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Episode 16: The Secret World of Alex Delaney
273 Plays2 years ago
The stakes are getting higher!
Lachy and Squin review round 14 of NBL1 East 2023. There we heartbreakers and ladder shakers once again. Games covered include:
Canberra Gunners vs. Norths Bears (Men)
Inner West Bulls vs. Newcastle Falcons (Men)
Sydney Comets vs. BA CoE (Women)
Maitland Mustangs vs. Central Coast Crusaders (Women)
As always, they give an Allstar Five for round 14, before diving into an interview with one of the elite - a WNBL Champ, NCAA Div I graduate and absolute weapon from beyond the arc - Alex Delaney from the Manly-Waringah Sea Eagles.
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Transcript
Introduction to the East Got Game Podcast
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of East Got Game, an unofficial podcast about the MBL One East competition for 2023.
Weekend Activities and Upcoming Games Discussion
00:00:19
Speaker
My name is Jacinta from the Central Coast Crusaders, and with me is Lockie France, who is from the Sutherland Sharks, but it sounds like you had some time on the bench this weekend, Lockie. No games to commentate. Absolutely zero games to commentate.
00:00:37
Speaker
Obviously, no Sutherland home games. Didn't get the call up for Comets, but I'll be back with Avengers next week. Oh, that sounds really good. What do you got next weekend? I've got the Comets home double header Saturday, Sunday. So all you Comets fans looking forward to bringing you those games.
Asia Cup Attendance and NBL One Impact
00:00:55
Speaker
Sounds like you'll be making up for lost time then, whereas myself, I'll be at the Asia Cup, held at a Sydney Olympic Park, which kicked off today. The semi-final on the Saturday the 1st and the grand final on the Sunday the 2nd of July. So, no MBL one is for me next week. I think Asia Cup is a pretty good excuse.
00:01:18
Speaker
Yes, I think so too. If people know me well enough, they'll know that I've made a sound decision.
NBL One East Round 14 Highlights and Standings
00:01:24
Speaker
So we've just finished off around 14 of the NBA One East competition and the clock is ticking and the road to finals is getting shorter and shorter. What did you think of around Lockie?
00:01:36
Speaker
Well, I was tasked with the men this week. And I tell you what, the number of close games and close games that were crucial for the winning and losing teams as well. We had a couple of close to, if not buzzer beaters, you know, teams winning in upsets, really through a cat amongst the pigeons. And there's now a real fracturing of the top eight. They skipped away. After all our talk about it being so close.
00:02:06
Speaker
couple of the right teams won and the wrong teams lost and suddenly there's a bit of safety for the top eight. Yeah, I think so. One in particular being that Aubrey Wodonga, Bankstown Bruins men's game where the Bruins snatched a win on the road. I kind of got a bit of a question mark whether that's going to hurt the bandits in the long run.
Upcoming Games and Finals Implications
00:02:27
Speaker
Well, they've got a tough weekend coming up. They've got North's and Comet's this coming weekend. So it's one of those weekends where it could be, you know, snatch two wins against finals teams. Maybe the wins you don't expect or you lose both and you're suddenly almost out of finals contention. But what about on the women's side?
00:02:48
Speaker
Yeah, the women's side was pretty interesting as well, actually. From memory, there was some pretty good games. I think, you know, the COE and the Comets game was hotly contended. It was really great for
Women's Games Highlights and Standings
00:03:02
Speaker
Hill's Hornets to get another win under their belt, their third win for the season, as they beat Paneras Panthers away.
00:03:10
Speaker
And another close game between the Canberra Nationals and the North Bears. But speaking of results, Lockie, how about you take us through the full results for the men's round for 14? More than happy to, Squin. So we started things off with Hornsby taking on Manly. And it was Manly coming away with the 71-65 win at Hornsby.
00:03:32
Speaker
Canberra welcomed the North Bears to Belconnen and it was Canberra getting a huge 83-74 win over Norths who were significantly undermanned as Coach Angus Burke mentioned last week on on this very podcast. As you mentioned Squint, Bankstown went down to Albury and got a win against the bandits 92-87.
00:03:57
Speaker
Sutherland got a 92-80 win on the road at Illawarra, picking up the Freeway Cup in the process. Maitland with an 82-81 win in a thriller over the Central Coast Crusaders. Hills picking up a 95-57 win over Penrith in the Western Derby. I believe that was also the KO game of the week.
00:04:24
Speaker
Newcastle, Ryan Beasty, well, he'll never have to pay for a beer in Newcastle again after his performance against the inner West Bulls getting an 82 to 80 win on the road.
Men's Division Standings and Key Games Recap
00:04:36
Speaker
And then on Sunday, it was Comets just edging out the Central Coast Crusaders as Isaac Ayubi got the last second basket to get Comets the 85-83 win.
00:04:49
Speaker
So if we turn to the ladder, it's a center of excellence still steaming ahead. They're 19 and one. They've cemented a top two spot now. Inner West 13 and three. Almost could have come back to the pack, but with Norse losing as well, they dropped to 12 and four, which allowed Sutherland at 12 and five to really catch up.
00:05:15
Speaker
Canberra just behind them at 11 and six and then Maitland Hills and Newcastle all sitting at 10 and six are all really close on percentage and Hills must have the head to head on someone because they're being listed as above Newcastle at the moment despite having an inferior percentage. But we'll see how that all comes out in the wash.
00:05:38
Speaker
And then the final three teams in the chase were finals. All Rimwardonga, 8 and 9. Illawarra, 7 and 9. And Comets, 7 and 9. But it is really last chance to loom for all three of those teams. There just aren't enough games left for them to not rely on other teams losing at this stage. So the top eight all very happy with where things stand right now. Yeah. And you mentioned that percentage between Maitland Hills and Newcastle.
00:06:05
Speaker
who are at six, sevens and eights respectively. And we've talked about it a lot on this podcast in the last couple of weeks, just because the movement from fifth to eighth has been so productive, I guess you could say. And talking about the percentages splitting them,
00:06:23
Speaker
Maitland are on 107.6%. Hills are on 107.10, .10, so that's 0.5 separating them. But like you said, hills must have a split because Newcastle Falcons, while they're eight, they actually have a better percentage than hills. So we'd probably have to go back and have a look as to who they've got the split over.
Maitland vs. Newcastle Recap and Standings Impact
00:06:47
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not too sure who hills have got the split over. Do they have the split over Maitland?
00:06:53
Speaker
I'm not sure. It could be a, yes, they've beaten Maitland and they've been, yeah. So they've got this, they've beaten Newcastle and Maitland. So I imagine it would come down to a three team head to head. And I'm pretty sure, yeah, Newcastle might've lost to Maitland as well on that same weekend that their women, Maitland women beat Newcastle. Can't remember that far back, but I would say, yes, Hills definitely have the split at least over Newcastle at this stage. So three way split at this stage. I,
00:07:23
Speaker
I would be surprised to see it remain a three-way split. It would take a remarkable run of results for them all to finish on the same. Never know. And at this stage, Maitland and Hills look to be in the box seat among those three. Yeah, that's right. And just looking ahead for the next round, just really quickly for the men's, just to see what we can expect or start to predict if there's going to be a little bit of a break between those three
Key Upcoming Men's Division Games
00:07:51
Speaker
teams.
00:07:51
Speaker
Next round, as I said, Newcastle have Comets. Maitland have Sutherland Sharks and Manly. So they should get at least one from two in that respect. Hills have Central Coast. Hills have Crusaders. I should know that by now. And then Newcastle play North on the Sundays. Oh, okay. So next round, Maitland have a double header between Sutherland Sharks and they've also got
00:08:21
Speaker
manly and Newcastle have Comets and North so that's tough and hills have crusaders and interestingly Newcastle and Aubrey Redonga play the same two opponents this week so Newcastle Comets on Saturday North on Sunday and Aubrey Redonga
00:08:48
Speaker
or Riverdong will play Comets on the Sunday and Norths on the Saturday.
Upcoming Women's Competition Matchups
00:08:53
Speaker
Wow. And considering the place 8th and 9th, like that is like make it more exciting for us. You can't write this stuff as a script. Exactly. So yeah, by the end of the weekend, Newcastle could have
00:09:06
Speaker
put a massive gap between themselves in 9th and 10th, or they could be right back in the pack. If, you know, if it goes Newcastle 2-0, Aubrey Owen 2, or maybe it goes Aubrey 2-0 and Newcastle Owen 2, anything could happen. And it's so, just so exciting. Very exciting.
Women's Recent Game Results and Standings Update
00:09:23
Speaker
Well, over to the women's competition, which I was responsible for this week, kicked off with Aubrey with Dongar Bandits against Bankstown and Aubrey winning 90 to 60.
00:09:35
Speaker
Hornsby Coringa played manly wearing a seagulls and manly noticeably rested a lot of their main players, Alex Delaney and Kim Hodge, still winning the 111 to 52. So it was a good opportunity for some of their youngsters to step up. Illawarra Hawks hosted Sutherland Sharks and they lost 58 to 101. Maitland Mustangs 77, Crusader 67, which was a real seesaw of a match.
00:10:05
Speaker
Panerys Panthers hosted Hills Hornets and lost 58-66, so well done to the Hornets for their third win of the season. Inner West Bulls hosted Newcastle Falcons and lost 55-87. Canberra Nationals hosted the North Bears and lost 80-94. Sydney Comets
00:10:24
Speaker
hosted the COE in a make-up game on that Saturday the 24th, and they lost 77 to 103. Actually, that wasn't the make-up game, was it? Was that a scheduled game? That's the scheduled game. The make-up game is this coming Thursday. That's right. So, Sydney Comet's 77-103 COE in a game at Alexandria. And the final game of the weekend was Hills Hornets hosting COE in the Hornets nest, and they lost 37 to 96.
