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Episode 19: Street Ball and Samoa with Shareef Saipaia
314 Plays2 years ago
Apologies for the delay of this episode. Our co-shost Squin was on late night duties for FIBA.
Episode 19 covers the Sutherland Sharks versus Manly Warringah Sea, Eagles, in the women's competition; and the Inner West Bulls versus Bankstown Bruins in the men's competition.
Our Guest this week is a young, but quickly maturing point guard from Hornsby Kuring-Gai Spiders, Shareef Saipaia. Reef gives us insight into where his basketball journey started to where he would like to land.
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Transcript
Unofficial NBL One East Podcast 2023 Overview
00:00:09
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of East Got Game, an unofficial podcast showcasing the NBL One East competition for 2023, where we review, interview, and preview our way through the competition.
Locky France's Eventful Night Near Sutherland
00:00:23
Speaker
And with me, as always, is Locky France, and it sounds like you had one hell of a Saturday night. Maybe not all for the right reasons, Locky. Yeah, Squint, it was a big Saturday night. The place was literally on fire.
00:00:39
Speaker
Not the stadium itself, but with hazard reduction burning going on, just not more than a five minute drive from the stadium. Things got a bit hazy in the old Sutherland basketball stadium. But yeah, it was a really, really good, really fun weekend. But yeah, we'd like to do it without the smoke next time. Or at least a little bit of a heads up that that's happening in the area. So perhaps, you know, people can prepare
00:01:07
Speaker
Otherwise, you know? Definitely, yes. I was not expecting it. But I know we've been saying this for a couple of
NBL1 East 2023 Season Finale Anticipation
00:01:15
Speaker
weeks now. We are certainly getting to the pointy end of the season with only one round to go as we've just wrapped up round 17 of 18 for NBL1 East 2023. We're going to get stuck into some more finals, but what ifs? What happens if this team beats the other team? Where does that mean everyone places?
00:01:35
Speaker
Thankfully you understand that stuff much better than I do. It goes way over my head in a similar way that I can't do like my own taxes or accounting. I just don't have that chip in my brain with numbers in that way. So thankfully you're here to fill that gap.
Women's Competition Recap and Standings Update
00:01:51
Speaker
Oh, thanks Gwen. And you were tasked with the women's comp this week. It looks like it was pretty entertaining with some big numbers across the board.
00:02:02
Speaker
and are some big plays in dying seconds of some matches. How about you start us off by taking us through the results? I certainly can do that. It all started on late Friday afternoon with a couple of games. We had Hills getting up 72-56 on the road at Hornsby. Bankstown kept their finals hopes alive with a 78-68 win over Inner West.
00:02:28
Speaker
and then backed up after 6pm tip-off on Friday night, backed up at 2pm on Saturday, did the Bruins, but got a 67-59 win against a valiant hillside. Aubrey Wodonga did no harm to their finals chances with a 73-59 win over the Canberra Nationals. Michaela Pivik again going close to a triple double, not quite getting one on this occasion.
00:02:53
Speaker
Squins Girls, the Central Coast Crusaders, racked up a big 86-62 win over the Alawara Hawks.
00:03:02
Speaker
Maitland just edged home over Newcastle 72-69 in a massive boon for their finals placing hopes. Sutherland fell 54-65 to Manly Warringa who were elite on defence at the Shark Tank. Norse picked up a 91-50 win over the Pendreth Panthers.
00:03:24
Speaker
And then on Sunday afternoon, Hornsby, still under strength, fell 125.54 to the Sydney Comets. So if we turn to the latter, the big, big outcome is that with Newcastle losing and Manly winning, Manly now, if they win next week, they secure top spot no matter what.
00:03:46
Speaker
because they're a win up. They're at 19-2. Newcastle 18-3. Norse 16-4 and hold the split over Centre of Excellence, so even if they were to lose their next two games, they would finish above Centre of Excellence. And CoE, having played their 22 games, are nestled in their 16-6 fourth spot, cannot move. Sutherland and Maitland, both 14-7, but Maitland do have the head-to-head split there. Comets 12-8 in seventh.
00:04:14
Speaker
Aubrey Woodonga 11 and 9, Bankstown 11 and 10, and then Canberra 9 and 11. And I think they might be just out of the finals running now. But importantly, the Aubrey Woodonga comments game has been rescheduled. It's happening.
00:04:32
Speaker
That game will be played on Friday night. Or we could pick up a win at home there. That would be absolutely massive. Still lots to play for. Comets I don't think are technically in finals yet, but they are very, very close. They did a lot to fall the wrong way for them to miss finals.
00:04:51
Speaker
Yeah, I'm looking forward to picking your brain a bit more about that later on in the show, Lockie, because I feel like for especially the seventh and eighth position for the women's ladder, it's certainly not confirmed, like you said, because Aubrey have Comets and Maitland back to back and Maitland are riding the high of just beating Newcastle Falcons. So once again, we find ourselves at the end of the season where nothing, I shouldn't say nothing, but where things certainly are still left uncertain.
00:05:21
Speaker
I'm very happy as a Sutherland fan that we played the early game on Saturday afternoon in the men's because I just want to know our fate. And I'm sure there's a lot of fans out there who just want to know where their team's going to finish and get on with one. Put us out of our misery. Yes. You were tasked with the men's results. How did that shake out this weekend?
Men's Competition Highlights and Standings
00:05:43
Speaker
Yeah, I sure was. A lot of close contests, actually, we see some of the bottom of the table teams challenging the top of the table teams a little bit. When I say challenge, you know, within like between 12 to say even seven point margins, which is certainly an improvement over the season. So it did start off with Hornsby and Hills. Hornsby losing that one 61 to 73. Inner West Bulls hosted the Bankstown Bruins and they won 102 to 90.
00:06:12
Speaker
Bruins then had to back up and play at home the next day against Hill's Hornets, and they went down 89 to 96. Cameron Gunners was back at Belconnen Basketball Stadium, this time against Allry-Wodonga Bandits, and they won 95 to 74.
00:06:30
Speaker
Illawarra played the Central Coast Crusaders for the first and only time of the season down at the Snake Pit, and Illawarra winning 100-72. Sutherland Sharks beating Manly Waringa Seagulls at home 85-62. Newcastle Falcons got a big home win over the Maitland Mustangs in a crosstown rival match. They won 76-68.
00:06:56
Speaker
Penrose Panthers went down to North Bears at home, 80 points to 108.
00:07:04
Speaker
And rounding off round 17 of NBA One East, 2023 for the men's competition was Hornsby Spiders, 72, Sydney Comets, 84. That takes us to the latter. As it stands after round 17, COE is still well and truly ahead in first place with 19 wins and one loss. Now that they've wrapped up at the NBA Global Academy Games, it looks like their next game is against Comets in the next round. That's right, hey, Lockie.
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, I believe they've got comets and hills to round things out. So they've got a double header to finish things off. Very good, squeezing it in at the last minute. Inner West Bulls are in second place with 16 and 4. Canberra Gunners are in third place now with 14 and 6. North Bears have dropped to fourth place with 14 and 6. Maitland Mustangs are in fifth position with 14 and 7.
00:07:59
Speaker
Sutherland Sharks are in 6th position with 14 and 7 with 3.3 percentage separating the two. Hills Hornets are in 7th position with 13 and 7 and Newcastle Falcons are in 8th position with 13 and 8.
00:08:16
Speaker
again getting the split as Loki has mentioned in previous episodes. 9th position is Illawarra Hawks 11 and 10 and 10th is Sydney Comets with 10 and 10. So Comets, you know, still sticking around that middle table. Illawarra Hawks probably going to be ending up in 9th or 10th position, despite my prediction of them winning the whole thing.
00:08:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's not gone well because the, uh, yeah, the top eight is, well, the top eight teams are officially locked in the order as evidenced by the, uh, numbers you just rolled off where, uh, it's very close and not a lot is decided as to who's going to finish where apart from center of excellence will finish top.
00:08:59
Speaker
I think that is a very important distinction to make that the top eight is in the men's competition is pretty much confirmed, but it will depend on placing. There's not a lot of games that feature two teams that can't make finals. So of the 12 or so games left, I think 10 of them still actually will impact who finishes where, which is just crazy to think about.
00:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, and I feel like it was definitely a similar situation last year, especially in the men's comp between Inner West Bulls and Sutherland Sharks, all depending on whether the Bulls beat the Central Coast Crusaders by a particular margin. Yeah, that was a hard stopping to say the least. Particularly after the way it panned out where Inner West and Sutherland actually had their game stopped due to injury originally, and it had to be replayed later on in the season, which just made it all the more exciting.
00:09:50
Speaker
Anyway, what game did you decide to review for round 17? Because there was a couple of crackers. There were a couple of crackers, but after breathing my way through the smoke haze on Saturday night, I decided that I had worked hard enough and that I would go with the Manly-Suddly North. Sutherland versus Manly, women's game. It was a low scoring game.
00:10:16
Speaker
but the defense had a lot to say about that. And the reason this game was always going to be fun to look at was because up at Manly Waringa last time these two teams played was actually Laura Nicholson's first game back. So she had I think 16 and 13 or 13 and 16 one way around or the other you know just getting back into things with you know with Sutherland so
00:10:38
Speaker
you know, seeing what she's done since then, she's racking up Player of the Week Awards, like it's nobody's business. And it was interesting going in, seeing how manly would handle a Lauren Nicholson, who's actually had time to play alongside Sutherland for a while. And it finished 65-54, but Lauren Nicholson still managed to finish with 32 points, shooting above 50% from the field, eight of 10 at the line, three rebounds for assists, three steals.
00:11:07
Speaker
She had to work for those points every last one of them. Manly knew exactly how they wanted to defend her, get physical with her, throw a number of players at her. We didn't say not worried about foul trouble, it was definitely a secondary consideration. There's no point in
00:11:25
Speaker
not committing fairs if Lauren Nixon goes off for 45 but 65% from the field because she's getting what she wants going to the rack. She finished with a huge amount of three-point shooting especially not successfully. She finished with two or four but yeah getting to the rack, fighting through contact, doing a little bit on the fast break, credit to the manly defense for making her work so hard for everything and also still being able to prevent the rest of the Sutherland team from
00:11:53
Speaker
getting points. Yeah, you have those games where either you let a player get theirs and stop everyone else, or you stop one player and make everyone else beat you. Well, manly, they made Nicholson work and they shut down everyone else. What I did like from Sutherland, apart from Nicholson, was they only got five steals, but they had 14 fast break points.
