Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Season 4 Episode 17: NBL! East Awards - What do you want?!
1 Plays4 seconds ago
- Award Nominees and Voting Process
- QF and EF recaps for Men and Women
- SF previews
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Follow Us
00:00:11
Speaker
Oh, don't have the media assets ready. Here we go.
00:00:29
Speaker
The consequences of sleep deprivation. yeah But we're back for another episode of East Got Game where we give you the X's, the O's and the insights from MBL1 East.
00:00:41
Speaker
Thanks for joining us tonight live on YouTube and Instagram and Facebook. And remember, you can follow us on those platforms at East Got Game or you can continue to find our episodes on your preferred streaming platforms.
00:00:55
Speaker
While you're there, check out Cut to the Jace, a podcast feast featuring Jason Caddy, and It's a Cold World, a podcast by WNBL champion Beth Cole.
00:01:06
Speaker
Both of them, I think, are currently on a break. I know that certainly Cut to the Jace is on at least a four-week break, but go back and review some of the previous episodes in your own time as well.
Finals Season Excitement
00:01:18
Speaker
ah It's certainly the end of the season, Lockie, because given that this is our fourth season of ESCOT game, I'm still fumbling around with the media assets to get the episodes ready. So it must be time for a break soon.
00:01:32
Speaker
it It must be soon, but not yet, because it's the best time of the year. It is the best time. It's that final push just for finals time where we ah obviously everything ramps up for the players and the coaches in terms of performance, scouting, planning. And for us too, with our podcasting, we want to always try and cover as many things as we can, giving its finals time. And preparations for commentating games as well, we hope.
00:02:00
Speaker
Well, for me anyway, given that our final series is done differently in the north than the east. um But because do you potentially have any games coming up? I've got one this week.
00:02:11
Speaker
I knew I'd have one. It depended on whether Sutherland boys won or lost last week as to what
NBL1 East Season Final Preview
00:02:17
Speaker
year week it would be. So, yes, my ah ah final game of the NBL1 East season will be Sutherland-Maitland this Saturday at 6.30.
00:02:27
Speaker
What a way to finish another season of commentating the league. Like that's going to be a huge game. It certainly won't be boring. It certainly will not. It's going to be very fun. a are It's not, a it's, it's funny to say, you know, rematch the 2023 grand final and know, the teams have changed a bit, but there's still like a few players around that were in that game. So, you know, yeah,
00:02:54
Speaker
yeah Yeah, the memories will deep for a few of those boys. There's still enough players in each team to remember that grand final, where it was, how it felt, especially if you were on the losing end as Maitland were. So, you know, and another narrative to be written in the men's competition.
Episode Overview & Shoutout
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:15
Speaker
But yeah, that's what we'll be getting stuck into in today's episode. We'll certainly be covering, you know, giving a recap of the qualifying finals and the elimination finals that happened on the weekend. um And then we'll also be previewing the upcoming semifinals and preliminary finals.
00:03:32
Speaker
But before we get stuck into that, we will be talking about some of the awards as well that have been announced over the last week. and how the voting system works for each award. But even before that, I just want to give a quick shout-out to Grant Kesey-Keys, who's one of the colour commentators for the Canberra Gunners.
00:03:51
Speaker
He was on the mic this weekend when the Gunners lost to the Maitland Mustangs at home and very kindly gave Eastcott Game a shout-out and even referenced our point on Airlocky about putting Will Mayfield in the post.
00:04:07
Speaker
How good. That's so good. i Yeah. Sharing the love. um Thanks, Kesey. Appreciate it Much appreciated, Kesey. I mean, we say this every season. We're always surprised that people, A, listen to the podcast and B, probably find some points with us that they either agree, disagree with, or can use in some way. We've even had some coaches say, chat to us in our Instagram DMs about how sometimes our review of a game is exactly how they saw it or they've taken some of our tips and scouting notes as well into consideration for their preparations for future rounds. So it's always a massive compliment when we get that
Crediting Sources in Broadcasting
00:04:50
Speaker
feedback. But also...
00:04:52
Speaker
lots of broadcasters whether you're amateur or professional will kind of take these points from different outlets and not give the original outlet credit so that was the even more of a compliment i think that he that keys he very kindly kind of uh referenced us yeah i mean there's been so i could um on the women's foot women's football side which i'm sure everyone knows i'm a big fan of as well i used to post live before they were on the fifa website live calculations of the women's world rankings and i post them and then there'd be a commentator who just who follows me on twitter or instagram wherever i posted them it'd just be talking i'd be watching the batildas again they talk about the world rankings i'm like come on guys
00:05:39
Speaker
I know you're only doing that yourself. Mm-hmm. Yes. I remember it even happened in WNBL in a couple of seasons ago where, you know, some of ourselves or our close friends would be tweeting something and lo and behold, the lead commentator would be saying something, if not verbatim, but very similar. Yeah.
00:06:00
Speaker
But there we go. So, yeah, thanks so much, Keezy. Sorry your Gunners couldn't get the win on the weekend, but we'll talk about that a little bit later on. But should we get into the awards are so far, Lockie?
Youth Player of the Year Discussion
00:06:13
Speaker
I think we should because ah there's been some more awards, there's been some nominations. There's always been a lot of ands always been a lot of chat about the awards. Always the chat. Always the chat.
00:06:25
Speaker
good, bad or otherwise, it still generates conversation. um where would Which reward would you like to kind of start to discuss first?
00:06:38
Speaker
in order In order of posting, in order of release, I should say, East released the Youth Player of the Year for the Women's First. So do you want to start there? Right.
00:06:50
Speaker
I think we can 100% start there. Yeah? Yeah. start there yeah yeah All right. So, yeah, the Women's Youth Player of the Year nominations this year were Caitlin Martin from North, Isabel Smith from COE, Ruby Perkins from Hornsby Keringai, Sari Mowbray from Manly Warringah and Zara Russell from the COE. So pretty star-studded Youth Player of the Year nominations and all players who certainly still don't play like youth. So I think that's even more impressive. um
00:07:24
Speaker
The award ultimately went to Azara Russell from COE, who averaged 16.4 points per game, 3.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds. Thoughts, feelings, Lachie?
00:07:37
Speaker
um I don't don't have any any problem with it. I um i quite like the the ah voting process issue. We might get into that a bit more. I mean...
00:07:50
Speaker
that They're all they're all great young players. I mean, what what more can you say? I don't have any issue with the
Coach of the Year Highlights
00:07:56
Speaker
five that made it I don't have any issue with, I mean, especially the fact that goes off the top 10 in MVP voting. So, you know, you're going to get great players and it's, you know, um yeah, no real issues with it. um
00:08:12
Speaker
Zara had a great season. I mean, so did her teammate, Isabel Smith. um And, I mean, and Zara, I mean, sometimes you get COE players leave early, but zara Zara did leave early, but not very early. So, yeah, I think fair fair enough, fair enough call, to be honest.
00:08:30
Speaker
And how interesting that both Zara and Ruby have left the league early to go start their college careers at the same college. Betts. Very much so, yes. um Yeah, it i mean I think yeah Ruby would have been in with a shout as well, um just her impact on that Hornsby-Karingai team. but um Zara being one of the, I mean, she's the only player who actually graduated from COE this year. So her her standing there as a leader of the program as well, i think I think says a lot. And I mean, it is a combination of objective and well, I guess 321 is close to objective, but it's subjective, but there is ah there is a you know a quantitative measure as well.
00:09:14
Speaker
Correct. ah So congratulations, Zara, for your accolade. And so maybe we'll get into the Men's Youth Player of the Year nominees. Four of the five nominees were from the COE, including Nyon Dickerson for Ale, ah Paul, and then Bailey Hansen from Norse rounding out the...
00:09:34
Speaker
five um Now, this one certainly generated a lot of chat, you know, comments online saying may as well be a COE starting five.
00:09:45
Speaker
Simon Caprez must be too old, right? Which I don't know. Look, I'll be honest. I can't tell how old a lot of these people are anymore. It's hard to tell.
00:09:56
Speaker
So for me, Caprez, was he too old? No, he's eligible. He was eligible. Right, because he he plays like someone that would be too old. So that's why when I saw that in the comments, I was surprised that he would have been eligible.
00:10:11
Speaker
um More comments saying that COE shouldn't be allowed to get this award. It's literally the best young talent in Australia. um And more saying that everyone else should be feeling hard done by ah what what the way you initial What was your initial reaction when this five was announced?
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:35
Speaker
Look, the idea that COA shouldn't be eligible for the award because it's all the best young players in Australia. Isn't that the point of the award to give it to the best young player? Like what, Madison Ryan can't win NBL One South Youth Player of the Year because she's the best young player in Australia?
00:10:51
Speaker
Just because she doesn't, you know, just because they play for COA, you know, it's not like they're finishing six and 14 and getting players in the Young Player of the Year award. and the fact that they spread out the MVP votes enough that um they could have four in the top 10 of under 23 players is you know that's solid um I will say that the women's league there are more under 23 players spread across the league that are doing MVP vote level things you know doing enough to get MVP votes more regularly than in the men's league
00:11:32
Speaker
But I did like a little bit of mass, like got some efficiency scores, you know player ratings per game and took the top three. And all these these four COE guys, you know it's not a perfect analog for three, two, one voting, but you know it's a ballpark figure. And um you know those four guys were all up there. um Prepares, I think probably hard done by, but tough to get votes when your team's not winning, especially getting three votes.
00:12:00
Speaker
yeah know, even if you're the best player out there, if your team doesn't win, it's very rare that a coach is going to give the three votes. um Cam Pender, can we give him a ah career young player award?
00:12:12
Speaker
Because he's been a... far ah this is I'm pretty
Defensive Player of the Year Analysis
00:12:14
Speaker
sure he's still eligible this year. 2004, I'm pretty sure he's born. um You know, he's been a finalist every year and lost out to COE guys years.
00:12:25
Speaker
ah last three years um So people say Bailey MacArthur, obviously great player. Not sure how many MVP votes he would have got in that Sutherland team. I think Robertson and Spurgeon might have taken up a lot of the votes Sutherland got. So he might not have even been top 10 in the 23s. Don't know, don't have the numbers. If he was and someone knows, let us know. um But look,
00:12:56
Speaker
I don't know if I mean, at the end of the day, it was the top 10 MVP voting. Then it went back to the coaches to give a 3-2-1. So the coaches, obviously between them, decided these four COE boys were all amongst the top.