00:10:52
Speaker
So heaps of wins on the road actually, now I think about it. Pretty much all games were won on the road this week for the women's comp, except for the Aubrey Wodonga Bankstown game. I think that's actually, there's now more away wins than home wins for the season after this weekend in the women's comp. Wow, that's so unexpected. I bet that doesn't happen very often. Oh, actually it is now 74 away wins to 59 home wins in the women's comp.
00:11:22
Speaker
Wow, that's really, really unprecedented, isn't it? That is, yeah, that is a massive, massive number. So heading to the women's ladder, looks like this. We've still got Manly Warringa in first position with 15 and two, Newcastle Falcons in second position with 14 and two, North Bears in third position with 13 and three, Sydney Comets in fourth with 11 and four, Centre of Excellence with in fifth,
00:11:52
Speaker
with 15 and six, but they have played 21 games in total. Whereas the next is highest amount of games played is 17. Sutherland Sharks are in six with 12 and five record. Maitland Mustangs in seventh with 10 and six. And Aubrey Wodonga Bandits in eighth with nine and seven. So Canberra Nationals are in ninth with eight and nine. And Bankstown Bruins are in tenth with seven and nine.
00:12:19
Speaker
Bankstown have Illawarra away, but Canberra Nationals have manly, so that's going to be a strong test for them. But Lockie, do you really see this top eight in the women's comp shifting very much until finals?
Speculation on Women's Top Eight Stability
00:12:33
Speaker
Can I answer this next week? No, just this weekend with Aubrey Woodonga, Comets North, but Comets will have no Shyla heel because she is playing for the Opals. Could be just such a massive weekend for them. They can jaggle in against North and then also take advantage of a understrength Comets team and suddenly shoot to 11 and seven.
00:13:00
Speaker
it could pretty much lock, you know, lock Canberra and base town out.
00:13:06
Speaker
particularly if Maitland can just, you know, Maitland has just got to jag a couple more. They're not even, they're really not that far away from securing a spot, but they do have a tough run home. Just Maitland picking up that wind over comets just really shifted things in their favor. On the balance of things, I'd like to retract any and all predictions I previously made and say it's probably going to be Maitland and Aubrey with Donga, but
00:13:32
Speaker
if somehow comets can absorb the loss of Shyla Hill and knock off Orby Wodonga. No, maybe Canberra and are back in it and base down, they're probably not quite as big a chance, but they're still there and hanging around.
Men's Game Recap and Player Highlights
00:13:49
Speaker
Yeah, never say never. That is correct.
00:13:52
Speaker
So that was the results for round 14 of MB01 East 2023. Now, as we said earlier, Lockie, you were tasked with covering some of the men's games this round. Tell me about the games that you got to watch. Well, it was rare that I actually got to watch a game live this season because I've been watching live streams after I get home from commentary or
00:14:17
Speaker
from wherever else I've been. I actually, I sat down and I watched the Canberra Norse game, which first of all, thank you to the Canberra commentators for their shout out. I mentioned these got game by name. They loved our interview with Angus Burke. So
00:14:36
Speaker
Thanks for listening, guys. Very interesting game because North's, as we know, no Brennan Reimer, no Junior Medut. Also no Mikey Yung this weekend. So we're running low on ball handlers already. No Mikey Yung either. And then no Nickiel Peters and no Cam Pender for Canberra.
00:14:58
Speaker
I remember Cam Pender dropped 22 points, 9 rebounds, and had a couple of assists, maybe more than a couple of assists last week. He was just out. The commentator said he was just crook. Main thing's interesting having so many players out. And it was especially fun to watch, given we'd interviewed Aang, this is the previous week, and he talked about the Norse Bears got us here, the Norse Bears are going to keep us going. And it never looks as good when you don't have a primary ball handle, like you don't have Brennan Reimer or you don't have Mikey Jung in there, but they still look like
00:15:27
Speaker
reasonably cohesive throughout the game you know they still look like they have pretty good chemistry because they've got guys like Golding in there who you know keep keep things together of course Lewis Holley Angus mentioned he's gonna keep everybody you know locked in guys come off the bench like Lucas Morgan had a big game he had 18 in the end they did it with eight players and they were right in it this game the stats will say the game belonged to Glenn Morrison with his 28 points and 13 rebounds
00:15:55
Speaker
If you ask me, it was all about the Duke of Double Doubles, Pietro Battleasi. If the Italian national team needs someone to replace Paolo Banchero, give him a call. He was absolutely electric early. He finished with 16 points, four rebounds, five assists, four steals and a block. I think 14 of those points came in the first quarter. Two, maybe three of the steals as well. He was just locked in at both ends. He is
00:16:24
Speaker
He's the captain and for good reason because he set them on their way. Canberra were up 26 to 10 after just six minutes. Angus were called a timeout. Norse got on an 8-0 run after that, but that start from Canberra really set them up because the rest of the game was
00:16:43
Speaker
Scoring was completely different. It was a 59 point first quarter 35-24 and then no other quarter had more than 36 points combined and they were all two point margins. So Canberra won this fourth quarter by two points and North won the second and third by two points.
00:17:00
Speaker
Uh, interesting, uh, watching Norse defend Dal Figg just, uh, just letting him shoot. Commentators were saying he was two of 27 for the season coming into the game from three point range. I think he hit two of his first three. He did finish two of eight. So probably a right decision to, um, you know, letting shoot, but, uh,
00:17:24
Speaker
Sometimes, sometimes the scout says let a guy shoot and you know, it's the one night where he actually knocks a couple down early and sets the team on their way. Also noticed with Delphie, he wasn't really attacking the rack as, um, as we're used to, you know, you know, getting in, pulling it out. I don't know, maybe he's, I mean, we know he's been in and out with injury. Maybe he's not quite there. Um, not what we're used to seeing from him, but hopefully he gets back to a full strength in, in the coming weeks because, uh,
00:17:53
Speaker
Cameron would love to have a full strength Delphi getting to the basket. Of course, we can't talk about Canberra, Norse without talking about the battle between Glenn Morrison and on this occasion, for the most part, Nate Musters and a little bit of Lewis Holley as well. Nate Musters is probably one of the few players in the league that Glenn Morrison can't just bully literally out of the way. Even if you bump Nate Musters, he's not going to go very far.
00:18:23
Speaker
There's a lot of players out there. Morrison just goes straight through. And it was a really good battle because it forced Glenn to shoot a couple of fadeaways. And he definitely wasn't, especially in the early stages, wasn't getting to the basket right close, those really close range finishes as often as he'd want. But eventually he just won out. It was just one of those things where in the last five minutes, he was just like, I am going to start bullying people. And he's just going to work.
00:18:52
Speaker
Eventually, it did work because he finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds. Only a couple of assists for both Morrison and Musters. It was a case of they'd be passing out of the post and it'd be the second last pass before a shot. You throw it out to the wing, guy kick it to the corner, shot. Doesn't get the assist. Or teammate would just miss the shot. So definitely good at recognising the defence and kicking out when the position suggests it's the better idea.
00:19:21
Speaker
Once again, it comes back to battle-assie because the first five minutes were electric on defense for Canberra. Final two or three minutes were just as intense. I don't know what happened for the middle 32-33 minutes where the game just sort of stayed close but meandered along.
Canberra vs. Norths Game Analysis
00:19:40
Speaker
But Norse were getting close and they got it down to a one-point game, possibly even tied it in the fourth quarter.
00:19:46
Speaker
Yeah, it got back to 73-71 with three minutes to play. Yeah, the captain, Battle Lassie just was like, we're doing this boy. So Morrison at one end, Battle Lassie getting the team fired up. James Toohey doing a little bit of everything. And eventually Norse, that lack of a primary ball handler kind of, it did hurt him a bit down the stretch.
00:20:09
Speaker
I can't help but think like, even we know Ryan is there, but even if Mike Jung was there just to provide a little bit of something and give them even just an extra play to work with as well. Because I mean, Robbie Moore, 20 points, five assists. They only had 14 assists on their 29 made field goals. Canberra only 16 on 33 as well. So neither team getting a huge number of assists, but
00:20:32
Speaker
I think when you're in that tight game, the opposition is ratcheting things up. It's nice to just have someone that everyone is used to bringing the ball up and playing that point guard role. But full credit to Norse II for getting it done. Well, not getting it done, but getting down there and making a contest of it when they're so short-handed.
00:20:54
Speaker
And that's just going to have to be what they keep doing. I'm not sure if what's up with Mikey, if he's out for a short time, hopefully it's just for the week, but for Canberra, massive win gives them a chance at a top four spot and they still do play
Upcoming Canberra Nationals vs. Sutherland Sharks Preview
00:21:08
Speaker
Sutherland. So they can even still get the split on a team that they're only one win behind now as well. Yeah. Wow. Sutherland next. So you were just speaking about a great matchup between Morrison and Musters.
00:21:20
Speaker
And so when Canberra Nationals play Sutherland Sharks next round, we get to see that great matchup between Morrison and Gerlach again. And you will remember very well the last time these two teams played earlier in the season, it went down to the wire again. It was down to a controversial charge call, was it not? Yes. I believe we even put a poll up on Instagram about it. It was controversial. Yes.
00:21:49
Speaker
Yes, the Mark Well Beasley going straight through Glen Morrison's chest, wasn't it? It was. Brenda Bella Beacon stepping up when his team needed them the most. If it's not him, that'll happen. Yes, that Morrison-Gurlak battle will be very, very interesting indeed. And I'm sure the Sharks will be out for revenge.
00:22:10
Speaker
But they'll have to go down to Bellconnen if they want to get it, and it's not going to be easy. Doing it in front of that Canberra crowd on the road, never, never easy.
