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Episode 17: Getting funky with Freddy Webb
227 Plays2 years ago
Buckle-up NBL1 East fans, cos Lachy and Squin have a MONSTER episode this week!
Games reviewed this week include the Maitland Mustangs and Sutherland Sharks (M+W) and the Sydney Comets vs. Albury-Wodonga Bandits (W).
There are also some clips from NBL1 East stars Tahlia Tupaea and Loz Nicholson from the FIBA women's Asia Cup 2023, held in Sydney.
Plenty of shout-outs, news and the all-star five.
Episode 17 is topped off with an interview with Freddy Webb, PG for the Illawarra Hawks Men's team. He takes us through his basketball journey which includes a trip to a crocodile zoo...
Lachy and Squin guarantee you will be his biggest fan by the end.
Recommended
Transcript
Introductions & Weekend Recap
00:00:10
Speaker
Crusaders and with me partially wearing his Comet's hat but always wearing his Sutherland Sharks scarf or jersey or beanie. It's Locky France. How are you Locky? I am great Squiran. How are you? I am mentally and cognitively and socially a little bit worn out from the Asia Cup from the weekend if I'm being honest with you.
00:00:35
Speaker
Otherwise fine, I'm just being a big old suck. I mean, you had a big game on Saturday.
00:00:41
Speaker
We did have a big game on Saturday. You had a big game on Saturday too. You had our pickup. Yes. It was a lot of fun. It was lots of
Third Birthday Celebration of Shooting the Breeze
00:00:50
Speaker
fun. Just for context, the other podcast I co-host is called Shooting the Breeze, which is a podcast about women's basketball and women in basketball. And it was our third birthday this year. So we decided to host a pickup game for all of our loyal listeners.
00:01:06
Speaker
Um, and we held the pickup game in collaboration with a group called First Subs, who is a women's only pickup collective. Uh, you can find in Minchinberry and in Concord. Um, if that sounds like something you're interested in, find First Subs on Instagram and, uh, hashtag courtside Cas, we'll be able to look after you there. But it was, uh, it was really, really fun. Lucky. I'm really glad that you could come.
00:01:30
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for inviting me. It was a lot of fun. Good to play some full court basketball for the first time in. I don't know how long. Yeah, I'm definitely feeling it today. I know that our friend Sammy Mack, the assistant coach of the Aubrey Wodonga women's team, was also feeling it afterward because he had to scoot to a game, as did yourself. After that pick up game, you were on call for NBL One duties this weekend.
00:01:58
Speaker
Yeah, I actually saw Sammy on Sunday as well at Comet's Aubrey Wodonga. He was moving a bit better, getting some shots up per game. He must have come up all right in the end. Yeah, he must have. I don't know if they travel with a physio, but if they do, maybe he made the most of it. Weekend of MBL1 East, more big numbers, despite it being around 15 out of 18, people are still racking up really big numbers. Either that or everyone's getting fatigued and just don't want to play defense. I'm not too sure.
00:02:26
Speaker
But you were covering the women's games this week, Lockie. How about you start us off by taking us through the results?
NBL1 East Women's Basketball Highlights
00:02:34
Speaker
I certainly can do that. Big 13 game week for the women this week. And it all started on Thursday night with Comets traveling down to Centre of Excellence and it was COE getting the 87-77 victory. Of course, Comets without Shyla Hill, who was at Asia Cup. Then on Saturday, it all started off with Manley sneaking home against Canberra, 75-69. Manley doing that without Alex Delaney.
00:03:01
Speaker
Norse got over the Aubrey-Wedonga Bandits with a 70-57 win. Illawarra knocked off Bankstown 84-74 in a bit of an upset, which really hurt Bankstown's slim finals chances. Meanwhile, Maitland almost cementing their final spot, taking advantage of a severely understrength Sutherland in an 81-68 victory. Of course, Lauren Nicholson at the Asia Cup as well for Sutherland, but other players out.
00:03:29
Speaker
for the Sharks as well there. Central Coast picked up a 73-47 win on the road at Hills. In a West with some monster performances from their big names picking up a 104-56 win over the Hornsby-Karingi Spiders. And on Saturday night it was Comet's valiant effort missing both Penucis and Hale going down 50-71 to the travelling Newcastle Falcons.
00:03:57
Speaker
Moving to Sunday, Manly got over the line on the road at Maitland 69-58. Newcastle picked up a crucial 77-74 win in a nail biter against Norse.
00:04:11
Speaker
Ella Warren continued their excellent weekend picking up a 70-58 win over Penrith Panthers. Aubrey Woodongo almost let Comets get away from them in the fourth quarter but managed to recover for an 81-79 win against that Comets team still missing Shyla Hill and Vanessa Penussis.
00:04:31
Speaker
And rounding things out, the late game on Sunday saw the Sutherland Sharks pick up a 116-68 win over Hornsby Korean guy as Jordan Dewhurst picked up a triple-double. One of two triple-doubles in the women's comp this weekend. So turning to the latter,
00:04:51
Speaker
There were only 40 odd games left and we played about a third of them in this weekend alone. So, manly still sitting pretty there at 17 and 2. Newcastle have now gapped North a bit, sitting at 16 and 2 whilst North are in third at 14 and 4. Centre of Excellence have now played all 22 of their games, sitting at 16 and 6.
00:05:14
Speaker
Sutherland 13 and six in fifth and then Comets and Maitland both 11 and seven Comets sitting ahead there on percentage. I believe they would also have the split there. Albury-Wodonga 10 and eight in eighth and then Canberra Nationals eight and 10 and Bankstown seven and 10 just try both those teams just trying to cling on to Albury-Wodonga's coattails and of course Albury and Canberra still have to face off one more time this season.
00:05:44
Speaker
Still plenty to play for but it looks like it's going to take at least 16. It's going to take 16 wins to get your top four spot considering who Norse have left to play. So at this point Sutherland will be hoping to win out and maybe get a split on someone but for everyone else it looks like Curtin's for the top four spot and they're just looking for the best spot from fifth to eighth that they can manage.
00:06:10
Speaker
Next round, that Aubrey Woodonga, Sutherland Sharks game is going to be really important. That game, if Sutherland win out, they have the split over COE. So they would jump COE for fourth spot. But if they lose any game from here on out, it's pretty much it is curtains for their top four hopes. Because I think Norse do have a fairly
00:06:34
Speaker
Fairly favorable run home, they play a few teams down the bottom of the ladder, so you'd probably expect them to finish on at least 16 or 17 wins. Really great effort though from Norse being able to compensate for their loss there with not having M. Simons, only losing to Newcastle by a little bit, but I think Newcastle nonetheless would have been very happy with that win.
00:06:56
Speaker
Certainly. And it's worth remembering that Newcastle are one of the very few teams this season to have the split over Manly. They only play each other once and Newcastle got the win on that game. So if they win out, they will finish top because they'll be at worst tied with Manly and own the season split. Oh, that's a really good point. I actually didn't account for that. Neither did I until our coach Marty McLean brought it up when I was talking to him before the game.
00:07:24
Speaker
But that finishes the women's routine. Now let's bring on the men, as Waylon Smithers would say, when he was commentating gymnastics. Oh my gosh, that is such a great reference. A character that isn't celebrated enough in my opinion, Waylon Smithers. 100%.
00:07:47
Speaker
All right, so right on cue I shall do just that. It was Sydney Comets hosting Newcastle Falcons to start off the weekend and Comets snatched the win 79-74. Manly Waringa played Canberra Gunners at home and lost 71-108.
00:08:09
Speaker
North's Bears were 107, Aubrey Woodonga-Bannett's were 97, a 10 point deficit in a game that went into double overtime. Something I'll point out with that game is that in the second period of overtime, North's won 11-1. And I think that's pretty reflective of what Angus was telling us a couple of episodes back about how they train. You know, he copped a lot of a bit of flack for saying that he doesn't do any team shooting.
00:08:38
Speaker
and he just focuses on running his team to the ground and it's paid off by winning a second overtime period by 10 points. Illawarra Hawks beat Bankstown Bruins at home 102-84. Maitland Mustangs beat Sutherland Sharks at home 110-79.
00:08:58
Speaker
Hills Hornet 73, Central Coast Crusaders 71 in the Hornet's Nest, another absolute heartbreaking two-point loss for the Crusaders. Now, if this doesn't cause any character building for that team, then I don't know what will. You know, West Bulls 84, Hornsby Corringuy Spiders 59, Hornsby Corringuy then backed up the next day and had a home game against Sutherland Sharks going down 76 to 92.
00:09:27
Speaker
Maitland Mustangs had their second game of the week also at home and they played manly Warringah Seagulls winning 102-79.
00:09:37
Speaker
Newcastle as well with their second game of the week, but this time back home. They beat the North Bears 68 to 57. So also being the North's second game, I imagine leaving everything on the floor in that double OT at home and having to travel and play Newcastle, you know, less than 24 hours later would have been really tough.
00:10:00
Speaker
Penrith Panthers hosted the Illawarra Hawks for their second game of the week but it was Penrith's first but they lost 68 to 94 and Comets with also with their second game of the round hosting Aubrey Wodonga at home going down a 74 to 86. So good redemption there for the bandits coming away with that with one and one on an away weekend which is good and so as now we look at the latter
00:10:29
Speaker
Centre of Excellence still on top played all 20 games in first position, 19 and 1. Inner West Bulls still at second place with 14 and 3. North Spares at third place with 13 and 5. Sutherland Sharks at fourth place with 13 and 6. Maitland Mustangs just behind them now in fifth place with 12 and 6.
00:10:58
Speaker
Is Canberra Gunners in sixth place with 12 and six as well? Between Maitland Mustangs and Canberra Gunners, both on 12 and six. Yeah, so I think Maitland Must have the split on them by now.
00:11:12
Speaker
They must have the split. That's right. Because the percentage is in actually Gunners favour, but I think you're right. The Gunners must have the split over Maitland. So that makes sense. See that none of this would make sense if I didn't have you to confer with Lockie. Hill's Hornets at seventh place with 11 and six and the Newcastle round out the top eight with 11 and seven and only 0.1% separating them. Very exciting. Very exciting stuff.
00:11:40
Speaker
It certainly is and I think that win for Newcastle over North will have broken the hearts of those teams chasing, you know, Illawarra, Aubrey Wodonga and Comets. You know, Newcastle finished this weekend 10-8. Everyone would feel they're right back in with a shot but Newcastle just managing to regroup after that loss on Saturday night and re-establishing a bit of a gap there.
00:12:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. And looking ahead to next round, some of the games that were to keep an eye on include the North Spares and Inner West Bulls. That's going to be a really important game. Camera Gunners and Hills Hornets at Belconnen. I think that one will be quite an important game as well. Just for the Gunners to make sure they stay in the mix of that top six. And also again, Aubrey, Wodonga Bandit, Sutherland, Sharks and the Men is going to be pretty important as well.
00:12:35
Speaker
Definitely for both teams. I mean, if Norse win their two remaining games against Inner West, it forces Inner West to five losses minimum. Although if Inner West pick up wins, then Norse fall right back into the pack with Sutherland especially, but also Maitland and Canberra and Easeman Hills are in with a shot at getting right in there. So between
00:12:55
Speaker
You know, second to sixth especially, or second to seventh even at the moment or what can happen. I think it's just Centre of Excellence, they've got those two games right at the end of the season, but they already have the split over in the West, so they're going to finish top. And I did see online that the Centre of Excellence men are actually away at another camp, I think. I think a bunch of them are away to NBA Global Camp, I think.
00:13:17
Speaker
This would have been the time that they would have set aside to go to their own 19th men's World Cup. So I guess they've got to do something to fill the time and if they can find another elite camp to go to, all the better. For those that don't know, the under 19 Australian men chose not to go to their qualifying tournament in Iran at the time.
00:13:37
Speaker
because there was some safety concerns. And by the Australian under-19 men, I think the EMUs deciding not to go to that qualifying tournament meant that they obviously couldn't qualify for the World Cup at all. So that's why they're not there. But it looks like it was a very close grand final overnight between France and Spain. So I'm pretty keen to go and watch that at some stage on the Phoebe YouTube channel because
00:14:04
Speaker
When I got to do the under 19 men's, I think it was under 19 or under 17 men's World Cup last year, a future MBL one next star in Alex Saar from France played. So sometimes those junior fever World Cups can be a great insight into the next big thing that you'll see in the MBL, WMBL, NBA even.
00:14:29
Speaker
100%, yeah, that's saying, especially with how global the game's getting, it's more and more likely that the next NBA star is going to be from a team outside the USA and could be from any country, really.
