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Season 3 Episode 6: "He built different!" ft. an interview with Josie Bulman
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After great anticipation, Round One of NBL1 East is done and dusted. This episode, Lachy and Squin review the the Bankstown Bruins vs. Norths Bear men's game and interview the glue of the Manly-Warringah women's side, Josie Bullman.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction & Episode Setup
00:00:37
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to another episode of East Got Game, an unofficial podcast about the NBL1 East competition for 2025. My name's Jacinta and with me as always is co-host extraordinaire repping an absolutely epic t-shirt today. It's Lucky France. Hey Lucky, how are you?
00:00:58
Speaker
I'm great, Squinn. How are you doing on this fine Tuesday evening? Oh, look, pretty good, thanks. I had a very early dinner. I've got my watermelon-flavoured electrolyte and I'm ready to
Jacinta's Commentary Debut
00:01:08
Speaker
go. I'm ready to get stuck into round one of NBL1 East because we've been chomping at the bit.
00:01:14
Speaker
Haven't we just? Well, tell me about your first round, though. I mean, for you, you still get to live and breathe NBL1 East in the flesh and you had your first weekend of commentating at the Shark Tank. Tell me all about it.
00:01:28
Speaker
Yeah, did have my first ah first game of the first two games of the season at the Shark Tank, Sutherland taking on Penrith in the Crosstown Clash. um We had one win and one loss, the women went down...
00:01:47
Speaker
to Penrith, you know, low-scoring affair, whilst the men's game was an absolute barn burner, finished 81-78 in the Sharks' favour. Penrith pushed them all the way. I think it's halftime.
00:02:01
Speaker
There were 16 lead changes and only three ties. So it got one point ahead, and then they would just trade two-point baskets or trade three-point baskets. So the lead was back and forth throughout.
00:02:12
Speaker
So it was a ah very intense start to the season. Very nice, very nice. it I would much prefer that than something mediocre. Mediocre is not what we do here in NBL One East.
00:02:24
Speaker
I mean, sometimes we have our off days, but doesn't everyone? Yes, yes. the We're usually pretty good, though.
Game Review & Segment Preview
00:02:34
Speaker
We're usually pretty good.
00:02:35
Speaker
And now that our round one in the competition has tipped off, we will be back to our regular programming of sorts of sorts here for East Scott Game. So in this episode, we will be reviewing what was our personal pick of our Game of the Week.
00:02:52
Speaker
We'll also be having an athlete interview, our very first one for 2025, as well as some news and gossip and the return of All Star 5. we'll make it We'll
Lockie's UConn T-shirt Story
00:03:03
Speaker
come back for our first episode.
00:03:05
Speaker
But before we get stuck into it, Lockie, tell us about that awesome T-shirt you're wearing. Ah, so this is ah a UConn women's basketball 2016 national champions four in a row t-shirt.
00:03:21
Speaker
ah I'm not a UConn fan by any stretch, but I had disposable income and you can't argue with the history. of a team going four in a row.
00:03:32
Speaker
And it is tangentially related to NBL 1 East because Alex Delaney and St. Francis Brooklyn played against UConn in the first round of the 2015 NCAA tournament where Alex was at times tasked with guarding and being guarded by Brianna Stewart.
00:03:50
Speaker
I mean, I love the place that you took us there, that you brought it back to NBL 1E. So i love that lateral thinking. Very well done. And what great bragging rights for Alex Delaney to say that she's, A, even been on the same court as Brianna Stewart, but to be having to be guarded by her, that's ah that's a compliment of the highest, I think.
00:04:11
Speaker
I think so
00:04:13
Speaker
but The world's most famous lover of chips on a stick, Brianna Stewart. Yeah, correct,
Women's NBL1 East Results Discussion
00:04:19
Speaker
correct. We've seen it with our own eyes. We can confirm. We can confirm. All right, let's get stuck into it then. We're going to start with the results of the week. I'm just going to share this screen.
00:04:37
Speaker
And I'll kick us off with round one. I'll kick us off with the women's results from round one. So it started with the Centre of Excellence hosting Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, going on the segue of Alex Delaney, and Manly Warringah getting that one 80 to 65.
00:04:56
Speaker
Bankstown Bruins hosted the Norse Bears going down 52 to 79. Sutherland Sharks at the Shark Tank, in what looks like quite an arm wrestle and a low-scoring affair, losing 46-55.
00:05:12
Speaker
Hornsby Karendi absolutely smashing the start of the season with a huge win, 90 over 79 over the Crusaders. Illawarra Hawks were 56 and not strong enough for the Maitland Mustangs with 80 points.
00:05:29
Speaker
Newcastle Falcons hosted the Sydney Comets in a convincing win, 83-51.
00:05:35
Speaker
And would you like to take us through the men's results on screen, Lockie, that were tipping off on the Saturday?
Men's NBL1 East Results Review
00:05:42
Speaker
I certainly can. So first up was Centre of Excellence defeating Manly, eighty four fifty six So that was a big statement of intent from the COE boys.
00:05:55
Speaker
ah Bankstown hosted North and got up 86-70 without Jalen Galloway. So that was a big one. Aubrey Wodonga defeated Canberra 95-87.
00:06:09
Speaker
eighty seven Sutherland, sorry, Central Coast got up 84-71 over the Hornsby Keringai Spiders. Clarissa Mir with a big 26 and Garrick Young excellent on his NBL1 East debut.
00:06:25
Speaker
As I mentioned earlier, Sutherland getting up 81-78 over Penrith. Shout out to young Bailey McArthur who already looks like he's going to be integral part of the rotation for Sutherland this year.
00:06:37
Speaker
Todd Blanchfield with his big 31 and 16 helped Illawarra to a 96-88 win over Maitland as they too laid down an early marker. Sydney Comets travelled up to Newcastle and got a win at 71-67 with ah Anthony Mundine playing all 40 minutes and leading the way for Comets.
00:07:00
Speaker
Canberra knocked off Albury Wodonga 96-75 with 19-75 seventy five with Will Mayfield and Glenn Morrison both passing 20 points, but Matt Gray, 22 on debut for Aubrey Wodonga.
00:07:14
Speaker
And then on the Sunday, well, Bankstown brought back to earth somewhat as COE, two big wins, getting up one ah hundred and two sixty five including a twenty eight to four fourth quarter.
00:07:27
Speaker
So the youngsters, well, I've got it tough. They've got to play 10 doubleheaders this year in amongst all their national team and whatever other commitments they have. But they've got off to a very good start of the COE boys.
00:07:40
Speaker
And rounding off the weekend for the women's competition similarly, the Bankstown Bruins hosted the Centre of Excellence and going down 61.86. So, yeah, a huge, huge weekend, ah um for especially for the COE.
00:07:57
Speaker
but ah especially And we'll we'll get stuck into talking about Bankstown Bruins probably a little bit later.
00:08:05
Speaker
um So any surprising any surprises from the results of round one for you, Lockie?
Surprising Round One Results
00:08:10
Speaker
um Perhaps in the women, ah i want to say Hornsby getting over Central Coast is a pretty big result.
00:08:21
Speaker
But, ah I mean, it is because of who we know ah Central Coast have. But I think it's just... um It's more showcasing that Hornsby have gone out and secured some really, really, really good young players.
00:08:38
Speaker
I mean, Lucy Meade, 19 points in 19 minutes, so... ah Yeah, I think we we all knew she had something like that in her walker, but to shoot eight of nine from the field is is massive. So I think that was probably one of the bigger turn-ups for the books. I know people will say Sutherland losing to Penrith is big in the women's, but if you get the chance to watch Jordan Vasquez, you are playing with Mia Hyder and Zoe Jackson there as well, you may not think so in a few weeks.
00:09:12
Speaker
um And as for the men, mean, i think it was more... wasn't so much surprises as maybe opinions starting to form early, ah that Illawarra-Maitland result, Canberra putting Albury-Wodonga away by 20, and then Banktown were up by 30-odd before it got back to 16 against North. So...
00:09:40
Speaker
And as we said and keep saying, Penrith just keep looking better as time goes on. They were better last year than they did the year before and they look properly good against Sutherland.
00:09:53
Speaker
Very nice. I think, yeah, similarly, mic so I was surprised about the low-scoring game between Sutherland Sharks and Penrith Panthers in the women's competition. And then on the other side of that, I was surprised by the 20-point deficit between Aubrey Wodonga Bandits and the Canberra Gunners in the men's side.
00:10:10
Speaker
um But otherwise, like... I'm just really happy that some of the things we were hoping for in our ah preview episodes of rosters in the season, and such as the Bankstown Bruins men and the pen and both Penrith women and Penrith men have started to come to fruition. Like you said, they already are looking a lot better than last season and they're already notching to win or coming very close to win. Penrith Panthers men, three points within three points of Sutherland Sharks who have been in the finals the last, well,
00:10:43
Speaker
I think since the NBL one's inception um is pretty impressive. Yeah. And I mean, that Sutherland side, it looks good as well, especially Bailey McArthur, 16 points in 21 minutes. Yeah.
00:10:57
Speaker
um yes he I mean, he's just, you know, he played 40 minutes all season last year. He's just gone and played 16 in 21 minutes. So, Sutherland are looking pretty healthy, and they've got to win against a team that's going to look, and I mean, yeah, they're going to be a handful this year, Penrith.
00:11:20
Speaker
Yes, that's what we like to see. Get in there ruffle some feathers. Yeah. All right, are we ready to head into our game review?
New Sound Effects & Game Reviews
00:11:30
Speaker
i think we certainly are.
00:11:32
Speaker
let me try out this new sound effect. Very good. it just keeps going. It sounds like Loz Nicholson making all of her free throws. That's what it sounds like to me.
00:11:47
Speaker
She was a perfect 10 of 10 at the line last season. Exactly, that's what I mean. Or should I say, going on segues, should I say that this sound...
00:12:00
Speaker
is the sound of the Bankstown men going 13 from 13 against the Norse Bears this weekend because the game that Lockie and I decided to review for round one
Bankstown Bruins vs. Norths Bears Analysis
00:12:10
Speaker
was just that.
00:12:11
Speaker
Bankstown Bruins versus the Norse Bears at the Bears' lair, the Bruins' lair, I beg your pardon, in the men's competition. Lockie, I'm going to go to you first. I certainly have...
00:12:24
Speaker
my notes of what worked well for each team, what perhaps they need to improve for next time and how I think Bankstown got the win against North. How did you see it?