00:12:12
Speaker
They did a really good job of getting the ball to the right player, which is usually Lauren Nicholson, on the break and allowing her to convert. Gabby Nancarrow was another player. Actually, funnily enough on Friday afternoon, I was walking through Granola ball and I bumped into Emily Garland, Mia Bruce and Gabby Nancarrow.
00:12:32
Speaker
Of course, the topic of conversation was the game coming up. We started talking about rebounding and Gaddy said to me, there's no real art to it. I just go and get the ball. And when you've got a replay, you know, when you sit live white for a few minutes, you need someone who's going to go get the ball in the rebounding contest. And Gaddy Nancara actually had six rebounds in her first eight minutes on the court.
00:12:56
Speaker
So she might not have the veteran savvy, but Liv White sets those hard screens, rolls when she needs to, can finish tough shots near the basket. I think if there's one player who's really taken Jeremy Jones message, this club needs to start rebounding to heart, it is Gabby. And that was really good to see. Yes, they lost, but keeping manly to 65 points is still pretty good.
00:13:21
Speaker
Manly's offensive rating is well over 100 points per 100 possessions, and to keep them to 65, that's a score that would have taken the game to OT last time they played, because they lost 91.65 last time they played. Defensively, you know, slowing Manly down, Manly only shot 32% from the field, 37% from two-point range.
00:13:41
Speaker
was just that Sutherland, once again, like they did last time, they played Manly, shot sub 30% from the field. Manly made it really hard for them, and things that were tough for them, they couldn't get Maddie Norris into a shooting rhythm. Eliza Faber, I shot 4-7 from deep, she hit a couple early and went on with it a little bit. Maddie Norris finished with seven attempts from three-point range. She finished, oh, seven, but a couple of those were in like a flurry at the end where you're just trying to get quick baskets.
00:14:07
Speaker
but her first feud was so spread out. Like they just couldn't get her open on the pick and pop because Manly would have someone right in her face every time. And it wasn't like they were throwing Zoe Miller or Sari Mowbray or someone short that she could just shoot over. It was always, it was always, you know, it was an Alex Delaney or Kim Hodge or even Brie Delaney or Josie Bullman who, you know, are tall enough and strong enough to
00:14:29
Speaker
at least contest the shot. And again, just the short rotations. It's tough. You know, Jordy Dewhurst, nine minutes, Nankaro, 12 minutes, Garland, eight minutes, and a grand total of zero bench points. But Lauren Calva did suit up, but she hasn't played for a while, and I don't know that she was ever a realistic chance of playing.
00:14:49
Speaker
They committed 20 turnovers, and Manly's defense is really good, but you still can't commit 20 turnovers. Manly themselves committed 14, but that's still a difference of 6. Ended up Manly had 11 more field goal attempts, 75 to 64, so when you're already shooting sub 30%, given the opposition, 11 more field goal attempts is a...
00:15:11
Speaker
not really going to help. It's clear one thing up, they gave up 14 offensive rebounds, but they only gave up very few second chance points. I think it was only four or five.
Defensive Tactics in Sutherland vs. Manly
00:15:21
Speaker
Manly only finished with four second chance points. And you say 14 offensive rebounds, but those second chances, there were a few plays where they would get multiple offensive rebounds in the same possession. So second chance became third chance became fourth chance. And it probably was 14 offensive rebounds, but only in about eight or nine possessions that it actually happened.
00:15:39
Speaker
also manly missed 52 shots so that's still a defensive rebounder percentage that's well over their season average they just in such a low percentage shooting game high offensive rebound number isn't so bad percentage wise moving to manly good ball movement as always recognizing situations
00:15:57
Speaker
you know recognizing close outs, when to pass, when to shoot, when to take off to the rack. Didn't always end in a basket but obviously given the load score still think apart from the finishing they'll be reasonably content with how things went apart from you know cleaning up those turnovers. Sutherland only five steals so they weren't you know jumping passing lanes all the time going by the wayside or you know shot clock violations things like that.
00:16:21
Speaker
depending Matty Norris, defending Lauren Nicholson, making it tough for them. Nicholson scored 32, but had to work for everything. We mentioned this during the game, they've got a lot of low center of gravity players, manly.
00:16:34
Speaker
Players who are strong, they're not tall or really tall, but they're strong, they're well built players. If I think of like, obviously Alex Delaney, a fairly strong player, good size, but like someone like Josie Ballman, she's pretty strong out there. She's someone who goes under the radar, Annie Henderson.
00:16:53
Speaker
doesn't get mentioned enough in defensive player, maybe not defensive player of the year but best defensive players in the league. The reason they can play that physical basketball is because they don't get pushed around and I mean literally they don't get pushed around because they're physically well-built players. Plenty of players out there who are tall
00:17:09
Speaker
don't have a lot of weight on them or you know a lot of muscle they just get bumped around and it's okay to have maybe one player like that who's really athletic gets up and down the court but if all your bigs are getting pushed around or all your plays in general are getting pushed around it's never going to end well manly cons or things that didn't go so well for them two of 16 from three point range not not great numbers are
00:17:33
Speaker
Brie Delaney one of six and Fleece Henderson one of four, the only two to actually hit. But Brie Delaney was good, recognising when to get to the rack, finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds. I'd say best on court for the Manly-Waringa Sea Eagles. They've got players with WMBL pedigree there, but it's not always them who stand up and that's again what's great about Manly.
00:17:54
Speaker
Kim Hodge fouled out with a few minutes to go while the game was still in the balance. Judging by the reaction of, well, just about everybody on court, I don't think anybody apart from the referees thought it was Hodge's foul. Manly managed to hang on. The game probably wasn't an 11 point game. It was just that late flooring, a bit subtle and trying to get quick baskets to close the seven point gap.
00:18:16
Speaker
manly coming up the other end they hit five or six free throws late they just find ways to win you know you score 65 against a team like Sutherland most teams would not expect to win if they are only scored 65 against Sutherland but it's the kind of thing manly Warringa can do and there's not a lot of teams out there who are going to uh you know hold Sutherland to 65 and
00:18:36
Speaker
to only score 65 against Sutherland and win. I think Manly will be going into finals. They'll say, we just scored 65 and won. And that's what you might have to do against another top team in a finals game. You might be able to get it in and do a defensive scrap or sometimes it just might not hit for you. And if it's not working at one end, well, it's got to work at the other.
00:18:57
Speaker
As I said, they picked up 14 offensive rebounds to six. So total rebound count was, yeah, so 54-44 in the end. So Manley winning on just about all counts there. And Manley, they win their next game. They'll finish top Sutherland. I've got to go down and beat Canberra if I want to finish fifth or sixth. Otherwise I leave it open to potentially falling to seventh. And then they'd be probably on the road to Newcastle or on the road at Manley or even North. It could be anyone still.
00:19:23
Speaker
Yeah, so it sounds like a very defensive heavy game, as you said. Really like your shout out to Antonia Henderson because I agree, I don't think she celebrated enough for the consistent hard-nosed defender she is. Really interesting with the Henderson sisters, you've got Kitty who's known for her scoring, Antonia known for her defense.
00:19:45
Speaker
and Fliss that's known for a bit of everything. The skills of both of us. Cause Henderson ended up with five steals in that game. Manly ended up with 11 steals overall and Antonia having five. So I think that's a pretty outstanding stat with the 12 points and four rebounds she also had. And she's just a perfect role-play for Manly. She's always just been so consistent. Even as I remember watching her at youth league, she's always just been very consistent.
00:20:14
Speaker
She's one of those players where you feel like, oh, she's probably not doing much, but she does all the things that you can't count on stats as well.
00:20:21
Speaker
Oh, 100%. And, you know, when she gets those five steals, it's not the balls getting thrown straight to her. You know, she's reading the situation thinking, I can hedge a step off my player and grab that steal and go. This player's dribbling, you know, in a way where I had noticed that I can, you know, pick it off. And she really, yeah, recognizes, you know, the situation and when to go for it as well. There's no point in having five steals if you blow your coverage on eight other passes.
00:20:47
Speaker
Yeah, when you end up cheating and then forcing your team to play five on four, essentially, because you've taken yourself out of the play. Yeah, that she has great anticipation on defence. I think that's definitely art that has been lost in the game in the last couple of years, having that anticipation. Someone else who does reads passes really well, Abbio Flint.
00:21:07
Speaker
Correct, I agree. So players like that that yeah can go for it at the right time and not go for it when it's too low percentage. And also reading who's receiving the ball. You don't want someone who's known for being able to beat you off the dribble catching the pass after you've gone the other way missing. And also you mentioned
00:21:27
Speaker
that Laura Nicholson had to work really hard for her 32 points and that manly swapped a lot of defenders on her. It reminds me, I think I was talking to one of the assistant coaches of the Crusaders Men last week when we played in a West Bulls. And they were trying to figure out who to guard Higgins' teacher because no one really in the Crusaders Men's team is a fair matchup. And my suggestion was just try a whole bunch of different people and get him annoyed.
00:21:52
Speaker
They get him annoyed by the constant rotations, get him annoyed where everyone's going to guard him a different way with a different intensity and cause that instability, I guess, and kind of get in his mind that way, because that would be pretty annoying. So who was it from Manly that they decided to rotate onto Loz Nicholson throughout the game?
00:22:09
Speaker
went with just about all their stars. I think it was, was it, was it, Fliss Henderson really, there was, there was a couple of plays in a row where it was, didn't get a call going to the boss. I mean, may, one of them probably could have.
00:22:22
Speaker
But then on the next play, I think it was, I think it was Fliss. Not 100% sure. And they got really tangled up. You tell just there that they did get Lauren a little bit annoyed because she came back really physically after those two couple of plays. But yeah, there was times when, you know, Alex Delaney was on her, Brie was on her. You know, players who played less probably got more physical because they got a bit more fouls to play with. You know, you don't want, Delaney did get three fouls, had third fouls, hit me way through the third quarter. Alex Delaney, that is.
00:22:52
Speaker
You know, you don't want her, you know, going ridiculously hard at someone and picking up, you know, that fourth or fifth fail too quickly. Me watching Lauren Nicholson and Alex Delaney. It's like that Simpsons episode where Marge and Homer are watching Bart and Lisa play ice hockey. And Marge is saying, you're not in competition with each other. We love you both. And then Homer barges in and is like, a poo just called. You're going to be in direct competition with each other. Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight.
00:23:17
Speaker
Honestly, watching those two go against each other is actually just so fun as a basketball fan, regardless of whether they're two of your favorite players on the planet or not. Mainly just weren't. Especially going to the racquet, I was not afraid to contest it at any opportunity. Lauren finished with 8 of 10 at the line. Probably, yeah, like I said, there probably could have been another couple of calls went her way, but didn't. Sometimes that just happens on the night. The rest let a little bit more go. She would be frustrated with the result. She should be very happy with the way she played, getting 32 points.