00:14:42
Speaker
Now I digress certainly
In-depth Analysis of Maitland vs. Sutherland
00:14:44
Speaker
got off topic there so apologies But I'll let you get into some game reviews lucky because you were taking care of the women's comp this time. I certainly was Picked a good weekend for it 13 games I think we'll we'll get the painful one for me out of the way first and I'll go with the Maitland Sutherland game because that is one of the ones I chose and I chose this game as a bit of a theme because I
00:15:09
Speaker
I chose games that gave us a look into what teams do when they're short-handed. So Maitland have obviously, Mila Woskovic is gone for the season. She's off to college. Sutherland, we're missing Lauren Nicholson for Asia Cup, but they only ran with seven.
00:15:26
Speaker
And Emily Garland played Youth League, so she was also out. And the thing with Sutherland is, I'm not sure if this is the reason, but it would make sense, is they're actually right in the mix for a top two spot in Youth League women this season. They might send Garland or Geordie Dewhurst, depending on the makeup of each roster, to make sure they get a win in Youth League if the team is playing at different venues.
00:15:51
Speaker
Which with the weird youth league format this year, any away game could be at a different venue to your NBA 1 team. It's split after 14 rounds and went to a top 8 bottom 7 format. But it finished 8168 Maitland, so the Mustangs again taking full advantage of the opposition they face. They picked up that win against Comets.
00:16:13
Speaker
a couple of weeks ago when they didn't have Penucis, and they've done the same here, led by Shakira Riley's 27 points and 7 rebounds, Sid Hunter with a big double-double, 12 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, and Maddie Washington, 15 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. So that's a bit of a start line. The commentators mentioned it, and I think everybody who tuned into the game knew it straight away that
00:16:40
Speaker
The big battle would be Shakira Riley versus Eliza Fabro. Both tenacious at both ends of the floor. Not going to let their opponent get anything if they can avoid it. What Maitland did well was they were able to get Shaq out of that battle and get her some shots. Whether she's bringing the ball up court, she gets it back on the second touch or just, you know, playing off the ball. It was just enough to give her some opportunities to arm.
00:17:08
Speaker
get some scoring and she actually had 16 points at halftime, which was big because the first half was always going to be big for Maitland because with just seven plays for Sutherland, there was always the feeling that the sheer number of players that Maitland had, they would be able to swap plays in and out and they'd probably have the legs in the back end of the game. So to be up by three at halftime was massive.
00:17:33
Speaker
Although having said that, Riley, Hunter and Washington all played in excess of 35 minutes. Williams played 30, 31. Hannah Fox came off. She only played, she started in place of Woskovich. She only played 16 and was seen with ice on her ankles. So, Dayla Walker stepped up and played 21 minutes.
00:17:52
Speaker
But, I mean, the Sharks can only play 21 minutes of players off the bench. So, uh, Eliza Faroe played all 40 minutes. Hovada 37, Matty Norris 38, Liv White 32, Joyeju Hurst, the best part of 30 as well. Of course, as I mentioned, those assist numbers from Maitland, Matty Washington, Sid Hunter, combining for 14 assists, just the passing from the Biggs, uh, you know, passing out of the double.
00:18:16
Speaker
When you see the opportunity, when you got someone like, you know, you've got Shaq there, you know, hitting five of eight from three point land, pretty good for the old assist, assist tally. Also, what I like from Maitland is they were just, they were just the more consistent team throughout. And funnily enough,
00:18:31
Speaker
After I wrote the notes, I was checking Instagram and coach Jeremy Jones actually put up a story with the highlights from the game that said, we played well in spurts or in bursts. And I was like, yeah, Sutherland did play well in bursts, but Maitland, they kept it going. They actually improved their shoot. Their two point percentage anyway, actually improved after halftime. So I went up, they shot 39% in the first and second quarters and then an even 50% from two point range in the third and fourth.
00:19:00
Speaker
And I also liked 16 second chance points to four, and not just the difference in the number 16 points to four, but it was 18 offensive rebounds to 12 in favor of Maitland, which meant when Sutherland did get an overboard, Maitland still weren't giving up.
00:19:18
Speaker
second chance points. They only gave up four second chance points off 12 offensive rebounds and scored 16 off 18 of their own. Washington and Hunter had five o-boards apiece. I mean, they're just, I mean, Liv White is an outstanding rebounder, but you know, she can't do it all by herself against the tandem of Maddie Washington and Sydney Hunter. They're just going, they're both right up there in terms of like league leaders in rebounds and
00:19:44
Speaker
as long as those two are getting on the glass and bringing the ball down. It's going to be very tough for any team to match them on the glass. They did recognise the pick and pop for Maddie Norris, but just on a couple of occasions, probably left her a bit too open. Always tough. Sutherland have got that pretty much nailed down at that play to get Maddie Norris open. She has shot three of eight. I think Maddie probably would have
00:20:08
Speaker
wanted to shoot better considering some of the books she got. Nooka really gonna berate someone for shooting 37% for three point range though in a game. And they probably could have closed things out a little more cleanly. Things got a little bit erratic there for a little period during the fourth quarter. For all the good work they did at times, yeah, probably a couple of slips that you don't wanna make in the fourth quarter and let those habits creep in because they're the kind of things that'll burn you when you get into a big game against a full strength team. Moving to Sutherland, well, I just mentioned this,
00:20:37
Speaker
Norris on the pick and pop getting their scorers open like coach Jeremy said they played well in bursts But they shot just twelve point five percent from two point range in the fourth quarter They actually shot sixty percent from three point range in the fourth quarter But yes twelve point five percent from three point from two point land in the fourth quarter Which is not going to help you come back. It was a nineteen to fourteen fourth quarter so Maitland just edged it out from
00:21:06
Speaker
an eight point lead after three to the end of the game. Like seeing Callie Hovado with a little bit more responsibility, getting the ball in her hand, especially early on, really making good decisions, whether to pull up and then I pull up jumper, she loves all that little floater or whether to dump it off. It's probably tough. They're really playing Hovado, Fabro, Nicholson, all good with the ball in their hand, all good scorers, all good at moving the ball.
00:21:29
Speaker
Yeah, seeing Callie get a bit more opportunity was good to see. She finished with 12 points, three rebounds and four assists. Two turnovers, so we'll finish with 14 turnovers and compare that to Maitland with 11. So actually, not bad, not bad turnover numbers. I think
00:21:47
Speaker
The difference from Sutherland when they were running with Severn compared to like say Comets without Penusis and Heal is it didn't actually get their young players experience in a game situation. Like when you watch these games with your shorthand you like or to talk about in the next game about Comets, you know.
00:22:03
Speaker
Oh, it's great to see Piper Anderson and Alex K. Ruiz get a bigger opportunity. But Jordan Juhurst was already starting before Nicholson got here, or six men when Nicholson got here. And Lani Bourbon-Nuke and Gabby Nancarrow, they got a little bit of playing time, but they didn't have the responsibility that, say, some of the other younger players have been getting in some of the other teams that have been shorthanded, which is unfortunate. But I guess that's just what happens when you've got to send the rest of the Youth League team to actually go and play Youth League.
00:22:30
Speaker
As I mentioned, they gave up 18 offensive rebounds overall. Just losing some rebounding contests that they really should have won. It's probably just the players they're going up against, Washington and Hunter. But I'm sure, I know Jeremy Joads is a big proponent of preventing the team, the opposition getting on the offensive glass. So I'm sure even if it was Matty Washington and Sidney Hunter, he won't take the, you know, he, the team won't use it as an excuse and neither will he. So I'm sure that'll be drilled back into them.
00:23:00
Speaker
And I mentioned the 12.5% from two point range in the final quarter. They also didn't hit a three in the second quarter. And that was what I mentioned with them having some good looks and not knocking them down. Sutherland probably, especially in the second and fourth quarter where they had their lowest scores is where they maybe could have kept that close right down to the wire if they just hit shots a little better.
00:23:26
Speaker
But wrapping things up, Sutherland, as I mentioned earlier, can only now reach 16 wins. They do have the season series over COE and North, but I would say at this stage, COE's the one more likely. And to get to 16, they'll have to beat Canberra, Aubrey Wodonga, and Manly Waringa. And two of those are away, Manly's the game at home. They probably can do it if Nicholson's back in the lineup, but Maitland, they'd have to be very happy sitting 11 and seven.
00:23:53
Speaker
big chance of getting fifth and sixth. They play Illawarra and Penrith in their next two games, Illawarra coming off a good week, but Maitland are still fancy their chances in that one.
00:24:02
Speaker
Of course, Talia Tifa is now going to be going over to New Zealand, so Penrith will be without her. I think Maitland, they should expect 13 wins this season, which should get them six, maybe seven. We'll see how things play out. Overall, yeah, very entertaining game. Yeah, enjoyed watching Fabro versus Riley. I enjoyed watching Liv White go against Hunter and Washington. What Liv White did finish with 10 and 12, just could have used a little extra help in the front court.
00:24:31
Speaker
Yeah, of course, no Hannah Kleiner, and as I mentioned, Garland was at Youth League. And with Maddie Norris on the pick and pop more than in the paint, yeah, a little tough, but I'm sure Sutherland will regroup.
00:24:40
Speaker
It was interesting, you mentioned the two-point field goal percentage for Sutherland in the fourth was only 12 and a half. And my initial thought was, oh, maybe that was fatigue because, you know, they only really ran seven players. But then you mentioned that they hit three, so I'm not too sure what attributed to the very low field goal percentage from the two-point range.
00:25:04
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not sure. Maitland got some great defenders in there. Three blocks from Matty Washington in the final quarter, wouldn't have helped. Probably just a matter of shoot 0%. You know, these things even out in the end over the course of a game sometimes. Maybe it was just ones that were missing, they started hitting. You see it a lot in fourth quarters of games.
00:25:25
Speaker
Defence gets a little tired closing out in the fourth quarter and suddenly you've got a few more open shots. Yeah, I think you're right. It's really interesting in the fourth quarter close game. Like you said, people are just a little bit tired on the closeout, but then they start to panic a bit more or have a bit more of a sense of urgency when they're under the basket because they don't want to give away any twos. And I think in the back of your mind as well, you're like, oh, look, you're not going to make a three in the stretch.
00:25:52
Speaker
You know, you've played the whole game. What's the likelihood that you're going to hit this three in the stretch of the game and then they do. So then when it's those scoring opportunities are under the basket, as a defender, you're trying to like do everything you possibly can in desperation to make sure they don't get something easy. And we know that the likes of Washington and Hunter really don't like to give too much away to their opposition. Oh, not in the slightest.
00:26:19
Speaker
But that's really great for Maitland. I'm glad that they're building some character along the way with this season. And they're really kind of coming together at the right time, perhaps not peaking as quickly as some other teams, but they're certainly going in the right direction. I think that the growth over this season has been quite stable and steady. Like overall, regardless of how they end their season, it's been a really successful season for their women's program.
00:26:45
Speaker
Oh, 100%. They keep Shaq around and Rachel Williams and keep their imports or get equal level next season. They keep things going. And I think that steady growth is why they probably absorbed the loss of Miele better than maybe we expected they would. Yeah, that's a good point, actually. So now that you've got your game of misery out of the way, purely because you're the Sutherland shark supporter, what was the other game you got to cover?
00:27:14
Speaker
So I went with the game I was very, very fortunate. Now you're honored to call, which was Sydney Comets versus Aubrey Wodonga on Sunday afternoon, sitting there in my Oregon State t-shirt, watching Michaela Pivock at a triple double. She was on quad double watch at one point. So she had double figures for points and then eight rebound, seven assists and seven steals at halftime, or just after halftime.
00:27:39
Speaker
So she was on quad double watch at some point. I'll start with comments and what I liked about comments was...
00:27:55
Speaker
combined for eight of nine threes to start proceedings. Team finished nine of 16 overall. I think they finished nine of 12 as a group. Yes, nine of eight of nine to start the game. They hung with Aubrey Woodongo throughout and actually were up double figures in the fourth quarter. Were Sydney Commerce despite missing a WMBL player and an Opal.
00:28:19
Speaker
They had that three-point shooting, humming. Sarah Wachia, absolutely. I think she hit six threes the previous night in the loss to Newcastle. With an elbow that she took a knock, she was giving it the ice spray before both games this weekend and still managed to come out and hit six threes against Newcastle and then bury four or five the next day against Aubrey Wodonga.