00:12:36
Speaker
I think throughout the game at it, even when North were hanging with Bankstown in the early stages, it always looked harder for North to score than it did for Bankstown to score.
00:12:50
Speaker
ah Bankstown did a really good job of bringing doubles when they were supposed to. um and looked like they were really locked in defensively on the scout.
00:13:06
Speaker
ah And this was a game where the young fellas for Bankstown really stood up.
00:13:19
Speaker
And we can see it in stats with Charlie McBeth leading the scoring by an absolute mile for Bankstown. But there were times when know just Caleb was on the call. He mentioned, um you know, them extending the lead with Caddy off the court.
00:13:35
Speaker
But it wasn't that Caddy went off the court and Walford and Blankley just took over and made it about them. Yeah. All the young guys got involved, got took advantage of the opportunity presented to them.
00:13:50
Speaker
And I think that's one of the good parts about having a 20-player roster is that everyone's... The players that are getting minutes have earned them in training.
00:14:02
Speaker
And I think that was borne out in the way that Bankstown played. Yeah. Everyone there looked really hungry. liked Gummad Jack because no Nate Hightower.
00:14:14
Speaker
And I think Gummad Jack in the early stages was, um yeah, you throw him in there up against, you know, someone like Hunter Goodrick or Lewis Holy who's ready to just absolutely eat people for breakfast.
00:14:29
Speaker
And he hung with them. He got blocks. He only had four blocks for the game. um But I really think this was... This was won by the Bankstown young players more, and maybe not more than, but as much as their stars.
00:14:48
Speaker
The stars got them off to a good start. And then when the young players played through the middle, know, second unit, things just kept rolling on. ah And you speak about Gunma Jack who had four blocks.
00:15:03
Speaker
He opened his game with a block. <unk> Like the first defensive possession was Gunma Jack with a big block. And I was like, oh, this is setting it like ah making a statement straight away.
00:15:15
Speaker
um But like you said, Bankstown Bruins offensively getting it done with their use. When you go through the box score, you you look at the box score and you're like, all right, Bankstown won comfortably by 16 points.
00:15:27
Speaker
You headed down the box score to see you had an outstanding game and you see 7, 10, 9, 10. Whoa, 21, 4 and at fifty eight point three three percent from charlie mcbeth Macbeth, sorry, Macbeth.
00:15:43
Speaker
have to remind myself, Shakespearean play. yeah he's He looked really confident in this game. He looked really locked in. Maybe it's a transference of his recent. was he He was at under-20s recently.
00:15:56
Speaker
Am I correct? Oh, you're pushing me now. Well, at least some kind of junior representation. and it looked And he's just signed with our Promondo Sports Agency as well. It was announced this morning. So that's exciting.
00:16:12
Speaker
the agency that has the likes of Damian Martin and Adam Stanger on their roster of agents. ah But I digress. Yeah, it was, um I agree as well. I also noticed that the Bankstown Bruins were certainly locked in their defensive assignments as well. We mentioned Majak with four blocks, but very, very active in the second line of defense, knowing where Hunter Goodrick was at all times, very quick to the double and very quick to recover.
00:16:41
Speaker
I think that they essentially swarmed North on any kind of um dribble penetration. So in your opening statement when you said that North looked like they were just struggling to get a score and Bankstown made it look so easy, for me the difference was their second line of defence in each team.
00:17:00
Speaker
Bankstown were really strong. It almost felt like they had more than five players on the court. And whereas North's second line of defence was just torn apart. Easy but getting beaten on the dribble.
00:17:12
Speaker
There was miscommunication in the second line, lots of miscommunication as well on some of the back screens, either in play in the half court or on the baseline and sideline out of bounds.
00:17:23
Speaker
And just tearing holes, getting some lovely dishes, hence why they had 21 team assists for this for this game as well. 2-5 for North. 2-5 for North, exactly.
00:17:36
Speaker
I think that that talking about the second line of defense was shown, think in the first three or four minutes, Matthew Weicher, dribble penetration, spin move, and then, and that's a spin move from Matty Weicher, he's speaking to just spin guy to guy, up he goes, bars and there's just someone right there.
00:17:58
Speaker
A wall, a wall of dark blue jerseys. Yeah. Like, i felt I felt suffocated watching it, let alone having to play against it. Right.
Goodrick's Impact & Bankstown's Strategies
00:18:10
Speaker
That was when my first notice. I thought, all right, Andy Wagey was going to go. And he did it twice. And both times, yeah, he was – think he put up a top shot on one of them.
00:18:20
Speaker
But, ah yeah, it was definitely not a day for um getting – I mean, they prevent – Bankstown prevented North from getting it much in the paint.
00:18:34
Speaker
dared them to, or maybe not even dared them because they were even good at getting out to close out on three-pointers for a lot of the time, um but forcing them to kick. And Norse found it tough to put the ball in the hole from the perimeter, 5 of 24 from three.
00:18:49
Speaker
sorry Yeah, and just to go off the back of what you said about Matty Waiter, you know, any any spin move and able to penetrate. To be fair to North, they did start the game ah aggressively, like attacking the rim, and then Bankstown very quickly adjusted. And then I think offensively North's response to that was to just to get it into Goodrick.
00:19:10
Speaker
And that, again, worked for a short period of time. But then it all dried up. So like you said, they had to rely on outside shooters. I felt like every time it went into a Goodrick, it started to get really predictable.
00:19:22
Speaker
And then people weren't moving off the ball to be a second option for when Goodrick started to get double teamed. Then you got the you got people on the perimeter. like your Lewis Holy's having to put up threes and no disrespect to Lewis Holy, but he's traditionally like known to be playing on the inside and he's three point percentage in his NBL one career is around 27%.
00:19:43
Speaker
seven percent So he's probably not ideally the guy. I think he only took two, but, um, that's the kind of the kind of options that Norths were getting. I didn't feel like they were getting their other scorers in the best position.
00:19:57
Speaker
Like, they weren't really playing for their offensive strengths and people weren't getting in other positions to be able to score. Yeah, 100%. I mean, Robbie Moore shot one ahead, six three-point attempts. He was one of six, but...
00:20:10
Speaker
Didn't feel like many of them were when, as you mentioned, like double kick or, you know, getting an option, you know, later in the possession. I know a couple stand out, you know, where he's just, you know, it's either thong around the perimeter or he's just walking in and, you know, that's the option he takes.
00:20:29
Speaker
um I mean, yeah, it's it's a big spread of three-point shooters, you know, and not many players taking a lot of them.
00:20:41
Speaker
So, yeah you know, you would expect if they were able to find the option they wanted more often, you know, one or two players would have and at least outstanding attempts, even if they didn't actually hit many.
00:20:53
Speaker
Yeah, you mentioned point points in the paint as well earlier. ah You would kind of expect a lot of points in the paint given that they have Holy and Goodrick, who, by the way, is huge.
00:21:05
Speaker
Oh, here's he is. yeah like My second note is Goodrick is built different. So built with that that whole so like basketball or general sporting ah colloquialism now of saying he built different. that It's for people like him. Yeah.
00:21:24
Speaker
He is built different. He is huge. He has such a presence. And you can tell that just from watching the game on a replay on my laptop. I was like, oh, my gosh, RIP anyone that has to guard him. But to Bankstown's credit, it was sometimes it was Majak, sometimes it was Blankley, sometimes it was a couple of other guys that were still able to be able to body up and work as a team to really make it hard for him. But, yeah, he's huge. hey And he's got the he got he's got guard skills. He's got the mobility.
00:21:56
Speaker
He would definitely be picked up by an NBL team next season, surely. Has to be. Has to be. In some sort of capacity. yeah If he's not already doing some kind of workouts with people.
00:22:09
Speaker
Exactly. And that's why i He shot lot of fadeaways, which I was hoping he'd just, you know, bang a little bit more against some of these some of these guys.
00:22:26
Speaker
and um
00:22:29
Speaker
I mean, yeah, just there was, I there was one, he had one matchup with Kadide that I thought he was going to back Jason Kadide down and just turned around for the fadeaway.
00:22:43
Speaker
I wonder if because... kind of intrigued by. Well, yeah, i wonder if it's because when he was playing college, he was probably matched in terms of height, whereas here he's definitely got to be one of the the tallest and broadest of the bigs in the conference.
00:22:59
Speaker
So wonder if it's just out of habit of being able to have the strength of backing someone in and creating enough space to get a clear fadeaway shot because it's obviously something that's ah ah go his go-to move.
00:23:11
Speaker
And maybe he has to try and relearn to go, actually, have a bit more of height and length advantage over the rest of the conference. I can probably just go to the rack. I think it was within the first couple of minutes he did have a ah rip and go from one side to the other and got that really nice reverse on the left-hand side on the drive.
00:23:29
Speaker
i think after a little while, once he's, you know, back into the habit of what who he's going to be up against, we'll probably see a little bit more back to the basket and under the rim stuff.
00:23:41
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. one hundred percent I think, yeah, it's just a matter of, you know, and once, know, they've still got, you know, Wachir, Goodrick, Mitchell, um and Cooper Wilkes started, which I don't think happened a lot last year.
00:23:57
Speaker
So, um yeah, a bit to integrate and as far as the starting line-up goes, especially compared to to Bankstown, who um ah guess I guess they don't have Hightower, but they've got Walford, Wankley, and Madjack and Tuolata have been around the around the program a while. And I think Jason Cuddy, just with the...
00:24:19
Speaker
not just the skills that he has, but the basketball IQ and the kind of player he is, he can probably fit in just about into any team and, know, find his best role pretty quickly. Yeah, I agree. And I think before we move on to talk a little bit more about Bankstown, I think the only note that I'll have for North as well was we spoke a lot about some of their, what they were like on offense. But yeah, defensively, think I've touched on before that they were playing really reactive defensively.
00:24:49
Speaker
um There was no talk on the on the second line of defence, no talk on the screens or very poor talk on the screens, lots of miscommunication. And then sometimes it looked like they were just sagging off in the half court, leaving shooters open, getting to shooters late.
00:25:06
Speaker
I mean, it ah did play in their favour a little bit sometimes when... Bankstown started to get a little bit too excited perhaps where things were going their way beautifully. there Their ball movement was great.
00:25:17
Speaker
They were finding people in perfect receiver spots but then they went on autopilot and thought that was going to be an option all the time and in the meantime Norths were sagging off and just using their length and anticipation able to pick off some of those passes.