00:13:10
Speaker
And then Bailey Gibson's ex-COE as well. Yeah, yeah. Well, see, I think what the what we need to remember, I think also i should say props to BNSW because they always cop heat, especially with the Youth Player of the Year awards. They've copped heat for it the last couple of years. I remember when, you know, Anthony Mundine as well, the third wasn't included, I think, what, last year and people were upset about it, but that came back on Comets as a club for not nominating him. Yeah.
00:13:42
Speaker
things like that. But then, so props to Basketball new south wales They've actually put... in the post how this is determined. So according to the NBL One East official Instagram announcement post, it's at the conclusion of the regular season.
00:14:00
Speaker
The top 10 under 23 players in the MVP voting are shortlisted. So it's the same thing like you were alluding to before. You finish your game, you do your 3-2-1s for MVP,
00:14:13
Speaker
and then of that final shortlist that's under 23 players from that mvp list the one to five are then the top five for this so it's not like that the under 23 players are judged differently or under different circumstances to MVP of the league. They're in the same pool, then they're separated. So these five players have had to make such an impact in their individual games when they're playing against the other players who are under 23 or those that are over, and then it is whittled down to this five. So I think people need to remember
00:14:51
Speaker
that that is how it works. It's not just like willy nilly we're going to pick the the top five on the top of our head who our favourite is of the day. And I mean, last year the club's got to nominate one player each and I mean Anthony Mundine and so it should have been nominated over Ethan Martin Coney. I think that's fair enough to say but yes no matter, I mean, there would have been other nominations that weren't as egregious that people would still be upset about if they knew who got nominated over who and People are arcing up over this format. They're arcing up over the note club's nominate format.
00:15:31
Speaker
What format do you want? To quote the notebook, what do you want? That's the only quote from the notebook I know and I will not quote from the notebook again. um But, yeah, so that's how I think that this is a much fairer way to do it. it takes the onus off the club to nominate the right person because if you do have, you know, if you are like ah a team that do have a really strong team um under 23 group and you could only nominate one person like how you going to do that do you be strategic do you be fair so it takes the owners off the club which i think is a good move it puts the under 23 players in the pool with the whole league compare them to the whole league Compare your Bailey Hansons to your Todd Blanchfields and then whittle it down.
00:16:18
Speaker
um yeah And also in the bylaws as well that we were provided um to help talk about this particular topic on the episode, coaches cannot vote for players from their own team.
00:16:29
Speaker
So then the COE coach, after, you know, there's a short list of the under 23 players taken from the MVP list, the COE coach can't then and go and put all of his votes on his own players.
00:16:41
Speaker
exactly And also in the 3-2-1 voting per game, they also say um the league shall monitor coach voting and where appropriate votes not cast in accordance with the criteria in within the spirit of voting is empowered to request a coach to recast their votes after a game.
00:17:00
Speaker
So you can't just feed a player three votes every game regardless of what they do. The league's going be like, no, no, no, let's... like Let's slow your roll here and actually take it seriously. so Because otherwise you could just go and vote, you know, ah coach could just go and vote their star player three votes all 20 games, regardless of what they do, and just, know, pretty much guide them to at least MVP shortlist and an all-star five spot. so Yeah.
00:17:28
Speaker
So they're they're putting in putting in measures to help avoid it being raped. 100%. hundred percent So sometimes as well, A, people in the comments, read the whole caption. Yeah.
00:17:42
Speaker
And then B, don't come at the league for this because it's not the league that decided. No.
00:17:51
Speaker
No.
MVP Award Process
00:17:52
Speaker
But. So that's that I think I'm glad that we were kindly supplied with the how the voting works so we could talk about this. And then the winner, of course, was a Jack Nyon. Oh, no, sorry, he was Defensive Player of the Year. was Alex Dickerson yes as Youth Player of the Year. And he's also left COE already, I should say graduated, to go start his college career. And he averaged 16.2 points per game.
00:18:19
Speaker
2.9 assists 6.5 rebounds per game for the COE while he was here. And he was a part of the program for a good two, three years. So good for him. I mean, he won huge player of the year.
00:18:31
Speaker
he played 12 games.
00:18:34
Speaker
Luke Paul played 14. Nyon played 18. And it was it Farley was the fourth? fourth not He played 15.
00:18:44
Speaker
So imagine the COE tries to strategically pick Nyon or Farley because they played, you know, more games and think, oh, yeah, we'll go the guy who we think was most likely to win it.
00:18:57
Speaker
Well, the other coaches have come in and said, no, Dickinson dick dickerson is the one we like. So, yeah. Again, not the league, not the COE, but the other coaches from the league has then gone gone forth and voted in the favour of Dickinson. That's how it is. And the other three COE guys as well got enough votes to be in the top five too. so Yeah.
00:19:23
Speaker
So, yeah, that's that's how it works, guys. Let's read the fine print. um But moving along and then after the youth Player of the Year announcements were the Coach of the Year announcements. So for the men's competition, Josh Morgan from Newcastle, Matt Flynn from Illawarra, Sean Roger from Sutherland Sharks, Tim Hill from Manly Warringah, Tom Garlet from Norths were nominated in the men's competition.
00:19:50
Speaker
i mean, flip a five-sided coin. For me, it could be any of them. I think as well sometimes... at the back end of the season with the likes of Miko von Ludis from Crusaders maybe could have had a had an edge, but I think by then it's probably too late to call that kind of stuff. um With the eventual winner being Matt Flynn from the Illawarra Hawks,
00:20:17
Speaker
win-loss record of 16-4 for the season. i think his time had come. I think it was time for Matt Flynn to win. What do you think? Oh, 100%. I mean, as you said, is' there's not much in it. I mean...
00:20:30
Speaker
Tim Hill done a great job with that manly side. Sean Roger once Sutherland got all their pieces together was able to, you know, lead the team to that massive winning run top four. Josh Morgan, likewise in the back end of the season, probably garnered his share of votes from that, you know, coming from absolutely nowhere to be within, you know, a win of making finals.
00:20:56
Speaker
And then madie flynnt Matt Flynn and Tommy Garlip, I mean, tough Tough to split them, but I think, yeah, I think the way I think Matt's just, yeah, the way he's been able to, you know, there's been a little bit of change in the team with Kobe McDowell-White coming out, adding Peatling in, you know, big pieces, but um he's managed to make it all work in a slightly different way. with ah And just the way he's been able to unlock Matt Nims this year as well.
00:21:24
Speaker
I mean, he's only, there the win-win loss record is only one better than it was last year, but it's just the way in which he's done it. He's managed to retool a little bit and get everything working just as well. I mean, that's why i was still so surprised last season that Matt Mooms was coming off the bench and seeing such limited court time when we were like, I'm pretty sure this guy is capable of more than what
Upcoming Finals Overview
00:21:46
Speaker
we're seeing. And here it is in 2026 with the MVP nomination as well, which we'll talk about later.
00:21:53
Speaker
I mean, i think so it would have been so easy for when they lost Kobe to just go, right, we're going to go get another guard. And they didn't. Yeah. i mean, they got Mo Kone later in the season, but, you know, it's definitely not the same.
00:22:11
Speaker
No, no. So it was just being able to adapt and use what he had and was able to recruit and, you know, still have an excellent win-loss record for the season. So was awesome result for him.
00:22:25
Speaker
And then the Women's Coach of the Year nominations were Lauren Curtin from Bankstown Bruins, who we're a big fan of. Melissa Downer from COE, Nate Kerwin, of course, from Manly Warringah, Renee Garland from Norths, and robyn and art robin sorry Rob Merrick from thats Hills Hornets. um an Initial reaction for me, Shaq Shorer.
00:22:50
Speaker
I think that was a big surprise. That was a surprise for me as well. He can't have been far away. um i mean, this these five coaches, I mean, it's, you know, top four teams and then Rob getting Hills to the finals for the first time. So kind of feels like, it just feels like it had to be Rob or Shaq alongside the top four almost as to, you know, who gets the fifth spot. But yeah, I mean, don't have to be dead to be stiff. Yeah.
00:23:24
Speaker
No, that's right. And so just to clarify as well, the coach of the year nominations and ultimate winner is determined by 3-2-1 voting as well, um just by coaches though, so not by coaches and captains or anything like that, just by coaches, so they all vote for each other, um which, you know, can have its own set of issues ah as well. So, yeah, for me, Shaq, you're up.
00:23:55
Speaker
that That omission was pretty was pretty surprising. um The rest, though, was, you know, not surprising at all, really. Yeah, I mean, it's it's like we want him in, but who do you drop?
00:24:09
Speaker
Who do you drop? Yeah, it's really tough. Yeah. um And then ultimately the winner was Renee Gallup from North Spear. So congratulations to Renee with a win-loss record of 20 and 0. There we go.
00:24:22
Speaker
we go um which is outstanding. Of course, you would you naturally one would think that if a coach is going through a regular season undefeated, Coach of the Year of award is
Men's Qualifying & Elimination Recap
00:24:37
Speaker
warranted. However... Yeah, however.
00:24:41
Speaker
We have had this discussion before. We have. ah Where our good friend Sammy Mack... ah went through the regular season undefeated with the Ulri Wodonga Bandits, what, only two seasons ago?
00:24:55
Speaker
hu And unfortunately wasn't ah voted in and awarded the coach of the year that year saying, well, basically I think the attitude around the league from what we we heard was that, of course, he's going to get, ah of course, if they're going to be undefeated. can't not be undefeated with that roster that they had.
00:25:15
Speaker
So they felt like that was almost like cheating. not cheating, but, like, not really worthy of a coach of the of the year award because it's like how much are you actually coaching a roster like that to go undefeated, so to speak?
00:25:28
Speaker
Yeah. Which is you know, ridiculous because it then and then kind of invalidates the other parts of being a coach, of actually making that chemistry and that combination work.
00:25:40
Speaker
making sure that everyone's strengths are celebrated equally. Um, the recruiting, of course, you got to convince these players to come and play. Yeah. I mean, convincing someone to play in Albury and spend a winter in Albury versus spending a winter in North shore, Sydney.
00:25:59
Speaker
i mean, it's a hard sell. No offense, Albury, but it's, it would be a hard sell. i mean, Albury, lovely places bright place, great place being there in winter. Um,
00:26:10
Speaker
Look, having lived through three wogga wogga winters, Aubrey, not much different. i yeah It's cold. Yeah, yeah. it's it It would be freezing. So, ah yeah, so that that's what that is the um the debate that we always come up with. And I think at the same year that Sammy Mack missed out in his undefeated season, or maybe it was last year,
00:26:39
Speaker
No, it was last year where Geelong women in NBL 1 South went undefeated in the regular season and their coach was also awarded Coach of the Year.