00:28:42
Speaker
They really did a good job of getting Piper Anderson, the catch on the wing, getting her one on one with the defender and just taking off with that first step. I described it to someone as people say she's so fast. And I said, yeah, that's because her stride length is the width of a suburb.
00:29:01
Speaker
It is massive. She just takes off with that first step and she is gone. She is past you. It would take off left hand off the left wing, right hand off the right wing, but more on the left wing. Not sure if that's just how the situation presented itself. Finished with 19 points. Six of 11 from two point range. Jada Crouchoir again doing Jada Crouchoir things. Athletic length. Crashing the boards. Being an absolute menace on defense with a length and athleticism.
00:29:31
Speaker
attacking the rim, finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, a steal and three blocks. Unfortunately fouled out with about five minutes to play and that was when things really started to swing Aubrey Wodonga's way. It was a heartbreaking way for her to
00:29:47
Speaker
foul out because the referee originally pointed for an offensive foul on Michaela Pivock, which would have been her fourth. Instead, Pivock stays on three fouls, Crouchoal fouls out with five minutes to play. Importantly also, Crouchoal spent some time out. When she got her fourth foul, she also took a knock to the head and needed to be bandaged up around the head. So she looked like a rugby union front row with that bandage. Like she was about to pack down in the scrum, but she came back out and was
00:30:16
Speaker
really so good for them throughout the contest and just everyone who got this shot really stepped up for Comets across both games but it showed more in this game the way they finished. Narrow defeat, 81-79. Well I didn't like so much about Comets.
00:30:32
Speaker
I mentioned Michaela Pivy having seven steals. Well, part of it was because Comet's got a little too excited seeing someone like Piper Anderson bolt down court and trying these 70, 80 foot full court passes where, you know, someone like Pivy is just going to get back and, you know, just grab it with absolute ease. Probably just players don't have the passing range that someone like, you know, Heal or Penooses have. Just physical strength where you can just fling it.
00:31:02
Speaker
like that. It wasn't always like Pivig or someone or Mahadi or someone jumping up to grab it. It was like falling in their chest somewhere between half court and the three-point line. It was a timeout in the third quarter. I don't think we saw another one for the rest of the game. Indeed, Michaela didn't get another steal for the entire contest either. So once they got rid of that, certainly set them up nicely heading into the fourth quarter.
00:31:28
Speaker
Once Crawshaw found out they were really struggling to stop Mallory Bates. Bates is tall, she's got length, she's got a really high release, she can finish around the ring. A couple of baskets that she had in the midway through the fourth quarter that got Aubrey Widonga back in the game. You gotta let the kids play but sometimes they just, you know, decision making's not always the best for younger players but
00:31:52
Speaker
Look, you played the two teams you played this weekend, Newcastle and Auburn. You could probably get that out of your system quicker in those two games than you would in a season of playing 10-15 minutes a game with very little responsibility. Yeah, they lost both games, but they should be very, very buoyed by the way they played. Everyone stepped up. Drew Tollefahl played a captain's knock.
00:32:12
Speaker
younger players stepped up. Might have lost, but I was really happy with what I saw from Comets. It was a team that actually won the game and it was the Aubrey Wodonga Bandits, even though they had their troubles in the fourth quarter. Pivock doing everything well, 18 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists, 7 steals. Didn't finish as well around the basket as she would have liked. Finished with five offensive rebounds though.
00:32:37
Speaker
And then Mallory Bates just cleaning up around the basket, 26 points, 16 rebounds, 13 of 20 from the field, all from close range. Really liked, mentioned it during the call, Liz Murphy buried eight threes earlier in the season. She knocked down another four in this one. Some really clutch ones as well, just in big moments, big momentum shifting.
00:32:58
Speaker
baskets, she finished with 16 points. Mahadi finished with 17 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 steals.
Player Journey: Recovery and Opportunities
00:33:05
Speaker
Experienced players just stepping up when they need to and then Murphy just pulls the trigger. She's got so much confidence now from beyond the arc even though she's so young. And then of course Mallory Bates at both ends but especially at the defensive end. Didn't commit a foul and dished out five blocks in the process so you know swatting the ball away like that and never getting it wrong once. Pretty impressive.
00:33:25
Speaker
did find themselves in a bit of foul trouble apart from Bates. As I mentioned that fifth foul on Croucho could have gone the other way. So yeah, I think Hannon, Mahade, Murphy all finished with three plus fouls. They could not get to the free throw line. Comments refused to foul Bates. I think they realized that fouling Bates was asking for an and-one more than it was actually going to stop her from putting the ball in the basket.
00:33:49
Speaker
Comets actually only committed 11 fouls to the game but with only 8 players and if I remember correctly, I don't think Candelano didn't actually play so they really only used 7 players. They committed 4 turnovers in the first 70 seconds of the 4th quarter.
00:34:04
Speaker
You don't want to give any team momentum, especially a team that's been building confidence all game. And that was when Comets got out to that double-digit lead. I think they got out to an 11-point lead. Bandits called a timeout down on 11 or 13. Bain's got two baskets. Comet's still up by nine. And then Comet's called a timeout.
00:34:22
Speaker
The problem is when you call a timeout, the opposition get to have a chat as well. After that, Bandits went on a run, and that was the run that won the game after that timeout down 74-65. But interestingly, and looking at the play-by-play, it looks like they'd only called two timeouts. So I think Bandits had a timeout to play with, and if they did, they didn't take it. Down 81-79 with 30 seconds to play. The play that they ended up running ended with Alex Oliver trying to take on Mallory Bates, which
00:34:50
Speaker
ended about as you'd expect. I think Oliver was well into a move to the basket before she could have even recognised that Keiru's was open for the pass which would have been a wide open three. It ended 81-79 to leave Aubrey Wodonga now 10-8. They do play Sutherland, Canberra and Maitland to finish. They're certainly in the box seat when it comes to finals holding on to that eighth spot and as I mentioned earlier, Comets now
00:35:13
Speaker
Top four dreams dashed, now playing for fifth at best. Just two points. One, going back to you mentioned about those four court passes early in the game for Comets, not being as well executed as you would have liked, you know, with Penussis and Hill there. I think the other downfall of that is that Alexandra being a shorter court, meaning that you have a lot less time and distance.
00:35:35
Speaker
to be able to execute those passes. So you have to make your decisions a lot quicker than what you probably normally would. And especially like kind of the rule of thumb, especially in transition, if you want to throw that pass, you've got to throw it well before halfway. And the closer you get to halfway, you basically shouldn't throw it because it's either going to go out of court or someone's going to be able to catch up. So I think that's perhaps just a bit of a refining of skill there. The other thing I was going to ask, you mentioned that
00:36:02
Speaker
Comets did call that one timeout in the second half but then it ended up going more in Aubrey's favour than Comet's favour despite the Comets calling the timeout. Was that timeout in that part of the game and in that context of the game like worthwhile otherwise?
00:36:18
Speaker
Definitely. It definitely was because after the timeout band it's called, Mallory Bates got two of the easiest layups you will ever see. And if they hadn't called that timeout, you know, they would have been adjusting on the fly to that. That's the gamble, I guess, isn't it?
00:36:36
Speaker
Certainly is. The last play was so unfortunate because Alex Oliver actually tipped away the inbounds Comitator foul to give so with a couple of seconds to play they fouled.
00:36:49
Speaker
And Oliver tipped away the inbounds pass from Bates. And if it had got out in front, she might have had a chance to catch up and at least throw up a prayer. But she's tipped it and it's knocked, it's actually hit her on the head and just bounced away from everyone and no one even had a chance to catch up to it until right on the buzzer. So just one of those unfortunate things. I mean, it was all doing a low percentage play, but just, yeah. Tipping the ball away maybe actually, yeah.
00:37:16
Speaker
Yeah, prevented them from getting the steal. The young talent for the Comets really stood their ground against a very talented bandit. So I think they should be proud of themselves this weekend. Future's so bright, they got to wear shades. That's right. That song came out about 10 years before any of them were born, but regardless. I'm sure they've seen it on a hashtag or something since then, right? Definitely. We'll come back on TikTok as like a throwback song.
00:37:46
Speaker
but once again you were tasked with the men and you picked the same matchup I did for one of the games right here. Yeah and now look wasn't planned in that because you know full disclaimer I did ask Locky what games he was going to do so I wouldn't do the same but once I started going through the results the game that I did want to cover was the North's Aubrey game for the men that went into double overtime but listen I did not have time to watch a full game that went into double overtime
00:38:15
Speaker
I only got home from Asia Cup last night, quite late, and then I went to bed at 7.30. And then I had to work a full day like a regular Joe that we are. So unfortunately, I just couldn't squeeze in a game that went into double over time to review for the episode. So apologies. So I ended up choosing the Maitland Mustangs and Sutherland Sharks at
00:38:38
Speaker
Federation Centre in Maitland. And the reason why I ended up choosing this game is that I feel like we've talked a lot on this podcast about Maitland Mustangs rising to the occasion rather than playing at the level of their opposition, because we feel like that has been probably their weak spot of the season. So that's why I was interested to watch this game to see if they'd made any changes or how it was they went about to get such a convincing win over the Sharks.
00:39:08
Speaker
So, first off, Sutherland Sharks didn't have Ryan Cabrera. Do you have any intel there, Lucky? Is he injured? Not sure why AC wasn't there. Oh, Adrian Cabrera. I say Ryan Cabrera like the singer from the 2000s.
00:39:25
Speaker
Yeah, not sure why AC wasn't on the roster. I'll have to investigate that one. And again, apologies. I do know it's Adrian Cabrera. Brian Cabrera is cemented in my head because I grew up in the 2000s and he was one of those.
00:39:40
Speaker
singer-songwriters that were all over American pop stations and stuff. And he also had a stint in the hills when he dated Audrina. So listen, that's what is taking up rent space in my head at this point in time.
00:39:56
Speaker
but yes no Cabrera. Interestingly Daniel Milburn only played 16 minutes but the commentators let us know that he's actually doesn't live in Maitland anymore so he sometimes struggles getting to training and understandably if you can't come to training then your game time is going to be limited so
00:40:16
Speaker
But yeah, otherwise this game was also important for the sake of finals placings and ladder positions. And what was really, really interesting is basically if we, the start of the game, if we didn't have this particular first quarter of this game, I think things would have been a lot different. It was in a nutshell, it was one of those games that had lots of turnovers.
00:40:42
Speaker
Lots of passive D. And I know that's contradictory to say there was passive defense and lots of turnovers, because you would think if there's passive defense, then there wouldn't be as many turnovers. Not the case, unfortunately. Just a lot of sloppy passes, a lot of people not in the right floor spots, sometimes like a lot of rushing in decision making, which hence the turnovers too. And there are lots of times in the game where there are a lot of play phases that were back and forth in quick succession.
00:41:12
Speaker
but neither one of the point guards were taking the reins to slow it down after the 3rd or 4th. It would kind of just get a little bit of haywire. But listen, if there wasn't the turnovers causing chaos in the games, it was the foul count. So this game was kind of reminiscent of one of those MBL games where
00:41:28
Speaker
a lot of fouls which caused also more stoppages. To be honest by the time it got to the fourth quarter the game was a little bit boring but it was no fault of the play, I mean no fault of the players in the sense that they didn't perform their best and you know their skill sets went on show was just that the number of stoppages with fouls made it a little less entertaining. Maitland had 18 fouls and Sutherland had 17 fouls
00:41:53
Speaker
The likes of Will Cranston-Lown, Beasley and Mitchell from Sutherland, they all had three fouls in the second quarter. So that at least put a little bit of a spice to it. But this first quarter was super interesting. Again, how we say, you know, Maitland tend to play to the level of their opposition and not to their own standard. This time in this first quarter, that is exactly what Maitland did. They stayed to their game plan.
00:42:20
Speaker
It was really, really nice to watch, especially in the half court. So straight out of the gates, Maitland were running really nice transition, but as a pack. So anytime Maitland had an opportunity for a transition basket, there are at least three guys down the court. And I think that really exploited that passive transition defense from Sutherland quite early.
00:42:45
Speaker
It kind of looked like Sutherland were playing a practice match or it was at the scrimmage at the end of training. They just seemed to step behind everything. So transition D being one of them, half court D, they looked like they were always on the back foot and playing very reactive. Uh, so Maitland had a good opportunity early to get a lot of nice open threes, taking the ball one-on-one on the drive and drawing a foul.