00:25:31
Speaker
especially in the back end of the second quarter. I think Bankstown started to rack up some turnovers. But, um yeah, let's let's talk about Bankstown because I think that was probably one of their minor flaws was just their little patch of turnovers.
00:25:43
Speaker
The rest of the game I think they were great. Yeah, it funny because you talk about those turnovers because few times they tried that pass from the wing straight, like just fire straight across the middle to like basically the opposite block.
00:25:56
Speaker
It worked a couple times and there was one time that Lewis Holy almost got his hand on it or maybe just got a hand on and tipped it away. And I was like, all right, they're not going to gamble on this again.
00:26:08
Speaker
And then they did it. They were like, Maybe, you know, they thought, okay, well, we're still getting getting away with this. And they kept at it a couple more times. And that was when they did get those turnovers. It was almost telegraphed at one point.
00:26:22
Speaker
And um to be fair, Holy saw the one that he just tipped coming or just missed coming. It was just thrown at such a rate that I don't think anyone could have got their hand up in time.
00:26:35
Speaker
And I think, to be fair, it probably it actually looks like North had more steals in those situations than they did because statistically they had six steals and Bankstown had seven. So Bankstown still even winning that statistic in this game.
00:26:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting. doesn't Yeah, it doesn't really feel feel that way. but um i think perhaps Bankstown may have had a few more steals or at least deflections that turned into steals in the backcourt more than the frontcourt.
00:27:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I like fast break points very low. So, know, you get a steal, but you just like, you know, if it's right close to the basket, you just playing in the half court anyway. So it's not really.
00:27:18
Speaker
Yeah. Turnovers are not all the same and neither are steals. Yes, that is correct. But um what I really liked about Bankstown in this game is that they demonstrated their offensive chemistry. Like we talked in the preview episodes about how they' go they had a huge roster at the time that we spoke about their existing roster.
00:27:39
Speaker
ah That was before Galloway was added. um And so they had they've got 20, 21 people. Sometimes you've got to think like, is that too many people to build culture and chemistry? ah You want to keep everyone pretty close. How are you going to get 20 people to gel?
00:27:57
Speaker
But goodness me, this 12 that turned up today, you would think that, like I think keeping that core group over the last few seasons with Bankstown, keeping Curtis Sardi as the head coach is coming to fruition now. Their chemistry their ball movement, their floor spots and positioning ah where they were for everyone. they were They were there to support each other just by their positioning.
00:28:21
Speaker
Everyone was ready to be a passer. Everyone was ready to be a scorer. Absolutely no ego about it. No, it was, I mean, know, they lost Hightower. They couldn't have.
00:28:32
Speaker
tried to go and find someone, but they said, no, we'll go with Magyak, we'll go with Tuolata, we'll chuck Thomas Douthnere whoever else it is that's going to go and fill one of those front court spots and maybe you move a few pieces around. But I put faith in the guys that have been there, learnt the system, bought into the culture, and it's a limit in space. I mean, can we just talk about Jonah Tuolata in the third quarter?
00:29:01
Speaker
Go for it, please. He was just...
00:29:05
Speaker
He was just always there. it was defending well. He was always there to receive the pass in close quarters. Hands were always ready. um yeah i just had 10 points for the game, and it feels like eight of them came in like that in the third quarter.
00:29:24
Speaker
All from close around the basket. He had a good touch around the basket. um Finishing well with the right... There were a couple of ones with the right hand where he used the basket as like protection but from away from the art defender. And, I mean, just that little spurt, it was going to give him so much added confidence.
00:29:48
Speaker
I mean, aside from getting into the starting lineup and, you know, that in and of itself is trust from the coach. But then he went and repaid in spades when he came back out for the third quarter. It was just...
00:30:02
Speaker
It was just like he clicked the switch. You know, it wasn't flashy plays. It was just the plays that got the job done over and over and over again.
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah, this team, this Bankstown team, you can tell they've they've all bought in. They're all supporting each other. They had demonstrated this first game already such a good culture and understanding of each other, not only on offense, as we spoke about, but defensively too, as you just touched on.
00:30:30
Speaker
They were always up and in in the backcourt. They were always rotating and talking in the frontcourt. They were always double teaming and recovering. Like I said, it felt like there were more than five players on there and it was consistent for the whole game.
00:30:44
Speaker
Even their defensive transition was consistent for the whole game. Like they honestly made it really hard for North to get a score and ah Bankstown didn't look like they like ah They didn't look bothered either. They just got on with it, which I also really, really liked.
00:31:01
Speaker
They ended up leading the entire game other than six minutes 18 in the first quarter. And as you mentioned in our intro for this episode, they were up by as much as 30 in that fourth quarter. They just completely out-hustled North in this game.
00:31:16
Speaker
Pretty much. that's That's pretty much the best way to put Yeah, um yeah i when When I saw the scorecard, ah the box score and the scores for each quarter, I was not expecting ah not expecting them to blow it out from 20 or 21 that it was at the end of three quarters out to 31 before Norse actually you know i've reeled it in in the last last couple of minutes.
00:31:45
Speaker
Yeah. but I think some of my outstanding stats as well in this game are I did start talking about points in the paint earlier than I think. I went on some other tangent. But when we were talking about second line of defence for each team and how North kind of was torn apart,
00:32:04
Speaker
and Bankstown was really solid. solid So Bankstown able to penetrate and dish getting and getting some ah finishes off offensive rebounds or second chances. They ended up with 46 points in the paint of their 86 total, whereas North ended up with 34 points in the paint for the whole game, and 16 of that 34 were just good Rick alone. oh That's... ah Yeah, that's that's big. I mean,
00:32:36
Speaker
um and he's obviously going to... i mean, he would he put up 24 and 15, and I think we would expect him to put up numbers in that range most games. But, I mean, the next highest scorer was Iggy Mitchell with seven.
00:32:52
Speaker
Oh, sorry, Wachey and then Iggy Mitchell with seven. Wachey with 14 and Mitchell with seven. Yeah. ah Just not a lot of um not a lot of scoring assistance for but Goodrick. And funnily enough, I think his his stat line would look even better if they North had hit some threes because I think his c assist numbers would have ah gone up a little bit.
00:33:15
Speaker
Yeah, or just at least being, think there's too much focus on get the ball to Goodrick and then let him work. You guys can't relax. Once the ball's in, you still have to be moving off the ball, screening for each other, they getting get it getting him a second option because, you know, it's semi-pro. People are going to be smart enough to start double teaming and stuff very early in the game. You've got to think of a plan B, C, and d And I just don't think Norths had one. Or perhaps they had a plan B and that wasn't working and then they were like, oh, well,
00:33:45
Speaker
What do we do now? Like they didn't make a lot of ah conscious adjustments or very, ah especially in the second second half. I was expecting them to try something different, but it was just all focus on Godric.
00:34:00
Speaker
I mean, and the guys are huge, so I get it. But when the heat when that dries up, you've you've got to try something else. Yeah. I mean, yeah, he's not helped by the fact, you know, Iggy only had seven points. We mentioned Robbie Moore went one of nine from the field and one of six from three-point range when he's a 30-plus percent three-point shooter.
00:34:21
Speaker
um It was interesting to see that Mikey Young only got 13 minutes when he averaged close to five assists last year, which was interesting.
00:34:34
Speaker
I mean... But what a guy, I mean, both teams went deep in their rotation and gave a lot of guys a lot of minutes. Um, but yeah, that was just one that stood out for me though. I thought he might get a little bit more, a little bit more than 13 minutes with Mikey.
00:34:51
Speaker
Yeah. I noticed the same thing. I even had in my notes that, like you said earlier, Cooper Wilkes was starting instead of Holy, cause usually Holy would be starting. And, uh, Yeah, now that Waiter and Mitchell are playing for North, that has bumped Robbie Moore and Mikey Young further down. I also expected them to play a little bit more, especially because, to be fair to Iggy Mitchell, he hasn't played in quite a while due to injury.
00:35:18
Speaker
So he's still got to get his confidence back, get his groove back, you know, try and feel his way out, whereas I thought maybe Robbie Moore and Mikey Young could have given him here a couple more, ah had a few more minutes just to keep the engine running, given that they've been staples for this North side for a long time.
00:35:37
Speaker
um But, yeah, Bankstown super impressed in this game.
Bankstown's Potential & Season Outlook
00:35:42
Speaker
I'm really excited for them. They played like a team that have that will be in the top eight in this game. I can't say how they, I don't know how they played against COE though.
00:35:51
Speaker
So it's very important to preface that. This really on on this game, ah knowing that they did lose by about 20 points to COE. This game they played like, is it 20 points? I think it was closer to 40, wasn't it? Yeah, the men's game, 102-65, COE beat Bankstown.
00:36:12
Speaker
Yeah. look But ah they also beat Manly Warringah 84-56 the previous day. So the COE boys are already out there taking big scalps.
00:36:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Bankstown for me in this game against Norse played like a top 18. If they're able to maintain this high level of defensive intensity and consistency and continue to band together on offense where they take the ego out of it, just play what's in front of them, play as a team, they will be very competitive.
00:36:49
Speaker
Definitely. I mean, but but I mean, it could have but if they kept the foot down on the pedal after they went up 31, it could have been more. Or maybe not more, but at least stayed around that 30-point range.
00:37:04
Speaker
So I'm not sure the 16-point margin is um tells the full story. probably Probably the margin with six minutes to play tells the full story.
00:37:15
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah. And tell me, if you're Coach Tom Gallup and Assistant Coach Maddie Johnson of the Norse Bears, Well, perhaps maybe we won't make that comparison given they're both elite coaches and we didn't know our podcast.
00:37:33
Speaker
But just just based on this one performance of North, going into round two, what kind of things would you be focusing on if it was up to you? Like who do you want in that North roster to be the next best scorer other than Goodrick?
00:37:49
Speaker
I think you want it to be Iggy Mitchell, but he's got to find his fate. um
00:37:58
Speaker
i I think Wachir will have much better games than what he had. I think it i think we um
00:38:10
Speaker
a Wachir as a another option, especially driving to the basket and just try to try to facilitate some looks for Robbie Moore. Get getting him some shots.
00:38:22
Speaker
And he had one of six. I think that's not so much ah he didn't get enough shots, but give him the opportunity to get into the season kind of thing. Yeah, I agree. Give him the opportunity to have one big game.