00:22:22
Speaker
Definitely not. And it's a chance for the Sharks to return the favor with another road win. Really interesting. I'm glad that you gave the Canberra commentators a shout out because when you text me saying that they named the podcast and referenced our interview with Angus that I was so stoked.
Coaching Strategies and Team Challenges Discussion
00:22:40
Speaker
So yeah, thanks again, guys, for listening. Thanks to Angus for that really great interview as well. And something that Angus mentioned in that interview was how because he's got such limited
00:22:51
Speaker
time for team training. He doesn't do team shooting. He wants to focus on fine tuning their team concepts like defensive rotation. And Angus actually reached out to us a few days ago to say that he's had a lot of conversations with coaches over social media about his decision around not having team shooting at their team practice. But looking at the analytics from the game,
00:23:16
Speaker
The Norse bears ended the game shooting at 51%. So for a team that was depleted in numbers and stars and who doesn't do a lot of team shooting at practice, that's a pretty good percentage.
00:23:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's 51% from two point range. But still 41% field goal percentage is only just shy of what Canberra put up with their 44%. You know, you have someone like Yung or someone like that getting to the rack or Junior Madrid, if he comes back getting to the rack, they're probably going to be putting up numbers that are a lot higher percentage.
00:23:53
Speaker
them guys who have you know have to step up and weren't doing it admirably but you know not probably not doing it at the same clip as those those other guys so that sounded like a really entertaining game well done to the gunners certainly uh making a strong case for top eight even top four as you mentioned and then lucky what was the second game for the men's competition you watched this round
00:24:18
Speaker
Well, I was in the mood to listen to some absolutely beautiful voices. So I've watched the inner west boys against Newcastle with our friends, Matt McQuaid and Mookie Schiraly on the call. The dulcet tones coming through accompanying some excellent basketball in an absolute thriller of a game that finished 82-82 Newcastle. So the Falcons on the road at the ball ring. Is that what they are?
00:24:47
Speaker
Yes, it was Inno West, yeah, Inno West going down to Newcastle 80 to 82. And interestingly, I've now got Jimmy McCann is starting for Inno West. So, Kalen Baer had been the start-up for much of the season, but recently it's been Jimmy into the starting line-up for Inno West. Just, I think, just trying to balance out the rotations off the bench.
00:25:14
Speaker
It has been something I've heard people say is, do you really want to throw your best five out there straight up? Or do you want to have someone who can come in and inject something off the bench if the starting five doesn't go 100% right? So Danny Kim may be leaning a little bit to that idea, but it worked well because
00:25:35
Speaker
Inner West came out firing and Jimmy was a big part of it. He knocked down an early shot. I think what I got out of this game was that as long as Miles Cherry and Ryan Beasty are both firing, Newcastle have enough supporting role players who do their job well to beat anyone on their day. Cherry will go against anyone in the paint. We saw it in this game against Chris Bryant.
00:26:04
Speaker
And Beastie, does the man know how to make a bad decision? Everything he does just seems to be the right move. I mean, he had three turnovers, but I won't hold that against him because he had five assists and four steals and three blocks along with his 28 points and 11 rebounds. Really think that as long as, yeah, those two are on court doing well because they can literally beat anybody. They just have to get it done on the day. And when you're playing straight knockout finals, that is a scary proposition for opponents.
00:26:32
Speaker
Inner West, Chris Bryant, only had six points through the first three quarters, which was pretty low for him. Finished with 16-10 as he came alive in the latter stages, but as always, his rim protection is probably worth the points he wasn't scoring. Cherry made it tough for him, but he made it pretty tough for Miles Cherry as well, so the
00:26:55
Speaker
the two big men going at each other. Cherry finished with 18 and eight and four blocks, CB 16 and 10 and a sister steal and three blocks. So I think there were 13 blocks in the game and Cherry and Bryant accounted for over half of them. So certainly a fun game to watch, just fun watching those two do their work in the paint.
00:27:19
Speaker
Speaking of Inner West, Blake Morrow, apart from the scary moment where he had a bit of a stinger on his elbow but came back in. I think everyone holds their breath when the import goes down, especially because Blake's had those back troubles he's had earlier in the season. I think it was the Illawarra game where he hurt himself.
00:27:38
Speaker
Yeah, so he had that stinger on his elbow and he had the entire stadium held his breath. He got it done, three's work height falling for him, just two of eight. But just a nine of 25 overall, just like his way, he recognises getting a bit three point happy, he'll realise that he's got to, you know, he'll start going to the rack and change up what's going on, especially if it's not working because
00:28:04
Speaker
Teams get like that a bit. They'll keep going to the well, well after it's run dry or in some cases when there was no water in the well to start with. Teams will bomb away from three when there's just no reason to or they'll drive to the rack against opposition where it's just not going to work for them.
00:28:23
Speaker
And I think Blake, Blake Morrow does a really good job of, you know, just somehow being a steadying influence, but also an excitement machine when he needs to be. But it really was, especially in the third quarter, a game of runs that went from Newcastle leading by almost double figures back to Inner West being right there, tying, I think almost tying it up, Newcastle getting back to out by eight. And then at the start of the fourth, Inner West took the lead, 9-2 run or something of that caliber, but
00:28:51
Speaker
very close to that because they did grab the lead. And yes, so yes, Newcastle didn't actually score for the first three and a half minutes of the fourth quarter. And after having an eight point lead, it was gone before they even scored before Ryan Beasty
00:29:06
Speaker
Got an and one against Alex Higgins-Titcher. Restored the advantage. But it was so close all the way down the stretch. Higgins-Titcher, CB, both turning it up. Newcastle, Beastie just continuing to beat Ryan Beastie. Anthony Gaines and Reed Nottage chipping in where they need to. And then one of the most exciting endings we will see to a game
00:29:34
Speaker
all season. I don't just mean the final play, I mean the final 30 seconds or so because Jaden Goodwin was out on the break and missed the layup with the inner west defense fast approaching. Inner west went straight back down the other side, so that was down three at the time. I went straight back down the other end, found Tony Tolivi, Tolivi
00:29:58
Speaker
buried it to tie the game after Jayden Goodwin could have put it away with 13 seconds to play. He just knows ball so well because one of the, I think it was Mookie, said, will we see Ryan Beastie getting this off a curl cut? Out of the tie out play. And what happens? Ryan Beastie, curl cut, Ryan Beastie, hook shot, 8280.
00:30:18
Speaker
out of the, out of the tie. So there's still two seconds left. In a West timeout, advance the ball. Tolivi in the corner. Tolivi, three-pointer in the corner. Who gets the block? Ryan Beastie. Yeah, he did everything this week. His entire stat line was 28 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, four steals, three blocks. He shot at an overall percentage of 59%. And that included six from 10 from the three-point line.
00:30:48
Speaker
He had the game of his life and he really went into beast mode. He's 100% dead. I'm so excited to commentate on him next weekend. When I do my All-Star 5 each week, I'll write down players and I'll put question marks next to just about everyone. Unless someone goes off for like ridiculous amount. Just be XY from this game, question mark.
00:31:11
Speaker
Oh no, not with this game from Beastie. I just put Beastie in. It was a pleasure to watch. He had a pleasure to watch most weekends, but he was a pleasure to watch for all game. No one was going to come close to that stat line. I don't think this round, like that was ridiculous. No, not with all the extra stats that he got.
00:31:28
Speaker
No, not at all. And considering that they were playing the team coming second, that start line is like what you'd expect from the best player in a high school basketball team playing the team coming second last. That is 100% correct. Yeah, they were probably the team in the most danger of, you know, slipping back because they were playing inner west and all we were doing were playing Bankstown.
00:31:49
Speaker
But based on getting that upset win over Albury, Wodonga and Newcastle getting what is probably considered an upset win over Inner West, just absolutely massive. And now I can look ahead to next week and more big matches to come. Looking at the analytical stats, points from the bench was pretty close, points in the paint was close. And looking at the box score, things like the rebound count that was close. The assist count was a bit higher for the Newcastle Falcons.
00:32:18
Speaker
And what's really interesting is Newcastle had seven more turnovers than Inner West. So you would think perhaps Inner West would have had opportunity to take, you know, some advantage of that. But second chance points was only nine to four in favour of Inner West points and points from turnovers was eight to 10. So that seven extra turnovers for Newcastle didn't end up having a factor for the game.
00:32:41
Speaker
That's right. Yeah. I mean, yeah, they lost the offensive rebound count massively and the turnover count and still came away with the win because I mean, they shot 44% from the field. In a West shot 36% from the field and they hit 40% of their threes and in a West hit 25%. So it doesn't matter sometimes how good all your other stats are. If the sphere is not going through the toroid, you're not going to win the game.
00:33:11
Speaker
No, that's really what it came down to was just field goal percentage. And you know, Inner West even got to the free throw line 27 times, and they were still shot a pretty healthy 74%, 20 from 27. Newcastle got there only 19. Like, yeah, you would think on paper, this was all Inner West, but that shooting, it all just came down to shooting percentage. It'd be interesting to see if this second loss to Newcastle is going to make any impact on Inner West. However, there have been
00:33:39
Speaker
pretty firmly placed second for quite a number of weeks now. So. Yes, but they still do have two games against Norse, do Inner West, which. Oh, they still have two. Yeah, that's right. They still have two whole games against Norse. Even though they have, you know, less numbers and less personnel, they're still very competitive as we saw against Canberra.
00:34:00
Speaker
Anything can happen. Could be Nathan Mustard's time to shine against inner west, depending on personnel. And he'd be a great matchup against Chris Bryant. A hundred percent. Could be very, very fun indeed. I know Sutherland will be very happy that those teams are now both have dropped games because now one of them's guaranteed, at least one of them will finish on five losses, which is what Sutherland currently have. Yeah. So we'll be keeping a very close eye on all of those results, as I'm sure our listeners will be as well.