00:43:10
Speaker
full credit to Maitland because their ball movement in the first quarter and most of the second was really really good and I think that is all down to details of being in the right floor spots. So some of the turnovers for both teams but probably Sutherland in particular came from just not being in those exact right floor spots at the right time. So I think it was mostly when
00:43:32
Speaker
guys on transition would penetrate and dish to the corner for like a transition three, or even times in the half court offense when Lockie Hutchison was kind of stuck having to make something out of nothing. People would be in the deep corner for three, but they'd be just that step above the baseline, making that passing angle a little bit too difficult, and they really needed to be like right in the corner where the baseline and the sideline meet.
00:43:58
Speaker
So little things like that kind of made a big difference. But yeah, Maitland as well in the first quarter, their field goal percentage was really, really good. And I think it was really a case of like Maitland getting on top of Sutherland early, making great shots, all coming out of a very well executed half court offense with just really great ball movement. But I think actually as well thinking about it, the half court offense from Maitland, the thing that actually worked for them the best is the movement off the ball.
00:44:27
Speaker
There were always guys exchanging, screening down, setting a staggered screen. There was always something happening. And that made it a lot easier for the likes of their scorers to find opportunities. And I'm going to sing his praises again, but Billy Parsons, what really stands out for me is that he finishes a lot of his shots under pressure, whether that's off an offensive rebound or in transition. He would take someone one-on-one and he just has great patience under the basket. Defensively from Maitland,
00:44:57
Speaker
Their help D was really quite good in parts, in the early parts of the game, but then that kind of fell away a little bit. And it went as far as that they were able to extend their man-to-man defence well past the three-point line. And I think Sutherland felt a little bit suffocated by that. That's when they really had to turn to Hutchinson to try and get something going off a pick and roll with Gerlach.
00:45:22
Speaker
Defensively for Sutherland, passive in the first part of the game and this actually led to a 12-2 lead by Maitland within the first seven and a half minutes of the first quarter.
00:45:38
Speaker
So they really caught Sutherland falling asleep in the start and Sutherland had to call a timeout at that stage. So from the second quarter though Sutherland started throwing in a 2-3 zone and I think when the ball was being in bounded in the back court they tried to trap the first part down on the sideline. So generally the point guard would come down see the zones already set.
00:46:02
Speaker
throw a wing pass and on that first catch Sutherland were trying to trap and that worked sometimes that they got a couple of turnovers off that and other times I got fouls again but some kind of interesting stats that stood out to me I mentioned the fouls before 18 to 17 Maitland to Sutherland. Turnovers was 23 to 27
00:46:26
Speaker
Maitland to Sutherland. When I started this review, that it was a game of turnovers and foul, I was not exaggerating on the turnovers. Sutherland had 15 turnovers, like within three minutes of the third quarter.
00:46:44
Speaker
You only want 12 a game, right? Correct. 15 and essentially a half is way too many. And then they had another five in total in the third quarter. Yeah. So that, that was a lot. It was a lot of turnovers. Rebound count was 41 to 34 in favor of Maitland. But Sutherland ended up having 16 offensive rebounds out of their 34 total, which I think, you know, not entirely.
00:47:10
Speaker
but certainly helped contribute to 15 of their second chance points. So that really kept them in touch. Like I said, if it wasn't for that first quarter that Maitland won 30 to 16, by the time Sutherland kind of got going a little bit and started getting some second chance points, it was starting to feel a little bit more competitive. Points in the paint, 68 to 48. The 68 of 110 points from Maitland were just in the paint.
00:47:36
Speaker
And that was also things like second line of rotation wasn't there. Even sometimes in the zone, they weren't communicating with each other very well. Just defensively just wasn't happening for Sutherland in this game, which really isn't like them at all. Because especially in the past, I know that Sutherland's defense can be quite intense to the point where they're getting under the skin of their opposition mentally.
00:48:01
Speaker
just did not see that this game. And then points from turnovers, 24 points to Maitland and just 12 from Sutherland. So yeah, it was, those stats probably stood out to me the most as team stats, but for individual performances, Maitland had a fairly even spread of scorers. They had six people in double figures. So Kevin Warren probably had one of his best games. He had 17, four and five. James Hunter had 18 and seven.
00:48:31
Speaker
Cranston Lowne had 18 points, 12 assists and 5 steals. Matt Gray had 16, 8 and 3. Billy Parsons had 13, 7, 7 and 3. It's just everywhere this guy. In 20 minutes. That's what he did in 20 minutes. What a legend. For Sutherland, Loughlin Hutchinson had 21, 2 and 2 and 3 steals. Angus Lake, it says, he started in replacement of Cabrera.
00:48:56
Speaker
He only ended up playing 18 minutes and he had six and six. But when he was on the court, he played, he was great. Very crafty, great footwork. I know that you've sang his praises before. I would have liked to have seen him on a little bit more, I think.
00:49:12
Speaker
Interestingly, three of three from two point range and O of two from deep. Definitely early in the season, he was pigeonholed a bit as a shooter, partly because he hit four of his first five shots on debut. But since then, he's like really started to use his first step, you know, because it's a real strength of his to get to the rack.
00:49:34
Speaker
So Jordan Mitchell, he started as well. He had 18 and three and Gerlach had 12 and three. And then Gack ended up having 12 and eight, but he only played 24 minutes. Yeah, they're really trying to, there's 80 minutes in the four and five spots to go around and you've now got Beasley, Gerlach and Gack to distribute them amongst. And I think if you add up those three players numbers, it's probably
00:50:01
Speaker
not far shy of and even as it adds up to about 71 minutes so just trying to distribute the minutes I think. It's just as well that they got Gack though in that fire sport because Beecy's found himself in foul trouble quite a lot this season. Some of the matchups that were quite interesting was that you know Hunter Gerlach with like a bit more one-on-one back to the post kind of stuff from them
00:50:23
Speaker
but I felt like they were a little bit more on the receiving end of their really good guards like Cranston Lowne and Hutchinson. Cranston Lowne and Hutchinson, they matched up a little bit, but then Kevin Warren ended up guarding Hutch for a little bit more than Cranston Lowne.
00:50:41
Speaker
And then sometimes Jack Edwards also had his turn of guarding Hutchinson. So I think in the absence of Cabrera again, Maitland had definitely had the luxury of being able to rotate three very good defenders on one very good point guard who didn't have a lot of backup on the day. Otherwise there was a little bit of chipper.
00:51:02
Speaker
In this game, a little bit of chat, a bit of tension very early. There was a period in the first quarter where they called three charges in a row and then over the back foul on Beasley. So it started to get quite heated early and Maitland got a tech warning.
00:51:19
Speaker
in that first quarter as well so that's how kind of chipper it was getting but it didn't escalate into any tech fouls. Callum Norris did get an unsportsmanlike foul later in the game on a transition bucket where he took a swat but it could have gone either way to be honest. You've got Warren in a footwork race with Norris down the court and Norris you know in out of desperation just took a slap at the ball
00:51:42
Speaker
because it's like, look, do I make it hard for this guy or do I just give him two points? So he just made a slap at it and I think they thought it was a bit too heavy handed and he ended up getting an unsportsmanlike but otherwise that was more or less it. It was fine. It was a basketball game. It was fine. Out of all the games this season, that was one of them.
00:52:03
Speaker
Yes exactly it was a game that was played also that was the only game i managed to cover to be fair because like i said i was at asia cup covering a whole bunch of other things that i'll get to mention when we get to our news and gossip section are we actually at the news and gossip section now of our show.
00:52:20
Speaker
Well, I don't really have any news or gossip to go around, but I just would like to shout out some people if that's all right. Because last weekend was actually my last game for the season at Comets. They do have one more home game, but I won't be calling that.
00:52:34
Speaker
So I just want to shout out to Nick Gilbert, Michael Morgan, Freddie Jensen, the Commerce Youth League men's coach who have been my co-commentators this year. Freddie actually stepped up this weekend. He wasn't meant to do it, but Nick was late getting back from his junior rep coaching.
00:52:51
Speaker
So he stood up and commentated the women's game with me this weekend. So thank you to everyone at Comets who's helped in the production. I've had a lovely season up there and I look forward to hopefully being back in 2024, if my Sutherland schedule allows me. What about you Squint, do you have any news? The only news I really have is that now, like I've mentioned already too many times on this episode, I was at Asia Cup. We had three NBL1 East players playing in Asia Cup, the three being
00:53:20
Speaker
Talia Tupaya from Penris Panthers, Loz Nicholson from Sutherland Sharks and Shyla Hill from Sydney Comets. And I was lucky enough to talk to Talia and Loz in the mix zone during
00:53:32
Speaker
the competition and this is what they have to say. So I read online Talia that you recently qualified with the FIBA accreditation to play for Tall Ferns. Was the conversation to play for Tall Ferns start with you or with Guy Malloy? I actually started with Kennedy Kiriyama when I was playing for Caps, he kind of mentioned to me and I had it in the back of my head and then I played Tohihi back in NZ.
00:53:56
Speaker
And I talked to Jodie a little bit throughout the season about kind of playing. It was just a bit hard because I knew that I couldn't come back and play for Aussie. So at the end of the season, Guy rang me, and I will text him back and forth for a little bit. And that's where, I guess it ended as well because I just chose to play for the Dolphins.
00:54:12
Speaker
And yeah, you just mentioned that you played in the New Zealand League, you're the reigning MVP after the league had its debut season last year and you're going back for a second season. How does that competition compare to the likes of NBL1 and WMBL?
00:54:27
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's getting there to the same similarity as MBL1. The first season last year, so we're going to have troubles and waves throughout the season, but I think we've really picked up this season. We've got a Rapid League coming in before the actual game for Tohiti as well, so that's going to help build the bench confidence as well. So, yeah, it's quite similar.
00:54:47
Speaker
And just finally, it's been really great seeing you back playing at the FIBA level. The last time you played for a FIBA level was 2019, like you said, for Australia. What's it like playing back at this level after a pretty eventful 12 months for you? Yeah, I guess for a long time. It's certainly different now playing for Torf Burns, which is kind of cool to represent that side of the culture and Aotearoa. But, you know, I feel it's great to be back. Yeah, like I said, I haven't been for a while, so it just feels really awesome to be here.
00:55:16
Speaker
So, Loz Nicholson, just after the semi-final game against China, tough 14-point loss. How are you feeling after that one? Yeah, it was a really tough game. You know, China are a really great team. They've been together for a lot of years now, and we were expecting a bit of a dogfight from them, and we definitely got that. Unfortunately, we just couldn't get over the line tonight, but, you know, we've got to regroup and get ready for tomorrow.
00:55:38
Speaker
As best as you can, try and describe what it's like playing for your home country on home soil but having the venue atmosphere feel like an away game.
00:55:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's incredible playing on home soil. It makes it a lot extra special, I guess is what I'm trying to say. But, you know, China, they bring a lot of fans over here and it felt like a 50-50 crowd out there tonight. And, you know, that's why China is so great. They bring people along with them and they are just as loud as Australia. So it was very exciting out there.
00:56:10
Speaker
Just finally, it's been a really eventful week here for you with the Opals. What are probably some of your key highlights from the tournament so far?
00:56:21
Speaker
I'm sure I'll look back on that game and consider that a highlight but hopefully tomorrow will be the highlight if we can medal and that's the plan. Also just hanging out with a really great bunch of girls. We came in together just a week and a half, two weeks ago and in that short time I feel like we have gelled together, we've really got to know each other and that part has been really special.
00:56:44
Speaker
Just to add to that, because I feel like you had a similar preparation time with the 2021 Asia Cup that you were also a part of and got a bronze medal. Are there some similarities or differences between the two squads? Yeah, I think that there's only three players from that Asia Cup at this one. So it is a very different new look squad, but you know, different but still fantastic to be a part of. Awesome. Thanks so much, Loz. Thank you for having me.
00:57:11
Speaker
The only thing I will add about Talia is that in the bronze medal match against the Australian Opals, she bolted off the court very early in the first quarter and didn't return for the rest of the game. She looked like she was in a lot of pain, unfortunately. And Guy Malloy shared with us during the press conference after that game that she has been living with a sublux shoulder for a while. And it seems like it either popped out or she heard it a little bit and didn't want to risk coming back in.
00:57:41
Speaker
So that's why unfortunately she didn't play that game. So hopefully she's okay to go and play in the New Zealand league now that Asia Cup's all wrapped up.
00:57:48
Speaker
Yeah, defending MVP. Oh, I should also mention other than players, we also had an MBL1 East coach at the Asia Cup in Renee Garlett. Yes. Renee Garlett being the North's women's head coach and also former player, but she was an assistant coach for the Australian Opals at this Asia Cup. And as someone who has known Renee since bottom age under 16s country tour trials,
00:58:18
Speaker
which is a very long time. It was really cool and wild and weird to see her on the bench as an Australian Opals assistant coach. It was a very proud moment for myself and our friends.