00:38:36
Speaker
I reckon you could probably say that for most of the Norse players. I felt like a lot of their attempts ah to score in this game was very much one-on-one opportunities. They weren't generating a lot of things for each other. There wasn't a lot of pick and roll. There wasn't a lot of two-man game, three-man game, backdoor cuts.
00:38:54
Speaker
There wasn't any of that kind of real team play that we saw Bankstown demonstrate. Everything was just one-on-one opportunities, hence the five team assists in total. think that's something that I would like to see a lot more of from the North Spares because they're playing Manly Warringah Sea Eagles next round. So that's going to be a pretty rough start to the season going zero and two And if you lost the Spitbridge Stout.
00:39:19
Speaker
Correct. There's more to play for. There is. But, um I mean, it's funny you mention North um and the screens because i that was actually one thing I thought Bankstown did really well was the way they set it.
00:39:34
Speaker
was the way they screened and used their screens. Just a few like notable times when they just clearly read the play just ran their defender straight into the screener.
00:39:47
Speaker
So it wasn't just a good screen, it was used well too. um There was one where there was an off-ball and Andre Walford just ran, think it was Badalassi, straight into the screener and got the...
00:39:59
Speaker
the backdoor cut for the easy basket. And there was another there was another one that escapes me at the moment, but they were just two that were really, really noticeable. But it was throughout the game. I'm so glad you brought that example. That is exactly the same example that I've put in my notes. It was two minutes 44 in the second quarter.
00:40:18
Speaker
It was an out-of-bounds play, I'm pretty sure, or at least from an out-of-bounds play. think it actually was a sideline out-of-bounds play. Yeah. um Ball got to the top and, yeah, basically it was a ah back cut for Walford and there was that miscommunication between Badalassie and Mitchell.
00:40:36
Speaker
Basically what happened was Mitchell, I think, was guarding Majak. Mitchell was too busy watching the ball on the other side of the court, not realising that Majak was setting a screen and therefore couldn't say, hey,
00:40:49
Speaker
Heads up, Badalassie, you've got a screen on your back. and So Mitchell wasn't watching, couldn't tell Badalassie. Badalassie got caught up. Way too easy backdoor play for for Bankstown. Perfectly executed and well exploited.
00:41:04
Speaker
but was. It was chef kiss. Yes. So good that we both had it in our notes. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously a standout play. and so It's a good good thing it was Wolfen. meant that men I was sure to notice it because it was Andre Wolfen finishing it off.
00:41:22
Speaker
Yeah, and you know what was really interesting as well? Like when I say they took the ego out of it and they did it by committee, there were so many parts in the game where different people from Bankstown were all contributing in different great ways, where not one person stood out for me. I was like, oh, Walford is scoring again.
00:41:40
Speaker
Oh, that was Walford again. Like I had to even in that back cut double check that was Walford because no one person on Bankstown was drawing all their attention to themselves. You know what i mean?
00:41:51
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, even yeah like Macbeth was absolutely hooping, but not in a, you know, I mean, it was it was pretty good. He finished it off in a pretty flashy way with the ah reverse dunk on the break. But ah yeah, he did.
00:42:09
Speaker
It was good. He was just good. It was just good, solid basketball. And he was the one who finished it off on a lot of occasions. mean, seven of 12 from the field is pretty good. Yeah, he didn't force any shots. He let the game come to him. He took his opportunities when they that were there and shot confidently.
00:42:27
Speaker
It wasn't like he was getting every pick and roll and everything was going through him, drawing attention that way to get his 21 points. I think it was just his night. And who do you think is going to step up next round when Bankstown play Hornsby-Karingai away?
00:42:44
Speaker
who do you think next to step up for their 20-point game? Yeah.
00:42:51
Speaker
Just trying to think of some match-ups. I would love to. I mean, it'd be cool to see Tuolata go on with what he did and that brief spurt in the last game, in in this game, in the third quarter of this game.
00:43:09
Speaker
that That'd be cool to see. I'd just like to see the young guys all just, you know, put up some big performances, but I also wouldn't mind seeing Dre put up 30, 35.
00:43:25
Speaker
Well, yeah, who's going to guard Dre, do you think? i think I think that's where Bankstown are going to have us the edge over Hornsby next round is is in the backcourt in their guards. Yeah, I mean, um when we look at, I mean, look at Hornsby, I think, yeah, definitely there their frontcourt is their strength. Yeah.
00:43:48
Speaker
um And we know Bankstown, you know, big three as they are or big four as they will be, probably all one through three, although galloway Galloway could probably play any position he wanted to in NBL one, to be honest.
00:44:07
Speaker
But the three that are on there at the moment are more like your one through three. um yeah Yeah, I don't think he'd base the Bankstown. It's probably going to be in the backcourt. Who knows? Macbeth might just go off again.
00:44:20
Speaker
Yeah, we wouldn't be mad about that either, but I did forget that Galloway is likely to be suiting up next round. is that Has he confirmed that? I'm not entirely sure. I hope so. Funny man on court.
00:44:34
Speaker
It'll be a lot of fun. And I would like to say i ah just like to see them with you know all guns blazing. I mean, yeah, they lost by 35 or whatever it was to COE, and I don't think Galloway is a 35-point turnaround.
00:44:52
Speaker
but he's probably enough that they could have kept it close and changed the situation of the game.
00:44:59
Speaker
agree. I mean, ah to but I'll have to double check if Bankstown gets to play COE again later in the season. Let's circle back. We can circle back on that later.
00:45:13
Speaker
um But we any final thoughts on this game, and on our game review before we wrap up? Well, Bankstown do play COE both home and away this season.
00:45:26
Speaker
Very good. Because I still have all the team facts slides saved. Excellent. Thank you. I didn't feel confident I was going to access them quick enough.
00:45:37
Speaker
Yes. So Bankstown do play COE. Yeah. um
00:45:42
Speaker
Final thoughts. Bankstown, I mean, tough to say after one game, but definitely look the goods for a top eight spot if they've got so many players contributing that it doesn't matter. it It also... to It doesn't matter. It matters less if someone's having an off day.
00:46:03
Speaker
um And the Norths...
00:46:09
Speaker
Bit to work on, definitely a bit to work on. Five assists is not a good number, especially when you've got someone like Mikey Young on the roster. um
00:46:22
Speaker
But it's not panic stations yet. They've got some elite basketball minds in there that will be going over the film and whatever else is embedded in their photographic basketball memories to us.
00:46:38
Speaker
to bring to their game against Manly against the arch rivals next week. Yeah, if anyone can do it, it's certainly Coach Tom Gallup. He is arguably, like, he's got to be on the cusp for at least.
Coaching & Player Announcements
00:46:53
Speaker
I know that he gets called up for Aussie junior camps, but he's got to be on the cusp for starting to get some invitations to some Aussie senior camps, surely.
00:47:03
Speaker
I mean, and he's also coached... ah at junior women's fever level. I mean, he did the under-19 Asia Cup team last year. Yeah. ah Winning gold medal there. I mean, if anyone can do it, it's Coach Gallup.
00:47:18
Speaker
Certainly is. One of my favourite Sydney Kings of all time. Me too. Me too. And I'm pretty sure it's the two fit in the paint boys that have ah Tom Gallup, Sydney Kings bobblehead to add to their studio collection.
00:47:34
Speaker
ah But yeah we've got about 13 minutes until our very first guest arrives for our 2025 season. But before we do that,
00:47:47
Speaker
Let's head into some news and gossip in the meantime. Now, the biggest news, I think, from our last episode was the announcement of Jalen Galloway, as we mentioned, has signed with the Bankstown Bruins.
00:48:00
Speaker
That was announced, I think, on Friday. Yes, it was announced on Friday. ah Typically, it was announced on the day where my NBL 1 East 2025 predictions were posted on social media.
00:48:16
Speaker
How's the timing? How's the timing? It's funny. It is funny. It's funny. Now, ah just another reminder that when we're asked to do these predictions, we get asked at least a week before they go online and we can only make predictions based on the rosters that are available to us, e.g., come on, NBL1 East teams, announce your rosters a little bit earlier than the night before the first round.
00:48:43
Speaker
But also if you guys have got intel that you feel like we need to know, you've got to tell us. Because I had someone DM me saying, why did you pick so-and-so for MVP when you know that these other two players are about to sign up? And I'm like, I didn't know that.
00:48:58
Speaker
I literally heard those two rumors today. So don't don't come at me. Don't come at me. But, I mean, my predictions were MVP Nicole Munger and Todd Blanchfield and champions Newcastle Falcons, Illawarra Hawks.
00:49:12
Speaker
Going with the the theme here, we we love it. a predatorial bird. We love a New South Wales country team being a New South Wales country gal myself. All purely coincidental, can I just say.
00:49:24
Speaker
um But yeah, if you if you've got intel, you've got to tell us. But I mean, Blanchfield and Munger had a pretty great opening round, so that made me feel quite reassured. Yeah, I mean, regardless of who else is going to get signed, they're still provo pretty good shouts.
00:49:43
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. I think so. They're safe but good. ah Now, the rumour mill was also in full swing come Friday and Saturday, Lockie.
Rumors & Player Signings
00:49:54
Speaker
It sounds like there's another big signing about to land on NBL1 East. What have you heard?
00:50:01
Speaker
Me? Do we dare say? not saying. I'm not saying. i Okay. I'll agree. I'll agree not to say either but...
00:50:13
Speaker
For those that I'm sure a lot of people that listen to the podcast already know, but for those who don't, there is another big men signing coming to NBL One East.
00:50:25
Speaker
Someone who has played in other conferences, has been an MVP contender in other conferences, has been a championship winner in other conferences, has recently won an accolade at the NBL level as well.
00:50:40
Speaker
um Big player in terms of, contribution, size and absolute hype. um And hopefully that at least gets you enough excited or intrigued enough to start thinking about who this big men signing is.
00:50:57
Speaker
um Any gossip or rumour about any big women signing coming to the league? Yeah. No, actually, I haven't heard anything. i mean, we had some late announcements like Sutherland signing Lacey Hawthorne. That occurred last Wednesday or Thursday.
00:51:17
Speaker
um But no, i haven't I haven't heard any news about any new women's signings. No, I haven't either. I was just checking. No, yeah, I legitimately have not.