00:34:30
Speaker
But yeah, thanks for recapping some of those games for the men's rounds, Lockie. As we know, I had the women's competition to cover this week. I did cover two teams that we did cover last week being Comets and Maitland. However, I feel like these games were also pretty important leading up to finals. So that's why I covered the Comets COE game and I also covered the Maitland Mustangs and Crusaders game.
00:34:55
Speaker
And Comets, as we mentioned earlier, without Shyla Hill because she is on national duties with the Opals. I'm going to split it up essentially into offense and defense. What worked for each team and what probably were some points of improvement for each team as well during the game. So starting with the host team, the Comets, offensively, they played a lot of horn sets, which were set really high. And given that the Alexandria main court is
00:35:22
Speaker
not the same size as a regulation court, which for old, old people like me is fantastic because it's less running. But when you have someone like it, that's an absolute offensive weapon, like Vanessa Penussis, who probably needs the extra space to create some more plays or something like a horn set. It can be to the detriment of that star play and probably the whole offense for the team in general.
00:35:48
Speaker
So the horn set was set really high to the point where sometimes they were at risk of a cross court violation. Probably to be fair, what made this more difficult for the comets to execute a high horn set was that the COE guarded the horn set really, really well. So even though the horn set was probably still set about a good step out off the elbow, probably more between the elbow and the three point line or straddling the three point line, COE managed to guard it so well that they actually pushed
00:36:18
Speaker
that part of the play even further out. And that continued to be quite handy for the COE, and I'll get into that a little bit later. But otherwise on offense, you know, if Panoussis wasn't involved, there wasn't a lot going on. So everything ran through Panoussis, whether she was trying to create something off the dribble, whether she was trying to find a nice little elbow jumper for herself. Because of the great half-court man-to-man defense that COE played for most of the game,
00:36:47
Speaker
they would find themselves, the comets would find themselves either shooting too early in the offense or too late. So it got to a point where there was lots of one pass shot. So Panousas would manage to find an opening, kick it out and it would be a three point attempt. And that worked initially where Piper Anderson was hitting a lot of threes, especially in the first quarter. She had quite a solid game actually, especially in the first half. But then on the flip side,
00:37:15
Speaker
because of the really good defense from the COE. A lot of the offense then turned into a shot too late. They spent a lot of the shot clock trying to get some kind of option going, or the ball was in someone's hands a little bit too long, and then they just kind of had to put up a shot that wasn't ideal. But especially in the third quarter when Panusas started to have a bit more time on the bench,
00:37:38
Speaker
Uh, it just kind of all really fell apart for comments offensively. They, you could get a sense of panic, uh, because things started to get quite disorganized and they didn't have anyone to step up and be a leader, um, on court when they really needed it. So, um, that's probably where it started to go a bit awry for the comments. And interestingly, there wasn't a timeout called.
00:37:59
Speaker
to try and get the troops organized. Really good things though for Comets was they were able to exploit parts of the COE transition D at times and their running game was probably their saving grace. So there were periods where Comets were able to get the ball up a lot quicker. Second line of rotation in defensive transition for COE was lapsing and Comets were either getting layups or getting to the free throw line. So they managed to get to the free throw line 20 times
00:38:29
Speaker
all together in that game. And at Jada Krawshore, she really just kind of tried to put the team on her back in the second half, especially. She really wasn't willing to go home with the L. So she did a really good job of being aggressive and getting on the rack. Understandably, she was very well challenged by the likes of Jada Clark in one-to-one defense, but she didn't let that deter her from not trying to be a scorer. In terms of that defense,
00:38:57
Speaker
When Drew Tollea-Foa was off, there wasn't really a great matchup for Isla Juffamans. But unfortunately, Drew only played 16 minutes for the game. So Juffamans could really just do what she liked. She just ran basket to basket most of the game.
00:39:14
Speaker
as Jafferman's is really good at doing. She was in the right positions on penetrations for a dish or for an offensive rebound. So yeah, there wasn't really anyone that could really match her size and skill set and strength. Comet started to press after some free throws, but they only did that a couple of times. It would have been good if they did that a little bit more. But in the second quarter,
00:39:36
Speaker
they really upped the defensive intensity, the comets, and this was also in their favor. So you could see that they were guarding the ball a lot heavier, they were increasing their like lane pressure, and what was really interesting is that in that quarter when they started to increase their defensive intensity, it was the COE's worst shooting quarter at 36%. They ended up with 10 steals over all the comets for the games, but unfortunately sometimes they missed a lot of loose balls, so
00:40:06
Speaker
the second chance points for COE was a lot higher. But I just feel like that glimpse for the comments where they started to run the ball a little bit more, getting lamps and free throws and defensively increase the intensity and the COE obviously had their turn to panic with only shooting 36% in the quarter. I would have liked to have seen those two things probably harnessed in a little bit more for the comments. On the plus side though, Lockie, Hannah Griffith got some court time at the end.
00:40:33
Speaker
And she bowled out. I think she had 11 points in 11 minutes. So it was really nice to see her getting some court time, but she perhaps will need to over time or in the off season just start to improve her man-to-man defense.
00:40:49
Speaker
But for COE, like I said, offensively, Jufferman's just being the great textbook centre that she is, running basket to basket, being in the right spots at the right time. It was interesting that they changed their point guards a lot during the game, which I thought was a really great idea by Coach Herbert. So they changed point guards between Saffron Shields, Sienna Harvey and Monique Bubongi.
00:41:13
Speaker
And, um, the two-man game between Shields and Juffamans. Oh man, that was amazing. Like for two New South Wales country kids, you can tell that they've been playing together closely for a long time, even though they're from different junior clubs. But, uh, they're, they've already got this great chemistry that takes years to develop. Um, I really hope that they continue to play for the national teams together in years to come because
00:41:40
Speaker
Yeah, they've got some telepathy skills, those two. And I'll have to give a shout out to Lara Somfi, who's one of the new COE scholarship holders.
00:41:50
Speaker
She's already making a really great impact on the league. A couple of people have messaged me already saying to keep your eyes on her for the future because she's already so good and the only way is up for her. She had 19 points and 8 rebounds in just 19 minutes in this game. She's very versatile at both ends of the floor. You can tell she's a real student of the game as well.
00:42:12
Speaker
But for me, it was Saffron Shields. Wow, that was probably one of the best games I've seen of Saffron Shields for a while. She ended up with 21 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and a block and she shot at 69% overall and only one turnover. So yeah, I thought that was probably one of the best games I've seen of hers.
00:42:35
Speaker
Defensively, COE, like I said, great job guarding the horn set. They were blitzing on all the pick and rolls and that also pushed the ball handler well away from the basket in the same way that they were guarding that horn set. And they were just like tenacious on the rebounds. I think the rebound count was 54 to 31 in COE's favor, including 18 offensive rebounds. So yeah, a lot of their second chance points probably came from missed loose balls and
00:43:04
Speaker
a lot of missed rebounds and offensive rebounds as well. They ended up with 15 second chance points and 60 points in the paint for COE out of their 103. But I think what they need to tidy up is probably just developing those other point guards, which will happen over time. But I think also some D-trans, deep in the D-trans, it looks like the COE probably can tighten up for next time.
00:43:33
Speaker
Otherwise I also have to give a good shout out to the commentators on the night. It was a lot more entertaining and engaging than it has been in the past for watching some comments games. Um, but yeah, otherwise it was quite an arm wrestle of a game for the first half. And then the COE just kind of ran away with it. Um, that third quarter, two point percentage was 64%. Three point percentage was 38%. Um, and then fourth quarter, their two point percentage was.
00:44:03
Speaker
82%. So it really just fell away to the COE. But otherwise, a good test for the comments with how they need to adjust without Shyla heel and a good opportunity for the likes of Piper Anderson and
00:44:18
Speaker
Alexandra K. Roos and especially Jada Krawshaw to step up and develop their game in that sense as well. Jada ended the game with 24 points and 6 rebounds and 3 steals and she shot quite well as well. Overall, she shot at 53%, so she should be pretty stoked with her efforts. Yeah, I feel like CoE probably stinging a bit from last week's losses to Manly and North's. Let me just double check the fixture to see if that even play next round.
00:44:48
Speaker
So their last game is this make-up game against Comets on Thursday, and then that's their regular season done. If they win on Thursday night, they'll have the most wins of any team at that point because they'd moved to 16-6, so everyone would know where the bar is set from that stage.
00:45:07
Speaker
And so the other game I decided cover was Maitland Crusaders and this one when we did our finals forecast episode was a 50-50.
Maitland Mustangs vs. Crusaders Game Recap
00:45:17
Speaker
I was really confident that the Crusaders could pinch the win.
00:45:21
Speaker
against Mustangs this round and they did come very, very closely and you lost to 10. Yeah. So the final score being 77 to 67 in favor of the Mustangs. And the first, I will give another shout out to the commentary was really, really good commentary. It's a great balance of a play by play commentary that was entertaining and engaging. And it was also a great balance of, um, special comments. So good, big shout out to the guys that were on, uh, on Saturday night.
00:45:49
Speaker
Um, they worked really well together and the special comments were really insightful, made my job reviewing this game a lot easier. So thanks for that as well. Uh, and also a shout out to the Mustangs court, uh, announcer, because I could hear in the background when Shakira Riley would like hit a three, he would say, you know, Shakira Riley and the court announcer way that people do, but then it also chucking at Shakira, Shakira, just like.