00:23:43
Speaker
We've spoken a lot as well, Locky, in the past about depth and that the women's competition is very tight and like we have alluded to already, the final placings will literally come down to the final round. But when we're comparing teams and trying to figure out who's going to end where and who's going to end up in the final, we have discussed a lot about who's got the most depth. That's what it's going to come down to in the women's competition.
00:24:09
Speaker
And considering you mentioned that so many people were able to defensively rotate onto Nicholson, I think that is a reflection of Manley's depth in that sense, and really going to be in their favor come finals time. Yeah, I was just about having a crack really for them, but obviously they got some great defenders. We talked about Annie, Alex will hold her own against Lauren and Fleece obviously, I mentioned earlier, isn't shy of a battle. If they have to shut down Nicole Munger to win a grand final, they might do exactly the same thing and just try to
00:24:39
Speaker
get her off her game. Newcastle obviously like Sutherland have plenty of other good players on the team, but usually goes through Munger, like it goes through Nicholson. North a little bit different, also a little bit different, but probably they're more on Sutherland's level than, you know, who you consider the real big contenders. But I think, yeah, it mainly needs to shut down one player on a particular night and they recognize who that player is going to be. And they can keep, you know, just throwing players, just stay in front and get them annoyed or try to get them annoyed.
00:25:09
Speaker
definitely an advantage they have over some others. And then the kind of team where you can't just try to throw one player off because as we saw on the Saturday, Alex Delaney and Kim Hodge weren't scoring massively and Brie Henderson ended up with 20... Brie Henderson.
00:25:27
Speaker
Brie Delaney, they're all related as well. Brie Delaney finished with 20 and 13. So yeah, so while they can shut down a team that's, you know, heavy on one player, it's not something you can do as easily against them. Yeah. So they really shaping up well for finals. And you mentioned, you know, Maitland and Newcastle, and we've got to give a shout out to Rachel Williams, who had a massive return to send a block in that game where Maitland beat Newcastle at home in round 17.
00:25:57
Speaker
It looks like the last play was drawn up for Munger to shoot a three-pointer to tie the game because Maitland were already up by three after Daler Walker hit two free throws.
00:26:08
Speaker
And Manga took a three with four seconds to play and Rachel Williams came up clutch with a massive block to make sure that Maitland won that game. So huge outcome for them. Maitland Mustangs just keep getting better and better throughout the season. It's definitely a team I think they're peaking at the right time. And I think that we've probably said that before.
00:26:29
Speaker
I think if at the start of the season, you'd have said Maitland men and Maitland women will have the same record with one week to play, you would have been laughed out of the room. Maitland coming off a grand final in the men and having struggled a bit last season in the women to both be 14 and seven at this stage. Not sure many people will have picked that. And I think it's the first time, it's certainly the first time in Maitland's history that the women's team have gone so far in the season and to make the top eight of a finals.
00:26:58
Speaker
But I wonder if it's the first time where both of their teams have made top eight to the finals in the same season. Yeah. When was the, I mean, I don't really remember, you know, they've been in and out of the league. Um, they had to pull out during COVID it's been a long time since I can remember Maitland women being in a top eight Maitland men have been regularly in the final. I have to scale the annals for that. And there was a time where they didn't have a women's team in.
00:27:21
Speaker
this level of competition, they only had a state league team. That's true as well, yes. I remember when I first started watching, they had one and then they dropped to state league, then they came back and then they were out. Now they're back in and now they're flying. Full steam ahead for the Stangers. Up the Stangers. Up the Stangers. I actually owned a Maitland Mustang stubby holder. So there you go. A little bit of Mustangs merchandise floating around my house. That's the most Stangers merchandise you can get.
00:27:52
Speaker
I think so. All right very very good very very good indeed from the Sharks and Manly we knew that was going to be an entertaining contest and I'm glad that it was. Certainly was but which game of the many exciting ones this week in the men did you take
Inner West Bulls vs. Bankstown Bruins Offensive Battle
00:28:07
Speaker
a look at? So I actually decided to take a look at the Inner West Bulls and the Bankstown Bruins game. Now Bruins obviously not in finals contention and Inner West have been
00:28:16
Speaker
certified second for the majority of the season. So while we have said in previous episodes, we were going to try and focus on games with finals implications. This one was a high scoring affair and the Bruins only losing by 12 points. So I was pretty interested to see how it all played out. First off, just off court kind of point was that just a bit disappointing with the broadcast that the camera kept moving a lot of the game. I think they had some trouble adjusting
00:28:45
Speaker
a good position for the camera and there was a lot of moving around and shaking and things like that at the start of the game. So anyone that gets a little bit seasick, you might need to fast forward past that because it's kind of given those like IMAX vibes when you go and watch like an IMAX about the ocean and you feel like you're in a boat and suddenly a seasick. They had obviously Matt McQuaid.
00:29:06
Speaker
back in the commentary box and this time Jaden Thompson from the women's team was helping him as the expert commentator and she is doing a great job as an emerging female commentator. We like to see more female commentators in the league.
00:29:20
Speaker
but their marks were just a little bit too hot. Kind of turn it down a little bit when you review that game online. To put it short, it was a very entertaining game. And for those who love basketball for all of the offensive stunts and dunks and three point play, this was the game for you. Especially in the first quarter. The first quarter felt like it went for a really long time, but I think because it just had all of the highlights you would expect in one game happen in the first quarter.
00:29:48
Speaker
I think there were like three or four people on the inner West Bulls that had a turn of getting a poster dunk. So I'm pretty sure CB had a couple, Higgins Titcher had at least one.
00:30:01
Speaker
Tony Tolivi had one or two, like he had some pretty big dunks as well. Still like so impressed with how much Tolivi can still compete at this level as well. I think I can't remember if Isaac Signal had a big dunk, but he had some pretty decent minutes. This game just played just under 19 minutes. We had three three-point attempts and I mean just tried to like make his way into the game and probably
00:30:26
Speaker
cut his teeth a little bit more playing at this level. When I try and do my notes for game review I divide the page into four and I do you know one team's offense defense the other team's offense defense in a grid and all of my notes are on offense so that's pretty indicative of the type of game it was giving
00:30:44
Speaker
the poster dance in the first, the big threes in the first quarter, and the fact that my notes are mostly offensive. Basically, there were very little notes on defense because there wasn't a lot of defense played. I'm going to be very honest with you. I wonder if it's getting to that end of the season where dragging on a bit 18 rounds and 20 to 22 games is a lot.
00:31:06
Speaker
And we still got, you know, three, four rounds of finals to go. Uh, I imagine at this end of the season, you kind of just want it, the games one and done and over and done with and defense is the one thing that's probably going to be lacking. So some of the things on defense, maybe I'll just do defense first for the inner West Bulls. I think, um, they got stuck. Some of that defensive transition was lacking at times.
00:31:29
Speaker
And that includes in the first part of the game. So even like Hayden blankly had some nearly like three quarter court assists, just being able to lob it and place it in the right area for someone running on transition. And the balls were none the wiser. On the other defensive end, especially in the first quarter, the Bankstown Bruins committed two goaltending violations. One where the net was being hung on to when Higgins teacher went up for a layup.
00:31:58
Speaker
And I think the other was just a really late block on another Higgins teacher layup. So he had four points automatically. And then I think he also got fouled on a couple of those possessions. So he ended up having like six very easy points. In terms of the rebound count, it was 50 to 46 in favor of the Bulls. Interestingly, 14 to 13 for Bulls and Bruins respectively were offensive rebounds. So not a lot of box and out going on.
00:32:27
Speaker
but a lot of shots being put up to provide those opportunities for the 50 to 46 rebound count. Inner West Bulls making 79 field goal attempt and Bankstown Bruin making 76. I guess that's like um Sutherland manly a little bit with those 14 offensive rebounds it was only about 25%
00:32:47
Speaker
offensive rebounding rates for manly it's probably about the same in this game as so many so many misses that your offensive rebounding numbers uh don't look so bad yeah exactly and especially when there's not a lot of physicality on defense being played it was quite quite passive quite reactive
00:33:03
Speaker
I think sometimes those gaps open up a lot easier for offensive rebound. And I think that was certainly the case in this game. On offense for the Bulls, straight out of the blocks, they were very well organized and they executed some of the opening half court offenses really well. I really liked the two men game between Morrow and CB. I think it was the second
00:33:25
Speaker
play of the game where CB ended up getting a nice easy dunk on a backdoor play. So things like that is what I come to expect for the Bulls. But it was one of those games where because the defense was a little bit more passive, there were more one-on-one opportunities for everyone. Like Bulls and Bruins, everyone had a go. Like anyone could take anyone one-on-one. And so sometimes it's easy to fall into that trap of, well, if I can just take them on one-on-one every time, I will.
00:33:53
Speaker
but it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get a high percentage shot. And so that automatically then means your team becomes very easily disorganized in the half court offense. And there are certainly periods of the game in the first quarter, but mostly in the third quarter where teams were just going up and back, up and back, up and back with no real change in tempo or no one taking control to make sure some half court offense was properly executed and getting some stability in the game.
00:34:22
Speaker
Both teams hitting some nice transition threes. I really like how the Bankstown Bruins have improved their half court offense in terms of execution a lot more, but they all seem a lot more confident with their of being individual scorers. Considering Hayden Blankley's statistics, he's not someone that actually really hogs the ball very much at all. Like he knows his time and place when he needs to go one on one or call for a pick and roll.
00:34:47
Speaker
And generally, that's when the shot clock is winding down to 10 seconds and the Bruins don't have any other option. Otherwise, he's really great at distributing and shows a lot of trust in his teammate. Got to give a shout out to Kobe Shannon from the Bankstown Bruins who also had a really great game. He had 18 points and he was 4 from 10 from the three point line. So that's not too bad. 40% will take 40%.
00:35:09
Speaker
The things that the Bulls did well, like I said, execution in the half court at most of the time, the two men game between CB and Blake Morrow. There were lots of subs in the first quarter, probably for everyone to get a little bit of a taste for the game. The score at halftime was 60 to 47, so that's also probably reflective
00:35:31
Speaker
of how prolific the scoring was in this game and CB had 19 points in the first half. Something interesting for the Bulls, Blake Morrow wasn't as aggressive in the one-on-one situations as he was compared to the Crusaders in the last round. I think some of his decision-making wasn't 100% at his best. There were times where he could have gone one-on-one and didn't take it and then vice versa where he took it one-on-one and probably didn't need to.