00:58:33
Speaker
Lovely, lovely to, to see. Yeah. I've known Renee, obviously not for as long as you, but yeah, for a long time. Great to see. Oh, just great to see coaches in general, you know, developing and getting those, getting those spots. But especially when it's someone you know, it's great to see. At the start, we had Emily Simons from the North Women working the tournament and also as part of the local organizing committee for the World Cup last year.
00:59:00
Speaker
and she was also part of the age cup this year. And let me be frank, that staff could not run without her. No, not in the slightest. No, not in the slightest. So just when you think a tournament is easy to run and run smoothly, it's because you've got the likes of the M. Simons in the background making it all work.
00:59:21
Speaker
Great representation for MBL1 Eastern, an international event. Actually, another little bit of news and gossip locky. Christina Moore from the Hornsby Keringai Spiders announced that she has signed to play with a team in Belgium. So she's going to go head over to Belgium and play in their pro league.
00:59:38
Speaker
She was someone that we were really hoping was going to stay and play WMBL for the Flames, but getting a pro contract in Belgium isn't half bad either, so congratulations to Christina Moore. And also Vanessa Penousas, who we often mention on the show from the Sydney Comets, has reassigned with the Sydney Flames for the next WMBL season.
00:59:58
Speaker
much to our delight. So also congratulations to Vanessa Penussis. So now that we've done our game review and our news and gossip, it's time for All-Star 5. Loki, you have the honors of doing the women's first.
01:00:13
Speaker
I certainly do. And obviously with, you know, 13 games this week, it took something, it literally took something ridiculous to get a spot when you think, um, Isla Jufferman speaks 30 and 11 on Thursday night, isn't in here. Leilani Mitchell's 21, I think it's 21, seven, eight and seven steals or something like that isn't in there because we actually had two triple doubles this week. And I'll kick it off with one of them. It's Michaela Pivet from Aubrey Wodonga.
01:00:42
Speaker
started off with 15 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in the Lost to North and then followed that up on Sunday with 18 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and 7 steals in the win over Comets. She was on court double half time with those steals.
01:01:00
Speaker
The second triple double of the weekend came for Jordan Dewhurst. She had a slow start to the weekend with seven points for assists, four rebounds and assists and a steal in the loss to Maitland. She came out firing against Hornsby Karingu with 14 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists and a pair of steals.
01:01:17
Speaker
in a 116 to 67 win. Sutherland teammate, Maddie Norris, 21 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a block in the loss to Maitland. But then 41 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, two blocks in the 116-68 win over Hornsby. And then for all the triple doubles, this may be even more ridiculous. Michaela Domkins for Inner West, 38 points.
01:01:46
Speaker
29 rebounds.
01:01:49
Speaker
6 assists and 2 steals in a 104-56 win over Hornsby Kareem Guy. And then finally Nicole Munger of Newcastle, 28 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block leading Newcastle to victory over Comets 71-50. And then following that up with 25 points, 11 rebounds, 5 more assists and another steal in a 77-74 nail biting win over North
01:02:16
Speaker
which keeps them in contention for top spot at the end of the season. When it takes those kind of performances to make the All-Star 5, and what didn't make it, you know it was a massive week. 29 rebounds is ridiculous. There's players who don't get 29 rebounds in a season that play decent minutes. Anyway, moving on to the men who also had a vast number of games this week. Yeah, the Men's All-Star 5 was also another kind of tricky
01:02:45
Speaker
uh, way to work things that all came down to, I guess, big stats as it normally does, but because there were double headers, there were opportunities for people to be able to back up and produce more and put, give them an edge over perhaps some other standout performances. Uh, an honorable mention to Markel Beasley against the Hornsby spiders who had 29 points and 12 rebounds shooting at 80%. But the five that I stuck with, it starts with Ryan Beasley.
01:03:12
Speaker
a name that everyone should now be familiar with. Who against the Sydney Comets had 25 points, eight rebounds and three assists at 75%. The three assists giving him the edge there. And then we had Dahl Feig. Great to see him coming back to form after some up and downs with injuries this season. Against Manly, he had 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Again, just a little bit of eight assists has given him the edge to make the All-Star Five.
01:03:42
Speaker
Lewis Holley, now he is someone that you don't want to play jungle ball with. Holley, Michaela Dompkins, Nicole Munger, you guys need to sort yourselves out and figure out who is actually the best rebounder of this comp.
01:03:58
Speaker
probably mix in Miles Cherry and Ryan Beastie as well because like you guys on the boards are just ridiculous. So Lewis Holley in the double overtime game against Aubrey had 24 points and 25 rebounds. Now this is over the likes of Michael Parkes and Jimmy Coleman. 25 rebounds, this is ridiculous. Speaking of Jimmy Coleman, he also had a great weekend. So against Norths he had 25 points and 14 rebounds.
01:04:25
Speaker
Then he had to back up the next day against Comets where he had 16 points, 19 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. And considering it was the double header and he was still putting up good numbers in a whole bunch of different stats, again, thought that gave him the edge for the All-Star 5.
01:04:43
Speaker
And finishing it off is none other than Davo Hickey, who against Bankstown, he had 38 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. And to back up the next day against Penrith, he had 24 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. So Davo Hickey is just too deadly for MBL1 East with those numbers.
01:05:05
Speaker
So that wraps up the All Star Five. Coming up very soon, we're going to have an interview with a standout guard for the Illawarra Hawks in Freddie Webb. So stick around for that.
01:05:19
Speaker
Now, when you Google our very special guest this week, you'll learn on Wikipedia that they are retired Filipino basketball player, coach, former politician and television radio personality. But then you'll realize just as I did that this is completely the wrong person and instead who we're looking for is a point guard who likes to dish the dimes all the way from Darwin via Mackay and is now playing for the Illawarra Hawks. It's Freddie Webb. Hi, Freddie.
01:05:48
Speaker
Hey Mike, how are you doing? How are you doing? Thanks for having me on. As Quinn mentioned, you are from Darwin and I've got to admit, I'm not too across the basketball scene up there. So how did your junior career start up there? Yeah, look, Darwin's a, it's a bit of a funky place. We're so remote. We are so far from everything. We don't really have the opportunity to, you know, to go to Sydney to play some tournaments or just to go to Newcastle or to go to Illawarra. Our closest place is Alice Springs. That doesn't really have any teams.
01:06:18
Speaker
So for us to go play, we play nationals once a year, if you make the team and you go, um, yeah, you often have a pretty, pretty rough truck and nationals. Uh, and then you come back and you don't play anyone else for a whole year. So it's, uh, it's not a massive basketball scene, but it's, uh, it's coming alive. Like the NBA one up there, the salties, um, has been a massive boost the last couple of years. Uh, so yeah. So, I mean, I got started.
01:06:43
Speaker
back in 2007, when I was about seven, I played for my whole career. I played for Ansett basketball club after the airline. So we still proudly hold that name. I think they were responsive back in the day. So yes, I played for them since I was seven, all the way through pretty much my high school career, Premier League. It was a bit of a, I was a bit of a late bloomer. So I under twelves.
01:07:08
Speaker
We went to Alice Springs for like a, you know, a little tournament and everyone that I was billeted with made our state team. I didn't ball my eyes out, you know, all the rest of it, uh, came back under 14 top age. I was the 10th man on the team, scored four points, the entire tournament that club champs came back, uh, both ages, both, uh, 16 years. I.
01:07:35
Speaker
You know, wanted to make a team. I was training, was doing everything I could. Uh, I missed out both years and my top age year, I was. Proper devastated. You know, I thought I should have made it, you know, and I didn't, uh, probably for good reason. And, and then 18s, I made it as a bottom major. Uh, and really that was between my bottom age, 18s and my top age, 18s. Uh, I really started to put it together. Um, and all the work that had sort of been building up slowly.
01:08:02
Speaker
started to just come to fruition. So by the time I was top AHA teams, I was our captain, our starting point guard. And so when we went to nationals, you know, I had a bit more responsibility and I had a reasonable tournament and then came back and was lucky enough to go to college for two years in Maine. So as far north and as far east as you can get, we had about seven months of snow
01:08:26
Speaker
you know, negative 25. So a bit of a change from down. So tell us about going to those nationals because as you said, you know, it's, it's tough coming from the NT and, uh, you know, you come up against States with a lot more, you know, the depth, depth of talent is just, I mean, just because the population is so much bigger. What's the life going up against the biggest States? Oh, a hundred percent. Uh, I mean, look, I got PTSD walking through the snake pit because I've got all these beautiful photos of New South Wales country.
01:08:54
Speaker
the team that had Angus Glover, Patti Lancaster, McWetch, Miles Cherry, Zunik, just a ton of guys that absolutely gave us the work, like game one at Nationals. And obviously Patti's one of my teammates and we joke about it, but it's just the reality of it. Like the population in Darwin, you're choosing from 130,000 in New South Wales, Sydney, Queensland, like you're just choosing from a lot more people.
01:09:22
Speaker
you know, with a lot more playing experience against other kids. So it's tough, it's tough, but you know, you go there, you try and make the NT proud, you try and play with a bit of NT, you know, hustle. But as far as like getting results, it's yeah, it's a bit of a grind for sure.
01:09:38
Speaker
Can I ask quickly, what was the turning point between not making the state team top age 16s and then two years later being the starting point guard? So about, uh, about my top age 16s, uh, an import came down to play for Ansett in our Premier League team. I was, since I was young, I was very open. I think I had a lot of opportunities to travel when I was young and be, um, around a lot of people that had status and whatever their field was.
01:10:07
Speaker
and was encouraged by my parents to sort of talk to them and be open and whatever else. So whenever an import came to town, I was the first kid, you know, to go up to them and ask them questions. Hey, like, where are you from? What college did you go to? How do you train? What do you do? What don't you do? Can you come watch my games? And there was a guy called John King. He came to Darwin, he played for Ansett, and he took me under his wing. So he'd pick me up every morning before school at about 5.45. We'd work out from about six to 7.30. With Shower, he'd drop me at school.
01:10:37
Speaker
And that happened for maybe the back end of my 16s, bottom age 18s. And I think something that I've learned just as my sort of career has gone is that you can work every day, work, work, work, work, work, and not see any results. And then at some point, which is unbeknownst to you, you just hit this point of inflection where the work compounds and then you get better exponentially. And it will happen reasonably quickly.
01:11:07
Speaker
but it's only because of that body of work that you've put in. So I think for me, that's exactly what happened. Bottom age, eight teams, you know, it was okay. I was really, I didn't really play a lot and I just kept working, kept working, kept working. And then in that year I got exponentially better. And you know, I remember coming back from eight teams that first year and saying, I've got 52 weeks. Like I don't want anyone to outwork me. I've got 52 weeks to come back and try and actually play and make an impact on this team. And, uh,
01:11:33
Speaker
And yeah, it sort of came together. It came together at the right time and then it's just sort of, you know, been on that trajectory since. And you mentioned May and you parlayed all that work and that experience into a spot in college. Tell us what was it like up there as Central Main Community College you went to? Yeah, Central Main Community College. It was amazing. My roommates from those two years over there are still to this day my best friends. You know, it was
01:12:01
Speaker
going to college, it was my first time ever leaving the house as far as living away from home. So used to a lot of growing up, like you have to take care of yourself, you know, you have to build habits. And if you don't, especially at a junior college, you'll just, you'll fall away. Like it's such a doggy dog world at junior college that if you're not ready to go in there and fight for everything and outwork people,
01:12:22
Speaker
you're not going to get an opportunity. So, I mean, I had a great two years. First year, I was, you know, our six men had come off the bench, played about 15 games. Second year, I was our starting shooting guard for about half the year before I got into, had some pretty sort of severe injuries. So where's the backend of my career? But as far as the experience there, my coach, coach Gonyea, the snow, like we don't, you know, snows, that's cool, man. Throwing snowballs, you know, having hand warmers, that's,
01:12:51
Speaker
That was exciting. That was so different for me. So it was an amazing experience. I would never change it. Are you able to share some of those injuries that you experienced in college? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it was a bit of a funky situation. So I started at our shooting guard position, played okay in the start of the season and sort of withered off by the break. I was, I wasn't moving right. You know, I was talking to my dad almost every day and he's telling me like, Hey, are you hurt? I don't, I don't think so. Like I feel a bit stiff and a bit uncomfortable, but
01:13:20
Speaker
Nothing, nothing too crazy. By the end of, uh, by the end of that year, I knew there was something wrong. I didn't really think it was too severe that season ended up. Uh, I came home, uh, actually funny story. We had a, we had a coach come to watch one of our games. Uh, I spoke to him pregame about being recruited, you know, to move on after the junior college. I think I went like one for 14 that game. And, uh, and I had never felt so embarrassed in my life. And like, it's funny looking back now.