00:46:19
Speaker
a Shakira song. So I loved that. I loved that from Maitland. And the fact we could hear it in the background of the broadcast was even better. So good on the Mustangs, putting on their touches on those games. But look, I'll start with the home team, the Mustangs. They're our fans. They had a bit of high-low action between Hunter and Washington. And they were really good scoring options because both of them liked to take some jumpers from the elbow. It gave Washington
00:46:47
Speaker
Some more opportunities to take on the likes of Nicole Hutchins and Casey quickly on the drive who can't match Washington's foot speed. However, I feel like they definitely could have used this scoring option a lot more, but the way that it was happening, it was really, really good.
00:47:04
Speaker
Uh, Maylon only had 11 turnovers for this game, which I was quite impressed with and they won the offensive rebounds 14 to nine. So that was obviously thanks to the likes of Washington and Hunter, but otherwise in terms of the nitty gritty of what they ran. When I couldn't tell you, um, I'm sure they knew outside of anything or the high, low action for Hunter or Washington couldn't really tell you what they were running.
00:47:31
Speaker
I'm not too sure if in the half court they're just in man to man. If they just stick to the look to run first and then fall back into a motion in the half court. So I don't really have any other notes on their offense other than that. Their field goal percentage was 44% overall, which is pretty good. Three point attempts though probably lacking a little bit, only five from 23.
00:47:59
Speaker
which gives a 22% overall from three point land when you round it up. And their second chance points was 16, second chance points out of the 77, which was pretty big, especially the time of game that these kinds of hustle plays happened. So yeah, the Crusaders certainly got out hustled on the offensive boards and getting after the scraps. And it certainly worked in the Mustangs favor. They were either getting layups or getting to the free throw line on those occasions too.
00:48:29
Speaker
On defense, it looks like they were blitzing all pick and rolls as well. So really forcing Jaz for Kadila to make some pretty tricky decisions. The defense on the up court started quite high in the third quarter, but then they started to give away quite a few cheap fouls in that third quarter as well.
00:48:48
Speaker
And that kind of led to the Crusaders having a nine point run and got the game within three. I think outside of Shaq and perhaps Sydney, the Mustangs overall probably need to improve on their ability of guarding the ball. Because there were lots of times when there were one-on-one situations with Forkadilla and Rowe.
00:49:07
Speaker
We know she can do it to anyone, but she essentially could go coast to coast and no one's going to stop her or guard the ball. To their credit though, as I mentioned, the cheap fouls in the third quarter led to crew having that nine point run.
00:49:22
Speaker
But the Mustangs were very quick to shut that down. They were able to adapt to that really, really quickly and shift the momentum back into their favour. And that was all thanks to Sydney Hunter. She just started to hustle a little bit more and do those little things like getting in the passing lane, getting on all the loose balls, getting on offensive rebounds.
00:49:40
Speaker
And that very quickly helped the Mustangs regain their dominance in this game. As for the Crusaders, they were coached by Losalini Cartier again. Oh, so she's lost her undefeated record. She has, she has. Oh, Linni.
00:49:57
Speaker
poor Lini. But and Lini being a center in the past herself, she had a strong focus on the inside game implemented against the Mustangs and it worked for the most part really well. Everyone was looking inside for the likes of Hutch, whether it meant that she could get a great deep catch and pull back under pressure or even just using her
00:50:20
Speaker
in the ball rotations. There were lots of times, like the Crusaders are always at their best when they rotate the ball quickly, when they get the ball inside, outside and changing sides, whether that's through penetration or going to their post player. And when they started to do that consistently, that's when they started to make their comeback. But then it very quickly fell away from that, because sometimes people would hold onto the ball for a little bit too long. And instead of sticking to what was working, it was kind of stuck back into old habits.
00:50:50
Speaker
But there was plenty more opportunity for the Crusaders to exploit some more transition buckets, but I'm not too sure why they didn't run. And then when it came to the crunch in the fourth quarter, they missed a lot of layups and a lot of bunnies on the inside. And I feel like if they made at least, I reckon they would have missed about six. And even if they had made four of those six, I mean Maitland would have been really under pressure than it could have been a whole different game.
00:51:19
Speaker
On the defensive end, they played some zone a little bit in the second and third quarter, which had some pretty decent effect. Even though Maitland were able to score time to time, it just slowed down their scoring and it made them second guess what they were doing. So it just kind of stalled the offense for Maitland. I feel like they probably could have done that a tiny bit more. Defensive hustle and boxing out
00:51:42
Speaker
was not the Crusader's forte this game. You know, any Crusader's fans that hear this should know by now that boxing out club wide is not our forte. It is something that we really, really need to improve on. And especially in this game when I feel like that was certainly the edge for the Mustangs. You know, still 36 points in the paint, 16 second chance points.
00:52:06
Speaker
14 offensive rebounds for Mustangs and that all just came down to hustle and boxing out. But it was a seesaw of a game you couldn't really tell
00:52:14
Speaker
at any time which way it was going to go until probably the third quarter where I feel like Sydney Hunter just kind of took the reins and got control of the game. The last quarter was 18 to 19 in favour of the Mustangs. It was just that first quarter that really let Crusaders down. They lost 16 to 8. I don't think there's a lot of games where the Crusaders women's when they have a slow start.
00:52:38
Speaker
they're able to really like come back and win. But it was definitely theirs for the taking. But yeah, Mustangs, you know, got the job done in the end. Another crucial win. I feel like the close losses are becoming a central coast theme for both the men's and women's sides, unfortunately.
00:52:55
Speaker
Oh, especially the man, those two very close losses this weekend to Maitland and Comets. Oh, I felt for them. I really felt for them. Winning basket by the Comets, you know, that Isaac was heavily guarded by Luke Cassidy. When you watch it a second time, you watch Luke Cassidy's face instead of the Comet's face, and he's just devastated. I do not blame him in the slightest.
Alex Toohey's Impact on NBL One East and Draft Prospects
00:53:20
Speaker
What about news and gossip time? Lucky, have you got some news and gossip for me?
00:53:25
Speaker
Alex Tooey, how good. I was shocked, surprised, gagged, all of the exclamations when I saw that news on Twitter that Alex Tooey de-committed from Gonzaga to join the Sydney Kings. Which also sends shockwaves to MBL1 East because he could now be here for finals.
00:53:47
Speaker
Yes. And that was awesome. I thought, nevermind that I'm a Sydney Kings fan. I was like, great, we've got Tui. But also, Tui's going to be here for finals. Yeah, good. Very, very good. Good news for the league. Good for the Next Stars program. Yeah. Sucks for Gonzaga, but... There's lots of talk about how whether going to college is going to give Alex Tui better draft prospects versus
00:54:15
Speaker
using the Next Stars pathway, give or take in my opinion. I don't honestly know about the Next Stars program versus college and MBA Draft Prospects. I think half of the MBA Draft Prospects talk online is just kind of like fluff anyway.
00:54:32
Speaker
Definitely. Yeah, I don't know enough about where players were expected to go before they chose Next Stars over college compared to where they ended up. I don't know. I don't think Ryan Ruppauer was meant to fall to 43, but he did. But there's been talk that, you know, he wanted to be in a specific place in Portland. So maybe that's why some teams left him. And I don't know how many players in the past have been higher than were expected because they came to the Next Stars program.
00:55:01
Speaker
It's not my forte. I'm just happy that we've got him for a few couple more months in the NBA one East, and then we'll get him for the Kings as well. Yeah, and I'm sure his family are happy to have him home a little bit longer too. And Alex, if you want to stick around and play for the Gunners next season, that'd be cool as well. Yeah, that's a big question mark over it, but that's probably only addressed perhaps in the offseason.
Talia Tupaya and New Zealand's Women's League Growth
00:55:26
Speaker
The only other news is that Talia Tupaya from the Penrith Panthers, she started this season quite strong in Ambio One East, then unfortunately had to take some time off due to injury. But she's made it back in time to represent New Zealand at the FIBA Women's Asia Cup held in Sydney this week. And she played today against Korea, today being Monday the 26th. She played against Korea. She played 24 minutes, which is really great.
00:55:55
Speaker
I mean, 24 minutes in NBA one, East versus 24 minutes at a fever comp is light years apart. So it's great to see that she's back on court and healthy to play 24 minutes at fever level. So, yeah, congratulations to her. I'm sure Penner is missing her, but it's really, really nice to see Talia back on the world stage. And I think once she's done at Asia Cup, she's off to the New Zealand League. So Penner fans are really going to be missing her.
00:56:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. And she's the reigning MVP of that new New Zealand league that only started. It was a reformed professional women's league in New Zealand that only started last year. Everything from the graphic design to the planning and the execution was so professional. And from what I'm told, the player salaries are competitive with the best MBL1 salaries. So what's really handy is people can come and make some money, MBL1,
00:56:54
Speaker
make more money, playing in that New Zealand league that's actually a substantially shorter league. I think it's only like six, nine weeks, and then still come back in time to fulfill their WMBL contracts.
00:57:06
Speaker
I mean, didn't they get Kiara Leslie as one of the imports this season? You know, she's been in the WNBA, they got Kennedy Leonard last season, or is it maybe even this season? You know, she's played in the British Basketball League, Florencia Chargas, who was in the WNBA draft pick, played in Europe. So, you know, they're certainly getting some good players.
00:57:31
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And only in the second year, they're getting attracting great players, which is a reflection on the league, I think as well. So it's just going to go strength to strength. And who wouldn't want to be in New Zealand being paid to play basketball going into spring? Sounds like a pretty sweet gig to me. Yeah, we got to get us a commentary gig down there. I'm going to start asking some people.
00:57:54
Speaker
Um, otherwise from news and gossip, you know what time it is now, Locky.
All-Star Five Selections for the Round
00:57:59
Speaker
All star five. Correct. Would you like to start us off with your men's all star five? And I imagine you would have had quite a task ahead of you.