00:26:50
Speaker
and had Had a gun team. Had Jazz Shelley on that team too. If you go undefeated and you have Jazz Shelley, then you can win Coach of the Year. Yeah. I think that must be the winning combination. So, Sammy Mack, that's where you went wrong.
00:27:03
Speaker
You didn't have Jazz Shelley. Oh. um Okay, so then we get into Defensive Player of the Year. So I think this time I'm going to read out the criteria.
00:27:15
Speaker
So Defensive Player of the Year is determined by um that at the conclusion of the regular season, coaches must nominate one player from their team to be voted on Defensive Player of the Year, so just one, which would be tough.
00:27:32
Speaker
The list of defensive players will be made available for coaches to allocate votes collectively with a 3-2-1 format. And coaches can't vote for their own players.
00:27:45
Speaker
So this is tricky where the onus is on the coach and the club to nominate one person from their team to put forward for defensive player of the year. So that means ah for the women's it was Caitlin Martin from North, Kiana McCowan from Aubrey Wodonga, Olivia Aleknewitz from COE, Shakira Riley from Maitland Mustangs and Shilah Hill from Bankstown Bruins.
00:28:12
Speaker
And the winner was Caitlin Martin from North. Mm-hmm. which we love that. we've've We've been watching Caitlin Martin since, you know, for a long time. I remember coaching against her when she was playing for Penrith in under-18s as a junior.
00:28:26
Speaker
and now to see her go strength to strength in the NBL1 East, DP with the Flames, and now rewarded with Defensive Player of the Year. okay Awesome stuff. Well done, Caitlin.
00:28:38
Speaker
um ah Any surprises in this five for you in the end? i don't think that's... I mean... I mean, the the obvious thing is, and I know it's been brought up in the comments, is no Manly Warringah player.
00:28:53
Speaker
But, I mean, they are the best defensive team, defensive rating team. But I think what we said over the years about Manly Warringah is their team defence is what gets it done. They play very good defence as a collective.
00:29:11
Speaker
um And you sort of... I mean, they they obviously have good defenders. Don't get me wrong. Great. I mean, obviously great defenders.
00:29:24
Speaker
But you can't hang your hat on team defense and get upset that one specific player didn't make the top five out of 16 nominated players.
00:29:36
Speaker
Yeah. this It's also the interesting wrinkle here in that North... could have just as easily nominated Isabel Morgan for this award and won it.
00:29:48
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Which is scary if you are coming up against the Norse backcourt, but just an interesting wrinkle in that, you know, in where the teams choose a single player again and this time, like, you know...
00:30:07
Speaker
are there other players out there who weren't nominated for certain other teams that we don't even know because they, the player they nominated finished outside the top five. Yeah, that's right. It's ah yeah. And so the argument here in the comments is like, yeah, like you said, number one defensive tier, number one defensive team in the league, and then no nominations. um They're cohesive and they defend together. They have elite one-on-one defenders.
00:30:37
Speaker
Yeah, they do. They do have all of those things.
Women's Qualifying Finals Analysis
00:30:40
Speaker
But if you're only put up with one, like that's... I don't think, again, people are reading the caption in the post explaining how this is determined.
00:30:54
Speaker
Coaches have to have one person. So of that manly squad, who are you putting up? Yeah. Like Nate Kerwin would be spoilt for choice. And...
00:31:05
Speaker
You probably always hurt your own chances because you're such a good defensive team and that, you know, you don't have a standout, standout defender. You walk away from a game against Manly and go, oh, they all play defense really well together.
00:31:19
Speaker
Maybe you don't have someone who shows up as a standout, especially now that you don't have any Henderson in that team. Yeah, of course. Of course. He always had the edge. being able to guard, you know, one to five.
00:31:30
Speaker
I mean, Josie Redan is also able to do guard the one to five. um But is she someone who leads the team, that Manly team defensively in a similar way that someone like Zoe or Alex would lead that team offensively?
00:31:46
Speaker
Like the go-to. Because any of those players in the Manly team could be the go-to. So I'd be really interested to know who that one player was that, coach curlan put forward and i write they would have been six oh i definitely think so yeah um but you make a point as well izzy morgan very easily could have been put in and and won but even jazz shelley could have been put in and won um But I was really stoked to see the likes of Aleknewicz and Riley and McCowan.
00:32:19
Speaker
Like just just having some new names in the mix in the conversation of who our outstanding players ah of the league as a whole. I mean, McCowan is going to St Mary's for college next year.
00:32:33
Speaker
Aleknewicz literally just one defensive player of the Under-17 World Cup.
00:32:40
Speaker
And Shaq's been known just to be a menace defensively all the time. She's the three and D player of the NBL One East. And she'll do it all while smiling at you.
00:32:52
Speaker
Yeah, she's the smiling menace. Yeah, smiling assassin. defensive player of the year for the men's competition. We had a Jack Nyon, Jason Spurgeon, Maddie Waiter, Ryan Beastie getting a call up, which I was a big fan of and Will Mayfield as well. So ah in the comments, also some people saying it's about time that beast, that beastie bloke gets some flowers.
00:33:20
Speaker
I say that verbatim. Um, Some people surprised that Mo Kone from Illawarra wasn't in the five. um And what's here again,
00:33:34
Speaker
the the The one person who's going to comment in the section about Manly, just about the omission of Isaiah Lee. How the coaches have completely dismissed how much of a menace he was against their respective teams is interesting. Well, we probably have to go to Tim Hill to confirm that Isaiah Lee was the nomination nominated player from that team in the first place.
Women's Finals Preview
00:33:58
Speaker
You would probably expect he is. Yeah. But... You never know. You never know. that Yeah, the coaches can keep that to their chest as well.
00:34:09
Speaker
um So, yeah, again, let's let's read... the captions correctly but this five i was pretty stoked for manny waiter ah and ryan ryan beastie to get into the five this season because again two two guys that have been in this league for so so long consistently good staples for their respective teams um so it was really nice to see them making the five this season Yeah, I mean, I've been Comets for a few seasons. I've seen a fair bit of Matty Waiter over the years and Comets probably could have ah used him this year. But ah we move on because now and he's moved on. He's at North.
00:34:52
Speaker
He is just tenacious on defence. He is. So, I mean, that's how love watching him play.
00:35:02
Speaker
Didn't love watching him play a couple of weeks ago in Sutherland, but ah he's just, I mean, you're just right. It's just good to see him getting, you know, getting a nomination as a defensive player of the year because he's he's been there or thereabouts for a very long time and kind of hangs his hat on his defence, which is something you love to see. think what I like about this five, especially for the men's compared the women's, is the variety of positions.
00:35:26
Speaker
o um i Like, I think all of the... All the women's nominations are all guards. I mean, three of the five nominations in the women are point guards.
00:35:40
Speaker
And then Aleknewicz can guard, you know, two to four. Shaq can guard one to four, one to three. um Whereas in the men's, like that was a a big variety of different defenders, obviously. a Jack Nyon, Spurgeon, Beastie playing more on the inside, Mayfield being able to defend inside and outside, and then, of course, Waiter dominating the backcourt. So I kind of like that variation in these nominations.
00:36:08
Speaker
You could almost call that a defensive team of the year and slot them in. Well, well, well, I do like ah your train of thought there because earlier today we did put out on our Instagram stories if anyone had any kind of suggestions or ah talking points regarding the um nominations and the awards.
00:36:32
Speaker
And someone did did respond with, when I pull it up,
00:36:39
Speaker
ah Yeah, I'll make Jacob Farah, photographer extraordinaire from the Stangers, all-star defensive five next year. So just like an all-star five, should we have an all-star defensive five?
00:36:53
Speaker
Or essentially is this it? this This essentially is it because the all-star five now is positionless.
00:37:04
Speaker
If you're talking about an all defensive team where you actually have to pick two guards, two forwards in a centre or two inside, two outside, and then kind of a like a third guard or a for a third forward.
00:37:17
Speaker
Why not? Why not? just yeah it' just I mean, you already got the votes there. just tell the coaches they've got a pick someone as a guard and pick, you know, nominate them as a guard or a forward and make sure they're not being silly about it. And, you know, picking a guard as a big, just because you know, they're going to get votes and get them in the team.
00:37:39
Speaker
Yes. Well, this is how that has certainly happened before. It certainly has. um But ah yeah, this this is essentially like a all-star defensive team.
00:37:51
Speaker
um If someone's able to do the maths out there to calculate their individual defensive ratings and then put them together and see what this team could be, i don't know if that's possible.
00:38:05
Speaker
It is because I know the data is out there, but I ain't doing it. I don't want to tempt you. Please don't go down that rabbit hole. I'm not going to. But nonetheless, Defensive Player of the Year in the men's competition went to Jack Nyon.
00:38:21
Speaker
The COE. that's, um so like we said before, each coach nominates one player. He was nominated from COE. Coaches then do a 3-2-1 and the coaches collectively have selected a Jack Nguyen as defensive player of the year. so good for him.
00:38:39
Speaker
Great to see. Great work, young man.
00:38:43
Speaker
And then we've got... ah Oh, that's it. Yeah. So that's what most of the awards. It's just the MVP to be announced now.
00:38:54
Speaker
Yeah. The ah nominations are out. Yes. For both. In due time. um I mean, off for the episode, obviously. Yes. Not for anything else. So...
00:39:08
Speaker
um so For All-Star 5, again, at the conclusion of the regular season, the top 20 players in MVP voting will be compiled in a list that will be made available for coaches to select ah to select collectively the NBL One East All-Star 5 by allocating votes to the five different players in a 5-4-3-2-1 type vote.
00:39:37
Speaker
The players accumulating the most votes will be MVP award winners. The players shall be placed in order from the most to the least accumulated votes.
00:39:49
Speaker
So that's a good way to do it rather than having separate kind of like this one's this one you vote for MVP and this one you vote for All-Star 5. Am I right? Yeah. that's a yeah well I was never really a fan of that.
00:40:02
Speaker
And I actually love this voting format. I like the 3-2-1 during the season because you'll get a ballpark figure of who's been good and it'll give you a good solid shortlist.
00:40:16
Speaker
And then you can, and then go to the vote for what they've actually done throughout the season. Because if you had 10 three point games, you know, three vote games and then duck eggs the rest of the way, you might still get generated enough three, two, one votes to be in the top five for the season.