01:13:47
Speaker
I can appreciate that a good coach recognizes that that's just, that's possible. You know what I mean? That's, that's how that goes. And that doesn't define who you are as a player. If you have a one bad game at the time, I didn't really have that. Probably that maturity and that, that wisdom to understand that. So I was just super embarrassed. Didn't want to talk to him anything afterwards. Came home, decided I wasn't going to, you know, I decided I was going to stop playing basketball because I was just had such a bad end of the year. Things were hurting, but.
01:14:14
Speaker
So I decided I wasn't going to do that. I decided I was going to pursue strength and conditioning. So I, you know, did a couple, uh, internships at a division one college. I interned with the Sacramento Kings MBA team in the strength and conditioning department. I met some really amazing people in that. When I came back to Darwin, I decided I'll play in the premier league, you know, just for fun, really. And I was playing, I was really enjoying it. Then my hips started hurting again. I got the same sort of feeling that I got towards the back end of college. So.
01:14:41
Speaker
I thought I better get these checked out. So I went and saw an orthopedic surgeon who sent me for scans. As soon as the results came in and we went and saw him, I remember clearest day walking in there at the ripe old age of 19, 20 maybe. And he just looked at me and said, if you ever want to play again, you need to have double hip surgery.
01:14:59
Speaker
He said, both your labrum's are completely torn. You've got pieces of bone from your pelvis floating around in each hip. The head of your femur is stuffed. You need a complete repair on both hips ASAP. So I sort of looked at my parents and it wasn't necessarily a tough decision. It was more or less of, okay,
01:15:18
Speaker
Who's the best person? Where do we have to go to do it? And let's get it done, which I'm, I'm fortunate to be in that situation where, where I could have done that. Uh, and yeah. And then so the next step was to Melbourne for about a month with my dad, one hit, uh, one hit a week apart, uh, on crutches, you know, for a bit sort of back on my feet properly within a couple of weeks. And then building up slowly. Um, the physio that did my rehab.
01:15:43
Speaker
Phil and Darwin was excellent. And then sort of back on the court five to six months later, back in Darwin. Double hip surgery. So you said you were back on your feet two weeks later. It sounds crazy to me that, you know, doing both sides back that quickly. Did that surprise you? Oh, yeah. 100%. I thought the same thing. So I had my first one and they're encouraging me to get up as soon as you can. So sort of two days after that first one.
01:16:11
Speaker
they want you to try and walk, you know, crutches, try and get moving, try and get moving. And then second one, same deal. So yeah, within probably two or three weeks is my second one. Yeah, I was sort of up and walking. That's just that's what they want you to do for their rehab, I guess. So you know, Scottish who doesn't build up and you don't get stiff. So yeah, yeah, I was surprised as well. But that's I guess that's the way to go now. Evidently, it was a success because you've managed to work your way to NBL one and you headed off to Mackay for two years before playing here.
COVID Impact on Rehab and Career Goals
01:16:40
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So it was actually, um, it's funny. I mean, looking back on hindsight, can you appreciate, I think things and the timing of it all, but it was during COVID, it was right before COVID hit because it was December 2019 that I had hips. Um, so right before it sort of hit in Australia. So basketball shut down. So it wasn't like I was rehabbing while everyone else was playing. No one was playing. So I was rehabbing. I was in a great routine. I was sort of building my body, my mind, everything while that was happening. And I remember I sort of had to sit and have it,
01:17:09
Speaker
serious conversation with myself and say, Hey, what do you want to do with this? Where do you want to go? And I remember I mapped out a timeline and the leagues and what I would have to do in each league to reach the eventual goal of NBL, which it was at the time. And so I had that premier league in Darwin, which was sort of my post rehab season, which I played extremely well in. And then I had heard like NBL one was a thing. It wasn't in Darwin yet.
01:17:35
Speaker
I heard of the league and I had some people help reach out to a bunch of teams and coaches. So I had a lot of interests from NBL one central at the time. And I, uh, I shot an email to the head coach of the Mackay meteors, which was Joel Carlew still is today. I just saying, Hey, this is me. Here's, you know, here's my highlights. Here's my story. Um, I have played against, you know, a bunch of the plays that you've coached that, you know, like contact them and let me know, talk to them and see what you think. But I'd love to.
01:18:04
Speaker
And really on my timeline, when I wrote this timeline out, that year was meant to be a development player in the NBA, in the NBA one. I didn't really see myself playing. I was just like, I just want to go and learn. Um, and you know, Joel came out to down. He, you know, he worked us out. He worked me out and, uh, then season ended up and yeah. And then I signed with him, uh, with Mackay and then four over there.
01:18:26
Speaker
And I had two, two great years there under his guidance. So it was a, um, yeah, it was really cool how it sort of played out. And, you know, I've always very appreciative of Joel for giving my first, giving me my first opportunity in MBO one and, uh, and really making a, making a serious impact on me as a person and a player.
Unexpected Break and New Beginnings
01:18:43
Speaker
Did you find as well, like mentally in that time off, you were essentially forced to take from the game with your double hip surgery. Um, did you find that you needed the break mentally as well and not realize it?
01:18:55
Speaker
Yeah, 100%, 100%, especially coming from college where every day you wake up thinking this, you know, we had 18 guys in our roster thinking everyone's trying to get a scholarship. You just got to, and it's just, you get into some mindset and when you're so deep in it, sometimes it's hard to sort of pull your head out of the sand and just take a sort of bird's eye view of what's going on. So being forced to take that time off was probably one of the best things that's happened for my career.
01:19:21
Speaker
Two years in Mackay, how did you find yourself in Illawarra after finishing up there? Yeah, so it's funky. There's a lot of connections. There's maybe a lot more connections than you'd realize. So Joel, Joel Carlew had come up with Cortez, Tyson Demos, and a couple other guys, Matty Campbell might've been on that trip as well, came up to Darwin. And as I'm sure we'll probably touch base on a little bit later,
01:19:50
Speaker
My family, we own a crocodile farm in a zoo in Darwin. And so they had come to come to visit the zoo. And I was there to a guy because that was sort of my job as a kid. So I took him around and, you know, talk to them, showed them all the animals. And then, yeah, a couple of years later, I'm playing for job. And then so two years past in the car, I had Reese Martin as our point guard my second year. Tyson had obviously played in the car. Timmy Conrad had played in the car.
01:20:18
Speaker
Um, not that Lucas Walker played for the Hawks, but he, you know, he's playing with us now. And he had played in the car. There was more connections than you would realize. So I think between all of them, um, and a, and a really good sort of post-season chat with Joe, just saying, Hey, listen, time in the car was great. Um, but we both agreed that, you know, there could be some other places that'd be better for my development. And he was great about helping me find those places. And so.
01:20:45
Speaker
between all of them, they got in contact with, uh, with the Hawks, the NBA one team. And, uh, and yeah. And so I got a call from Ben Begolio assistant and then talked to Oscar and Nash and they sold me on coming down here. And next thing you know, I'm here in the gone. Not a bad place to be, to be honest, cause, uh, it sounds like you've had humidity, you've had snow, you've had Mackay and now you're down in the lovely beaches of Wollongong. Exactly. Beaches that you can swim in. I'm not used to it.
01:21:15
Speaker
Dude, do you get down, get down to the beach much? Oh, look, I've been absolutely soaking it up. Um, me and my roommate, uh, Dan Greeter, we started a, uh, we put a sticky note on the fridge and we started a streak where every single day we had to get in the ocean and, uh, it got up to about 38 days.
Community Engagement and Representation in Basketball
01:21:34
Speaker
Uh, and then unfortunately it was broken. So, but I still do get in there pretty often. Like if not every day, every second day. What broke the streak, are you allowed to say?
01:21:45
Speaker
Oh, I am. I am. It was Dan. Dan broke it. He went to Perth. He went to Perth and then made some excuse about not being able to get in the water. And it just wasn't as much fun trying to keep the streak by itself. But there were some nights, you know, we played a game. I remember who we played and I hadn't swam that day. And so me, Dan and Harry Morris went down to, down to North Beach at about 11 PM to keep the streak alive. Like we were, we were serious about it.
01:22:09
Speaker
So you're obviously enjoying your time in Wollongong. Apart from playing, are you involved in the club in any other way? Yeah, absolutely. I'm a self-appointed director of walking basketball, which is, I wear that very proudly. I think the walking basketball was an awesome program. It was something I ran in Darwin, which sort of became very successful. We have sometimes 25, 30 people over the age of 50, 60.
01:22:36
Speaker
Going up and down playing walking basketball. And so when I came down here, they mentioned that I was starting the program I said well great like I've had formal training in this and I ran it in down so we when I first got here they had maybe one two people rock up and we've had 16 the last couple weeks so it's been on the steady climb and I love it like that's that's what it is that's especially when you're in MBL one like
01:23:01
Speaker
Being in the community is part of the whole thing. You don't just sign to come and play hoops. You sign to represent a community. You sign to be part of the community. Walking basketball, mini hawks, the three to five year olds, and then we're in school holidays now. As we touched on before the pod started, I was working at a school holiday camp from 8.30 to 3, all day today, which is great. We had so many kids there saying, we saw you on Saturday. We come to all the games.
01:23:29
Speaker
It's great. It's really cool that they can see that as a pathway for themselves. I think that's not to digress, but I think that's what the salties in Darwin is. Why is that so important? Because growing up, we didn't see that. I never had an NBL one. I never had an NBL. I remember the Adelaide 36 has gone up there and me looking at them gone,
01:23:51
Speaker
This is a job. Like you can get paid to do this and thinking, all right, this is what I'm going for. You know, but you don't really see it on the day today. So for these guys to see, you know, Tyler Harvey working out in the middle of school holidays for them to look and see, well, that's, that's Tyler Harvey, you know, it's, I think it's motivating and it's inspiring. And I think the Hawks do a good job of not trying to shelter that from all the kids. Like, you know, we're front and center. They're great. They're accommodating. So, um, it's, it's really, really cool. I love it, Daniel.
01:24:22
Speaker
That's what I actually really like about the Hawks. You made such a good point, not only about their community, uh, outreach, uh, and how well integrated they are in a, in the community, being a regional area as well, I think is super important. But, uh, you guys play, well, you guys train on the exact same courts that anyone from domestic, like you said, mini Hawks walking basketball, they use the exact same court. Like it just makes things so much more like realistic and achievable.
01:24:49
Speaker
Like when you can see your idols playing on the same court that you play. Absolutely. You know, I couldn't agree more. And just a side note, Lockie, before you jump into more important questions, I'm so interested to know, walking basketball is something I really hope takes off here on the Central Coast because we actually have quite a large aging population down here. How did you recruit from one to two players initially to get like 16, 17 now? That's really, really cool.
01:25:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. To be honest with you, just enter the secret. The secret isn't actually in the walking basketball. It's in the snacks and the coffee and the tea that you offer afterwards. It's the quality of the post session meals. So yeah, but no, in all seriousness, it's look in that in that community. So I have an older dad. I grew up with a dad that was born in 1947. He's 76 this year. So I
01:25:44
Speaker
I really do have a deep appreciation for that age group and that demographic who have done so much for us. But I guess in my opinion, maybe get left behind a little bit. And I think it's amazing to focus on the youth. But I think we just can't forget about all those people, especially like, you know, we talk about basketball, these people paved the way, you know, they built the snake pit, they're there. So to have so many of those
01:26:09
Speaker
Guys and girls, a lot of females that had played basketball for years, come back and play is so rewarding to see. But it's, you know, it's really about that for them. Like they get together with their old team that they played with 40 years ago. Yeah. People that have never played basketball before, people that come from, have played walking soccer or played walking netball. Um, and it's a really, it's a word of mouth thing. Like these groups, they go for walks, they go for coffee. If you know someone says, Hey, walking basketball was great. We had a lot of fun.
01:26:36
Speaker
you know, you'll get new people every single week. So it's yeah, it grows quickly if you know, if everyone's enjoying it. So I've been absolutely stoked with the outcome. And when Freddie brings the Monte Carlos. That's right. Oh, it's everything. It's the scones. It's the Anzac pickies, you know, and we're coffee and tea next season.