00:35:57
Speaker
and so he only found himself at the foul line four times. A little bit lower numbers for him I think. The Bulls had 56 of their 102 points in the paint. So literally half of it just in the paint. They had 40 of their 102 points from the bench. Pretty good shooting field goal percentage overall.
00:36:17
Speaker
with 51% for the whole game for the inner west bulls. However, their free throw percentage was 44%. And I'm like, come on guys, that's my biggest gripe. My biggest gripe is free throws. They were 12 from 27. They did a great job getting to the line 27 times, but just couldn't reward themselves. So, but whereas for the Bruins, like I said, certainly becoming more confident and organized on the offensive end, they did a good job on exploiting that defensive transition, as I mentioned earlier.
00:36:47
Speaker
and their shooting has certainly improved. They probably need to, as a team, prove on decision-making. There were a couple of times where they made really sound decisions and probably that was the times when they scored a lot of their three-pointers. Then there are other times where I think it was really easy to get swept up in the pace and the excitement of the game and that probably impacted some people's decision-making on offense.
00:37:12
Speaker
I think for the Bruins in the future, what they've got right now is a really good foundation, like they're coming together really nicely. But I think they would greatly benefit from A, improving their decision making and B, having a solid centre.
00:37:27
Speaker
because they've got some pretty decent guards, but they're just really lacking someone who can dominate on the inside in a physical and skill perspective, but someone that's really super confident of being able to be a go-to person. I don't think that Bruins really have a strong presence inside.
00:37:45
Speaker
The likes of CB were able to exploit that in this game. They had 22 assists for the game, which I thought was pretty good. This team's certainly showing a lot of promise, I think, for next season. Hopefully they'll be able to retain most of their roster. Probably some of the highlight stats. Hayden Blankley had 30, 10 and 7. Like I said, Kobe Shannon had 18 and from Inner West Bulls, CB had 23 and 9. Alexander Higgins-Titcher had 19 and 9.
00:38:12
Speaker
That was pretty much it, Lockie. You said earlier, you know, Bankstown can't make finals, but recruited Hayden Blankley and Kobe Shannon decent way into the season. So I think they're a much better team now than their record suggests. So obviously a decent test for Inner West.
00:38:27
Speaker
heading into finals. And they've got Jack McWilliams, big seven foot one, but he's still so young. He's only just not long out of COE and I think just a freshman in college. So, you know, coming up again, even a seven foot one coming up against a grown man like CB, it's gonna be a pretty tough, tough assignment.
00:38:45
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't know that actually about Jack McWilliams. So that kind of explains a lot. I think metaphorically and literally he's still finding his feet at this level, but the only way is up. Like, I mean, if he puts in the work in the off season, he can be a totally different player next season. Definitely. Like you said, if they keep, if they keep the players who have been successful for them this season and, you know, maybe put a couple of new, new names around them, I think, yeah, definitely solid, solid foundation for which to work on.
00:39:13
Speaker
I mean, they've had that problem. Bankstown last year, they had Locky Anderson for part of the season. Um, you know, this year they had Hayden Blankley for some of the season. And shout out to Locky Anderson for getting picked up by the Cairns Taipans, by the way. Oh yeah. Very cool. Very cool indeed. Uh, so, you know, Bankstown, yeah, let's just say foundations. Yeah. It'd be interesting to see who they, it'd be really interesting to see who they retain, but also the Bankstown Bruins women's team have had a great job recruiting
00:39:42
Speaker
their imports in Brittany and in Cappy. So it'd be great if the men's team could recruit imports of a syllable calibre. And I think that will put them in a good stead. But yeah, I think that was about it for that game. So Inner West now just about walked into second spot. They've still got to take care of business.
00:40:06
Speaker
I think they've got, who do they have? They've obviously got that big game against Norse, but if they take care of business against Penrith in their second game of the weekend, that will be enough to clinch second spot regardless of the result against Norse.
00:40:22
Speaker
Yeah, so speaking of, we did allude at the start of the episode, we're going to probably get into the nitty gritty of the latter a little bit because you are certainly skilled in that area. So would you like to go back to women's or do you want to continue with the men's in terms of whoever beats who, this is what the final placing would be?
00:40:42
Speaker
You know, a lot of games that could go one way or the other, but one thing I will say is that I haven't found a combination of results that results in no tie breakers. Everything is going to go to, something is going to go to the split. And there is also multiple ways that the games can fall in which we end with four or five teams tied for third or fourth.
00:41:02
Speaker
There's a whole lot of three-way tiebreakers out there, especially between Canberra, Norse, Maitland, Sutherland Hills, and even Newcastle, with all those teams being on 13 to 14 wins.
00:41:13
Speaker
But yeah, there's still opportunities out there for teams to finish in a four or five way tie. With some of the get results still not known, the maths is just crazy. Most of them rely on Sutherland beating Canberra, but then how much does Sutherland beat Canberra by? So at the moment, as I said, Centre of Excellence first, Inner West just need to beat Penrith and they'll lock down second spot. Norse and Canberra both with double headers this weekend. Maitland and Sutherland tied 14 and seven, both with only one game left.
00:41:42
Speaker
He'll still with two games left Newcastle have to win at least one have to win their only game to be anything but 8th if they lose their last game of the season Oh, it's a base town who have just called a test for teams That's actually a sneaky game. That could be a sneaky a little bit of a banana skin for Newcastle
00:42:04
Speaker
They would finish 13 and 9 with a loss. When I talk about those 4 and 5 way ties, I even went into my spreadsheet and like I said, let's assume COE beat hills. Let's assume inner west beat Penrith. Let's assume Newcastle beat Bankstown. And I still got a bunch of combinations that ended with 4 way ties. So even the games that you think are going to be like locks.
00:42:29
Speaker
Even if they go that way, it's still all up in the air. So we're probably not going to know things until right at the end of the round. Four games on Sunday. Hills, Canberra, North and Inner West all involved on Sunday. So we're not going to know the final make up of the table until late Sunday afternoon. It's on the women's side. It's a little less jumbled up. A lot of two and three way ties can still happen. It's more the fight for the last couple of final spots.
00:42:58
Speaker
Mainly Newcastle North, they're going to be the top three in some order. Mainly Newcastle can both still finish top, North can finish second or third, and I think Manley can only finish first or second. COA locked into fourth, they cannot move from that spot. Maitland and Sutherland, so Maitland have the head to head split, Sutherland have to go down to Canberra,
00:43:20
Speaker
Maitland have to go to Aubrey Wodonga. They're tied at the moment, 14 and 7, so they can both still finish fifth. Yeah, so that's the highest any of them can finish is fifth, but if Southern lose both their game and Comets win both, Comets have got their head-to-head split.
00:43:39
Speaker
Comets, whilst being 12 and 8, can still get up to tie with Sutherland at the moment. I think it would take a miracle of tiebreakers for Canberra to have a chance. They might be mathematically out, but I don't want to say it yet. The big ones, obviously, Aubrey Comets. That is huge on Friday night. Aubrey, when they go to 12 wins, they keep ahead of Bank Sound and pretty much lock it in. They lose, then they would have to beat Maitland to assure themselves.
00:44:08
Speaker
of a final spot. Then again, they say they've got to beat Newcastle. They want to make it. Still so much to unpack there as well. So not those big four-way ties and the top four teams are set. So we know who's going to be hosting the women's finals. Manly Newcastle North and COE.
00:44:27
Speaker
If you live on the south, you live on the south side, you're, you know, three quarters of the way chance to be traveling over the bridge. Sutherland and Maitland in, Comet's got to get a win to assure themselves, but they play Norse, so, so close. And that's what we love. How good is it? Who wants a finals known going into the final round? That'd be boring.
00:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, it would be boring. Like I said, like in previous episodes, we've said us as fans and commentators love this excitement. It certainly adds a lot of pressure to the players and the coaches. So essentially for the women, fifth to eighth is still TBC, depending on lots of results.
00:45:06
Speaker
Pretty much. And for the men, it looks like, did you say like fourth to eighth is TBC for the men? For simplicity's sake only, say in a Westbeat Penrose, then third to eighth, the order could still be jumbled up in any number of ways, depending on tiebreakers, who beats who by how many points this weekend.
00:45:27
Speaker
Yeah, there's a level of reassurance of being automatically, you know, being qualified for finals and then there's the added pressure of where are you going to place because much as you can qualify for finals, it could all come down to who you play in that quarters and then your season could be done. Well, funny you say that, we were talking after the Sutherland game. So Sutherland go to Canberra this week. Depending on results, that could finish Canberra 4th, Sutherland 5th. So it would again be Canberra versus Sutherland in Canberra.
00:45:57
Speaker
And then if Sutherland wins that, the winner of that game plays the winner of 1v8, which would probably be COE, which means Sutherland would have to go to Canberra a third week in a row to play COE and then play, if they win that, play the grand final in Sydney. Start saving your pennies for the petrol money now in case you have to go to Canberra three times, at least
00:46:18
Speaker
Sutherland is quite close to the freeway just to jump on to head down south. South and inland, I should say. Yeah, it's not as close as you think with it being... Yeah, we're so far over to the east side that it's not as close as it feels. But okay, so lots to look forward to. Come around 18. We'll be waiting with great anticipation. We certainly will. I can guarantee that a lot of teams as well, once their games are finished,
00:46:45
Speaker
they'll be eagerly anticipating the results of the other games. Like how soon can some teams expect the turnaround to confirm A, they've made it and B, where they've placed? Is it something that should be instantly available for teams? If you know the breakdown of tiebreakers and look at the results, you can pretty well work it out. But the fact in the men's, especially that Hills, Hills, Canberra, North and inner West all play on the Sunday afternoon.
00:47:11
Speaker
Even the Saturday results probably aren't going to be enough to lock anyone from third to eighth into a position. On the women's side, it might be a little bit easier to figure out, especially that inner West Penrith game on the women's side isn't going to have any bearing on finals. I don't know if Illawarra Canberra will. Sorry then, there is no fourth game because it's Hill COE on the men. And then that Norse Comets game might be the only one that matters to the women's finals placings on the Sunday.
00:47:39
Speaker
Everyone get your NBL One apps out and ready for next week because it's going to be a hell of a week. It certainly is. One heart's lost, I think. Time for some news, gossip and shout outs. Lockie, I know you've got some things lined up. Do you want to start?
00:47:53
Speaker
All right, well, we'll kick off with our two NBL one East players who are coming back with under 16 Asia Cup gold after the sapphires got over Japan in a thriller on the weekend. Watch that guy. What's the final? Yes, Dormtome in the fourth quarter. So Jay Crook from all we were donga and then a recent addition to the center of excellence Lara some fire originally out of South Australia, both members of that squad. So congratulations.