00:40:35
Speaker
But did you have as good a season as someone who got say a lot of one and two point games, but not as many total votes? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. all yeah who polled in fifteen or sixteen games when most of them were wonbo games yeah yeah that's right so they're still the coach of each team still award three players they consider the game's mvp after each game awarding three two one and then plus the end of season voting for the allar five um But the thing that we always come back to when we talk about awards every year that we need to remember because there were some omissions. So people, if we take a look at...
00:41:14
Speaker
the men's, particularly some people ah notice that Jason Spurgeon wasn't counted in, wasn't included in the top 10 men's MVP. ah Also Will Cranston-Lowne, not in there. But you'll also notice that no one from Canberra Gunners is in there this season.
00:41:36
Speaker
No Will Mayfield, no Glenn Morrison. so And ah obviously two from Illawarra.
00:41:44
Speaker
COE, two from Crew, which is which is good, and only one from North, considering that they're on top. Oh, no, two from North, sorry, two from North. um But I think people got to remember as well, number of games played, so there were certainly some players out there who were either injured or away for something else, but also the good point that you always bring up every Lockie, is that it's a 3-2-1,
00:42:12
Speaker
And even though you have, say, a big three in a team, if there's a day where Will Cranston, someone like Will Cranston-Lowne isn't having, is he's like he's he's having a good day, but then you've got someone like Rain Smith, Myles Cherry, Billy Parsons having an even better day, they're going to take the votes over him. So it's all about splitting the votes with your your own teammates that are playing just as well on the day as well. So it's not so much, not just so much... ah Favourism or something, but it's like, hey, maybe your teammate did better.
00:42:45
Speaker
I mean, I look at this and like,
00:42:50
Speaker
um yeah, on the face, I'm thinking about like, yeah, no Spurgeon seems crazy, but then you see Tyler Robertson's in. And then like our coaches looking at just the run the Sharks have been on since Robertson came in, you know, just his overall effect.
00:43:08
Speaker
And then they're reticent to give two Sharks players votes in their top five kind of thing. Just throwing out, you know, just throwing out theories here. um Same with Cranston-Lown, you know, saw how Rain Smith was. Are they just, you know, reluctant to give two players from the same team you votes.
00:43:33
Speaker
And then probably flies in the face looking at, you know, crew getting two, but Young and Maker were just such massive parts of that thing. Like, that was just about a big two a lot of the way for the crew.
00:43:45
Speaker
So you're you're probably getting coaches that are, like, really high on one of them kind of thing, you know. Might have got eight coaches gave Garrick a four or a three, and the other eight coaches gave Maker a four or a three or a five kind of thing.
00:44:01
Speaker
Look, this is an NBA all-star, NBA MVP voting where we get the full breakdown of everything. So I know exactly how many votes everyone got, but um
00:44:15
Speaker
when you have this three, two, one into another coach's vote, there's so many different ways the votes can fall all season. Yeah, totally. And, like, you don't know you also don't know what the other coaches kind of value in a sense as well of what they see as an MVP. So if you look at Spurgeon and Robertson in the same team for the Sharks, even if they're putting out – they're making similar contributions when you're watching the game, but it might just be in different ways depending on what you remember in terms of like what's on the stat sheet, what happened at particular moments, who had, you know, a little bit more of a flashy game compared to the other. Because I can certainly see as well for Maitland with Will Cranston-Lowne and Rainn Smith, Cranston-Lowne's responsibility is more around now controlling the tempo, facilitating, getting other people open.
00:45:10
Speaker
um and all of those things that he does well are not necessarily on the stat sheet when you're looking at it at the end of the game. So he might still have, you know, like 14, 10 and 5, but then you look then at Rain Smith and he might have like 29 and 8 or something and like, oh, wow, Rain Smith had seven threes.
00:45:31
Speaker
That looks good on the sheet. I'm going to put in that without actually remembering who added more to the context of the game sometimes. And if you're a coach, how many times are you really watching each team in depth?
00:45:47
Speaker
Like a full game. Yeah. You might watch their last game when you're doing the scout for your upcoming game, and then you've got your game against them. And then after that, you're probably not watching whole games to see how they're doing very often.
00:46:03
Speaker
So if you only played them once, you might have only watched this team. twice, maybe a couple more times if you get the chance to sit down and watch them. um And even like the boating, like, you know, it comes down, you know, you look and go,
00:46:19
Speaker
um But you've got two players who are very similar. They're both on this list. You've got to vote to give you like, oh, do I pick, you know, let's throw two names out there. Do pick Lockie Hutchison or James Tua, you know? Oh, they guarded each other, Sutherland v Canberra. Who won that battle?
00:46:36
Speaker
You know, is that what it comes down to? Coaches have different reasons for voting for different things. Everybody prioritises different things. And in the end, you've got...
00:46:51
Speaker
what, 15 points of votes to give out? And this is what we got. Sorry. So yeah, 15 points of votes to give out. And this is the 10 we came up with.
00:47:02
Speaker
Yeah. So it's always going to be hard. um But I think like, but ah I can't remember what I was going to say. But yeah, I think of the 10 though, like solid 10, solid 10. So just to round it out, men's top 10 MVPs ah in contention for MVP nominations. So we've got Fabian Krislovich from Norse, Garrick Young from Crew, Jafar Ale from COE, Lachlan Bofager from Norse, Matt Mims from Illawarra, Maturah Maker from Crew,
00:47:40
Speaker
Quinn Blazinski from Manly, Warringah, Rain Smith from Stangers, Todd Blanchfield from Hawks, Tyler Robertson from Sutherland Sharks.
00:47:53
Speaker
And, I mean, look at that. Like, that's a really solid team. um I think it's going to be hard to pick who's really going to run away with it. Do you think it's going to be Blanchfield's again?
00:48:08
Speaker
no, don't know.
00:48:12
Speaker
I don't don't think he could, I mean, he didn't exactly run away with it last year, did he? I i do think, i would say it is probably it is probably his um
00:48:30
Speaker
I think if it was on, probably it was on 3-2-1, he might have it by a clearer, just straight 3-2-1. He might even have it on a clearer margin. But um the teammate in there always makes it tricky. But I do think just, yeah.
00:48:42
Speaker
Leading the team to sixteen and four
00:48:48
Speaker
Yeah. You put me on the spot here, Squid. wasn't expecting a... I wasn't expecting... Predictions....I'll go to Blanchfield, win it again. But bugger it, why not? Yeah.
00:49:00
Speaker
uh look we we won't be placing any bets for sure we're just happy we just want that's against integrity anyway we can't place yeah correct correct it certainly is against integrity so we won't definitely won't be doing that uh let's take a look now at the women's top mv top 10 mvps so we've got alex delaney from manly warringa Emily Lytle from Aubrey Wodonga, Jazz Shelley from Norse Bears, Meg Jefferson and Nicole Bunger, both from Newcastle Falcons, Ruby Perkins in from Hornsby, Keringai Spiders, Shia Hill from Bankstown, Talia Brugler from Norse, Yannick Thompson from Aubrey Wodonga and Zoe Miller from ah Manly Warringah.
00:49:50
Speaker
So given that Norse are undefeated, they've got two, which is kind of expected. ah Two from Albury, two from Manly, two from Newcastle, and then we've got obviously one from Bankstown and one from Hornsby.
00:50:06
Speaker
Pretty... pretty expected i think for me i think so i love meg jefferson getting in me too i was so excited to see meg jefferson included i think she surprised herself as well um because i sent her a congratulations and she's like what is going on was like because she'd been balling all season do do you watch yourself play Yeah, have you seen your stats? to Have you watched yourself play? Like, i don't know, something has just clicked for her this season. She looks way more relaxed.
00:50:43
Speaker
She looks a lot more comfortable and confident in what she's doing. But she's just broadened her game so much as well. um Like that game I commentated where they played against Crusaders a few weeks ago, pulling out some guard skills, being able to defend a bit better on the perimeter.
00:51:01
Speaker
No, really, really chuffed for Meg to be making this top 10.
00:51:08
Speaker
But again, this is a tight top 10. ah But yeah, pretty guard heavy. is. Yeah, with only really three fours and fives included in the mix.
00:51:25
Speaker
I think De Freitas from Bankstown, she must have been kind of close. Yeah, I mean, between Shiloh, Talia and Margot.
00:51:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, probably, again, spreading around the votes a bit and one of them one of them gets a spot. I mean, that as good as Talia and Margot have been, that is, Shiloh just has been otherworldly at times this season.
00:51:57
Speaker
Paul Kingman, know, there are some teams out there and probably mentioned that when we talk, we talk about mainly banks down it seems out there to make it hard for everybody else to score, but they don't make it that hard for Charlotte to school. Shilohan Shachmurove, No, definitely it's a yeah it's pretty tough out there. Shilohan Shachmurove, Ruby Perkins in the inclusion obviously one of the youth player of the year nominations and then.
00:52:24
Speaker
like we were explaining earlier how that's actually now determined from the pool of MVP votes. So for her, not only to be in Youth Player of the Year contention, but then now to make the top 10 of the MVP with everyone else, that's ah that's pretty pretty good going. Yeah, it's interesting that... um
00:52:46
Speaker
I mean, it might come down to having five votes versus three that or who you vote for is that, you know, Ruby got top ten here but didn't get Youth Player of the Year. Zara did get Youth Player of the Year but didn't make the votes here.
00:53:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That math ain't mathin' for me. Not quite. No. But no.
00:53:14
Speaker
We'll leave it. um we'll Yeah, we'll leave it. We'll leave it. So, yeah, that's going to be another close race. um And, yeah, so that's the that's the last one to be announced. I don't think I have any other further notes from the kind of bylaws around the league awards that – we need to share. I think the only thing is the league awards is that the conclusion of each completed season, the league will present the following awards, blah, blah, blah. In the event that 80%. Yeah. So all of that's covered yeah more or less. I don't think that has changed too much.
00:53:53
Speaker
um But yeah, that's, that's our awards. And I do appreciate the graphics being very clear in what award it is compared to some other conferences where,
00:54:07
Speaker
They went with the heading or the title of the award, like being all fancy in the background of the graphic and I had no idea what a award it was. The player is actually standing in front of the award they won.
00:54:19
Speaker
Yeah. And so the title is like in the background, almost like some kind of fadeaway thing. like I have no idea what that says. And it says like NBL won player's head of the year. And it's like, what did they win? Yeah.