01:26:55
Speaker
Your, your primary function down in, in Wollongong is to, is to play, play for the Hawks MBL1 team. And you're actually playing in a team. You mentioned all those connections and you had, and some of those guys are playing on the team with you. Uh, you mentioned Timmy Conrad and Waxy. How, how does playing alongside those guys assist in your development as you look to progress to the next level? Oh, it's, it's massive. Like, um, not often do you get the chance to, you know, be side by side.
01:27:23
Speaker
couple of times a week with guys that have played hundreds of MBL games and have been under great coaches, have played with great point guards. Like there's been numerous conversations where I've gone up to either one of those and said, Hey, like who was the best point guard you've played with? What did he do? How did he do it? How did he talk to his teammates? If he had to, if he had to address a point, how did he do it without making someone feel about it without bringing them down? What, like, what, you know, methods and tactics and whatever else and to get legitimate responses for, you know,
01:27:54
Speaker
Waxy that have played with Damian Martin, Timmy that's played with Reece Martin. Like, you know, these guys with such experience has been awesome. And they've been, you know, I can't thank them enough for letting me be me and still letting me lead and have a voice in the group. You know, it was so much experience with so many NBA guys.
01:28:14
Speaker
Um, I think it would be easy for them to be, not necessarily get their nose out of joint, but for them to just, you know, I think, you know, we, I've played X amount of NBL games. This guy has never played an NBL game, but I think, you know, they've seen from my first day of training, uh, to now that, you know, I like to have a voice. Um, I think I've been a leader since I was young and, uh, and I really want what's best for the team. And I think once everyone realizes that it's very easy to sort of get behind and follow suit as you know,
01:28:44
Speaker
a point guard, you need to have a voice and be a leader. You know, you're out there directing traffic in the, in the offense. It shows in your play, you actually, you know, leading the league in assists at the moment. Um, is that the way you like to play as a facilitator first? Yeah, I think, uh, I think my first year in my car, I sort of, you know, I had a good sit down with Joel about halfway through the season and we sort of said like, all right, if this is the goal, what player are you going to beat? How are you going to get there? Because being an expert generalist, you know,
01:29:12
Speaker
six foot isn't the best way to achieve the goals that I had set out. At the next level, it's all about specifics. What role can you fill? And for me, it was very simple. It was to be an absolute pest on defense, to be a leader, to communicate,
Team Dynamics and Strategy Focus
01:29:30
Speaker
and to get the ball to the best players where they want it, when they want it, so they can score and take my opportunities when they come and shoot the ball when I'm open and make those sort of reads.
01:29:42
Speaker
Um, yeah, I think it's been a bit of a process. Uh, I watch a lot of film. I think I pride myself on being very prepared. I, um, I'm often sending sending clips to teammates or talking to them pregame about their, their match-ups or, um, you know, lots of different little things like that. And I think, you know, and again, like you said, it all comes with being a point guy being a leader. Like you, I think that's our job. That's that's my job. So, um, yeah, getting assist is good. You know, I can make a great pass, but if my teammates weren't such.
01:30:10
Speaker
good shooters, I wouldn't get an assist. So having Timmy Conrad on one wing and Harry Morris on the other, Davo running down the lane, Phil, Brent, I could name my whole team. You know what I mean? Like it's just, it makes my life easy.
01:30:23
Speaker
Yeah, you certainly spoiled for choice with options as well in that team. And the team, you may have been good start, dipped a bit, and now you're sitting at nine and nine and you've got that big game against Newcastle coming up. How do you approach this part of the season knowing you're just outside finals and all you can do from here on out is win and hope the chips fall your way? For sure. Look, it's frustrating.
01:30:50
Speaker
where we're at and you know you look back at close games we dropped hills by you know contested step back essentially a buzzer beater um we dropped a couple other games by a couple points the reality of it was we were down seven players seven of our top 10 so you know we went to aubrey with literally seven we went to norths with uh i think maybe six or seven nbl one guys in the youth league who had just played to you know fill in
01:31:19
Speaker
So there was a stretch of five or six games where we were actually very competitive considering what we had on the floor. But I think you have to look at that and go, OK, well, there's a bunch of players, including myself, who got a lot of experience they wouldn't have got otherwise if we had a full roster. And you can only hope that when their number gets called, because of those experiences, they're prepared for it. That little dip was really frustrating. We sort of come into form as of late.
01:31:48
Speaker
But it's tough. The consistency hasn't been there because people have been injured, people have been out, people have had all sorts of different situations that hasn't allowed us to really catch a rhythm. As far as how we approach the next three games, I mean, there's only one way to approach it, which is one possession at a time, one game at a time. We can't control what happens to the teams between us and that eight spot. The only thing we can do is go out there
01:32:18
Speaker
do our absolute best to win every game by as much as we can and put ourselves in the best position possible. That's it. Like the chips will fall how they fall and everyone will wake up and, you know, be breathing and be okay the next day, even if we don't make finals. So it's, um, you know, we're hoping we're doing everything possible. Um, but we've got a mature group and, um, really honestly, I really want to enjoy these last three games because you never know, like this could be the last three games you play with
01:32:48
Speaker
this set of 9, 10, you know, 12, 15 guys that you train with. That could be it for games for the rest of your life with these people. So yes, we obviously want to win. That's the priority. But I think trying to be present and just enjoy the fact and try to realize the fact that this is it sort of makes the moment a lot better. It's interesting you mentioned that it could be the last games you played with this particular group because
01:33:15
Speaker
A few years ago, I was lucky enough to be sitting in with Sutherland before a finals game. And BJ Carter said exactly the same thing. He came in and said, you know, next year, even if one guy leaves and replacing with someone else, it's still a different vibe. So if you like this group, get out there and win because you want to keep the group together. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you couldn't say anything about it. And I think that probably
01:33:39
Speaker
goes for more than just hoops. Like you never know when it'll be your last time doing something. It sounds probably a little morbid, but it probably just locks you in a little bit more and makes you appreciate where you have that little bit more, I think. Because coming from up north, did you know many of the other people on your team before you got here? No. So actually, you know what, like that reminded me of a saying that I didn't mention about the whole connection with coming down here was Big Joe, who's the manager for the Hawks.
01:34:08
Speaker
They came up for the blitz, this past blitz. He had reached out to me because he was the CEO of Darn basketball when I was in there every morning, six AM, six AM, six AM, six AM. So he saw me, we had a great relationship. He was always being fantastic to me. When he came up, he, you know, he had reached out, we're coming up, whatever else. So I was sort of their team liaison for the Hawks when they were up there. So pregame in the locker room, walk them out to the court. Um, during the game, I'm sitting sort of right behind their bench post game, walking back. And they were amazing to me.
01:34:37
Speaker
Like for someone who, they all knew who I was. Like I played against Sam in MBL one North lucky Dan. I knew a bunch of these guys. They knew that I played and there was a respect there, but really for someone who was relatively unknown, they're amazing. They had me in their pregame huddles. I was, I remember one time we're in the huddle. I'm looking around. There's no coaches. It's all of them about to go on the court and me in my MBL blitz t-shirt, you know? Um, and that goes for the, for the imports too, like, um,
01:35:05
Speaker
J-Rob, Tyler, George King at the time, they were all very accommodating. And I remember leaving that week thinking, this is an amazing group of people, just of humans. Like some people that, regardless if I was playing or not, I would want to be around them. Um, so when the connection came with basketball and I knew the Hawks were down here, I just remembered that. Remember how welcoming all of them were, including the coaching staff, including Jacob and thought, this is great. You know? So, so.
01:35:35
Speaker
you know, I came down and that was all part of it. So by the time I got down here and we were walking into the pit one time and Tyler was walking out and he had to sort of double take like, you actually came down? I was like, yeah, I actually came down. Like I told you I was going to come and he was like, no, I believed it. I believed it. And, uh, and that's been fantastic. Like, you know, they've been phenomenal to me since. And, um, yeah, very appreciative of the way they made me feel up there and how accommodating they've been since I've been down here.
01:36:03
Speaker
It's just interesting because you spoke earlier about how the Salty's are now a pathway and representation for the young kids in Darwin. And when you were ready to leave Mackay, Illawarra was one team that were like, yeah, we'll, you know, come down and play for us. And now you've just kind of placed yourself in the perfect position to put yourself in that, in that pathway to an MBL team with the Hawks. Uh, was that part of your decision to come down or was that serendipitous?
01:36:32
Speaker
I'd be lying if I said it, you know, I hadn't thought of it, um, that, you know, there's obviously an NBL team here, but truthfully, I didn't, I didn't put too much attention on it or pay too much mind to it because I think, I think it's dangerous to, to do that. And then especially if you wake up every morning thinking like, all right, I'm just here to, you know, I'm just here to try and make the NBL, try and make the NBL, try and make the NBL, which sort of by default, by saying that you're essentially saying everything until I make the NBL is a good
01:37:01
Speaker
or is a negative experience. So I think by default saying, look, this would be fantastic, but right now I'm just going to focus game to game because I know if I do my job and I play well and we do well as a team, I put myself in the best position possible to get a look at even training with them or any other team around the country. So, you know, it was definitely there, but I wouldn't say it was a hard focus by any means.
01:37:27
Speaker
How close are you to, you know, getting in there with the Hawks' MBL? Is there anything official going on yet? Have there been discussions? Yeah, look, nothing official. Nothing official. They've been great. Like, you know, from Jacob, Sean, Paul and Lachie in particular, like they're around. Sean and Paul are coaching our youth league team, which, you know, we train on similar nights. Lachie's around all the time. And so is Jacob. And, you know, they're out of games. They're courtside. And so often I'll talk to them.
01:37:56
Speaker
post game. Hey, you know, what did you think? How can I do better? Let me get some feedback or they'll come in and just offer their advice without me asking, which I always, always appreciate. I think, I think for me, I love to learn. I love to learn and knowing that there's coaches at that level here, it's a no brainer that I want to be around them. As far as if there's anything official going on, not, not particularly, not, not at all, really. I'm at peace that
01:38:22
Speaker
If they think that I can bring anything positive to the team and help the organization in any way, that will reach that conclusion. And, you know, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. At the moment, I'm glad learning as much as I can from them, um, in the interactions that I'm having and, you know, being around the MBL guys and just talking to them, you learn so much as well. You know, having, having Dan as my roommate has been amazing. You know, this would be his sixth year as a Hawk. He's had, you know, his own absolute journey through injuries and whatever else. So being able to just sit and.
01:38:53
Speaker
and chat has been, you know, amazing. Like I honestly, I couldn't, couldn't have scripted it any better. Have you learned anything from your time at the Hawks, whether it's with NBL one or having contact with the NBL coaches about your game that you didn't know about yourself? I think the biggest thing about this year with NBL one, and it really speaks to that coaching staff between Nash and Ben is they've really given me the confidence to fail and, and play through it. So.
01:39:23
Speaker
I think, you know, in, in competitive situations and whatever else, sometimes, you know, your leash is a bit shorter. And, you know, as a rookie and a sophomore in Mackay, you know, I didn't have a very long leash. It was just the reality of it. And I learned a lot and you had to be really prepared. But I think here having the ability to go out, you know, I might be leading the league in assists. I'm sure I'm up there in turnovers as well. But having, having the ability to go out and try and make a play, even if it doesn't come off, knowing that
01:39:52
Speaker
your coaches and your entire team backs you to go and make another play. The next possession gives you all the confidence in the world. So now I'm not hesitating or should I, should I not, should I, should I not, no, I'm going to, I'm going to cause I know even if I don't make the player, if I, if I make a mistake, no one's on me about, Hey, you know, you shouldn't take that shot or, you know, what are you doing?
01:40:11
Speaker
That's all right. Next play. Next play. We trust you. You know, we trust you. And I had a conversation that this conversation with Ben after our game against Southern, you know, I was, I was reasonably upset with myself and I said to him, look, I just feel like I haven't been good in the backend of games this season. And he sat me down. He said, listen, like we trust you no matter what it doesn't matter. Like we've chosen you to be our leader in our point guard. And, uh, you know, we're going to live with your decisions and just hearing that almost takes a weight off your shoulders. You think, okay, now I'm.
01:40:41
Speaker
Now I don't have that added extra presser of, Oh, if I make a mistake, I'm going to get a subbed out or I'm going to get absolutely Yoda. It's a, it's a matter of, okay, just play calm, look at your options and try to make the best decision possible. And, uh, that's probably been the biggest thing about this whole season for me.