00:48:23
Speaker
to them? Oh, I should say I believe that part of the win was a very strong 12 to 2 run home. And that was also courtesy of Ruby Perkins and Jesse May from Bankstown. So Ruby Perkins from North, Jesse May from Bankstown. So two more New South Wales girls getting it done for Australia. Future MBL1 East players, we hope to see.
00:48:46
Speaker
Probably for COE. Moving on, there's another international competition which you are involved in in some way, but also plenty of NBL1 East players over there as well.
00:48:58
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. It's the FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup, held in Madrid in Spain. And the majority of the roster is made up of current COE athletes that we've seen featured in MBL 1Es this season, or former COE athletes, with the exception of probably four players who weren't from the COE. Former athletes like Nadio Poch and Izzy Boulais are
00:49:25
Speaker
leading the charge at the moment. Izzy Boulay is just hitting 8 out of 10 threes against Argentina this morning. And current COE athletes that have played in NBL1Es that are in this squad
00:49:38
Speaker
include the likes of Jess Petrie, Isla Juffamans, Safran Shields, Jada Clark, Ruby Gray. And of course it would be remiss not to mention that the head coach of that U16 Asia Cup team, the Safires, is the one and only Tom Garlett, former slash Filian slash whenever he's needed head coach of the North Women.
00:50:02
Speaker
And also assistant coach, former Hornsby Spider and Sydney Uni Flames, Sarah Graham. Oh, of course. That is another NBL1Es connection there with Sarah Graham. Very nice pickup. And we will give a shout out to coach David Herbert as well, who is the current COE coach who's coaching the under 19's gems in Spain.
00:50:23
Speaker
So lots of connections between world-class championships and MBL One East. Very good to see. So in case anyone wants to watch some of those games, they're all streamed on the Fever YouTube channel. Most of the Australian games, though, unfortunately, are between 4.15 and 4.45 in the morning. So myself, I have been asked to commentate some of those games. This morning, I commentated USA versus Germany at 2.15 in the morning.
00:50:54
Speaker
went to bed at four and got out to work from home at eight. Good times. It's been a day. It's been an absolute day for me. It's a good life. It's the good life. That's right. I think the only thing in terms of news and gossip that I would like to add, it was recently announced that Matt Gray from the Maitland Mustangs has signed to seven management.
00:51:16
Speaker
Seven Management is owned and run by Sean Tribe, who is actually Ben Simmons' half-brother. So it'd be really interesting to see where that management is able to take Matt Gray and where his game ends up landing. Perhaps a European prospect, I'm not too sure. I know that after we gave him a couple of shout outs earlier in the season that he did end up having a little bit of NBL interest. Speaking of NBL interest, I have heard on the grapevine that
00:51:43
Speaker
Alex Higgins, teacher from Inno West Bulls, has actually been attending a couple of training camps with some NBL teams, including the likes of
00:51:51
Speaker
the hawks, the kings, and the bullets. But if you need some photographic evidence of MBL One East alumni rubbing shoulders with the MBL greats, head over to an account by Sam Tolhurst, who goes by Tollywood on Instagram. And who will you see in some of the recent stories, Lockie? I haven't been on Insta today.
00:52:17
Speaker
But I have been on Twitter and I've seen the one and only CB Chris Bryant going toe-to-toe with Geordie Hunter Yes, correct. Correct. We do know that CB, you know, he's let us know on Twitter He's has been doing a couple of training sessions with the Sydney Kings, which is awesome And now the proof is in the punch online Geordie Hunter Posting up against CB Geordie Hunter's also a North Bear Junior. Am I right? I'm gonna say yes
00:52:46
Speaker
Oh, got me on that one. I'm sure someone will DM us on Instagram and correct us if we're wrong. I've got one shout out and it is the best shout out I have all season. And it is a shout out to the Sutherland Sharks under 12 Div 3 girls who
00:53:05
Speaker
make the best signs. If you've watched the Sutherland games, you'll know I talk about them every game because we zoom in on them during timeouts. They've got one for Eliza Fabro that says Awesome AF. I'm sure you will get what that means. They've got a great white shark one for Liv White.
00:53:21
Speaker
They've got a Chuck Norris, Matty Norris one. They've got Chuck Norris Texas Ranger, Matty Norris three-point danger. They've got one for Coach Pat Williamson from the men's team of Patman, who's in Batman. Oh, they have M Garland Leviosa, a Harry Potter shout out.
00:53:39
Speaker
And then they have the best one is the one, well the one I like the most. So Jordan Dewhurst spells her name with a Y, not an A. So they've got the Jordan logo in the right font, but with the upside down jump man to make it look like a Y instead of an A. But this week they made a side just for me. We posted on the story on Insta. It's, I've got it up on my personal account at Locky Hill, H-double-E-L.
00:54:06
Speaker
It's a picture, it's just me in my hoodie with my headphones on. And what I say at the end of every game, I got two signature things. Barry's the three and after every game I say, I've been lucky France and you, as in you the viewer, have been amazing. And their sign says, we've been under 12 Girls Div 3 and you've been amazing.
00:54:27
Speaker
And you know the best part? They made their grand final this week. So I'm so happy for them. Thank you so much, girls. And one of the parents helped make the signs. Yeah, thanks so much. So appreciative to know that there are people out there who enjoy my commentary. I totally, I totally agree though, Locky, that is certainly the best shout out of the podcast so far. The fact that they can't turn up to every game so they can want to support their local team.
00:54:55
Speaker
And those signs are just next level. And they obviously, like you said, enjoy your commentary and appreciate your contribution to the club in that way to make a sign for the last home game. That's really touching. I love those stories. I love it. Yeah. So I honestly couldn't believe it. Someone came to me and said, they've got a sign just for you, Locky. And I'm like, no, they must, they must have been like, Locky Hutchison.
00:55:17
Speaker
And it's me, Locky. I'm the Locky that they're talking about. And those signs are quality. Like I highly recommend if you can going on Instagram and looking at it. It's not just some kind of like piece of cardboard with a texture and writing some time and effort and serious planning of going into it.
00:55:33
Speaker
and a lot of love. So I really really enjoy those stories especially at this NBL1Es level where we can still get around our basketball communities like that. So well done girls for not only a signage but for also making the finals for this season. Just a side note, you mentioned the Eliza Fabro AF sign. We know what that means but do the under 12 Div 3 girls know what that means?
00:55:57
Speaker
Ah, kids are pretty cluey these days. I think that one might have been like the sign for me. I think that might have been the father's idea. I'm guessing he's probably influenced them with the Chuck Norris reference as well because I can't imagine a lot of 11, 10 and 11 year olds to know who Chuck Norris is these days. I don't know, but they certainly laugh at art. I love it. It's so good. But enough about the under 12 Div 3 girls. Let's get on to the All-Stars on the court.
00:56:24
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree. And considering you kicked off the episode with the results and the latter for the women, how about you take us away with the All Star Five for the women?
00:56:34
Speaker
I certainly can do that. And it was a tough one because there were some players who had some big performances, but they came in losses and sometimes you just got to give it to the player who gets the dub. So Michaela Dompkins had a big game. Nizuki Wakamatsu had 33 for Hornsby, but it was in a 74 point defeat to Comets. Michaela Pivik narrowly missing out on a triple double and also narrowly missing out on an All-Star five spot.
00:56:58
Speaker
Away we go, starting off with Nicole Munger, 35 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, almost getting Maitland over the line. Massive performance from Nicole, like Lauren Nicholson, you know, put the team on the back and almost got them over the line. And Lauren Nicholson is the second entrant into the All-Star Five with 32 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in our earlier discussed loss to Manly Warringa. But the performance of the week
00:57:27
Speaker
You already know Squian. Emily Simons from the North Bears. 47 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, almost beating Penrith on her own in a 91-50 victory. And then Jada Croussure from Comets. 29 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals in the big 125-54 win over Hornsby Keringa.
00:57:53
Speaker
And then I asked for the double-double, she gave me the double-double-double-double. It's Cappy, Violet Crapremaro from Bankstown. 17 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists against Inner West in the 78-68 win. And then 15 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal in a 67-59 win over Hills.
00:58:13
Speaker
which she did without her running mate Brittany Wright as well. So Brittany didn't actually play in the second game. I was still able to get the win up were Banks Town in that one. Again, a hotly contested All-Star Five.
00:58:26
Speaker
Very good to see so many teams putting up big numbers so late in the season, but that 47 points from Emily Simons Oh my gosh 47 out of the team total 91 points So literally more than half of their team score like three players almost putting it Yeah, Mungo close to half Nicholson more than half, Simons more than half
00:58:47
Speaker
Players just going off and not players that are known as, you know, you know, isoball ballhogs who just shuck up shots like good scorers who play good team ball. And the one thing those three have in common is that they all attended the Asia Cup in some way. So M. Simons being in the operations team.
00:59:05
Speaker
Munger was there as a spectator and obviously Loz Nicholson was there competing. So there's something to be said about going to watch quality basketball in the flesh and how much that impacts your game. I honestly don't think people, especially young people, watch enough basketball and realise how much that can influence your game just by watching it, absorbing it and visualising it.
00:59:27
Speaker
100%, and if you're a player who wants to make the next level, whether it's you want to step from college to WNBA, if you want to step from MBL1 to WNBA, and you don't know the players you're coming up against at the next level, you got to learn from scratch. But you think Summer League now, the guys who watch other college players probably have a leg up on the guys who come in and just, you know, don't absorb basketball outside of playing.
00:59:48
Speaker
Yeah, how do you know if you're aspiring to get to that next level, how do you truly know what it's going to take unless you go and watch that level? Because otherwise, you're just going through drills and doing so-called, you know, general hard work to get better. But unless you start targeting specifics of what's going to make you better, then it's probably just going to be hard work that's lost, really. Is that how you got to the next level, Squint?
01:00:10
Speaker
I did, and I haven't been back since. It's been a long time. It's been a long, long time since I got to that next level. And I don't think I'll ever be able to return at any level. But there's not a lot of players out there who can say they got to the same level you did. This is true. This is true. It is certainly a privilege, especially to be coached by one of the greats in Cary Graff. So I can definitely take that away with me. But yeah, I had the men's All-Star five, also a little bit tricky.