00:54:33
Speaker
or ah the title The title almost looks like a decoration in the background where like on a horizon. Yeah. It's not good. Not good. um But, yeah, that's the awards. We'll wait to see. Oh, actually, the one question that we had about said MVPs,
00:54:56
Speaker
with the top 10 in MVP votes announced, will we get a first and second team? Well, I mean, if it's now based purely on MVP voting and they're going to announce an all-star five and they've announced the top 10, you've pretty much by process of elimination given us our second team.
00:55:18
Speaker
So you may as well just call it a second team and announce it and give them something. Yeah, I think so. I think so. Yeah. All right. So any more about the awards before we move on, Lockie? Yeah.
00:55:29
Speaker
ah No, I think that has gone on a lot longer than we both expected it to. Yes, it did. you are correct. ah Anyway, let's get quickly get into the recap of the qualifying finals and the elimination finals that were. Would you like to do matt ah men's or women's first? Well, I did my notes in the same order as the run sheet, so let's go men's first. All right, let's do the same order as the run sheet. Who is the first cab off the rank?
00:55:59
Speaker
The first cap off the rank is the men's qualifying final, which saw Illawarra defeat Manly Warringah 86-65.
00:56:10
Speaker
Oh, yes. Now, did you manage to catch any of this game? I did. I watch i watched the ah the condensed game back. i had to say watch I did see little bit of it. i am I can ah actually bring up my finals recap notes and not next week's preview. It might help. Yeah.
00:56:29
Speaker
I thought, I mean, ah lot of it, or not a lot of it, but I thought the most intriguing thing was Shimanga getting down low, ceiling, getting the ball inside versus Mason Peatling beating people up the floor and Illawarra. It was basically so size and strength versus speed. Mason Peatling is not a small man, but compared to Shimanga,
00:56:58
Speaker
It was a very, um very, ah you know, very disparate styles between the ah the two big men in there. And I thought it was a r was a very, very good ah good battle. that um Well, I mean, Peatling won out in the end because he was ah he was massive for them. But I do think Manly had some success um inside, but I think Peatling was just absolutely...
00:57:26
Speaker
Steve Tombsonkamp, for them throughout the game, I mean he finished with 24 and seven but did it, he was eight or 10 from two point range and they're not you know. Tombsonkamp, Manly got height in there to ah to disrupt him, but he was ah some of those shots he was making were not you know they were gliding in and just finishing off the glass he wasn't even really engaging the defender on every occasion, which was beautiful.
00:57:50
Speaker
Yeah, he was he had the magic touch this game, Peatling. There was even one drive he did where it didn't look like it should have been a shot. It was almost like a layup he took from the block over a defender, it fading away at a weird angle, and it just slotted straight in.
00:58:09
Speaker
Yeah, the gods were in his favour this game. He had 24.7 rebounds, four assists and five steals, shooting at 59% overall. um So it was interesting that the likes of, you know, it's it's finals time. I always say finals time, the magic happens. Other people step up. Other people have big games. Sometimes the studs, you know,
00:58:32
Speaker
go a little bit quiet. Blanchfield had 10 points, eight rebounds, three assists, which is definitely on the more quiet side for him. But he didn't need to because you had Peatling on 24, Kone on 21, Mims on 18.
00:58:47
Speaker
Blanchfield, he could just shoot two from 10 and his team would still get the win. I think that's the way write down. When you've got those four, you only need three of the four to go well on any given night and you're Going to be right in more than just right in there. They ended up dominating this game.
00:59:05
Speaker
um Very, very good to see. I'm due to Connie in the early stages, knock down those two early threes, really set Illawarra on their way. They were, they were his only buckets of the night, but he came out and was like, boy.
00:59:18
Speaker
Let's go just sat there in the corner buried a couple and then Ethan Moss came on He was one of five, but he hit one early as well. um Those two guys, they only combined for 28 minutes. I've seen him play a bit more total minutes in the past, but we've said those rotations get a lot shorter at finals time, but still great pieces to have.
00:59:41
Speaker
Kone, Kone five of nine from three. I mean, Pete Ling, I mean, your bigger men, Blanchfield and Pete Ling were four of 17. The rest of the team was 11 of 25 from three-point lands. So, know, the other start is stepping up for the the Hawks, who I think the biggest start, five turnovers to 17. I've never committed five turnovers for the entire game.
01:00:10
Speaker
that's That's pretty remarkable. Hmm. I mean, um mean manly didnt yeah sorry you do as yeah in a game where, you know, both teams only had 10, both teams had the same number of offensive rebounds.
01:00:23
Speaker
Illawarra was still able to put up 18 more shots than Illawarra. Illawarra was able to put up 18 more shots than Manly in the game.
01:00:33
Speaker
Because they cut shetickin vi all they took better care of the ball. Yeah. Yeah, they were, yeah, it was a real masterclass from Illawarra. Manly, unfortunately, struggling from the three-point line, shooting only 25%. There was zero from five in the fourth quarter from the three-point line.
01:00:53
Speaker
um And to be fair, you know, Hawks were only one of eight from in the fourth quarter as well. But when they shot five from 11 in the first quarter, five from 10, in the second quarter, um that's going to be, that's that's kind of where you're living and dying by the three.
01:01:09
Speaker
But then Illawarra went to keep Manly to only seven points in the fourth quarter, winning 18-7 as well. um Yeah, they had all facets of the game covered in this in this outing. Yeah, they're locked in, the Illawarra Hawks. they are They are coming for it this year.
01:01:32
Speaker
And they had 945 people in attendance according to the box score. So i didn't know the snake pit could fit that many people in, but they found a way and we knew it was going to be heaving.
01:01:46
Speaker
And, yeah, they've got over 900 people in the door. So it would have been such a cool atmosphere. That was, i mean, it looked, it looked massive. Like that space they have down behind the the far baseline opposite end of the bar. It's like that looked, that looked packed as well. You know, yeah, was just 940. That is really, really, that is just massive.
01:02:09
Speaker
ah but Most venues in NBL1 would even hold 945 people. five people Yeah, yeah. I don't. That's why i was surprised by that number. um But other big numbers at the North and Sutherland, the North Bears-Sutherland Sharks game, they had 600 in attendance.
01:02:29
Speaker
So that's pretty solid. North winning that one 93 79. Three-point percentage was a difference in the game, I think, again. ah Again, finals time. Mm-hmm.
01:02:44
Speaker
anyones It's anyone's game. Sutherland opening up their score with Bailey MacArthur scoring their first five points. And then this was the Bailey versus Bailey show for me, Hanson versus ah MacArthur. Hanson had that buzzer beater at halftime. he is got he's I just had a bit of a snoop online.
01:03:05
Speaker
He's currently down in Canberra at the Emus camp, Bailey Hanson. Yeah. because I try to zoom in and see who I recognise. I certainly recognise him. um Obviously outside the COE roster.
01:03:18
Speaker
But he, oh my God, he's going to be an outstanding player. Like, he's already an outstanding player for his age and the way he carries himself at NBL 1 in a team like North against a team like Sutherland. Like, he is going to be an awesome talent.
01:03:36
Speaker
Oh, I mean, yeah, he's he's there with, you know, three NBL guys in the starting line-up. And another NBL guy off the bench in Goodrick. So just, he he walks he looks the part in that team.
01:03:51
Speaker
I like that you brought up Bailey MacArthur because so much of what he does is about his explosiveness and his speed just getting off the floor with the ball.
01:04:02
Speaker
And I really wish the Sharks had Harrison Rainer in this game. I thought that was a big out. If Bailey McArthur was having that success, who's the other energizer bunny in that Sutherland team? It's Harrison Rayner.
01:04:14
Speaker
And he's been in such good form this season as well. i Really, ah I don't know if it would have changed the result considering it the margin was 26 at one point, but it, geez, it would have given the Sharks a real fighting chance, I think.
01:04:30
Speaker
And maybe just another scoring option when there's so much attention on Spurgeon and Hutchinson and Robbo. And Robbo looked like he was doing most of the wheeling and dealing. But North's defence was pretty outstanding this game. They were wearing him like a glove, like nothing... came easy. And even if Waiter was guarding Robbo, you know, at the start of the possession and then they go and switch, he'd be switching and then Boffinger would be guarding him and or Mitchell would be guarding him. Like he, nothing came easy for Tyler Roberts in this game.
01:05:05
Speaker
um But then, yeah, Walker, ah equally Lucas Walker, with all of his experience, he was giving Hunter Goodrick a bit of a hard time in parts of this game as well. So giving it right back to him. Weinstein coming in for some good minutes as well for Norse. But the thing I liked the most about this game from both teams was just fundamentally exceptional.
01:05:29
Speaker
Everyone in terms of, yeah, always like individually their fundamentals were excellent, floor spots, spacing, the way people are catching the ball, their read and react, their sharing of the ball, like excellent, just stunning.
01:05:46
Speaker
the NBL talent and level of caliber that we expected from this game. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you mentioned Robbo going two or 12 from three, and then you go back to Rainer, who's 50% from three point land this season. So it's another shooting option out there. Oh, well, there's no point in... ah dealing with the Dealing in the past now, got roll up on Saturday night against the Stangers and try to make it two from two against the team we last played in round two. So before Tyler Robertson was even with the Sutherland Sharks. So um not yeah not a lot of form to take out of that previous meeting for Sutherland and Maitland, I don't think.
01:06:34
Speaker
nope not at all and maddie waitcher in this game having five from eight from the three-point line um which is probably some of his best shooting of the season i mean i mentioned i mentioned last week that it was 19 turnovers for the sharks versus dismal three-point shooting for the bears and the ah The Sharks had reigned it in to only 12 turnovers, but 17 of 43 from deep for North. That is night and day to what they produced at Sutherland the week before.
01:07:06
Speaker
Yeah. um All right. And then we had the first elimination final. We had COE and the Central Coast Crusaders. Central Coast Crusaders taking the busload down to Canberra and getting it done on the road.
01:07:22
Speaker
94 to 81. The COE had eight players rostered, but they only played seven. They didn't have Luke Paul available. And Antonio Brown only had two shot attempts in this game, which I thought was weird.
01:07:39
Speaker
ah Luke Cassidy for the Crusaders had 11 of their team total, 25 assists. Spook going to do what Spook does. um And Crew had heaps more passes inside in terms of using their team play and their ball movement a lot more. I noticed that COE scoring options were mostly just from one-on-one opportunities.