Unusual Upbringing and Personal Development
01:40:56
Speaker
Super grateful for it. Again, it's one of those things that, um,
01:41:00
Speaker
If you, if you would have told me that a year ago, two years ago, that that's the situation I'd be in. You know, I don't know if I'd believe you. So it's, it's been fantastic. You mentioned, we'll circle back, we'll circle of life this. You mentioned earlier that you, when you were a kid, it was your job to be the tour guide at the family farm. Now there's a lot of stories out there about kids at the family farm.
01:41:20
Speaker
you know, juggling sports. But I don't think any have quite the story you do because your father is one of the world's foremost experts on crocodiles and your family farm is crocodile zoo. What's it like growing up in that environment and juggling basketball at the same time? Yeah, it's, you know, it's funny because when you grow up with something, you tend to take it for granted. It's not until you get a little bit older and you look back or you talk to other people and you realize
01:41:49
Speaker
That was pretty unique. That was a, that was a pretty cool experience. Um, so yeah, so just to expand on that. So we, my dad started a crocodile, it was a research, it was a research facility originally. He's a hardcore scientist through and through. So as a research facility originally, and then expanded into a crocodile farm, uh, and as a, so any one time we had 10,000, 12,000 Crocs.
01:42:15
Speaker
Uh, as well as lions, tigers, monkeys, dingoes, wombats, et cetera, et cetera. So my mom is also a zoologist. She is, she's Colombian. She's fully Colombian. Dad's fully Australian. Um, she, yeah, she was a zoologist running a crop farm in Columbia. You know, dad was doing his stuff. They eventually met and ran the park, me and me growing up. That was, that was my backyard, you know, school bus. He, she dropped me there. And yeah, like by the age of 12, 13 under the guidance of some really amazing tour guides.
01:42:45
Speaker
I was running the tours. People were coming in, paying their money. And it was me talking about, you know, the 24 different species of crocodile and their jaw pressure and what they eat, what they don't, where you can swim, the differences between them and alligators. And, um, you know, and that afforded me a lot of awesome experiences as far as travel as well. Um, dad, dad's the chairman of the crocodile specialist group, which is 700 members from 70 or 80 different countries. And every two years they meet in a different country.
01:43:14
Speaker
So we would always go with him to these different countries and you'd always meet different people and talk and learn. And so looking back on that, I think that was probably one of the things that shaped me as a person and gave me a lot of perspective, especially traveling to, you know, China, Indonesia, some of these countries, you know, third world countries that deal with, you know, actually dealing with poverty and, you know, actual suffering and a harsh way of life. Unlike, you know,
01:43:44
Speaker
what it's like here. So yeah, all of it combined was fantastic. And the crocodile side of things, you know, it's just, it was so much fun. It was so much fun growing up. Like I learned to drive at the age of 13, 12, 13 in a truck on a crocodile farm. I've been going to helicopters since I was two or three, you know,
01:44:06
Speaker
Unbeknownst to my mom, you know, dad would sort of put me in a helicopter and come on, we're going to the swamps. You know, I think by the age of 12, I was getting dropped in with teams to, you know, sort of trek through mud and water to get crocodile legs. So just, yeah, really cool experiences. And yeah, it's funny, it's funny thinking about how anxious and, you know, nervous you can get before a basketball game.
01:44:33
Speaker
And then comparing it to some of the things you've done and the experiences you've had, it doesn't quite add up. And I think that's just part of that primitive brain that, you know, you can get so worked up before a sports event. But yeah, look, it was it was an amazing experience growing up. And you talk about the the anxiety before a basketball game, I guess that
01:44:54
Speaker
probably doesn't measure up to being dropped in the cockpit with your basketball. What's the story there? Because I heard about this, you had an interview with ABC Radio and you talked about being in the cockpit playing basketball. Yeah, absolutely. There's a photo floating around there. My basketball posted it at one point. I think it's somewhere on my Instagram of me with a hat on dribbling, dribbling a ball surrounded by crocs and
01:45:18
Speaker
It's definitely not photoshopped, it's a real photo. What actually happened, the story behind that was that pit at about 400 crocodiles, they were about probably 1.5 to 2 meters, maybe 2.5 meters, 3 to 4, 5 years old, about 400 crocs in there and they had drained the pond, they were cleaning it out, I think they were refilling it.
01:45:41
Speaker
As they were draining it, I was there and I was on my way to practice and I was about to leave. And dad, as he does, seizes every opportunity and said, Hey, why don't you just jump in there with your ball? I think it'd be a good photo. I was like, dad, let's not get ridiculous here. Like, come on. There's, there's 400 crocs there. Like if I drop the ball, it's going in the water. I've got to get to training. Like, nah, like, no, thanks. And, uh, if this is just anyone that knows my father knows he's very,
01:46:10
Speaker
sort of nonchalant, like, what are you talking about? Just get in there. It's all good. Don't worry about it. Like, not a big deal. Like, says the guy that's, you know, got a massive scar on his car from being bitten by a croc. And, uh, yeah, so he sort of threw me in there and tried to position. He said, look, I want you to get right down there, sort of making my way down there and, and trying to wiggle in between these crocs that are just eyeing me off. And, um, and yeah, so I'm down there just dribbling. Like I've never been so anxious dribbling in my entire life, knowing that if I lose the ball,
01:46:39
Speaker
It's, you know, it's gone. Yeah. And then so that photo got snapped up and I don't know. Some people want to be quick. I had to be. I didn't have a choice. You mentioned your mum's Colombian. Have you, or first, are you eligible to play for Colombia and have you thought about it? Yeah, it's actually a great question. So yes, is the answer to both. I've got my Colombian passport and
01:47:07
Speaker
At the end of last season in Mackay, I was speaking to a team and was really torn between going there and going back home and playing sort of the season in the Premier League. And I just decided at that point in my career, I really wanted to have just a really solid off season at home, everything at my disposal, complete access to the gym, the weight room. You know, I was, I was very comfortable.
01:47:34
Speaker
Comfortable incentive I had everything and I knew I could just work my tail off and get ready for next MBL one season so I put that on hold but that's that's Yeah, a very much a real possibility in saying that I would I would love to do and be interested in And you know, even even if the opportunity came to be involved in any sort of national team with the Columbia national team That'd be great. I'm fluent in Spanish. I say I'm fluent. I'm sure I'd go there and have to learn, you know, I
01:48:01
Speaker
a bunch of new words and the slang but yeah absolutely like don't be surprised if next time we chat I've shot over there for a quick three month season or whatever it may be which would be really cool again it's one of those things that the opportunity is there I love to travel I love to explore new things and I know that that window of my life
01:48:24
Speaker
You know, it closes and I don't want to get to the end of that and go, oh wow, I should have traveled more with my ability to play basketball and be a local in Columbia and whatever else. So yeah, I think that'll definitely happen in the coming years. And do you still have family in Columbia? Yeah, I do. So I've got my grandparents there, cousins, uncles, aunties, yeah, heaps of people over there. So, you know, it's, yeah, that's family over there.
01:48:51
Speaker
And you mentioned there's a three month season over there. Is that right? And what time of year does it run? Yeah, it's a, it's sort of a funky season is my understanding. Um, they play really short seasons. I think, I don't think that like, it's the top league over there. I don't think it's got a ton of money and a ton of sponsorship. So they sort of cram it, cram it pretty quickly. Um, the last time I spoke to the coach, they were running, they ran the back end of September for about
01:49:19
Speaker
two or three months, I think they'd finished sort of right before Christmas, sort of that timeframe, but they run a couple of those, you know, and sometimes even shorter throughout the year. So, um, yeah, I think that'd be cool as to get over there, play a couple months, you know, be immersed in the culture, um, and then, you know, come back or even play somewhere else as well.
01:49:39
Speaker
Especially if you have a passport, then you can be considered as a local rather than forcing or not forcing, but putting a team under pressure who might not have a lot of financial resources to have you as an import. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Do you want to give any of your MBL one teammates a shout out while we've got you here on the pod? Oh man, I can give them all a shout out. But yeah, we'll touch on Phil. Phil is my dog.
01:50:05
Speaker
And, uh, he, you know, he's an avid listener that he's got game podcasts. He's, he's, you know, he's telling me every time we're at practice, man, they said this man, they picked us for this, you know, blah, blah, whatever it may be. Um, so definitely a big shout out to big Phil. He's got a bright future too. Like Phil, it feels so young. Um, he's still, he's still figuring it out. And I know it's going to be one of those things. Once it clicks, he's, he's got a legit career in it. You know what I mean? He can go as far as he wants to take it. Um, and everyone's been great. My first.
01:50:35
Speaker
couple months here, Harry Morris was, you know, he was with me every day. We were working out together. He made me feel so, you know, good. Like I said, I could, I could talk about all my teammates, like Davo, you know, for an NBL guy, guard to trust me to lead alongside him has been great for me and great for our team. So that's been fantastic. And then, yeah, the coaches, I can't say enough about Nash and Ben, like,
01:51:02
Speaker
they've just been fantastic to me, off the court, on the court, both of it. And I will give a special shout out actually to Kev White. Kev White works in our basketball Illawarra and I ended up actually living with him, right to the kids for about a month. And he is phenomenal, man. Like he, he's, you know, he's just like, he was like a big brother figure, like anything I need to talk about, whether it was watching film, basketball, non basketball, like just sound advice, really,
01:51:32
Speaker
you know, going into bat for me, um, when it came to, when it came to anything in regards to our team. And, uh, he's been a great sounding board. And that's, and that's, I think one of the, one of the draws for me about this place is those guys are littered everywhere. Like between, you know, just in our office, Kev, Ben, Aussie, um, it has just been fantastic. Like having all these people that have played at a high level that you can go and talk to about legitimate things. And they understand from a player's perspective that like,
01:51:59
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. You do need to get onto the court because you do need to shoot. Okay. You need access at this time. Cool. Don't worry about it. We got you. Like, you know, helping where you can. So, um, really a shout out to the whole, whole organization because they've been, they've been phenomenal to me. So I can't say enough about it. Awesome. Well, Freddie, you sound like certainly a talent on the rise and especially some of the teammates that you mentioned in Phil and Harry and Lockie and I are also a big fan of Noah Pagotta as well. I hope. Yeah. Like, let me, yeah. Listen.
01:52:28
Speaker
Paj has got it. Paj has got it. He's going to college. I'm sure he didn't have to go to college. He could have gone straight into the NBL system. But he's going to go have a great time over there. He's going to go ball out. And then whenever he's ready, any NBL team would be lucky to have something like it.
01:52:46
Speaker
Yeah, I really hope that you guys can still stick together for another season because you've definitely shown some promise. Like you said, you're all really young. You're all at that next phase of your career where you're on the edge of making some NBL squads. And you're certainly in the best position yourself to be doing that in the future.
01:53:05
Speaker
So hopefully you guys will stick around and really cement a strong Illawarra men's team in the next couple of years. But in the meantime, I did tip you guys to win the whole thing. In the next three games, if you can, get me a three from three. We'll do it. We'll do it. We'll do everything in our power to go three from three. Hopefully the chips fall our way. And I'm telling you right now, we are that team that you just don't want to see.
01:53:35
Speaker
If we play the right way, and we've talked about it all season, I know maybe it sounds a bit rich sitting in, you know, nine and nine, but when we put it together, I truly believe we're the best team in the comp. And, you know, not in arrogant way, but you just look at our makeup of the team and the reality of our season. Unfortunately, it hasn't been our season, but yeah, don't let us get to eighth. Don't let us get in eighth.
01:53:59
Speaker
We'll keep grinding for the rest of the season. And thank you so much for joining us on East Got Game. It's really great to have you and know that your teammates support the podcast. Lucky Jacinta, you guys have been phenomenal. I love the podcast. I love the idea of it. I was talking to someone today about podcasts and we were talking that, you know, a stat came out that 90% of podcasts don't make it past episode 10. And of that, you know, percentage of the left, 90% don't make it past episode 20. So you guys are, I don't know.
01:54:29
Speaker
five episodes off. So keep going. I hope nothing catastrophic happens before episode 21. But I love it. I think it's awesome for the league. I think the NBA one East needs this sort of stuff and they need to promote the hell out of it coming from the north. Like this league's obviously on the rise, but this is the sort of stuff that goes a long way for the entire league. So, you know, it's only a matter of time before this thing goes up. So keep doing it. Love it. Thanks. He's ready. Thank you.
01:54:55
Speaker
Thanks for listening to another episode of Eastcott Games. If you like what you hear, make sure you subscribe and share with your friends. Until next time, don't sleep on the east.