00:51:31
Speaker
And tell me what you know about the new signing for Sutherland Sharks. ah So Lacey Hawthorne made her debut against Penrith on the weekend. um She averaged 16 points and nine rebounds in MBL1 West last year, playing for East Perth.
00:51:50
Speaker
um Front court player. um So probably played...
00:51:57
Speaker
Probably more of the ah four for the Sharks, particularly because we've got the pick and pop queen that is Maddie Norris, probably more out on the perimeter. You know, kind of both different types of board.
00:52:12
Speaker
Also, I live white there at the five spot. but ah So she went to college at Incarnate Word, New Mexico Junior College, Then Murray State and finally grad transfer to Utah State, which has been a home of many, many, many Australian players over the years.
00:52:31
Speaker
I think seven or eight I can think of. So definitely a place Aussies have been before. that's That's just on the women's side. They've had men as well. um So, I mean...
00:52:44
Speaker
Didn't put up the biggest stats in round one, but to be fair, absolutely nobody for Sutherland did, and indeed not many players in that Sutherland-Penrith game at all did, apart from Jordan Vasquez putting up 14 and 17, I think it was, was the r ah one of the day.
00:53:02
Speaker
i um
00:53:07
Speaker
yeah. We'll say see how things progress. And any more news or gossip to wrap up the segment? um No. i no No news, no gossip.
00:53:25
Speaker
um I'm getting a new basketball jersey from an NBA 1 player. Is that gossip? Sure, that can be gossip or maybe that's more personal gossip. But maybe we can hold on to that until it arrives and you can showcase it on air. I will.
00:53:39
Speaker
I will. I'm counting down the months because that particular team doesn't play up Sutherland or Comets until July. Okay, that's good. We can hold on then hold on to that content until then.
00:53:51
Speaker
And so with that, I will say... Swish, it's time for our next segment. Let's go on to our EGG picks of the game of the week for round two.
00:54:02
Speaker
um ae I have probably earmarked a couple of games so far for round two. The Manly-Norse matchup for both men and women, but also the Newcastle-Albury matchup for both men and women. I feel like in the women's competition, Albury, oh, my gosh, absolutely lighting it up in round one against Canberra Nationals. What a huge performance from the Lady Bandits in round one.
00:54:30
Speaker
ah I feel like... ah they've really already kind of set the tone for their season in round one. And I think being tested by Newcastle, you know, the reigning champions, uh,
00:54:43
Speaker
in round two is going to be a great litmus test for the Albury women's team to see where they're potentially going to fall or either maybe set a benchmark for where they want to be or be a good measure of what they might need to improve on to secure top eight.
00:55:00
Speaker
Equally, Newcastle men and Albury men, Newcastle consistently being around that eighth, ninth, tenth place on the ladder for the last couple of seasons.
00:55:11
Speaker
Aubrey men coming in with a really great young, fresh team that probably didn't have, I mean, they were they were challenged by playing against an absolute, but like it's very consistent and very reliable um Canberra gunners for their first round. So I think in the men's game for Aubrey, also a litmus test to see where they're going to where they can potentially fall top eight and bottom eight.
00:55:34
Speaker
Are they going to get caught up in that? Tangle of 9th, 10th, or are they going to try and turn it around and excel over Newcastle? What do you you think? Have you picked a game of the week yet for round two?
00:55:45
Speaker
Well, I think, I think Inner West and Hills, they're games because, well, the women got, what, a quarter in and the men haven't even touched the court.
00:56:04
Speaker
So I think, well, Hills, hillside I think Hills Sutherland will
00:56:11
Speaker
it it has the making of a good game. I think, you know, Sutherland got over the line against Penrith. um And, but I think Hills will be a tougher test, but Hills don't have a game. and It's one thing, hills don't Hills haven't played a game yet, but that means Sutherland have no game film on them.
00:56:36
Speaker
So that goes the same for men and women. And I think this is a good route. This is a good week for Sutherland after, you know, losing to Penrith in the women and beating Penrith just in the men. a good litmus test to see exactly where they're at.
00:56:51
Speaker
um And you've got to want to watch Matt Gray against Maitland, don't you? Oh, of course. They've got the double Newcastle and Maitland away. The distance double.
00:57:06
Speaker
The distance double. That's pretty tough on Matt Gray yeah going back to Maitland's second round already. But look, you may maybe just get it over and done with. Well, not everyone, but some people might dread playing against their former club.
00:57:22
Speaker
think some people love playing against their former club. but so So for women, are you picking Sharks Hills? And for men, are you picking Albury Maitland? I am picking Albury Maitland. I mean, that'll be a good that'll be ah good test to see for both teams. You know, are Maitland still right up there after game against the Illawarra last week? And for Albury Wodonga, you know, game against Canberra wasn't – didn't all go to plan. And we'll see if they can, you know,
00:57:53
Speaker
Just a good a good good litmus test for both teams. It's just a good way for everyone to see what kind of level these teams are at. and we've got We've got three rounds and then an Easter break. So um yeah even if you don't get off to a crash hot start, you you want to get at least one or two wins under the belt, but you've got time to you know reconvene after these few games. So we'll just see where where these two teams get to.
00:58:18
Speaker
And a while ah we know that Manly Norse is always going to be entertaining in both the men's and women's, but I think in the same ah theme of litmus test and how much value this game can have and perhaps forecast the rest of a season for some teams, I'm going to stick with the Newcastle-Orvery match-ups in both the men and the women as my personal experience.
00:58:38
Speaker
Games of the Week for Round 2. So watch this space. Actually, we'd love to know what your personal picks for Round 2 are. so let us know. Send us a DM on our Instagram page, at escottgame.
00:58:51
Speaker
And remember, you can also follow us now on YouTube and Facebook. ah But, Lachie, it's about that time to get our first interview under the way of 2025.
00:59:03
Speaker
Are you ready? With who we're interviewing tonight? Oh, you know I'm ready. You've been ready for for a long time. So as mentioned, it is now time for our first athlete interview for 2025.
00:59:16
Speaker
And just before I bring this person on, let me just say they're born and bred in Manly. They rose through the ranks of the junior program to become an absolute staple in the starting five of an NBL1 women's team.
00:59:31
Speaker
ah They're someone who can guard one to five and continues to develop their outside offensive game. Off the court, this player is an elite S&C coach who regularly posts accessible workouts for $64,000.
00:59:45
Speaker
six that for sixty four thousand of their followers. You had that right, 64,000 followers, including some excellent workouts for basketball players, ah which kind of makes me wish that I was 10 years younger and still playing NBA on now that I have access to this content.
01:00:05
Speaker
Our very special guest today is a and Josie Josie. hi guys. Thanks for having me on here. Absolutely. We wanted to have you as a guest for so long. And as we do every season, we have a wish list.
01:00:22
Speaker
We surprisingly get most of the wish list and then we're like, oh, we forgot about all these people. So you are top of the list for 2025. So welcome. No, thank you. It's awesome. Awesome to be here.
01:00:34
Speaker
That's great. Now, Lockie, would you like to start off ah with our number one question or would you like to go? I will start with our most staple of questions, which is, where did your basketball journey begin?
01:00:50
Speaker
guessing it's in Manly. Yes, yes, i' definitely, Amelia. I have a very wholesome background with basketball. It actually started in my back garden.
01:01:01
Speaker
um So I've got two brothers. My older brother started playing basketball when he was like eight primary school. um And mum and dad bought a basketball hoop, popped it in the garden, and I just couldn't stop playing with it.
01:01:15
Speaker
um so From about the age of five, I started playing basketball with my brothers in the back garden and used spend hours just out there bouncing the ball, shooting hoops, all of that.
01:01:26
Speaker
um I then started playing basketball for school when I was in about year two or year three um and then got picked up by Manly when I was in year five. So, wow, 17 years ago.
01:01:38
Speaker
Been playing for Manly for 17 years now. um And then, yeah, just stayed with the club and have loved every second of it.
01:01:48
Speaker
Well, she's loyal at least. She's manly. And now you say you were picked up by manly in year five. Does that mean you were scouted or invited to the play reps or did you go and try out?
01:01:59
Speaker
No, so I got scouted to try out. um So I'm sure you guys know Paula Martin. um She used to come round to all of the local comp games and basically just pick out the girls that played local comp back then because there were very few of us that did um and used to be like, okay, come try out for Manly. um And then, yeah, tried out and got picked because otherwise I'd have no idea that rep basketball was a thing.
01:02:25
Speaker
no idea that it was going on. like I don't come from a basketball family, like my parents never played or anything like that. um So if it wasn't for Paula Martin, I what wouldn't be here today.
01:02:39
Speaker
Well, shout out to Paula for her excellent recruiting skills because do you know who else she may have recruited from your age group that's still playing with you today? Probably Kim, Kim Hodge. So Kim and I, yeah, I know, amazing. um Kim and I actually started playing together when we were in year five or year six for like a CIS team that plays at all schools. So that's where Kim and I first met.
01:03:07
Speaker
um And now I don't know whether it was my mum that convinced her to come and try out for Manly or whether it was Paula. I don't exactly know the story. But anyway, we managed to get her to Manly for under four teams. And then, yeah, she's been at the club ever since as well. So, yeah, I think she would be um the other person on the team that got picked up by Paula. Yeah.
01:03:31
Speaker
Two from two, Paula, if you ask us. are Two of our favourites as well. so she's doing pretty well. Yeah, she's good things. So you said, you know, fast forward that 17 years later, as you mentioned. Now, this is your fourth consecutive NBL season and your shooting stats have improved overall and you're certainly being more confident and taking more threes.
01:03:54
Speaker
um Do you attribute this to improving your shot technique, ah just being more confident with your outside game, or do you feel like you're just getting some better opportunities on offense to take more shots?
01:04:06
Speaker
I think it's probably a combination all or the above. um I actually have to give a lot of credit to my fiancé, Dre, um for helping me with my shot. um When we first started hanging out, we used to go and get shots up together, and he is an annoyingly good shooter.
01:04:22
Speaker
um Like, won't touch a ball for but six months and then will go and drain 20-plus threes in a row. That's sort of annoying. um And so, yeah, when we were getting shots up,
01:04:34
Speaker
yeah I kind of asked for some advice for stuff and he actually ended up helping with my shot technique a lot. um So a lot of confidence in my shot has come from actually just going and getting shots up with him, um which is awesome.