01:08:01
Speaker
find it so interesting that yeah're you're running with seven players and a guy like Antonio Brown gets two shot attempts all game. Yeah. Yeah. That was really odd. Really odd.
01:08:14
Speaker
I think... think but I think i think still we were really they were really up against it, only running with seven, just against this crew team that is known.
01:08:26
Speaker
game could go to quadruple overtime and they'd still be out there, just getting up and down court just fine. I mean, they they didn't really use... They didn't really go that deep into their bench right until the end. i mean, Shwaib and Redhead were the only two guys who got big minutes off the bench, but they're just so...
01:08:45
Speaker
They can just run all night. And those kids are young and fit, when there's only seven of them, oh, I think that bore out in the way that both halves were where the end of each half was when crew really started to break away late in the second and then late in the fourth. They really broke it open in both times.
01:09:05
Speaker
Yeah. And COE even resorting to a zone for parts of the game as well, perhaps just to help slow down the Crusaders or conserve some energy a little bit. But nonetheless, Crusaders still had 58 of their 94 total points from the paint.
01:09:22
Speaker
yeah And they finished that last quarter winning 16 to 23 in the fourth. So, um yeah, things are really clicking for crew right now. you know, Maturamaker 28 and 14, shooting at from the floor overall. Garrick Young had and,
01:09:42
Speaker
and hayden gunderson not hayden gunderson had 14 2 and 5. he's come he's he's got to be like breakout player of the year if there was such an award he yeah he has been massive and i love watching maker in this game he was just i mean wasn't any different to what he does in a lot of games but i've just really come to like watching him this season he's These big big men that are wide on their feet, agile, finish well.
01:10:18
Speaker
It's just pretty to watch. Yeah, yeah. He's a welcome addition to crew. Hopefully they can get him to stick around again for 2027. ah Did you have any other notes from this game before we keep rolling?
01:10:32
Speaker
um No, not really. I think, just like I said, I just think CLW were really up against it. I mean, just it's tough that they come into this part of the season and they've got, they've only got eight and they only ran with seven. It's just less than the game, just more the situation is what is what annoys me. And it is what it is. It it happens every year. And I mean, what can you say?
01:10:57
Speaker
Poor guys. They'll be okay. They'll be okay. I'm sure they have ah bigger things coming in their careers. Yeah. And the other elimination final was six versus seven, which was the Canberra Gunners versus the Maitland Mustangs.
01:11:13
Speaker
Canberra losing at home 94 to 70. um We always talk about how well the Canberra Gunners can close out the fourth quarter, but they had a lesson handed to them.
01:11:25
Speaker
ah we're losing the fourth quarter 8-25, which is probably now they know how it feels went up when they deliver that to other teams. But again, their scoring just completely dried up. ah And I think that was a problem that we had seen in the back end of the season and it had come to haunt them in this elimination final, unfortunately.
01:11:47
Speaker
Yeah, it really did. mean, two bits. Keep talking about Canberra's out, Glenn Morrison and Darnell Hoskins both out. um Just makes it so difficult. Against Maitland's probably the team you least want Hoskins and Morrison to be out against.
01:12:06
Speaker
With, you Cherry and then the backcourt of Cranston Lowne and Smith. I mean, Myles Cherry with no Glenn Morrison to a... disrupt him 10 of 10 from two-point range.
01:12:19
Speaker
And from what I saw, I don't think many of them were outside about nine feet. Oh, no, they wouldn't have been. Like, that's – I mean, um I think I recalled a couple of episodes ago how Cherry, for a whole season up at one point, had taken two shots outside of the key.
01:12:40
Speaker
I'm going to pull it up. Oh, yeah, he everything came under the basket for him. The furthest he got was halfway between the charge circle and the free throw line. Mate, we can't be having you taking these heave shots, mate. You need to get closer.
01:12:58
Speaker
What kind of skyhook was that, Cherry? Yeah. It went in, so who cares? But 10 from 10, that is an absolute clinic. He's the absolute clinic of a post player.
01:13:11
Speaker
22, 7 and 4. So he can pass as well, getting four assists. Rain Smith had 24, 3 and 6. He was 50% from the three-point line this night. We were 6 from 12. And Cranston Loud had 17, 5 and 8.
01:13:27
Speaker
ah So, yeah, Maitland certainly... yeah like quite a dominant and confident performance from them. Rain Smith, 6 of 12 overall from three-point range, 4 of 5 from three-point range in the fourth quarter.
01:13:44
Speaker
And if you look at that shot chart, so some of them you wonder if they've almost like, you know, misclicked on the shot chart because he is taking them from a long way out.
01:13:57
Speaker
But you watch it back and know that is where he was hitting them from. Yeah, was quite extraordinary. It's really extraordinary across a few games now how the three-point percentage has improved or been the best of the whole game for some teams in the fourth quarter when people are supposed to be the most tired.
01:14:16
Speaker
But um sometimes you take advantage of that when the defence is the most tired. Yeah, that's true. That is also true. you gotta to take sure You've got to take advantage is the thing, and Rain Smith certainly did that.
01:14:29
Speaker
And I think to the Stanger's credit as well, they only had 10 turnovers for the game, um forcing Canberra to throw 17 turnovers.
01:14:40
Speaker
And I'm pretty sure I wrote down, let me check. It was, yes, Maitland turned 17 Canberra turnovers into 15 points.
01:14:52
Speaker
Canberra turned 10 turnovers into zero points. Yeah. Yeah. So that certainly comes into it as well. ah As well as, well, Canberra got to the free throw line more times, but Maitland were 13 from 14 from the free throw line. So um yeah, well done, Maitland.
01:15:17
Speaker
The story continues. I mean, we've seen grand fo we've seen teams make and win grand finals from the bottom half of the top eight before.
01:15:28
Speaker
Why not? Well, didn't they do that in 2023 where Maitland came like eighth and then they ended up beating Inner West in the first round where Inner West came second?
01:15:42
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah, that grand final was actually fifth place Sutherland versus seventh place Maitland where all teams from fifth to eighth tied. That was the four-way tie for fifth.
01:15:54
Speaker
Yeah, what a time. See, this is why we love finals time. Anything can happen. But, yeah, so now the the match-ups for next week is going to be Sutherland Sharks, Maitland Mustangs, as you mentioned earlier, and you'll be on the call for that.
01:16:09
Speaker
And as also you mentioned earlier, the last two times these two, the only time these two teams met in the regular season was in round two where the Sharks won without Yes, and they won that. we Sharkies looked dead in the water, pardon the pun, in that game. They were down fifty two thirty seven at halftime and won the second half 56-27. 56-and-a-half is outrageous. We were, in the first quarter, we were making NBA jam, like on fire jokes about Rain Smith.
01:16:44
Speaker
I think Maitland hit six of their first seven threes. Rain Smith came out firing, Dan Milburn followed. They just couldn't miss. And, you know, it dried up for them in the second half and Sutherland came over the top.
01:16:58
Speaker
Also in that game, I think it was 31 free throws to 28, though. So when they weren't hitting threes, they were fouling each other. Wait, so that means that you had over 50 free throws in the game collectively. Did that game go for like four hours?
01:17:15
Speaker
if I think if Sutherland weren't like storming home in a massive comeback, it would have been one of the most infuriating games to call. Oh, gosh, that's a long game. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Yeah.
01:17:32
Speaker
ah Not fun. um So that's going to be good. You're going to be on the call. Very, very exciting. So the winner of that game goes on to play who? Did I write it down?
01:17:43
Speaker
I did. The winner of that game will go on to play Illawarra. oof So Sutherland, we get a... Well, i don't think you play for the Freeway Cup, but it will be the Freeway rivalry for the... In the pre-lip for a spot in the grand final. And then Illawarra-Maitland...
01:17:59
Speaker
at the snake pit two regional two regional heavyweights going at it so it's stories either way o the battle of the black and the red and the white oh yes um and then our other matchup is manly versus crusaders that will be also at manly The Manly are the only team next round that are going to have two games, two home games for the next round is as part of finals. So that's going to be a good night out. Let's hope that they can get more than 170 people to this game.
01:18:32
Speaker
is that what they got to their first round matchup, was it? Sorry, overquoted. Attendance recorded on the box score for the Manly-Warringah-Bankstown Bruins women's game on the weekend, which was a high-quality game, 125 people.
01:18:48
Speaker
come fan come on manly fam come on i'm just hoping that they're family manly family you're meant to be familyly family bringing the family where's the family call the family up get them there for that double header this weekend so manly men versus crusaders ah men obviously.
01:19:08
Speaker
The last time these two teams met was only in round five and Manly won at home, 82 to 71. Crusaders didn't have Matua Maker. They had Seth Chapman, but Seth Chapman I think is now injured. They also didn't have Garrick Young.
01:19:26
Speaker
but You would basically throw the form book out then from that result. So but that's right. Down by 11, away, away and you didn't have your two MVP nominees. This is a whole new ball game.
01:19:40
Speaker
The interesting thing I noted in that game was that um Aaron Redhead had 19 points and 17 rebounds in that game. So he stepped up massively and also held Schumanga to 19 rebounds, but held him to nine points. But Slizinski in that one, 36, five and seven and three steals.
01:20:01
Speaker
He was feeling it. So my question is from the Crusaders, who's going to guard Slizinski?
01:20:10
Speaker
Garrick? Yeah, that's but but then Garrick's also got to get it done at the other end. Yeah. um Yeah.
01:20:24
Speaker
Who's going to get it done at the other end? ah Who's going to guard Slizinski? I...
01:20:30
Speaker
That's a toughie because, I mean, Crusader's also now without the likes. Someone of the same skill set and body type as Sharif Saipayah could have been good, but he's not there anymore.
01:20:42
Speaker
Yeah. think someone like Hayden, it might have to be Hayden Gunderson because he was tasked with guarding people like your Blanchfields and such in the past, but I'm not sure if he's got the same size. Like Slavinsky looks like he's got the body of like almost a power forward but plays like a shooting guard small forward.
01:21:04
Speaker
Yeah. He's got that versatility. um So I'm going to guess it's going to be Gundo. You're the crew experts, Gwynn. but I don't know if I can say that anymore. No, you definitely are.
01:21:19
Speaker
but um sit Yeah. Yeah. Also in that game, the last time they were out, Manly easily won the turnover battle, got more O-boards, took 22 more shots than Crew.