00:58:09
Speaker
It was so difficult. Actually, three of my All-Star Five actually did it in losing efforts this week, because you can say they didn't get it done in crunch time, but that's it. Their teams wouldn't have been in crunch time if not for these performances. Just quoting, I think it was Jeff Van Gundy.
00:58:27
Speaker
in winning time. Reggie Miller versus the New York Knicks there. So we'll start it off with Cherise Ipea from Hornsby, dropped 32 points, five rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block against Manly Warringa in a 71-65 loss. And then we had two players from the Bankstown Aubrey-Wodonga game, Jameer Coleman and Mike
00:58:47
Speaker
Parkes both putting up big games for the Bandits, but I went with Jameer and his 30 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks as Bankstown fell to a narrow 92-87 defeat. And much of that win for Bankstown was off the back of Hayden Blankley's 32 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal as Bankstown got the upset.
00:59:12
Speaker
Then, of course, I mentioned in him earlier, 28 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks. You already know, it's Ryan Beastie getting Newcastle the 82-80 win over Inner West. And then finally, it's your boy Squin, Aaron Redhead from the Central Coast had 21 points, 8 rebounds and assists and 4 steals in a narrow 82-81 roster Maitland.
00:59:38
Speaker
and then 34 points 13 rebounds four assists and two blocks against Comets in an 83-85 loss but yes there were players like Glenn Morrison for Canberra, Archie Woodhull had a big performance for Comets there were others out there Will Cranston-Lown and Matt Gray both putting it together for Maitland but
01:00:01
Speaker
There's only five spots on the court, so those are the five we went with. Yeah, shout out to the big jinge, Aaron Redhead, Chris Dators. He had I think last round off, I suspect injury or illness because there was a bit of illness going around the team again.
01:00:18
Speaker
But yeah, back in great form. Really great to see him leading the Crusaders. So my All-Star Five was also quite difficult to narrow down. There were lots of people that had big numbers in terms of double-doubles. And just, you know, big points in general. So Sari Mowbray having 29 points. Eliza Fabro having 30 points.
01:00:38
Speaker
Matty Norris having 24, 13 and five. Michaela Dompkins having 21 and 16. So I was starting to find a trend of who to put in based on those numbers, but then I also saw a trend of players this round who were doing really a bit of everything. And that made my decision a lot easier. So while they didn't score the most amount of points, they certainly were the most effective by doing a bit of everything.
01:01:04
Speaker
So starting off my All-Star Five is Nicole Munger, who had another triple double. I'm pretty sure it's her second triple double of the season. But when I talked to her earlier today, she wasn't aware that she got a triple double against the Inner West Bulls this round. And she believes it's her second triple double of her whole career. So she was very happy to be informed that she got a triple double against Inner West. So she ended with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.
01:01:34
Speaker
Then it was Michaela Pivik from Aubrey Wodonga Bandits. She had 32 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and five steals. Seven assists. Now come on, give the girl three more assists because that would have been a monster triple double, the best triple double in the East. But still very, very great, good stat line.
01:01:56
Speaker
Then Saffron Shields from COE. I've also put in my All-Star 5. 21 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, shooting at 69% overall. Such a classy game for Saffron. She will definitely be wearing an Opals jersey in years to come.
01:02:14
Speaker
And then I also put Jazz Forker Dealer in there. No bias, but also someone that was trying to stuff the stat sheet this week. She had 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals against Maitland Mustangs. And then finally, I had Mallory Bates.
01:02:32
Speaker
also from Aubrey Wodonga Bandits. She had 18 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals, four blocks at 67% shooting overall. So really everyone doing a little bit of everything. I'm not sure what they're having as their pregame meal. Are they having energy drinks? Are they having a coffee? I don't know what's going on, but they were all ballin' this week. Those are some stat lines, that is certainly for sure.
Special Guest Segment with Alex Delaney
01:03:00
Speaker
Yeah, and going back to Ryan Beast, his stat line, I went on the NBL One show today and said that his stat line is longer than the queue to get a croissant at Loon Croissants. I thought that was appropriate considering the show's based in Melbourne. But anyway, it was another big week for the East. Lockie, thank you kindly for joining me for this part of the program. We're going to take a quick break before our special guest arrives.
01:03:29
Speaker
And we are back with a very special guest. She has, she is a WMBL champion. She played against Brianna Stewart in college. She's played NBL One North. She's a Comets Junior, but you know her now as Manly Warringa star, Alex Delaney. Welcome Alex. Thanks for having me guys. I'm really excited to be on the podcast and yeah, looking forward to having a chat.
01:03:58
Speaker
Great. Well, and also it was recently your birthday. So happy birthday. Thank you guys. I'm so old. Oh my God. I'm feeling it. Did you do anything special?
01:04:10
Speaker
A few things, went out to dinner with the family. My actual birthday was on the state of origin night, so it was a bit sad on that night. But then I had a celebration, just a few work friends on Friday, and then went to lunch with all the manly girls on Sunday, which was really beautiful. So yeah, full week of celebrations, that's for sure. Yes, there is nothing but pictures of manly people in Double Bay on my Instagram at the moment.
01:04:41
Speaker
We got out of the bubble. You should be proud of us, Lucky. Congratulations there. And speaking of getting out of Manly, you played for Manly last season, but this year, your beloved Comets returned to the competition. Did you have any thoughts of heading back to Comets to play this season?
01:05:02
Speaker
Yeah, I very much did. And I tell this to the manly girls as well. I'm a Comets girl through and through. And so this year was the first time I've actually ever played against Comets. And walking into what I believe to be my home stadium, when you're not the home team, I was so confused. I was like, oh, they've switched up the benches on who's the home and away team when I walked in, because I literally thought I was the home team.
01:05:30
Speaker
Um, so it was, it was really, it was actually a really difficult game to play against, um, to play against Comets. But yeah, I did. I, um, I absolutely love the, the club and such a great club. I have so many great memories, great friends, um, that I've had from being a Comets junior. And I'm so proud to be a Comets junior. We had a lot of success. Um, but I think, and I, and I had very good intentions. I was, I had a few training sessions with,
01:05:57
Speaker
with the girls, and I obviously love Shelly, she's a great coach, but I really love playing it manly. I think we've got such a great group of girls, great coaching staff, great club that have, you know, they've done a lot of work and hard work to be where we are. And yeah, just such a great culture. And so I think there's no one else I'd rather be playing for at the moment. It's such a great club.
01:06:26
Speaker
And you made semi-finals last year. Was there a kind of a feeling if you want to get the band back together, run it back, go a couple of steps better?
01:06:35
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. I was, everyone close to me knows this, but I was very devastated after that loss in our semifinal. I made my sister and I drive home in complete silence all the way from Castle Hill. So yeah, definitely, definitely a bit of fire in the belly this year. I think we were all very, very, came back very hungry. We were all very committed.
01:06:57
Speaker
to this season and knowing we had more to prove. But yeah, I think the main thing about this group of girls is we're all, I mean, I'm old now, but the majority of us are super young. And so I think it's so great that we haven't had, you know, there's a good pipeline there and the juniors that come through and the younger girls continually to get better. And so I think that's a massive reason as to what makes us such a great team this year.
01:07:26
Speaker
And of course, you came, you're back in Sydney after, of course, that brilliant college career you had, and then you played WMBL and you've been up in North. What's it like being back playing in, I guess last time you were here, it was Warrata League. And now you're now on East. Oh, I absolutely love it. Sydney's home. I'm literally obsessed with Sydney. I think it's the greatest place in the world. But yeah, it's so great to be playing at home. I mean, playing with my sister is pretty special.
01:07:55
Speaker
think, you know, you always want to be able to play in front of your friends and family. And I get to do that each week, which is awesome. Obviously, Mum's the coach, and Dad coaches the Youth League. So it's very much a family affair, and it's so special. But playing, getting the opportunity to play around the world and around Australia is incredible. But there's no place like playing, playing at home in front of your loved ones.
01:08:21
Speaker
Can I ask really quick how your time in MB01 East has compared to your season in MB01 North?
01:08:29
Speaker
Yeah, MBL1 North League is such a tough league. I think that you travel quite a fair bit. You have triple headers. The North League, you often get a few more Dove MBL players in the league, which is also so great. And I have nothing but respect for the North League. I played two seasons in the North League. But in saying that, the MBL1 East League is
01:08:58
Speaker
It's becoming its own. It's getting better each year. We're starting to attract more talent, which is awesome. And yeah, it's a great league to play in. There's lots of opportunity in the league. And I think we're only going to get more competitive and better. And having Lauren Jackson in the league last year was massive. And so I think it's really putting the New South Wales League on the map.
01:09:28
Speaker
And not just new players, but you also have a new coach this season. Yeah. So what are some of the changes that Coach Kirwan's implemented compared to last season?
Manly Team's Season and Culture Discussion
01:09:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's so great. Nate's a great coach. He's been around the team for a while. He's very close to basketball. He's been in the New South Wales representative. He's coached at a super high level. So he brings that level of professionalism definitely to our team. Everyone has a great respect for Nate, and he's done a phenomenal job of keeping us on the path that we finished last season.
01:10:10
Speaker
well, really. So yeah, great job at building the momentum and holding ourselves accountable. Even when we're winning by, you know, 20, 30 points, he's continually to stay on us and continually to get better and really making trainings competitive. So definitely level of professionalism that's been so great for the girls this year.