01:04:49
Speaker
In terms of opportunities, I feel like I've always had opportunities to shoot threes because I don't shoot them often, so people don't really guard me out there. So I definitely feel like I've got all the opportunity in the world to shoot threes if I want to. um But yeah, it's definitely something that I'm working on improving um and getting more confident and getting more shots up, um not only to get points to myself, but also just to spread the floor out a bit more and make us harder to guard as a team.
01:05:20
Speaker
Locke, have you got any any backup questions? No, because i you you actually talk with like a an enjoyment and a love of um shooting, but we know you, we know you as, you know, a screener, a rebounder, you know, doing the dirty work.
01:05:39
Speaker
um So is that, is that what you enjoy or you would secretly just, do you want to be like Steph Curry and just shoot it? No, I definitely, I definitely would not, I would not want to be Steph Curry, would not want that weight on my shoulder.
01:05:56
Speaker
I'm definitely, definitely a Yeah, i enjoy I enjoy doing all the little dirty things, as you say, that um I guess often gets overlooked or other people don't enjoy doing as much.
01:06:09
Speaker
But, no, I'm definitely a hustle player um and it definitely gets me fired up on the court, chasing rebounds, hitting screens, playing tough defence. It's definitely what yeah what I enjoy most in the game.
01:06:23
Speaker
Is that something that you were taught growing up either through parents, local comp, reps at any point? I think it actually comes down to um being the only girl on a team in primary school was a little bit challenging at times.
01:06:43
Speaker
Unfortunately, you didn't get past the ball. as much sometimes you kind of got neglected here and there. and so I think I learned at a young age that if I wanted to get involved in the game, I had to go and get involved in the game.
01:06:55
Speaker
um I had to do little things. I had to get rebounds. I had to, you know, get stops on defense um because the boys necessarily weren't going to pass me the ball, um even if I was open on offense. I think it kind of stemmed from there.
01:07:09
Speaker
um i also think my, more aggressive style of play at times does come from playing basketball with my brothers for years. um We used to go at each other in the back garden.
01:07:20
Speaker
um And so, yeah, i think I think it stems from a combination of of those two things.
01:07:28
Speaker
Toughness is built in the backyard playing with your siblings who are always going to be your toughest competitors, right? There's no referee. There's no mum or dad to referee. um you just You just have to fend for yourself when you're playing in those situations.
01:07:43
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. I think even some ah professional siblings like the Froelings even started in the backyard playing against each other. Well, you're most yourre most competitive against your siblings. Like there's no...
01:07:59
Speaker
Yeah, there's no love lost out there. because And do your siblings still play themselves or do they do they come and watch you play now? So my older brother stopped playing after high school.
01:08:10
Speaker
um He moved to Newcastle and was studying medicine, so that was kind of a bit all-consuming for him. um My younger brother is actually really bit of a sad story. He used to play manly reps, but then he did his ACL when he was in year seven um and that took him out for a a number of years and then his first basketball trial back he did his ACL again.
01:08:32
Speaker
um sorry he was, his career was kind of cut a bit short due to that but he still comes um and watches all my games which is really nice. He's still involved in the club, he coaches um like the local comp teams and sometimes comes in the scrimmages with us on a Sunday. We do like a club run around in the off season so he's involved and amongst it.
01:08:56
Speaker
um But, yeah, his his rep career was cut short, unfortunately, because of some injuries. Yeah, that's a real shame. But it's nice that he still comes to support you and he's still involved in the club in some way. I guess that's a good thing of basketball is that if your playing career is cut short for whatever reason, there's other ways to stay involved in the game. You don't have to be gone forever. Yeah, 100%.
01:09:23
Speaker
I mean, look at me and Lockie. We just like to sit sit and chat now. My basketball career ended when I was nine. You peaked and then maybe you just ended on a high. You just got to, you just like stopped against, you know, you got ahead of the trend.
01:09:41
Speaker
i mean i just love tre Just like you, Josie, I started my basketball career in primary school. Unfortunately, that's also where it ended. Well, maybe you wouldn't be here things had gone differently. So maybe it's a blessing in disguise. That's right.
01:09:57
Speaker
Yeah, maybe you'd be at the and NBA, Lockie. Oh, yeah. but ah And, oh, yeah, you mentioned ah that, yeah, some of the facets of the game you like the most are all of those really tough things.
01:10:12
Speaker
So but what are some of the biggest lessons you've learned from being a basketball player, you know, your toughness on court or your work ethic ah when you're in your downtime to play your best on court? What are some of those lessons that through being a basketball player you're able now to transfer into your everyday life?
01:10:30
Speaker
I think one of the biggest lessons, and it's probably not anything to do with actually being on the court, um but the importance and just the value of having a really good community around you.
01:10:43
Speaker
um Like I love my club. I'm so grateful for them being there throughout, you know, the 17 years. I've been there. They've always been a great support network. I love the girls I play with.
01:10:57
Speaker
um They're some my best friends. I can honestly say some of my best friends. And I'm just so grateful that I've been able to experience that and have these relationships and connections through basketball. um So I think that's probably the most important thing it's taught me is the importance of community development.
01:11:15
Speaker
and support networks around you. In terms of on-court lessons I've learnt, I think the biggest one is team success feels so much better than individual success.
01:11:30
Speaker
um So even when things aren't going your way, if your team's doing really well, um getting around them and supporting them is super important because you never feel, if you if you have an amazing game yourself and you lose the game, you're always going to feel crappy. If you don't have the best game in the world but your team does an amazing job and you win, you're always going to feel so much better. So I think that was an important lesson that I've learnt. Another one I'd say is just delayed gratification. Hard work does pay off but sometimes it's slow to pay off.
01:12:02
Speaker
um And just knowing that, you know, you might not be thinking that, all the effort you're putting in now is, is doing anything, but you know, six months down the track or a year down the track, like you will look back and be like, wow, I have made a lot of progress.
01:12:18
Speaker
Um, whether that's improving your shot, whether that's getting faster on the court or what whatever your goals are, um, it may not seem like you're making progress when you're actually putting in the work, but look back a year, two years or however long, um,
01:12:33
Speaker
you'll be able to see that you have actually made a lot of lot progress, um which I think is a good lesson to learn. And is that a long-term achievement? Is that something that part of the reason that going into strength and conditioning appealed to you?
01:12:52
Speaker
um So strength and conditioning has been something that I've loved forever. Like for as long as I remember. I remember being... in high school um and people asking me what you wanted to do and all of this and I was like look my dream job would be to be a personal trainer um I felt I went to a selective academic school so I felt compelled to try different avenues first um just because of the environment I was in wasn't super supportive of going down like the fitness route as a career I've
01:13:28
Speaker
but i always been in love with the gym. It's my one true love um other than other than my fiance, but it's been it's been a constant in my life. And I think, um yeah, I can't remember um ah time where I wasn't interested in working in that sort of field.
01:13:46
Speaker
um But yeah, I do think i think I love the gym for a lot of a lot of other reasons other than that. I just think it's so important for physical and mental wellbeing. And I think it improves You know, it's never going to be a detriment in your life and it's always going to serve at some for some sort of, um yeah, give some sort of benefit to what you're doing.
01:14:10
Speaker
And what, ah so like how soon or at what age did you start to kind of get in the gym yourself as part of your overall health and wellbeing, let alone improving your performance in the basketball court? Like what was your gateway into it?
01:14:25
Speaker
So my mum was my gateway. So she used to go to like pump classes and stuff at Fitness First. Yeah. And I just always wanted to tag along. So on weekends, you could bring your kids in for free. um So I used to go on the weekends, i used to do pump class with mum.
01:14:41
Speaker
used to go to cycle studio and do cycle classes mum. So that's kind where I got into the gym. So that would have been about 13, 14. um And then i didn't really get into the sort of training I'm doing now until I was about 20, 21. But um but It started off when I was, yeah, about 13, 14. Because
01:15:07
Speaker
because you, yeah, you create some really great content on your social media platform, ah mostly Instagram. It's at Josie Borman Fitness. Is that your handle?
01:15:18
Speaker
It's just at Josie Borman. It's my handle, just at Josie Borman. Yeah. Very good. Yeah, you create some really great content. It's very easy to follow. It's very clear instruction. um And i think sometimes when it's ah presented to be so easy and achievable, that certainly is going to spark motivation in people to go and want to try it, right?
01:15:40
Speaker
um So was your initial, like when you started your social media content, Was it initially just to try and share information with others or to share information with some of your teammates? Like what how did it start and did you expect it to snowball to 64,000 followers?
01:15:59
Speaker
No, so that kind of happened pretty quickly. So I have worked in fitness for quite a long time now um and i initially just started doing general population stuff.
01:16:12
Speaker
So i was a personal trainer and group fitness instructor and um, I'd done a sports and exercise science degree, but I had chosen not to use it, um, and not work with athletes, but go into just general population training.
01:16:27
Speaker
And so that's when I started posting on social media because as a self-employed personal trainer, um, social media really helps you gain clients. Um, even within just the own gym you're working at, if members of that gym follow you on social media, um,
01:16:45
Speaker
they're more likely to hire you as a personal trainer in that gym setting. um so that's how it first started. um i think I worked with general population for three years before deciding that I wanted to go back to working with athletes.
01:17:04
Speaker
So I enrolled in my masters of high performance sport and I did ASCA level one and started posting basketball specific content using the knowledge I got from my undergrad degree, my postgraduate, and then my ASCA.
01:17:21
Speaker
um And that's kind of where it started to snowball when I started. I made that switch to, yeah, the basketball specific stuff.
01:17:32
Speaker
I don't think people realise as well how much effort and time and, yeah, how much effort and time it takes to make content either. ah because sometimes people will even say it to us, they're like, oh, you should do more TikToks so you should do more this. And was like, you want to pay my nine to five?
01:17:50
Speaker
yeah and I ain't got time. i need to sleep and I need to eat. I ain't got time to make you TikToks. ah So give us a rough idea of, say, for example, like what' what is your typical day or week in planning when you want to make a workout for content?
01:18:06
Speaker
So I've gotten pretty efficient. Um, I am very grateful that I had those three years of not doing basketball specific stuff to kind of get used to making content. Um, but I, I must admit, I actually don't plan my content. I'm very film it on the day, make it on the day, post it on the day.
01:18:25
Speaker
Um, so like a typical day for me, I will get up, go to work. I work at a private school and I do their strength and conditioning. Um, program there.
01:18:38
Speaker
I'll do that in the morning, come back, go to the gym, film what I'm doing at the gym, have a couple of hours. I'll do uni, edit content, go back to work um in the afternoon and then go to training in the evening. So that's kind of how the day is structured.