01:21:32
Speaker
it was ah It was a bit up and down for Manly, but they just who gave it more shots. the end of the day At the end of the day, even if you shoot a little bit worse, the team's going to give you 22 more chances to put the ball in the basket. going win a lot of games. 22 more shots is a lot. And then to win by 11 as well. So half a point, an extra shot.
01:21:58
Speaker
All right, so ah do we need this we still need to discuss the women's match-ups that were the round? We do. All right, let's get stuck into the women.
01:22:11
Speaker
flashline funnel yeah First, we better say who the winner of this game is going to play. Oh, of course. The winner of this game is going to play. what Yeah.
01:22:22
Speaker
Can you imagine, sorry sorry to Maitland and Central Coast fans, but can you imagine if the prelims are Illawarra Sutherland and North Manly?
01:22:31
Speaker
I mean, that the script the script is written. The script is written for these rivalries to meet each other in the preliminary finals. Yes. um Yeah. But look, the rest is still unwritten, as Natasha Bedingfield said, so don't take our...
01:22:49
Speaker
write so i narrative of these continuing NBL 1E's rivalries as so as certainties for the preliminary finals. um But yeah, geez Louise, we will be spoiled either way I think. so Norse will be waiting.
01:23:07
Speaker
I'm sure that they'll be watching the game live as well. But, yeah, sorry, into the women's qualifying final. Qualifying number one was 1v4 North Bears versus the Centre of Excellence, and North just took them apart, winning 95 to 54. Not a result I was expecting, like, by that margin. 53 to after 53 to 15. Yeah.
01:23:35
Speaker
fifty three to fifteen
01:23:39
Speaker
against the team that was leading the game with 75 seconds left in the first half.
01:23:51
Speaker
That's, yeah, 15 points in the second half is unheard of. I mean, for a COE especially, 15 points in the second half collectively. Yeah, after putting 39 in the first half.
01:24:08
Speaker
That's, yeah, ah there's going to be some tape. There's going to be some self-scouting watching back on that game. ah That's outrageous. like ah yeah Sorry, go on.
01:24:22
Speaker
No, no, I got nothing. You keep going. I was going say, COE, nine three-point attempts for the entire game. Yeah, I also noticed that too.
01:24:33
Speaker
And i there were only two from nine as well from the three-point line. Yeah. um given that the style of play at the COE is either on the rim or taking a three, that's really surprising.
01:24:48
Speaker
Yeah. i and I mean, it just, it leads to predictability as well. You know, if the defense knows, that at the end of the day, yeah phone i the game the defense knows you're probably not going to be taking the three.
01:25:05
Speaker
They can just defend accordingly. yeah You Predictability is the worst thing you can have.
01:25:14
Speaker
Yeah, it was, i mean, another defensive masterclass from Norse. They shot the lights out as well from the arc, 17 from 36 overall for the game, including five from nine in the second quarter alone.
01:25:32
Speaker
So that's 47% overall from the three-point line compared to COE's 22%. Shelly had 32 points, six rebounds, seven assists, four steals, and was six from 14 from the three-point line.
01:25:46
Speaker
um But going back to that whole on the rim or shooting threes from COE, 42 of their 54 points were from the paint.
North's Game Strategy Against COE
01:25:56
Speaker
Yeah.
01:25:57
Speaker
I mean, they they got the on the rim part, right? That's right. That's right. They just needed to kind of ah improve on the other areas. Hmm.
01:26:10
Speaker
But it was really interesting. You know, they only had
01:26:14
Speaker
yeah we only had 59 shots as a group compared to 82 field goal attempts from North.
01:26:25
Speaker
Yeah, well, in 19-0 boards to 6 in North's favour and 11 turnovers to 22. you know, in North's favour as well. So, like I said, in that Manly Central Coast game, you just keep handing the ball to the opposition, especially against the team like North who, you outshot them from the field, didn't quite out, didn't outshot them from two point range, definitely outdid them from three point range and got to the line more often.
01:26:56
Speaker
All just came together for North and, you know, they were If you get halftime, you're up 42-39 to this COE team. They beat you last year in the prelim. You've got an undefeated record on the line.
01:27:11
Speaker
There's probably a lot of talk in that locker room at halftime about, we've got to win this thing. Leave no doubt. It'll be like, park back to the 1980 Winter Olympics, the miracle on ice.
01:27:27
Speaker
because the miracle on ice happened in the final game, this in the second last game. The Americans still had to be, i think it was Finland in their last game to win the gold medal, even after beating the Soviet Union in the miracle on ice.
01:27:42
Speaker
And they were trailing Finland at the last intermission and the coach absolutely ripped into them and said, if you lose this, you will take it to your grades. And I don't think we're at that part yet with North, but I dare say at halftime,
01:27:57
Speaker
they would have been saying, look, we're not going to let everything that we've done, a 20-0 season, fall by the wayside against the team that beat us last year in the pre-live. Yeah, get it get it together.
01:28:10
Speaker
Get it together. And they got it together. And they got it together. ah Because so they ended up limiting the likes of Isabel Smith to only eight shots, Aspen Crace seven, Olivia Aleknewicz only had seven shots,
01:28:24
Speaker
um Yeah, you there was no one on the COE that had double-figure field goal attempts. um Like you said, ended up causing 22 turnovers, which is one thing, and then just completely suffocated them defensively to limiting their shot attempts.
01:28:44
Speaker
And then that's how you limit a team to 15 points and a half. And the funny thing is, when I was i like watching the early stage of this game, I was like, Isabel Smith's looking good. She's going to make things happen here. And in the first half, she was. And, you know, CLA were hanging with them.
01:29:02
Speaker
But um I really think the game illustrated potential versus a team of players that are already the finished product.
01:29:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's true. That's true. That's a good point, actually. Yeah. ah Okay, and then moving on to the next game, this one was also quite
Bankstown vs. Manly Qualifying Final
01:29:23
Speaker
entertaining. It was Manly Warringah Seagulls versus Bankstown Bruin Women.
01:29:27
Speaker
ah This was the qualifying final two versus three, and Manly lost at home ninety one to eighty two Did you catch much of this one?
01:29:38
Speaker
I did. yeah I did watch a bit of this one um in between ah trying to rest up for what I had on Sunday, but by the by. um Loved De Freitas in the pick and roll early in this one. She was on song. um I think, well, probably conspicuous by her absence, Josie Redan.
01:30:00
Speaker
um I dare say that is something Lauren Curtin focused in on.
01:30:06
Speaker
No Redan, try to exploit the pick and roll a bit. is I think that is Just where Josie excels so much over anyone. know like Honey Badger, Kim Dickinson, great player, but a little bit different to Josie. And I think um i right great coaching to make sure that they got that locked in early and made sure it it it was there when they needed it. you know they They got it going early. but um And then it it kind of just gave way to Shiloh Hill, dominating.
01:30:41
Speaker
That's all you can say about her performance was absolutely dominant. I mentioned it earlier that Manly made life difficult for... ah that Shiloh... that defences make life hard for everyone except Shiloh, and that was pretty much Manly today... in this game, sorry, because Shiloh was making her shots, creating for herself ridiculous step-back threes on occasion, getting to the rack. Just Shiloh Heeler absolute best.
01:31:11
Speaker
Well, yeah, she had a near triple-double. She had 34 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists. The Bruins as a group had four players in double digits, including also Topiah had 29 points.
01:31:24
Speaker
As a group, the Bruins were 43% from the three-point line, shooting at 13 from 30, and Topiah as an individual was five from seven.
01:31:35
Speaker
The commentary often saying that this is vintage Topiah, just managing to find ways to score in any which way even. She's just so good at drawing contact um and obviously getting to the free throw line. But to Manley's credit as well, they only had nine players on their roster, which is tough at home. You know, you kind of, you know, at home you have the flexibility of having the 12. Yeah.
01:32:00
Speaker
yeah But they had nine players on the roster, only seven played. And unfortunately, Bree Delaney got into some foul trouble. So she only played 19 minutes because she was fouled off, unfortunately, because it looked like the part of the game I saw did look like it was getting a little bit out of control with the fouls that were calling.
01:32:19
Speaker
Yeah. um So I could see how lots of people were getting in foul trouble. But, yeah, of the seven players that played for Manly, four of them were also in double figures, but just not their best shooting performance from the three-point line.
01:32:34
Speaker
ah with only 36%. I mean, that's not bad. it's it's but like it's kit It's not bad, but you've got to look at it relative to the opposition who hit 43%.
01:32:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I go down. it in no way sorry In no way did Manly have a bad game. No, no. This was one of those games where it it was an arm wrestle until the very, very end, and even though...
01:33:02
Speaker
um Bankstown won by nine. i feel like that buffer of nine was only really achieved in the last little bit of the game. Like it got to a point at the end the game we still weren't sure who was actually going to to win.
01:33:16
Speaker
Because I think it was a four-point game with two minutes to play. Yeah, that's right. it was still really close. it Still really close. Yeah. And then rolling on.
01:33:29
Speaker
Elimination final, 5v8 Aubrey Wodonga Bandits at home against the Hornsby Keringai Spiders, winning 73-61. No power for the Aubrey Wodonga Bandits.
01:33:43
Speaker
um But Aubrey's still able to get it done. Lytle, Thompson putting up good numbers for them. Very low-scoring third quarter in this game, though, only 16-9. Mm-hmm.
Aubrey Wodonga vs. Hornsby Keringai
01:33:59
Speaker
neither team really feeling the championship quarter at all and uh christina moore stepped up for hornsby having 21 points and seven rebounds yeah i mean it it was kind of the story of the two understrength or from what we've seen at their best understrength um as you said no lt for aubrey and then obviously no ruby no jesse may still for the paul's be kareem guys so um Yeah, it was interesting. um It was a really low-scoring third quarter. It was um just, I mean, Hornsby shooting 16% from the field for the entire quarter.
01:34:37
Speaker
So not healthy. And then 10 points in the paint to two in Aubrey Wodonga's favour in that quarter. And Hornsby only had 14 points in the paint for the entire game, which I guess when you've got Unique Thompson there patrolling the paint, that's one thing. But when you've got...
01:34:53
Speaker
Ayanna Bate and Christina Moore in your line-up, you'd think law of averages almost suggests going to get more points in the paint than 14, even against unique.
01:35:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. It was i a bit of a bit of a funny game, like statistically, I think. um But, you know, Aubrey as well, ah they also had four players in double digits. Mm-hmm.
01:35:19
Speaker
So they had obviously Lytle flirting with a triple-double, 14 points, six rebounds, eight assists. McCowan had 15 and three. Coleman had 12 and four. Thompson had 14 and 15. So really still um relying on their main players, understandably, to get this one done.