01:10:36
Speaker
Is there anything specific he changed, especially on your offensive end? Cause just comparing last season to this season, relatively similar squad, same high caliber of talent. Um, but I feel like this season you're making the most of your scoring power this time. Did he implement anything really different or special to bring that out of the group? Not nothing super special in all seriousness. I think we've definitely as a team,
01:11:03
Speaker
remember last season, we still had a bit of a new vibe. Brie and I obviously hadn't played the season before. So there was a lot of different elements that were still, I guess, being put together. And I think that was so key for us in preseason and definitely pushing the fact that if we are all a threat to score, that we're going to be really good.
01:11:27
Speaker
I think the ball probably moves through hands a little bit better this year. I think Fliss is doing an incredible job of leading our team. She's been so critical and vital to the success of our team. She's a phenomenal point guard and she sees the court really well. So I think building the trust between, you know, her and our players and, and then Kim and I can really just be facilitators as well and not have to, you know, be so
01:11:55
Speaker
relied on to score. I think when we're at our best, we all are scoring in double figures. Bri has been, has stepped up this year. She's playing and being a massive role on our team. And now it's like, we have Zoe coming off the bench. We have Josie coming off the bench. We have Sari and Maya coming off the bench, who everyone on our team is a threat and everyone can score. And so I think everyone on this team knows their role.
01:12:23
Speaker
And he does such a great job for us defensively. And I think that's what makes us a great team is we're all very unselfish. We want to win for each other. And so we've just built, I think, a really great culture this year. And Nate's done a really great job of, you know, everyone can be a scorer, everyone can be a threat. And yeah, it's been it's such a fun game to play when everyone's scoring and everyone can get around their teammates. And it's really fun to play with these girls.
01:12:53
Speaker
Is that something that the club is trying to build as a whole? Because I noticed that in the Youth League team as well, and a manly Youth League team has been ridiculously good for a long time, but despite having players that could just go off for 40 on any one day in Youth League, they don't. It's always team ball.
01:13:11
Speaker
I think that's something that Manly has always done a great job of. It starts in the junior, starts at under 12 level, being that really unselfish player and helping your teammates be better. I think that's definitely the culture of the club. In terms of the Youth League team, yeah, I think the key thing, and it comes back to everyone's good. We don't have to rely on certain people to score because everyone's worked on their game.
01:13:39
Speaker
putting in the extra yards. Everyone's done all the hard work to be able to score and be a threat offensively. So I think it starts in the juniors and it's definitely carried through to the senior program as well. Your team is sitting pretty atop the table. You had a recent loss to Central Coast. So what does the team need to improve on for the rest of the season to make sure there are no further slip ups in the Quest for a Championship?
01:14:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's actually my college coach who I still stay really close with. He messaged me a couple of weeks ago and he said, when you're winning, your biggest opponent is yourselves. And I think that's completely the case for us. Our biggest opponent right now is ourselves and making sure we're holding ourselves accountable at training and during the games of being the best every single play of the game, every single quarter, every single game.
01:14:34
Speaker
So I think that's our challenge right now. In terms of what we need to work on, I don't think, funnily enough, I was having this conversation the other day. I actually don't think every single one of us has had their best game on the same game. And it's part of what makes us such a great team that we don't rely on any one person. But I think it's going to be scary once we all
01:14:55
Speaker
have our best games on the same day. We're a very focused team and when we're not focused, that's when we have slippages. I think continuing to stay focused, sticking to our game plan, playing our style of basketball, and yeah, I think that's going to be key for us. Obviously, you know, we've
01:15:18
Speaker
We're first at the moment, but there's so much that can change leading into these last couple of weeks of regular season games. And there's so much talent and so many great teams that, you know, the top, I guess, four or five really could go either way. So I think we still need to get better. We still need to fine tune.
01:15:35
Speaker
offensively and defensively and prepare for how we're going to play these teams coming up. So yeah, I think we're still getting better. We're not content with where we're at right now. And that game against Crusaders perhaps was a bit of a circumstance of you caught the Crusaders on their best day and they happened to catch you on one of your very rare, not best days. Are you allowed to give us a little bit of insight as to what Coach Kerwin said after the game?
01:16:04
Speaker
The key message after that, we were obviously super upset that game. And what made it worse was, didn't make it worse. But I was, I went to an event with all of the central coast girls after the game and I did not feel good going there.
01:16:21
Speaker
I think the key message from that was a bit of a humbling moment and a bit of a reality check that we can't just think we're going to be able to show up and turn it on and beat teams. To your point, they absolutely shot the lights out and they had one of their best games ever and they're a team that can do that. They've got some really talented players and
01:16:41
Speaker
So they have the ability to do that if we're not all locked in and focused on our goal. But yeah, I think a bit of a reality check, and I think that definitely showed there was a lift in intensity of practice. And if in our game against the COE, we had a point to prove. So I don't necessarily think it was the worst thing in the world now, but at the time, oh, Lord, it was not fun.
01:17:07
Speaker
I don't really like the term loss you had to have, but a wake up call I think is a very good way of putting those losses. Yeah, absolutely. I think it was, and like I said, I think, I don't think we're perfect. We're definitely, we're far from perfect. And I think there was probably a few things bubbling that had gone unnoticed because we were winning and we were able to, I guess, shoot our way out of it and find a way. So I think the loss was honestly a great thing for us.
01:17:37
Speaker
And sorry, how did that help you prep for COE the next week?
01:17:40
Speaker
Yeah, so we changed a few things defensively. We switched up the way we were going to be guarding on balls and started to practice a few different ways in case we do come up against bigger players. Because obviously, we're all the same size. We're not huge. And so I think we figured out a way to compensate for that. And so we worked on it at training. It was a perfect game to play against the COE.
01:18:08
Speaker
But I think it was the big thing that came away from that was and it was so impressive was how invested and it showcased how invested we all are in this season. No one was happy after that game. Everyone, I think, had a chance to look in the mirror and say, I could have done X, Y and Z better. I could have done this better. And so I think that naturally lifted all the intensity at training. We had a couple of really good training days.
01:18:35
Speaker
And I think we all just came way more hungry for the COE. But yeah, I think a few things we could have done defensively I think was the key takeaway as well. With finals being, you know, it's direct knockout. You lose, doesn't matter if you finish first, you lose, you're gone. How important is it to finish the regular season strongly and get those home finals and the best possible matchup?
01:18:59
Speaker
Yeah, it was interesting.
Finals Format Changes and Delaney's Career Balance
01:19:01
Speaker
So the finals has changed since last year. And so I think it opens a lot more doors up with the one versus eight format. So I think what you're playing for now is home court advantage, and we haven't lost at home. So to me, it means a lot and you always want to, you know, finish as high as you can. So yeah, so I think the goal is definitely still to
01:19:21
Speaker
strive to be first. But yeah, it's interesting. You have to really go into your finals in your best. And you always want to peek at the end of the season. And I think that's something that's quite exciting about our team is I really don't think we've actually peeked yet.
01:19:39
Speaker
So I think continuing to stay focused, being first is so ideal, but again, like you mentioned, it's not the end of the world if you end up, at least in that top four, because you'll get a better draw moving forward to finals.
01:19:56
Speaker
looking further afield. As I mentioned earlier, you're a WNBL champion with the UC Capitals. Any thoughts on heading trying to get back to the WNBL? Because looking from the background, it seems you're pretty well set for work at the moment. You just try to trade on the real world, you're trying to get back to our WNBL.
01:20:18
Speaker
I'd love to be playing WMBL again. It was some of the best times I had. I've made such great friends. I was able to keep my body in such great shape. Being a full-time athlete was so much fun and I absolutely loved it. But I'm on a different path at the moment.
01:20:35
Speaker
I'm doing both. I'm playing whilst full-time work and I absolutely love what I do and I love the the progress I'm making at work and the amount of what's the word I'm looking for I guess rollover or
01:20:54
Speaker
Things that I've learned through my basketball career that relates into work is just, it's insane and the team building, the culture, the managing people, everything is so relatable. So it's been such a great experience to bring some of my attributes from my playing career into my work life.
01:21:14
Speaker
But no, I'm happy. I'm loving work. I love the fact that I can do both and work on my career as well as my playing and just enjoying. I'm having so much fun playing the season. It's really brought the fun back into playing. So as much as I'd love to be a full-time athlete, and I say it all the time, that was some of the best days, I'm on a different path now, but I'm really enjoying it.
01:21:40
Speaker
You can flex on us. What are you doing for work nowadays? I'm a big corporate girl. I work at Deloitte, one of the big four, doing strategy consulting. Don't ask me what I do. I actually don't know what I do each day. It's good. It's helping solve problems, helping companies with their business problems. And so I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. I have great work friends.
01:22:04
Speaker
come and support and they're so supportive of basketball. Sometimes I have to leave work early to get to training and it's working in a big four. It's not always acceptable, but Deloitte's done such an amazing job of supporting me through that. So I'm very, very lucky girl.
01:22:22
Speaker
I think Squint has a question she always asks everybody. No, maybe not perhaps the one that you're thinking this time, Locky. Oh, okay. But it was more the point that Alex was saying about how she can transfer the skills, the life skills she learned from basketball into the corporate world. Then I was just going to make a cheeky side comment about how
01:22:44
Speaker
When you develop those skills through sport like teamwork and sound communication skills, when you get into the corporate field or any kind of regular nine to five job where you have to collaborate with other adults, you can easily find the ones who didn't play team sports.
01:23:00
Speaker
Oh, you're so spot on. It's so fascinating to me. And you can pick it out of a haystack. But it's so important, the communication, teamwork, the ability to work with others to achieve a goal, not just having to rely on yourself, but actually having to rely on other people to help you achieve what you want to achieve. It's so important. I cannot stress enough how
01:23:26
Speaker
how much my, my, my basketball career will help me not only now, but in the future for my working career. And there's a lot of people at work that have, that have noted that as well. So, oh, it's, team sport is just, it's, it's phenomenal what it can do for your, for your life. I'm so, so lucky I've been able to play at a high level.
