tea with the TV and PlayStation in front of me, and this has been my best friend since coming back. So a bit of a gamer, I guess, oh if I'm not doing basketball. like a lot of a lot of this A lot of my life is basketball right now, so even even though it's my off-season. So when I'm not doing basketball, yeah, I'd say I'm a little bit of a game up, pretty low, low key, not really doing too much. I'd say, yeah, that's that's about it. and there's There's not too much to me other than basketball. I don't know if that's a bad thing, but I like my music. I like listening to music. It's probably the same answer that everyone gives. but what What games are you playing?
01:56:17
Speaker
I still play, I like shooting games like first person shooters, so I play Call of Duty a lot, even though some people say it's not a good game, but I i just enjoy playing it and I'll play it like, you know, I spend at least a couple hours on it every day, I'll be honest, so yeah, Call of Duty, bit of a gamer, yeah. We haven't had anyone say Call of Duty yet, have we, Locky? No, it's all been Fortnite and FIFA. Oh, really? I don't mind a bit of Fortnite or FIFA. I've been at 2K if it's against your friends. But if I'm just by myself, I like i like dial i like the strategy behind Call of Duty. So I like that sort of thing. like I like to play and like think about it. so is those Those games stress me out. First-person shooter games stress me out. like I don't play games, but the thought of it enough of being in that situation
01:57:08
Speaker
Yeah, they so they stress me out too, but sometimes that's part of that. I'm trying to i'm trying to overcome that mental hurt. And I feel like that's a good place to start. If I can if i can get good at not getting mad at the at these games online, then maybe I won't get mad at basketball games in real life. It's a very mature way to look at it. So you're using ah video games as a way of training yourself to stay calm in stressful situations, and you can transfer that into your game. we we will We'll say that's what I'm doing for now. I'm sure people playing Call of Duty online say much worse things than you'd ever hear on a basketball court as well. Yeah, yeah no I've got some pretty bad ones. so And no one would ever say that to me on the game, so it does train yeah does prepare me well. so
01:58:00
Speaker
So you say you're into music, are you in charge of the pre-game playlist at the Broads or who's in charge? um um'm i'm not ah I'm not actually. I haven't really added a song to the playlist because they give us all like a song each to add pre-season I'm pretty sure, but I wasn't here pre-season. So I think the playlist is like a bunch of songs that the guys who were here early in the year. were able to add to the team, but I'm a fan of that. I like our little pregame mix. I also think Manly has a great one. played that We just played then the little vibe that they have before their games. It's like a little house house type of music vibe. Sort of a nice little change of pace there. So. Oh, a big shout out to the Manly boys team. Well for that and their playlists. MBL1's been sharing the pregame playlist. We'll have to see if we can find it on their socials.
01:58:52
Speaker
Yeah, someone, fight someone contact Eramon or something from the Manly team. Someone's, someone's in charge of that. We'll have to ask Mason because we had Mason Bragg on not too long ago. Yeah, we got to, we got to get to the bottom of this. We might have to ask him who was in charge of it. Final question, just one thing, because we don't, you won't see it on the court. How many piercings are in your face? I've got, uh, I've got four like altogether. Yeah, there's no, I don't know what this, I don't know if it's, oh wait, no, that's five. Terrible counting. But yeah, I've got five. And that's all that there is, that's all that there is, but. Yeah, no, a lot of people say, I don't know, I don't know what it is, it's just how I decide, I don't know how, it's how I express myself. I just, it's sort of similar to my tattoos and stuff, so.
01:59:38
Speaker
Hayden, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you as a guest on eScott Game. um Big shout out to our loyal eScott Game listener for recommending we have you as a guest. And i'm very we were both very chuffed to learn that you've been following the podcast and were waiting to be a guest. And now I feel bad that we made you wait so long. Good things come to those who wait. So I just, I don't mind. Thanks to whoever whoever asked them to whoever asked for me to be on. I was really glad that we could have you on and have such a great chat and you've got a huge career ahead of you. We're really looking forward to your next couple of seasons in the pro leagues and we've got to keep an eye on your career over in Asia as well. um But yeah, thank you so much for being such a great guest on eScott game.
02:00:23
Speaker
Thanks for having me. Hopefully, I didn't yap too much, but keep keep up the hard work, you guys. I love like the social media stuff and how it can help grow basketball. so I think if you guys continue continue to grow, just be great for everybody. so yeah Thanks again for having me. and It was exciting. It was fun. I had a lot of fun sharing my story. Thank you, guys. Take care.
02:00:56
Speaker
Remember, don't sleep on the yeast.