01:00:39
Speaker
The way that I chose the All-Star Five was in a matter of also stats as per usual, but also context in the game. So some of the honorable mentions was CB who had 23 and 9 versus Bankstown, Jimmy Coleman who had 22 and 11 versus Gunners, Elijah Washington who had 24 and 9 in 23 minutes against the Spiders. But my All-Star Five today is going to start off with Will Davo-Hickey who had a triple double against the Central Coast Crusaders,
01:01:09
Speaker
with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 16 assists. So how often can you say that I had more assists than points in a game?
01:01:17
Speaker
Not very often, especially when it's 16 assists. Next, Hayden Blankley from Bankstown. He had a really big weekend for his team, having to back up playing in the West Bulls and then heels Hornets the next day. So against the Bulls, he had 30 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists. And versus the Hornets, he had 21 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists. So Blankley has been very close to a triple double all season.
01:01:43
Speaker
I'm really hoping that he finds a way or his team can support him to get one in the final round next week. Then it was Dal Fig versus the Bandits. I tell you what, Loki, Dal Fig is well and truly back. He had 27 points, five rebounds and four assists in a win against the Bandits in just 29 minutes. Then I had Anthony Gaines from Newcastle purely because it was a must win game for Newcastle and of course the extra added pressure.
01:02:12
Speaker
of hosting a crosstown rivalry match at home. And he did a little bit of everything. So he had 18 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and six steals against Maitland. And then on the other side of that, Will Cranston-Lown was just doing as much as he possibly could for Maitland in the same game. And he had 18 points, four rebounds, five assists and six steals as well. So it's very similar game between those two almost mirroring each other
01:02:41
Speaker
with Gaines just getting a few more rebounds than Cranston-Lown. So that tops off my All-Star Five. When you said Dolph Peig as well in Truly Back, I'm sitting here fist-pumping and then I realised, oh wait, my team actually has to go and play him next week. So there's a similar conflict you were describing before, the Simpsons reference, when Loz Nicholson and Alex Delaney play each other, now you're like, oh yes, Dolph Peig, oh no, it's against my club. I also wonder if he's starting to peek at the right time and Cambra Gunners are starting to peek at the right time.
01:03:11
Speaker
I mean, they're going to be really pushing to go back to back, I think. They certainly are. And, you know, as I said earlier, there's so much they can shake out in the ladder, they can still technically finish third. So, you know, if they can do that, well, it's that close, it might not be that much of an easier quarterfinal, but at least on paper.
01:03:30
Speaker
final against a lower team. See what happens. Definitely. And so that concludes the regular part of our episode, but stick around because we're going to have an interview with a player who has been around the NBA One East for a little while. Stick around for that.
01:03:47
Speaker
And welcome back. We are now into the interview portion of our episode on East Got Game. And we have someone who has already played at an international level at the FIBA Polynesian Cup. He's also someone who has played for clubs such as Heels, Bankstown, and also Hornsby this season as one of the star point guards of the league. It is Sharif Saipaia. How are you, Sharif?
01:04:16
Speaker
I'm good. I'm good. Thank you. How are you? Good? Yeah, pretty good. Thanks, mate. Pretty good. Just the daily grind of a Monday as per usual. It might be a little bit different for you as an athlete. No, same, same. You know, I just got to work for you sometimes. How was your day been today? Anything special? No, nothing really. Just a lot of training, gym training. We've got one more gym session later tonight. Nothing great. Later tonight?
01:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, sometimes I go late at night because this is more dead. There's no one there. So you can just do a lot of the basketball stuff that doesn't look weird in the gym.
01:04:56
Speaker
As I mentioned in our intro, you've actually represented Samoa at the FIBA Polynesian Cup in November last year that was held at Cook Islands. You averaged 25 points a game, seven rebounds and four assists. Tell us all about that experience because that is something that I didn't expect to see on your resume. Honestly, it was, I didn't expect it to be honest. It was actually a surprise. I wasn't planning on playing. I got asked by
01:05:26
Speaker
A guy that's actually an MBL one and he plays between the West Bulls, Tony Tullivoy, he's a Samoan as well. He's one of the boys growing up. I'm not growing up. I've heard of him growing up, but I didn't really know him personally when he hit me up and he said, I should try and put my name down for the Samoan team. And I put my name down. Luckily I got the opportunity to play. It was an amazing experience. I don't know how to explain it.
01:05:49
Speaker
It's a whole different type of basketball than here. The technical side of it over here is so much better. It just isn't naturally. But the physical side and the pride side when you're representing the country is on a whole different level. I'm not explaining it. It was an amazing opportunity. Honestly, I would never take that back. That was honestly insane. My family, they were proud. They were actually crazy.
01:06:13
Speaker
Yeah, playing there was crazy. It was an amazing experience travelling the world, going to Samoa for training camp, going to New Zealand for the tournament. Even one of my boys, he plays in the North Conference. He's playing for...
01:06:30
Speaker
in the North Conference, he played the Tonga. So we actually got the meetup there as well, so that was pretty cool. It was good. I didn't expect it even to be honest, but it was an amazing experience. I forgot. So how many of the players were based in Samoa and how many had come from other countries, like yourself from Australia? So there was, I think, only three of us that were from Australia. One from Melbourne. He played in the, I think it's
01:06:53
Speaker
the VBL or something like that, like the league just on the NBA one over there. And then we had me and my teammate this year, Iona, the biggest Iona, one of the best teammates I've ever had actually, to be honest with you, he's the most pure, clearest guy. He came with me, I actually forced him to come. He didn't want to play it first, it was either to give up on basketball, but I didn't want him to. He came and now he still loves it again. So yeah, there were three of us and seven, seven local boys from Samoa. So they try to keep it, some local boys in there so that we could, you know, like actually have a genuine Samoa team.
01:07:22
Speaker
go try and see how far we could go. How does one go about reaching out to a developing basketball country in a sense that, you know, still some immersion talent and not very well represented on the world stage? So how do you go about finding anyone to contact about joining the Samoan team? It was, luckily enough, it was, Tony showed me a link on Facebook. They posted something to the Samoan page for Samoan basketball. They were asking players to send in their
01:07:52
Speaker
in there like highlight tapes and that. Only thing I had was for maybe on one last year when I played at a bank account and so yeah I showed them that. I just put my stats there and then I showed them you know Youth League the year before that as ABA and
01:08:04
Speaker
Luckily, it ran through a whole process of interviews after interviews. I had four interviews with the coach. She basically liked what I was saying, character-wise, what I wanted to do with the team. I didn't want to go in there and just be like, oh, it's all about me. I want to show out. I actually wanted to try and win that. It was an amazing experience, honestly.
01:08:27
Speaker
That was a good stepping stone for everybody over here, like the younger boys, some of the boys. I know there's a few boys, like you might think Moses, Bartley, there's some other boys, you know, coming up at Samoan. Hopefully that shows them that they can do it too and go represent our country. Because it's something we've seen in other sports lately, like in Rugby League, Samoa and Tonga especially, getting so many of the guys who even have played for Australia are choosing to play for Samoa and Tonga. So it's been a real push lately.
01:08:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, they take it like over there when I was inside, you know, it was it was crazy. I didn't know I didn't think anyone would know me like, but like they heard that there was an import coming in. And obviously, I'm the only one of the few white boys there. So when I'm looking around, they're like, Oh, he's the basketball player. And it was amazing that the pride they took, again, phone calls mid tournament, just saying how proud they were of how I was playing, how I was leading the tournament. It was an amazing experience, honestly, I can't, I can't, I can't think
01:09:20
Speaker
the coach and them giving me the opportunity enough. Was that fever level of competition what you were expecting when you got there? So obviously I don't want to ban Matthew Newton, but like the physicality was a shock. Physicality was a shock, it was insane. I was so strong over there. I come over here, I'm a bigger guy, you know what I mean? So from over here to there, I was like getting banged and I was like, oh wow, this is different.
01:09:45
Speaker
Obviously, just way more developed over here in the show. Just the basketball, the skill level, the technicalities, everything. Just for work-wise, everything. Is this better here? It's just naturally. That was one thing that I got to go over there and hope in training camp was to teach some of the boys some stuff, concepts and stuff. We weren't over here growing up. That was a lot easier for us. Honestly, when I matched up with Tonga and Tahiti and that, that's when you saw, okay, this is international level. This is where you've got to step up and play. It was good. It was amazing.
01:10:14
Speaker
That was a good eye-opener and good realisation of where I was at as a player. And where did you finish in that tournament? Did you get a medal?
01:10:22
Speaker
Yeah, we got bronze. We got bronze. If we won our last game against Tahiti, actually, we wouldn't have got gold. So it was a close game. We were up 20 and a half and it just kind of slowed down. Yeah, that still haunts me. But I'll see them soon. I'm going to get them back eventually. So, did you have any Polynesian basketball role models growing up? Basketball, honestly, I didn't really
01:10:49
Speaker
I didn't really have anybody from our community or Polynesian community in general that I knew. Obviously, like I said, I heard names before, like Tony. I always heard about Tony, like he was coming up, apparently he was the man back then. So I always heard him. I grew up playing streetball, so I had this one guy, he played college over D3. His name is Danny, he was a Tongan boy, a Tongan-American. He taught me some stuff as well, but I never really had anybody except for my dad. My dad basically was the only one that taught me. He didn't even play basketball.
01:11:18
Speaker
Like he just touched up on YouTube, had to do a crossover and he was teaching me that, you know what I mean? Then he said, go play Streetball and it's the only way you're going to learn. I had role models outside of the sport, which is what I needed more than anything. I think basketball was just going to, I was always going to learn for Streetball. Streetball was the best thing for me. Where did you play Streetball? Was that locally? Yeah, I'm from like Liverpool. So we have a court called Chloemoor.
01:11:43
Speaker
I grew up there, that place is special to me and all the boys there, I grew up with a special to me. And yeah, they honestly, like even though most of them are not hoopies, like they've got the most heart of the team and they come at me, like even though I'm a hooper, they will come like the whole night, four hours by those straight just playing hoopies, trying to get me. So it was good, it taught me heaps and it taught me how to play with heart, you know, and how to, and like I obviously learned from the boys that were, that did come that actually hoop.