01:35:40
Speaker
um but yeah, and then, you know, Meade and Bay had 13 points apiece as well for Hornsby. Just seemed like... um Yeah, I don't know. think just just Statistically, i don't think I could find anything really that stood out other than that third quarter being really low scoring.
01:35:58
Speaker
me Me came out firing early. um But, I mean, yeah are the Master Avenger, they're finishing with 13, 6, 4, and 2. I'm playing all by 13 seconds. but um And Leia Hartman only playing 12 minutes.
01:36:15
Speaker
Did have three fouls, but only playing 12 minutes is ah is' tough. I mean, they they too only ran, only used, Genevieve will definitely play three minutes, but much of the game only used seven players did the spiders.
01:36:30
Speaker
o Whereas, um you know, the ah The Bandits, Mahadi and Hocking both played 23 minutes a piece, so definitely getting more more out of the bench and then Quintile cuts are on low, all chipping in there with minutes too. So, yeah,
01:36:52
Speaker
yeah interesting one. um or it I mean, great that you can have four players in double figures even in such a low scoring game as well. the Players are still able to, you You know, no LT and then everyone was just able to, well, we can recreate her in the aggregate to steal a line from Moneyball.
01:37:14
Speaker
Yeah. And then the lucky last one, elimination final, six versus seven, Newcastle Falcons versus the Hills Hornets.
Newcastle vs. Hills Hornets
01:37:26
Speaker
Newcastle winning 69. Wait, have i got the right thing up? Yeah, 69 and
01:37:33
Speaker
So it definitely wasn't, you know, we knew it was it could be close. We knew that the Hills were really going to take it to Newcastle despite having to play an away game.
01:37:44
Speaker
Fourth quarter, though, nine points apiece. Yeah, that was a interesting. Running out gas. I was a little scared watching the first few minutes of this one because it was 11-0 Newcastle to start.
01:37:57
Speaker
So i was worried I was worried that, you know, The Hills might be a little bit nervous. I know they've got players who have been there, done that, like Kurosame, Kalea, Anderson. They've been in big moments. But there's something about your club's first finals game that, you know, can hit. obviously was I was like, oh.
01:38:16
Speaker
But they got the nerves out the way because ah they brought it right back to the Hills after being down. They were down 11. 11-0, sorry. And they actually led halftime. and they they actually led at half time did the Hornets. um They really brought it back well. Kurosame started hitting things, especially getting close to the basket. Anderson doing the same.
01:38:37
Speaker
Ella Gale's always good for double-digit rebounds. Again, averages double-double this season. Ella Gale, the most, two seasons in a row, most under-the-radar double-double average player you will ever see.
01:38:52
Speaker
But, yeah, that nine all in the final quarter, that's
01:38:57
Speaker
You know, one of seven from Hills from three-point land. the The Falcons didn't hit a three in the final quarter. Just... I wrote down that fourth quarter for the Falcons is less of a problem in the game that happened and more of a problem going forward.
01:39:17
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, they... Like you said, Hills were up by two at halftime. And then Newcastle won the third quarter by... 10, so put them back by eight, and then they just able to maintain it for the whole fourth quarter.
01:39:32
Speaker
But in that third quarter, they won Newcastle won the third quarter 26 to 16. They hit four from eight from the three-point line, so that certainly helped. um Whereas I don't think...
01:39:45
Speaker
ah Hills in the third quarter from the three-point line were only at 20%. So certainly giving Newcastle the edge there to help them maintain. I mean, credit to them, though, to be able to maintain eight-point lead, making that 10-point turnaround and then maintaining it.
01:40:00
Speaker
Yeah. um But, yeah, nine points in the last quarter is very unheard of. Yeah. Munger almost had a triple-double, 25 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists.
01:40:11
Speaker
um Meg Jefferson had a double-double with 17 and 18. and from what I could see on the shot chart, all of the field goals made in the second quarter were by Munger or Jefferson.
01:40:26
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. The whole second quarter was just between those two. i mean, it was funny because i was talking we were talking last week about – When Newcastle win all four Munger, Jefferson, Kingham and Heidi all, you know, produce.
01:40:44
Speaker
And then when they've lost, it's Munger and Jefferson have been higher scoring or about the same. And it's been Kingham and Heidi who have dropped off. But Kingham, a you know, one of them put up good scoring numbers again. Kingham came came out to hit, you know, here four of eight from three and finished with 16. And Mia Heidi didn't have much scoring, but her passing out of the post was beautiful at times and finished with four assists.
01:41:11
Speaker
Yeah. And then in the fourth quarter, Munger didn't hit a field goal in the fourth quarter. So it was Jefferson, Heidi, Kingham and Bond hitting the field goals in that fourth.
01:41:21
Speaker
Um, Yeah, so, I mean, Newcastle kind of showing their depth there, I suppose, as well. But I just thought it was interesting that, yeah, Munger and Jefferson hit everything in the second quarter for their team. Newcastle, though, uncharacteristically had 18 turnovers.
01:41:39
Speaker
ah But then points from turnovers, Hills only had seven, so didn't hurt them too much.
01:41:49
Speaker
But, yeah, that was, I don't think I had many more notes from that particular game. Did you? No, um'm yeah yeah, like I said, I'm just more concerned about the the nine points in the fourth quarter because they'll play Manly in the semifinals.
01:42:04
Speaker
Yeah. and last time those two teams met, Newcastle scored nine points in the fourth quarter. Oh, on that court as well. And Manly scored 19 and got the win.
01:42:18
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. So I need to now resort to my notes of the last time that they played.
Upcoming Games & Attendance Challenges
01:42:23
Speaker
um So, yeah, the match-ups now are going to be North and Bankstown obviously go straight through and have the week off.
01:42:33
Speaker
Next round, we're going to see COE Albury, and they also have some finals history against each other. Just last year, that was a cracker of a game. and And the year before as well, I think.
01:42:48
Speaker
No, I know they played in the men's the year before, but I remember the women's. Wasn't it their undefeated season? No, they lost to Sutherland in the undefeated season to knock them out.
01:42:59
Speaker
Yeah. um And then also, yeah like like you said, Manly Newcastle in the other final. Which is also history from last season. yeah Yep. That was so Susie Wormsley's last NBL1 game.
01:43:16
Speaker
Yeah, it was too. Yeah.
01:43:20
Speaker
But the last time COE and Aubrey played in the regular season, Zara Russell was a suiting up for COE and obviously she won't be there. um And the COE were able to keep Unique Thompson to only nine points.
01:43:36
Speaker
That was, i i because when I saw the result, I saw COE 86-53, I wanted to dig into that and be like, did I miss someone not being there for Aubrey Wodonga? But no, COE really did just hold Unique Thompson to nine points.
01:43:51
Speaker
Yeah. I can't imagine that will be happening again. that was pretty impressive.
01:44:00
Speaker
And then, yeah, Manly Newcastle, ah the last time that they that they met, Manly were able to limit Munger to donate 10 points and eight rebounds.
01:44:12
Speaker
But I imagine the likes of Josie Redan was probably tasked with guarding Munger for most of the game. So be interested to see who's matt going to be matched up on her now. ah But Zoe Miller had 21 points and five assists because she she loves popping off against Newcastle. She does.
01:44:32
Speaker
That is Miller time. That is Miller time. Newcastle didn't have a very good shooting day, though, from the arc that gate day. They only had 20% from the three-point line and Manly had 29% from the three-point line, but they had four from eight in the fourth.
01:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, it wasnt I don't think it was a performance either team would have been happy with on that day, in all honesty. Yeah. Yeah. mean, Heidi almost had a double-double but fouled out playing 24 minutes.
01:45:06
Speaker
Yeah, and I think both teams shot under 35% from the field in that game as well across the floor. Yeah, Newcastle shot at 31%. Manly shot at 34%. Yeah, it didn't look like
01:45:17
Speaker
manly shot it thirty four percent ah yeah it was um yeah did it look like a Yeah, it looked like a bit a scrap. Yeah, looked like a bit of a scrap, yeah. But again, Saffron Shields has been on the list again. She was on the list again on the weekend against Hills and it was a DNP. Are we going to see her this time?
01:45:41
Speaker
don't know. Now she's qualified for finals, they don't need to put her on the list if she's, like, not going to play. Like, she is qualified finals. Maybe just put her there and, the you know, let the opposition wander.
01:45:57
Speaker
ah Yeah, that's ah it's always the the hovering threat if Saffron's going to play. All right, so yeah, so we've got some great matchups ahead of us. So just to recap, in the men's competition, we've got central Manly Ruranga Seagulls and Central Coast Crusaders.
01:46:16
Speaker
And then we've also got the Sutherland Sharks and the Maitland Mustangs. And then for the women's competition next round, we've got COE, Albury, and Manly and Newcastle.
01:46:27
Speaker
And the interestingly, the manly the Manly two games that up at the Nester is on the Sunday Arvo. Ah, okay. 1pm, 3pm on the Sunday.
01:46:38
Speaker
I know Metro Junior League finals finished last week. Hopefully there's not too many you know juniors forced to travel away for um
01:46:54
Speaker
junior reps. I don't know if junior premier i think junior Junior Premier League finals ah this weekend maybe so don't have any teams mainly having that but it's mainly so they probably got a couple at least.
01:47:07
Speaker
um We'll see hopefully because yeah that's up at Newcastle and Maitland so hopefully those Metro Junior League teams can ah spend their Sunday off going to ah watch the NBL one teams.
01:47:22
Speaker
Let's hope so. Let's hope they get more than 125 recorded people in the door for this game. You'd hope I would. Surely, surely. um Otherwise, we have lots of games to look forward to, and then obviously the preliminary finals will be held on the 8th of August until the grand final on the 16th.
Recruitment Highlight: Aspen Crace
01:47:45
Speaker
it's coming to the to the pointy end, but we've still got some exciting games to watch next round. We certainly do. and do have one other piece of news Davidson Aspen Crace verbal commit to the Wildcats so the jersey is back up so congratulations to Aspen yeah just a verbal commit at this stage so but fingers crossed as a as a Davidson fan my my forearm my forearm and I are very happy at the news
01:48:16
Speaker
Yeah, really good. Very good school. Very good school. Great recruit as well. So that's super exciting. i hope it all um follows through for her. But otherwise, have you got anything before we finish up for tonight, Lockie?
01:48:33
Speaker
Don't sleep on the east.