01:18:57
Speaker
You've got to sleep and eat too, remember? I'm whinging about my 9 to 5 job and trying to make a TikTok around eating and sleeping and your schedule sounds hectic. No, it's it's all right. I've got to, like, I enjoy the holidays. School holidays a great time for me.
01:19:14
Speaker
um But, yeah, I've i've definitely got i've got it pretty down-packed when it comes to content efficiency. um i Don't muck around and get it done.
01:19:27
Speaker
ah That is admirable. You might have to teach us offline one day. And you've got another trainer in your import, Taylor.
01:19:38
Speaker
Yes. So is Manly Women this year just going to be the fittest team we've ever seen? i think I think it's going to be a strong ah strong team. oh Yeah, she's she' is incredible. She's so talented. She's so lovely. She's a beast. She's strong.
01:19:54
Speaker
um We have fun. going against each other at training, boxing each other out and and all of that. So, yeah, it's going to be really good.
01:20:04
Speaker
Yeah, tell us a little bit more about ah what we can expect from Manly this season. yeah I mean, Manly women's program particularly have always been high achievers, are you know, im always I'm pretty confident making top four at least the last three seasons.
01:20:20
Speaker
Yeah, four. I actually can't remember if it's four or three. Definitely three. Yeah, at least the last three seasons. So certainly high standard, high calibre, high consistency.
01:20:31
Speaker
i can imagine we're expecting more of the same from Manly, but is there anything else that we can expect or look out for, especially now that you've got the new import you just mentioned? I think it's great that we've all been playing for so long together um because, like you said, we're very high-achieving group of girls.
01:20:53
Speaker
Not much changes from year to year because we've all been playing together so long. um We kind of can seamlessly go into a new season without having to revisit too many things.
01:21:05
Speaker
um So I don't think it's going to be too dissimilar to what we saw last season. um Obviously, Taylor is a great addition to the team, but we've also lost Bree Delaney this season.
01:21:17
Speaker
um So we haven't really been able to take advantage of both of them being there at the same time. So we're definitely going to miss Bree, but Taylor is going to be an awesome um defensive and offensive addition to our team. um And so our style of play is going to be pretty similar to every other year. We play fast, we play small, um apart from Brooke last year. But as a general theme, we are general trend, we play small and fast.
01:21:45
Speaker
um And so, yeah, it's going to be going to be very similar to the previous years and it's going to lots of fun.
01:21:53
Speaker
And you get a full season of Honey Badger, Kim Hodge. Yes, we do We do, we do, which is also very exciting. And, yes, we definitely missed her last season. It was great that she could come back for the finals.
01:22:07
Speaker
We were very fortunate that we could have her at the end, but it would it would be nice to have her for a whole season, that's for sure. And I think sometimes as well when you're in such a great team that are performing consistently well,
01:22:20
Speaker
Sometimes it's like hard to pick from the outside. What are the things that you actually might need to improve on or the the little kind of 1% is to give you the edge to get to the grand final or to win the grand final that you've been so close to doing the last three seasons.
01:22:34
Speaker
What do you think it's going to be in 2025 that really takes Manly to the championship? I think for us the biggest thing is holding each other to accountable and not being lazy during the season. Um,
01:22:48
Speaker
I think we can get away with playing a little bit undisciplined basketball at times um when we're bursting other teams and not really focusing on the detail. And when we get to the games where it matters, um we haven't got everything down packed or we're not used to performing under pressure or we don't have that go-to person who, okay,
01:23:18
Speaker
you need to go and you need to make a bucket um and make your own shot and get us a score. um So I think for us it's going to be dealing with pressure um and, yeah, just staying super disciplined throughout the season regardless of what the scoreboard is showing and just making sure that we're, you know, dotting our I's and crossing our T's throughout the whole season.
01:23:47
Speaker
Yeah, i used to have a coach in under-18s who introduced the idea that you do need to play at your highest level and your highest standard every single game regardless of opponent. You can't just turn on turn on your performance ah on and off like a tap.
01:24:03
Speaker
For those exact reasons, as you said, because the times when it comes down to end of the season, finals time, pressure situations, you're always going to be prepared. It's not like, oh, under a pressure situation, we've got to find a score. And you it's you can't just find a way You have to put in that hard work of beating teams by 50, 60 points by playing at your best.
01:24:24
Speaker
But it means that later when you're playing the harder games, it's going to be like automatic. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. um So, yes, fingers crossed we can we can do it this season because, yeah, it's our core group that have been together for so long.
Team's Urgency for Success
01:24:39
Speaker
um There's only so many more years that we're probably all going to be together.
01:24:43
Speaker
um I think a lot of us are like we really want to get it done this season as a group um just because we've been so close so many years and we all really, really want to say that we did it um and we're kind of running out of years to be able to – do it with everyone. So fingers crossed we can do it this year.
01:25:06
Speaker
It's a dynasty. It's been turning into a dynasty, this age group, this this group of girls. It is. It is. It is. Now, Lockie, I'm conscious that I am taking up a lot of airtime here with Josie. So sure you welcome to.
01:25:20
Speaker
ah to fine to bump in with any additional questions, information, queries, or would you like to do the last question with Josie? i I would like to...
01:25:35
Speaker
I'll say this in the ah in the context of the French national basketball team, because I think what you're saying ah is it truete is a lot as I've heard them described by um Paul Nilsson from FIBA, who said that the French national team was a lot like a Volkswagen in that they were operationally sound, but they could be a Ferrari in that they need to find...
01:26:02
Speaker
you know, go-to, spark to absolutely fly. Who do you think on your roster is best positioned to turn your team from a Volkswagen into a Ferrari?
01:26:15
Speaker
See, this is part of, like, that's a really tough question because everybody has got different strengths and everybody brings something to the team.
01:26:27
Speaker
um On Kim's night, Kim can hit tough, tough shots and can really make things happen. On Alex's night, she can hit tough, tough shots and find awesome passes.
01:26:39
Speaker
Zoe's night, she's an amazing playmaker um and will always find the right pass and play amazing defence and also make incredible finishes. um And I've only played a couple of games with Taylor, but you can see she can create her own shot out of nothing.
01:26:55
Speaker
um She's also a great passer. And, yeah, so I honestly think, and it's part of our weaknesses, it's it's a strength but it's also a weakness of ours that we don't have, like, a Nicole Munger where it's like, here's the ball, like, you are our girl um because we all bring something to the team.
01:27:18
Speaker
um So I think the answer to that is it just depends on the game. um and who's playing well and who can get it done that day. But I think everybody needs to be ready to be that person um if it is their day.
01:27:36
Speaker
i mean, I think you brought up Zoe. I mean, who could forget her game up in Newcastle just in the fourth quarter where she just went off? Yeah. Yeah. there's She's something else. Like, I think everyone everyone is an offensive threat.
01:27:52
Speaker
Yeah. on our team and everyone can be that girl. um just, yeah, I think it just depends on the game and it depends on on who's playing well, but they just have to be ready to to be that person.
01:28:10
Speaker
And if they ever need someone to get nine offensive rebounds, you can do that like you did to us last year. Yes, I'll clean up the mess for them.
01:28:20
Speaker
Great question, Lockie. Very good. Nice little hidden and nugget you had there. ah Similarly, who would you say is, Lockie asked about the spark, but who would you say is the glue of the team, the one person that can kind of tie everyone together when you're under pressure?
01:28:39
Speaker
um I would say that that would probably come but between Alex, Zoe and I. The position I play is very glue-like just in terms of the way our offence works, in terms of reversing the ball and, you know, setting screens and flowing into offence in transition. so I feel like I definitely play a role in terms of connecting both sides of the court um and bringing the team's offence together.
01:29:13
Speaker
um Zoe is the point guard. She's obviously massive glue player. She gets us all in the right spots and tells us what to do and make sure everyone um everyone's doing what they're meant to be doing. And then, yeah, Alex has just got that energy. Her passing's incredible. She's great at keeping everyone calm um and, yeah, great at just making stuff happen on the court and making everyone around her better. So I think, yeah, that would be my answer. Yeah.
01:29:43
Speaker
And I am conscious of your time as well, Josie. So we'll ask our final
Josie's Interests & Insights
01:29:48
Speaker
question. We like to bookend our questions ah with athlete interviews. It always starts with how did your basketball journey begin?
01:29:56
Speaker
and it always ends with who is Josie Borman off the court? So other than what you're doing, your S&C business and content creating, ah what do you like to do in your spare time? What's your downtime? What are your other interests? Tell us about that.
01:30:12
Speaker
Yes, I am pretty fortunate that have turned my one main hobby into my job. So outside of studying and work and training and basketball, I don't have heaps of spare time.
01:30:27
Speaker
um And I am a very simple person. Like I love going for walks and coffee dates with my friends, reading a book by the beach. I'm obsessed with fantasy TV shows, so I'm enjoying... um Wheel of Time at the moment.
01:30:42
Speaker
don't if you guys have watched that or you're interested in that, but I'm really enjoying that. um I love my New York Time and Sydney Morning Herald puzzles.
01:30:52
Speaker
um Yeah, i'm very simple, very simple. Enjoy yeah good food, good drinks, good company. And yeah, that's about it.
01:31:04
Speaker
Did you solve the connections puzzle today with all the symbols? Because I've only got the yellow category so far. No, I did. I did. I do it with Dre. Dre and I do it together. I am always annoyed when it is a symbols one. also one I'm like, why are you messing with my routine here? um But no, we we did solve it together, but we have shared shared minds working on it, so it is is a lot easier.
01:31:30
Speaker
um But yes. Yeah, and I still, i try and do Wordle every day. i think I must have missed a day last week because my streak is now only back to one. So that's annoying. That is annoying. But it's the one way I communicate with my mum every day is we send each other's Wordle scores.
01:31:48
Speaker
No, I love that. I love that. She usually wins.
01:31:54
Speaker
Yeah. No, I like to think, yeah. No, sorry. Yeah. No, no, you go. You keep going. Oh, I was going to say I like i like to think that my word of success is to do with me, but Dre is a massive help with all of the puzzles.
01:32:10
Speaker
It's nice. It's something we do together every morning and it's just nice quality time together before the day starts, which is good. Yeah, it's a good way to start the day. I agree. I try and do it just before I start my get my work brain operating. think it probably is almost like a behaviour activation activity that kind of gets me going. Yeah.