01:12:10
Speaker
They used to complain straight forward. I had to learn from them by getting my ass kicked from them. I was going to be anonymous, so it was good. It's a lot of streetball culture. I have only learned in the last two years out in Western Sydney, and that was through one of my friends, Josie, who runs the Promote the Goat account. Josie's mad. She's been trying to do this for a while now. I mean, I think I was her first
01:12:32
Speaker
Her me and her brother were first athletes that would be on her page. It was pretty cool You know seeing what she was trying to do and all that and like for me like growing up like I said Like I just played streak what I was I played straight for and then I'll go But I've got literally like forced into a five five setting one dome and squatted to rep somehow. I don't know how I remember Yeah, and then it just worked out like I was lucky to have good coaches and they kind of taught me how to play proper basketball because obviously you can't play straight on my rule five five man and I
01:13:02
Speaker
And I learned that the hard way, but it was good. And you also play a bit of 3x3 and apparently according to your fever profile, you've got a second nationality. You're listed as Lebanese. Yeah. So I'm half, my dad's somewhat, my mum's Lebanese, which is, you know, it's a blessing and it's also a curse. But honestly, it's amazing. Like, my plan is eventually to represent my mum's country.
01:13:30
Speaker
I want to represent Lebanon one day and I also you know I've got some stuff happening maybe and like we're looking at trying to go overseas playing pro with it as well so we've got some yeah we're just seeing what's the go for that and yeah but the goal eventually is to play pro Lebanon I played for Lebanon I'm sorry played for Lebanon I want to play for Lebanon and go for Lebanon's country I've done my dad's side you know what I mean now it's in my monster and we're gonna do her prep
01:13:53
Speaker
Yeah, because it seems like FIBA are becoming more flexible when people want to switch nationalities that they register with. Like, for example, Talia Topaya grew up playing juniors for Australia. And now she as a senior, she is FIBA registered to play for New Zealand and played for the tour phones at the Asia Cup recently. So looks like you can have that duality in your future. I mean, yeah, like funny story about Talia, I've known her since school, we went to the same school.
Basketball Memories and Playing Styles
01:14:23
Speaker
So we went to the same school, and I remember just watching them when we were younger in Australia. It was one of the few, like, you know, like, I used to sit back. I used to watch it, and a lot of people, people, boys or girls, I used to sit back and be like, she's a tough one for her. I remember watching her playing one-on-one with, like, WMBO girls, and that, and she was killing it, and then she was like 16 at the time, and I'm like, oh my God.
01:14:43
Speaker
But good on her, honestly. I'm glad that she got to represent New Zealand Club as well. And we got the 3x3 information from... It looks like he played at a Hills tournament in 2021 with the Crossover King. So shout out to the Crossover Kings. Very cool name for 3x3. Considering, like you said, you grew up playing Streetball.
01:15:03
Speaker
And now you both play 5 on 5 and 3x3. Have you developed a preference between either style of play just yet? Obviously the 3x3 was a lot easier for me, especially coming from a streetball background. It was so much more space. You come off one on board, they're switching, you've got a bigger one, you can dance and have fun with them. But honestly, I prefer 5 on 5. I think that's the route I'm going to take. I always love watching the pro leagues, NBA, NBA all.
01:15:33
Speaker
I've always loved watching those guys play Final Five, so I think that's what I prefer to do. But obviously, from my background as a street roller, the rendering was always natural.
01:15:44
Speaker
It was just a lot easier for me to play. You mentioned you're from Southwestern Sydney and you played for Bankstown, you played for Hills and now you've joined Hornsby for their first season. Yeah.
Challenging New Clubs and Personal Growth
01:15:56
Speaker
Why go to a club starting their first season as opposed to a more established team this year? Yeah, you're right. Honestly, it was the main, the biggest thing for me was getting out of my comfort zone, you see, and I'm challenging myself. I wanted to really challenge myself to see and see what I could do.
01:16:14
Speaker
having the pressure all over me. And obviously we didn't win as many games as I wanted to. We didn't perform as well as what we did as a team. That was the biggest challenge for me. I wanted to be in a situation where that bank sound I was so comfortable with. I grew up there from under 16 bottom edge to youth league. I took a year and a half off. I came back and I went to do a bank sound. And then here was the reason I was there because it was Delmas Green, Josh Green's dad. He called me up and got me to play in under 14s and that.
01:16:41
Speaker
I was comfortable all through those youth. I just wanted to push myself this year. I wanted to be in an uncomfortable situation. I wanted to just test myself, see where I was at. It was me and the court. See what I could do personally and how I could make teammates better and what I needed to improve on. That's the biggest one. I wanted to see what I could improve on. From my game fervent, that was the biggest one for me. That was the main reason.
01:17:04
Speaker
Also, Hesh, I have a good relationship with Hesh. He was the coach, so he kind of, you know, gave me a conversation. He was the first person to have a conversation. We had good talks in our season about what we wanted to do, what were our goals. Obviously, we didn't reach what we thought we were going to reach or what we thought we could have did, but it was a good stepping point, especially for the younger boys. And so what are those some of the things that you've learned about yourself this season?
Team Dynamics and Confidence Building
01:17:25
Speaker
You mentioned, you know, you went to challenge yourself, what you can improve on.
01:17:28
Speaker
Tell us some of the pros and cons. Obviously, like I said, coming from a street ball background, you tend to try and do stuff by yourself sometimes and that was the biggest thing for me. I was always, if stuff started to go wrong, I'll just put on myself and just try and go one on five. So me slowly throughout the season trying to get out of that and like be a point guard and find the balance between being aggressive and being a point guard at the same time.
01:17:54
Speaker
I struggled with that early in the season like I had games where I was a little too aggressive and then I had a game like Aubrey at Aubrey where I shot like four times you know what I mean like it was it was a bit of a struggle early in the season just finding that balance and then when we had a team meeting actually after that Aubrey game that was the biggest thing that happened and the boys basically just put their confidence in me they said if you need to be able to aggressive and we're gonna live the decisions you make and that's what really got myself out of my own head sure just play your game like you know you're gonna develop
01:18:21
Speaker
And like I, natural instinct is always going to be there, but it's going to develop the knowledge of seeing what people do, you know, all that other stuff. Once they gave me that confidence, and I saw the boys were buying into me, that helped us a lot. And then we started getting into really close games, like in the West, we had a close game at our house. We had a close game at their house. Like it was just close game after close game. We just couldn't finish it, but it was good. I think what I learnt there, that was one big thing I learnt. And another thing I learnt was just, you know, just being confident. The biggest thing is being confident out there. When I was confident out there, I felt like,
01:18:51
Speaker
I could do whatever I wanted to. So it was good. I just wanted to be comfortable out there and confident. It's really interesting you mentioned that because Lockie and I interviewed Freddie Webb from Illawarra a couple of weeks ago. And he said similar things. Am I right Lockie in terms of having his teammates and coaches instill confidence in him? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what he said. Yeah, when when they said, you know, yeah,
01:19:20
Speaker
don't worry about mistakes, we're gonna live with, we know you're good to get the next one kind of thing. Yeah, that changes a whole lot of things, especially as a point guard, you've got the ball in your head a lot of the time, you've got to think of everybody. You're not a shooting guard, you're not a small forward, you're not on the wings catching it and you can do it. Like the point guard, you have to think for everyone, make sure everyone's gonna touch it. So when everyone said, Shareef, do your thing, it was amazing because I kind of had a feeling it was like, okay, I got my back, I can do
01:19:49
Speaker
I can do whatever now with these boys supporting me, so it
Leadership Development and Team Potential
01:19:52
Speaker
was good. And do you feel like you've developed as a leader this season? I felt like, yeah, I felt like I developed more during the season. I felt at the start, it was a bit of a hit and miss. Some games, I struggled just mentally, just staying composed. But later on in the season, even when I sat out for a bit, I was still there. I was present, trying to be present while I was sitting on the bench talking to the boys, especially to the guard, especially Moses and all those boys.
01:20:19
Speaker
just giving them insight of what I've seen, what I was seeing when I was out there. And it was good. I think, you know, I think obviously there's always room for improvement and I still got a long way to go. Honestly, I feel like I took steps this year and it was the best, best thing for me to get out of my conference and just really test myself and see where I was at. It's interesting you keep referring to some of the members in your team as young fellas and you're taking on such a strong leadership role, but I imagine you're still pretty young yourself. Yeah. Yeah. So this is honestly,
01:20:47
Speaker
I was talking about it with one of the boys. It was my first year really being a vet. It was so weird coming into pre-season because every year I've been like the youngest, the youngest or second youngest. Like last year, me, Nico, Timonera, you know with the Bulls when we were at Bankstown, we were both the youngest boys, you know what I mean? So then I come to this situation here and I look around and I'm seeing boys at 19 and then 20 and I'm like, oh my God, I forgot how that was. It was a bit of a change.
01:21:14
Speaker
And obviously I'm still young myself, so I still kept in contact with the vets that I grew up, you know, like I would go to Markovich, Steve Markovich, to ask him questions. I would go up to like labs, and bunny, and fuzzy, and bust on my old coach. And I'd ask him questions about everything, you know. And even DK, DK was really good with me from, you know, West Bulls, Daniel Kim, the coach. He contacted him maybe during the season, seeing like what he thought about what I could do better on.
01:21:42
Speaker
He gave me the same advice, really, that play your game, review your game out, and everyone else will follow with you to make sure that I was like, oh, that's sweet, you know what I mean? Yeah, I had good people around me to help me through this process, and obviously I still had a long way to go, like I said, but it was a good step towards getting there. You mentioned the team hasn't won as many games as you'd like, but you've been very close in a lot of games. I think we've become a theme on the podcast for a few weeks, how close you've been. But does it feel like you're building a solid foundation?
01:22:12
Speaker
got some players in there that you can build something for the future with. I feel like if that core group of the young boys stay together, I feel like, you know, you keep, you know, Bravo, you keep Moses there, you keep maybe Pei Tuk over there, like you keep a good core group of young boys that were there this year. I feel like, yeah, 100%. And you give them a chance to grow. I feel like you give them more of a responsibility this year, maybe, or the years coming, like to really have the ball in their hands and make decisions and do stuff with them. Like I feel like, yeah, 100%. They've got like a lot of
01:22:40
Speaker
potential those boys, I think they just need the chance to really just make mistakes. Like I didn't do, that's just how you're going to learn. You're going to go up there, you're going to get pumped for 40 some games, you're going to lose by one, and then you might win by one, you know what I mean? There's thousands of story about this. I feel like for them, they keep that.
01:22:56
Speaker
whole group of those young boys together for like 100% I think they've got something to build on there. Was it hard to regroup sometimes as a team after some of those one point losses because especially during the middle of the season I think you guys lost some close games like I think it was three or four games in a row you lost by one or two points so it must be hard to keep the morale high in that situation.
01:23:19
Speaker
It was hard, even though I struggled. I remember after that Canberra game, especially, I missed that last second shot. I remember I was getting a phone call from everybody. I remember talking about my bangs on teammates, the vets at the league, and I took care of me. And I struggled. The thing that kept us together was just knowing that we were taking steps to being competitive. We weren't just giving up or losing them.