01:23:45
Speaker
It's that reliability on others and understanding that you need to still do your job at your best because it means someone else can do their job at their best. And I work in public health and the times where people just won't follow through on simple things can make a massive difference.
01:24:02
Speaker
people management skills, communication, teamwork, collaboration, even simple things as goal setting. Like I've had to goal set my entire basketball career. It's not common to do that early stage of your life if you're not playing sport. So yeah, I can see a lot of transfer of skills. It's, it's, it's pretty impressive.
01:24:25
Speaker
We talked about your aspirations to play on the WNBL, but in the last WNBL season, you got a bit of a taste of commentary. Yes, I did. I think you got to do one or two games with Nate Stremple when it was still being broadcast out of Sydney. Tell me what that was like and if you enjoyed it and if you would consider doing it again.
01:24:47
Speaker
like, it's funny, when I started telling people I'd been asked to do commentating, everyone was like, of course, you'd be so great at that. I was like, really? I'm so nervous. The first time I did it, I was so nervous. But speaking, I guess I'm lucky, it comes quite naturally to me. And so I think
01:25:06
Speaker
The fact that I knew a bunch of players, I'd only been a season out. So I knew a lot of the teams, I knew a lot of the systems came so naturally. And after I did it, I was like, this could be something that I want to invest my time in or do it as a little side hustle. It's absolutely something that I'd love to do. So yeah, watch this space. I might have to start investing in that now that you mention it, because yeah, I got some really good feedback as well. So commentating would be such a great way to stay close to the game.
01:25:37
Speaker
Yeah, I just love basketball so much. So I definitely want to do more of it. It's such a cool experience. Nerve-racking, that's so much fun. Yeah, I also heard a lot of positive feedback, whether it's through friends or peers or even some random people on Twitter gave you positive feedback when you did those games. So I feel like it's certainly something you should consider.
01:26:02
Speaker
when the time is right for you. And they're always looking for more female voices, especially to commentate female basketball. So you will never be without a job. And considering your extensive playing history, you'd be a great specialist commentator. So yeah, definitely keep it up your sleeve. Even a sideline commentator, if you want to get in front of the camera. I think that's certainly a pathway for you to stay in basketball in that way. And it is a great way to stay involved with basketball when you're a retired player, so to speak.
01:26:32
Speaker
without having to resort to coaching. Yeah, no. Oh, thank you. That was so kind. Thanks, Quinn.
01:26:38
Speaker
Yeah, it was like I said, it was so much fun. And I think you're exactly right. I definitely want to stay involved so that I can't remember who asked me that. But I literally got asked this the other day of like, have you thought about doing your commentary like any further? I can't remember who it was. But I was like, yeah, I actually need to double like circle back to that because I actually loved that experience. And yeah, I would I would love to for that to be somewhere in my life at some point.
Memorable Games and Personal Anecdotes
01:27:07
Speaker
What is it like playing against Brianna Stewart? Uh, honestly, such a pinch yourself moment, right? Like seriously, one of the most, I've cherished that moment for so much, for like eternity. It was so cool. I mean, first and foremost, that UConn team was insane. Like I remember being out on the court and being like,
01:27:31
Speaker
feeling so small and like, oh my God, I can't actually get past you. I don't understand how to get past you. They're all so massive and so quick. It was such a cool experience. It was such a big stadium full of lots of people. It was a bit overwhelming, that's for sure.
01:27:49
Speaker
Sure enough, I can say I have scored a three-pointer over Brianna Stewart. So that is my absolute claimed fame. But yeah, she's phenomenal. I literally fangirl her so hard. My parents were actually lucky enough to go and spend some time with the New York Liberty team a couple weeks ago. Got to meet her and my mum was like,
01:28:12
Speaker
You actually played against my daughter. She would have no idea who I am, but it's like, oh, she's so cool. I literally am her biggest man. Her game is insane. She's like everything I want to be in a player.
01:28:27
Speaker
And shout out to Gayle, big fan of Gayle Henderson. I did see those stories on your mom's Instagram of her time in New York and I was floored and I thought it was so great. The training stadium with Sandy. Oh, she fit right in.
01:28:44
Speaker
Oh, honestly, like dad always says my mom has like the biggest FOMO and she would have been absolutely in her element, like talking to all the players. Like, I remember her calling me the next day and being like, yeah, Alex, I just like spoke to Sabrina and ask you for like 20 minutes. I was like, and you didn't think to FaceTime me? Like, and you didn't think to FaceTime me? How dare you? She was like, I would have been in the middle of the night. I was like, oh my God, call me. I don't care. It's Sabrina. Like,
01:29:10
Speaker
And she was like, the players are all so nice and they treated me so, so well. And like, they, it was such a cool experience. So I had FOMO because I was like, there's nothing more I would have loved to do than go and hang out with the New York Liberty team for a couple of days. But yeah, they, they so, so lucky they were able to do that and so jealous. Harking back to the actual game against Stewie, was that your school's first conference championship and your first time in the NCAA tournament? Yeah, first and last because now we don't have a,
01:29:40
Speaker
We don't have an athletic program, but yeah, it was our first conference win. I remember it so vividly. We were actually fifth, so no one thought we were going to win.
01:29:52
Speaker
And then we won our quarterfinal. I can't remember who it was against, but I remember our semifinal because my mom actually surprised me at the game and it went into overtime. And then we just went on, we just kept winning. And we always knew we were better than what we'd kind of been similar to what I was saying before. You always want to peak like right at the end of your season. And that's exactly what happened. It was such a cool experience going to the NCAA tournament.
01:30:19
Speaker
Playing against UConn, I couldn't have asked for a better freshman year, really.
01:30:24
Speaker
And remember, Stewie is just as human as the rest of us because last year at the Fever Women's World Cup, Lockie and I were walking across the road in Sydney Olympic Park and there was Brianna Stewart and a little family eating chips on a stick on the way back to their hotel room. That was one of the highlights of the tournament, just seeing Brianna Stewart just like a regular play of like everyone else eating chips on a stick. I tweeted it. Seeing her in her natural habitat.
01:30:54
Speaker
Yeah, exactly, exactly. It's like, hey, she's just like the rest of us. Maybe makes a few more three-pointers and a few more championships. But she still eats chips on a stick like everyone else. Yeah, absolutely. She's something special, that's for sure. Alex, just to finish off, we'll ask you some questions about your teammates, just to end on a light note. So tell me, in your current Manly team, who is the worst person at replying to text messages?
01:31:21
Speaker
I don't know. Everyone's quite good with their phone. They're all young. They're all so young. They're always on their phone. I could plug this though. I could probably say the person that doesn't call me is my sister. I'm always calling her. She never calls me.
01:31:43
Speaker
If I was in a crisis and I knew one person wasn't going to message me back though, I wouldn't, I don't think I could, we're all really good with our phone. Yeah. Sorry, I don't have any, I couldn't answer that question. No, that's okay. That's a tricky one to answer straight off the top. How about when you're on a long road trip with the team, who's the person that brings out the best playlist for the bus?
01:32:08
Speaker
or the car? That would be Brie. Yeah, she's very into her music. I trust her. She does our, she'd do our like game list on the way to the game. Yeah, she's all I trust her with my life with music. Fleece also plays music in our warmups as well. So she does a pretty good job at that as well. So lately, we've been on a bit of a country
01:32:33
Speaker
Like last year I was on my punk rock train and I'd like listened to Good Charlotte before every game. And then this year it's been countries like Morgan Weill and Whiskey Glasses has been being absolutely getting slammed. But I would also then say, yeah, anything between like right now
01:32:56
Speaker
Country, punk rock, and R&B on the way to the game. Hip-hop, R&B, hip-hop, anything Kanye on the way to the game, yeah. A wide taste of music. Sorry. Yeah, that is quite varied. But look, catering for everyone, whatever gets you in the hype mode for the game. Literally. No judgement. Who in your team is most likely to forget their shoes on the day of the grand final?
01:33:25
Speaker
Well, Sari forgot her singlet when we played against the Central Coast, so I'm gonna go with Sari. Sari or Maya, one of them always seems to forget something. So did Sari in that situation just have to use the blood singlet or did she kind of just not play because she didn't bring a singlet?
01:33:40
Speaker
It was so lucky actually, we had a spare singlet. So yeah, she was lucky. But because they can't wear their, it's all because of their Youth League singlets. Like their Youth League ones are different to the MBL1 ones. So yeah, that's probably why.
01:33:58
Speaker
a letter off the hook with not being just completely forgetful. We have a fine system now, though. So if you leave anything behind, I think it's $2 in our little fine kitty. So everyone's been very good lately with not forgetting anything.
Conclusion and Season Well-Wishes
01:34:14
Speaker
I think that's a pretty big, $2 for forgetting something is a pretty cheap fine because I know that some fines for, you know, getting fouled off in some teams or getting a tech can be pretty heavy.
01:34:26
Speaker
I would put on equal playing field forgetting your shoes or singlet next to getting fouled off. I don't think we have one for forgetting shoes. I need to add that. We have one for unsportsman-like.
01:34:40
Speaker
Tech foul, yeah, all of those. So best of luck for the rest of the season and thanks Heaps for jumping on and it sounds like you've got a very close-knit squad that care a lot about each other on and off the court and I think that's going to take your team all the way perhaps.
01:34:56
Speaker
Yeah, we look forward to perhaps talking to you again sometime. No worries, guys. Thank you so much for having me. This was this was lots of fun. So I love what you guys are doing. So thank you so much for having me. Thanks for listening to another episode of East Got Game, an unofficial podcast about the NBA One East competition for 2023. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on whichever platform you choose. And remember, don't sleep on the east.