01:32:33
Speaker
So it's the docus on the train for me, like really weird docus on the train. That's my thing. Yeah, no, they're good. I like them too. And the Ken-Kens. They're good too.
01:32:44
Speaker
ah love the Ken-Ken. Yeah, yeah. Great. We're all geeks. Love it. Of course we are Basketball is the one thing that keeps us moderately cool and have some kind of street cred in society. It's basketball. Everything else, we're geeks.
01:32:59
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. Can relate. Yeah. Well, Josie, all we have left in our show is our All-Star Five. Now, you're welcome to stick around if you want, but understandably you're very busy gal with very little downtime. So if you also want to exit, that's also okay. We'll leave it up to you.
01:33:18
Speaker
I'll stick around. Ah, very, very nice. we saw We sometimes like to ah do our All-Star Five while the guest is here and get their two cents. So it's great that you can stick around a little bit longer.
01:33:30
Speaker
ah Lockie, would you like to go first with your men's All-Star Five? ah Yes, I would because I still have the graphic on my screen. So very, very tough. It's always tough. I mean, because it's a minimum of eight games and it would have been nine if not for the ah court at Sydney Uni.
All-Star Five Highlights
01:33:50
Speaker
ah So couple of players I had close to making it were ah obviously Charlie McBeth was very close for his 21 against North.
01:34:02
Speaker
Kobe McDowell-White and Clarissa Amir also put in good shifts. But we'll go from the top, of course. Can't go past Todd Blanchfield. 31 and 16 plus five blocks, right?
01:34:18
Speaker
against the defending champions, just outstanding performance. On his debut in NBL 1 East. um Next up, Hunter Goodrick had 24 points and 15 rebounds in that game against Bankstown, had five steals, would have had a lot more assists if any of the, if more of the North players could have hit a three.
01:34:43
Speaker
Played not a solo hand, but ah definitely, Definitely a really good performance in an otherwise beaten side. um Garrick Young stepping up from Warratah League. It was basically between him and his teammate Clarice Amir for the final spot. But ah with 15 points and 10 rebounds, those defensive stats, five blocks and four steals just put in put him over the top.
01:35:07
Speaker
and For Comets, Anthony Mundine III. Now, he played all 40 minutes of this win over Newcastle. So in a team with Obi-Che and Billy Fichetti and Johnny Cinder-Gorrat, it was Anthony Mundine who, you know, played the full 40 minutes, really put the team on his back.
01:35:25
Speaker
And 23 points, six rebounds, four assists, a couple of steals, five of 12 from three-point range, and got Comets over the line. I won't say it was no Wally, no worries, but as they wait for Bawali Bales to our return from Switzerland, Anthony Mundine was able to get his team over the line.
01:35:45
Speaker
and then Will Mayfield, well, it could have been him. It could have been Glenn Morrison. It could have been one of those other players I mentioned. But 23 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals, five and nine from three-point range, put Aubrey Wodonga away to the tune of ninety six seventy five So there we have it, the first men's All-Star Five of the season.
01:36:10
Speaker
Very good. what do you what do you What's your takeaway, Josie, with this All-Star 5? Anyone surprising you or is it a pretty expected kind of All-Star 5 for Round 1? Yeah, i look, no surprises here.
01:36:25
Speaker
um Like you said, it's only been one week, so it's kind of hard to suss out everything. But, look, all those stat lines are incredible, so I'd have them in ah in an All-Star 5 for sure.
01:36:41
Speaker
And what I think I like the most about ah a lot of the a lot of the players featured in all star five is the 5 is their shooting was a relatively high percentage. I mean, Mayfield was 5 from 9 from the three-point line, and you know, 50% overall.
01:36:58
Speaker
Mundine looked like he was just under 50%. um Blanchfield, 50%. Like, that's that's incredible. That's when you're really starting to get become elite.
01:37:10
Speaker
when you can get 31.16 rebounds and shoot at 50%.
01:37:16
Speaker
All right, over to the women's all-star five. Last-minute change given that the North's women's stats were unable. And we're going to reveal who just missed out because I forgot to change Carla Pittman's photo.
01:37:32
Speaker
Because someone changed their all-star five with 10 minutes to go to the show. Yes, that was me. I take full responsibility. However, I'm going to pass the blame on to whatever happened on the NBL1 website because the Norse women's stats for the Bankstown game were unavailable.
01:37:52
Speaker
But other social media outlets like NBL1 East and even the Sydney Flames posted Carla Pittman's stats online. And I was like, well, how did you get them? How come we can't get them?
01:38:03
Speaker
So once I learnt her stats, she made the switch. But, yes, so first honourable mention is to Meg Jefferson, playing now for the Newcastle Falcons, who had 22-11 on debut for the Falcons versus the Sydney Comets, and she shot at 44% overall.
01:38:20
Speaker
And also just missing out was Zatea Fagan from the COE. who had 20 and 10 versus Manly on the weekend shooting at 50%. She balled out against Manly on ah the weekend, Josie.
01:38:34
Speaker
Yes, she did. She did. She had an awesome game. She is so athletic and so long. um Yeah, she's she's absolutely incredible and she's so young. She's going to be and so good as she gets older because she's already so amazing.
01:38:50
Speaker
Yeah, she is super long. She has incredible length to complement her other attributes already. yeah ah But, yes, leading at the top, I've put Leilani Mitchell despite the loss to Hornsby Karinga this weekend from the Central Coast Crusaders.
01:39:06
Speaker
She had 22 points, seven rebounds, her five assists, shooting at eight and 15 overall, including six three-pointers. and Then we had Carla Pittman from Norse, who was the late replacement.
01:39:20
Speaker
with 25 points, 11 rebounds and six steals against the Bankstown Bruins. And then it's none other than ah the Honey Badger herself, Kimberly Dickinson from Manly Warringah. 25 points, seven rebounds, two assists, 10 from 13 from the field against the COE.
01:39:41
Speaker
ah Josie, I'm guessing it was Kimberly's turn to have a big game in round one. Yeah, she had an awesome game. um Super high scoring. It was actually pretty low number of field goal attempts for Kim.
01:39:54
Speaker
um She usually sits around like the 16-plus month field goal attempts, um but she was super efficient, obviously. um And, yeah, she just absolutely balled out, which was awesome, um especially seeing as last season um she wasn't able to play for a a number of games because she was injured. It was so good for her to come back and have just an amazing game one.
01:40:20
Speaker
um So, yeah, I think she's going to be going into the season with a lot well-earned confidence, which is awesome. Yeah, she's definitely well and truly back with that stat line in round one. So ah excited for the rest of the season for Honey Badger.
01:40:35
Speaker
And now the next two players are two players that I'm looking forward to you matching up against in the season, Josie. We first got Sydney Hunter from Maitland Mustangs with 28 points, 13 rebounds. thirteen rebounds shooting at 13 from 19 overall. So another very high clip in NBL One East in round one.
01:40:54
Speaker
And finally, we have Nicole Munger from the Newcastle Falcons. Now, 18 points may seem conservative for Munger, but it's still outstanding compared to everyone else. But it was everything else that she did as well. It was the 13 rebounds, the six assists, and the five steals in a win against Sydney Comets. So,
01:41:13
Speaker
and they Am I safe to say that the likes of Hunter and Munger are two of your favourite people to match up against? Josie? Nicole is always such a challenge. It's one of those things where you're annoyed she scored on you, but you're also like, wow, that was incredible. So it's always fun playing against Nicole.
01:41:35
Speaker
um And, yeah, it was a shame I didn't get to match up against Josie. Sydney Hunter last year because I think she was injured or sick or something whenever we matched up against Maitland. um So it'll be fun to match up against her this season for sure.
01:41:51
Speaker
Very good. Yeah, ah but we're going to be keen for those matchups as well as the season goes on. It's just a collective of our favourite players in similar positions with similar skill sets. It's just fun for us to watch.
01:42:04
Speaker
Yeah.
01:42:07
Speaker
and and luckwood yet Just back to Fagan, Satya Fagan, 18 Power 5 scholarship offers, including five of this year's Elite Eight.
01:42:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's incredible. You cut that a little bit for me, but that's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Give us a couple of the college names that she's got offers for because I can't remember.
01:42:32
Speaker
i've seen it online. UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, LSU, Louisville, Michigan, North Carolina.
01:42:45
Speaker
Wow. That's the cream of the crop. Yeah. yeah Even playing against her this year compared to last year, um like she's just improved so much in the space of however many months.
01:42:59
Speaker
um So just think about what she's going to be able to do when she actually gets to college. It's yeah, it'll be exciting to watch. I selfishly hope she goes to South Carolina. I think she'll be the first Aussie to be part of that program.
01:43:14
Speaker
And like the history of the program, the coaching staff of the program, Like that would be a very, very tempting offer to take. And then because the transfer portal has become basically trade season now, I don't think she'd have any trouble transferring out if she needed to.
01:43:34
Speaker
Very exciting. Oh, well, I'm just going to play this sound.
Conclusion & Social Media Reminder
01:43:40
Speaker
Probably should have given you a warning. The sound of the buzzer means it is the end of our episode. I thought I'd test that out. I don't think I like it. I don't think I'll do it again. um But Josie, thanks again for being our very first guest for the 2025 season. As we mentioned earlier, it's probably well and truly overdue.
01:44:01
Speaker
And we wish you and the Manly Warringah Seagulls the best of luck for this season, hoping that we can get the chip this year. Yes, no, thank you so much for the chat, guys. Appreciate it and appreciate you both.
01:44:14
Speaker
um And, yes, fingers crossed we can get it done. Yeah, thank you so much. No worries. And just a final reminder to our loyal listeners that you can follow us on Instagram at EScottGame.
01:44:27
Speaker
Remember our DMs are open if you have any intel from around the league, if you have any suggestions of who you'd like as a guest. And also a reminder we have a YouTube channel also at EScottGame.
01:44:40
Speaker
Hit the subscribe button. We are are living in the Delulu that we can get to 1,000 subscribers so we can start getting some – dollars from those Google ads. I don't know if it's at really Delulu.
01:44:52
Speaker
I think we can get there one day. We've just got to have got to have some faith. ah But, yeah, hit that subscribe button and never miss a beat, never miss an episode from a Scott game. But for now, what do we like to say, Lockie?
01:45:05
Speaker
Don't sleep on the eighth.