01:23:44
Speaker
Like not doing the things we're supposed to be doing. We're actually in games against really good teams. And like for me personally, like I ask for that moment every single time. I begged Hesh to give me that ball and I would do the same thing again. Like every single last second shot I begged him for. You know what I mean? As you can see, I begged him for the ball. I said I don't care if it's like a half push, I'll go take it. Just let me go get the ball, man. One thing that kept us really well together was our captain, Digi. Hesh did a pretty good job in the sense we're just, you know, giving us hope, telling us that we're on the right path.
01:24:13
Speaker
Yeah. And for me personally, it was like, like I said, the vets around the league and everyone that took care of me and my family, especially my family. Oh my God. They gave me the hard time about it, but that was good. I needed that. And I guess all that, you know, those close losses, you know, and then you get that, that win over Manly just recently. What's, uh, what was the mood in the camp after, after that?
Season Reflections and Future Aspirations
01:24:37
Speaker
Oh man, it was bittersweet. It was bittersweet. Like we obviously
01:24:41
Speaker
We were happy, but at the same time, we weren't silly about it in a sense. We were 1-18 at that point. We weren't happy about it, but we were just happy to get that win out of the way. We knew it was about to come, but we just thought it would happen a lot earlier, and we thought we'd be able to build momentum from that point. Like I said, we're a young team. These boys are so young on the team. They've got so much more years coming up.
01:25:08
Speaker
These guys are going to develop, you know, and I obviously believe, like I said, the core young group that they've got there, they keep on doing it around them, but in them making mistakes and growing, like these boys will be good. You guys got a team of the week on the MBL1 socials and you got on MBL1 show for your for your first win of the season. So don't take it too lightly on celebrating. Yeah, no, I mean, the boys, like I said,
01:25:36
Speaker
We're happy when we realized we won 17-2 like last year. I've noticed as well, actually, that you've missed the last three rounds of NBL1 East. Are you able to give us an update about what's been going on? So earlier in the season, it was actually against the first game against the newest ball, Falco.
01:25:57
Speaker
I actually strained my calf way earlier in the season. I played through it four seasons. I didn't really want to miss any games. I wanted to play. Basically playing on one leg after the season, but like I said, no excuse. I was out there. I was performing like, I had good games and bad games. So I'm not going to blame my calf. And yeah, like it just got to the point, like it started hurting a bit more. And then I talked to my Fugeo. He gave me the rundown where everything happened and I went up to Hash and I said, Hash, man, this is the deal. Honestly told him, I turned my calf if I had to to play rest of the season. It's up to him. He said, no, I don't want you to do that.
01:26:27
Speaker
to have a healthy off season, you know, we've got some stuff planned to focus on that. So yeah, we just, I mean, it was good. It was a good opportunity for the boys to get in there and play more minutes.
01:26:37
Speaker
have their turn. It was really good. I actually was mad to see the boys actually shine, which was good. I have to say that watching you play this season, I would have no idea you were injured at any point. I mean, like I said, if I was out there, I wasn't going to have an excuse for it. I didn't tell nobody, actually no one knew, except for my family. Yeah, I didn't want to sit there and have an excuse of, oh, I'm injured. That's why I played bad. But I just went out there, did what I had to do, especially for the boys that gave me the confidence to really back that up.
01:27:06
Speaker
Yeah, that was my whole thing. And you mentioned that you and Coach Hesh have some plans in the off-season. What are you planning for your off-season to look like? A lot of training. I'm planning on training with him for a while. So we're going to get into it. And then just some stuff that I'm looking at, trying to, obviously every player wants to go to the season, experience the world and play. So we've got some, I'm starting some stuff out.
01:27:31
Speaker
Um, personally, and we've got some stuff happening in the works, but we're just going to, we're going to see how that goes. We're going to see. Well, certainly keep our eyes peeled for any updates with your progression, uh, Sharif. Uh, cause you mentioned earlier that your ultimate goal is to play for Lebanon. Um, have you, and perhaps the likes of coach Hesh or any of your other peers started to develop, uh, you know, set some goals or a pathway for how you can get there.
01:28:00
Speaker
Obviously, me and my family are getting my citizenship and all that sort of stuff sorted for my Lebanese side, so we're in the works of doing all that. And like I said, everyone's goal is to play pro over the season, do stuff, and experience the world. Obviously, for me, I'd love to go to level and play pro over there, so that's the goal. Yeah, we're taking steps, especially my side, we're doing things here. Yeah, I've got good people around me that are helping me out, so we'll see how that goes.
01:28:28
Speaker
Have you been to Lebanon before and been able to see the pro leagues firsthand? No, I haven't actually been able to go. I've watched online, I've watched a lot of games, especially doing my research, just seeing who's there, asking the boys here to actually know some of the boys that play pro over there about the league and that. And it sounds amazing. And even the talent they're like, I didn't expect it actually.
01:28:51
Speaker
I thought it was, I was like, when I was watching it, I was like, these boys aren't right, they know how to play, they're pretty good. So I was like, I'm excited. Hopefully that works out so I can go over there and, you know, play at a high level. Because at the end of the day, you just want to keep them getting better. Like, I just want to keep them getting to different levels and like, I will eventually, you know, become better than that.
01:29:09
Speaker
reach a different level. That's my goal. I just want to keep on getting better. Is there any one notable from MBL1 East or otherwise that have been playing in the Lebanon comp? Are there any ex-MBL players that we would know of that are playing over there? I think Doop is one of the boys in the MBL that he's gone over there. There's a few other MBL guys that I know by face but don't know by name. There's actually a few guys that go over there, play pro over there for a bit.
01:29:37
Speaker
So it's pretty cool. Like it's pretty cool seeing these boys go over there, play pro, you know, do their thing, you know, like, you know, it's like I said, like, like anything, like you see someone else do it and you're like, Oh, I can do it now. You know what I mean? So the goal for me is to go over there, open up the pathway for kids. You know, like the Lebanese, cause you don't really see much, you know, Lebanese, some warm boys playing basketball at a higher level like this over here. You know what I mean? So like, you know, like, like I said, if I can show you our communities that, you know, like you don't have to just play rugby.
01:30:05
Speaker
Like obviously, you know, like some boys love rugby and Lebens love the rugby and soccer. And, you know, I want to show that, you know, well, basketball is like a sport you can recall and do these things. So hopefully this opens up a pathway once I do it. Because honestly, like I said, I believe in myself, I believe in the work, I believe in the people around me. Well, Lebanon, their female national team, we're just here for Asia Cup not too long ago. They did really well. They actually had to play a game against Chinese Taipei to make sure they weren't relegated into Division B and they won.
01:30:34
Speaker
We watched that actually on TV and that online pro. Yeah, we got to watch it. It was actually good. It was good to see that they're doing a drop because I want to eventually play for them on the big stage against Australia and do it. I reckon that'd be amazing. So it was cool to see. And Lockie, would you like to do the honours of asking one of our favourite questions on eScott game? I was going to ask you more about the big display sitting there right behind you because you have
01:31:01
Speaker
Quite a number of shoes back there. A bit of a sneak ahead. I kind of collect shoes on the side. I've lately been a bit more responsible. But I think I've got 104 pairs right now of shoes. I think that's what it's at right now. So I collect Jordans and a lot of basketball shoes. I try to wear them more fast because they're sometimes better. What's your favourite pair in the collection? Honestly, it'd have to be the Jordan ones. I've got the purple.
01:31:30
Speaker
I got them. I got them for a birthday present. Yeah, they're pretty expensive. I love them. They're good. So we covered a bit of a sneaker collection and you've kind of hinted at some of your own personal ambitions on the basketball court. But tell us a little bit more about Reef when he's not on the basketball court.
01:31:47
Speaker
I mean, I'm a teacher, so I'm a support teacher at a behaviour school. I love doing that on the side, it just gives me something else to do. When I'm not playing basketball, I'm thinking about basketball and watching basketball. It's very typical and like, you know, like everyone kind of says it, but like, you know, I think you have to kind of love this game if you're going to try and be successful at it and you've got to kind of be obsessed sometimes.
01:32:10
Speaker
I won't lie, like I am obsessed and like the vets around me told me to have a balance and I'm telling them I love it too much. I just like training. I like playing. I think it's kept me out of trouble, which is why I'm so touched this game. Like honestly, apart from work and basketball, I'm thinking about why so long. Why are you thinking about how to train and what court to go to to shoot, you know? And then, yeah, especially this off-season, I can't wait. I mean, I can't wait to get fully off of you so I can really get into it again and get ready for next season.
01:32:37
Speaker
Before we finish up, do you want to give any shout outs to anyone in the league? You've mentioned a lot of great names already, like DK and some of your teammates at Hornsby Corner, you guys spiders. Is there anyone that you've left out? I want to obviously shout out the Venoa family. Some of them are in the league, Goran Vague. He's in the West Bulls. Yeah, so Holler. They've taken care of me from before this season. So I've got to shout out them. They always trained me in the gym and everything. Shout out E4s. I want to shout out
01:33:06
Speaker
In the league, I want to shout out my Hornsby team for supporting me this season. I think that was the best thing that happened for me. Shout out to Banktown, always been back to my boy Hart. I mean, shout out to the league. I mean, listen, I think everyone's talented in this league. I think, you know, everyone's got a role, everyone plays it to their ability here. I think being from the outside in, like from the outside, you can look in and say, oh, this guy's not that good at this guy's that.
01:33:31
Speaker
But you're not playing against these guys luck. When you get on the court against them, you're like, oh, I can see why he's in this team. So, yeah, shout out to everybody. Shout out to the boys out in the playoffs. Good luck. I'll see you there next year and I'll be in the playoffs.
01:33:52
Speaker
Listen, it might hurt me to be there, but I might be there. It may hurt me personally, but I might be there. Some of your friends from the Inner West Bulls are there. I think you might have to turn up and support. Yeah, I know. My pride will hurt, but I'll be there. I'll be there to watch. So, Sharif Saipaya from the Hornsby Keringai Spiders, thank you so much for being a guest on eScott Game. Thank you for taking us through such a comprehensive history of your playing career so far and also
01:34:19
Speaker
some of your truly inspirational aspirations for your game. I really hope I get to see you at a FIBA tournament representing Lebanon very soon. Thank you. Thank you. I quickly got shout out my mom and my brothers and with that, that's it. Thank you so much again. This has been great. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you so much.
01:34:42
Speaker
Thanks for joining us for another episode of East Got Game. Remember to subscribe to our podcast, share with your friends, and most of all, don't sleep on the East.