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Season 3 Episode 20: Prelims, baby! Woooo!
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Review of the NBL1 East MVP awards, All Star 5 and SF.
Preview of the NBL1 East 2025 Preliminary Finals
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Social Media Engagement
00:00:36
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to another episode of East Got Game, where we give you the X's, the O's and the insights of the NBL One East. Thanks for joining us tonight live on YouTube and Instagram and Facebook.
00:00:52
Speaker
And remember, you could subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at East Got Game. Or you could continue to find our episodes on your preferred streaming platforms.
Elimination Finals Overview
00:01:05
Speaker
On this week's episode, we'll be covering the elimination finals that were and get ready for the semifinals that be.
Comets vs Sutherland Game Highlights
00:01:14
Speaker
But let's have a look at some of the headlines, though, first.
00:01:17
Speaker
And let's do a quick check-in to see how you're going, Lachie, because it was a big weekend for you. It was big. it was It was big in so far as one game I called was massive. It was Comets versus Sutherland. And don't let the low score fool you. It was big...
00:01:35
Speaker
Brilliantly entertaining game. It was low scoring because the defenses were on point. And were you happy with the crowd turnout? It looked like it was a huge event at Alexandria.
00:01:48
Speaker
It was huge. And it was about a 50-50 split fans wise as well. So shout out to Sharkies fans making making the trip up.
00:01:58
Speaker
Yeah, ah big crowd. It was a lot of fun. Everyone was there. oh boy.
Notable Figures & Media Presence
00:02:05
Speaker
You know, big names in the crowd, but then also all the, ah you know, being the only game in Sydney, all the photographers and videographers got out there. It was, ah yeah. ah had to Had to fight for a spot on the baseline if you were a photographer in this one.
00:02:22
Speaker
So tell us about um the big names that were the crowd, because I think it was a game you called maybe last year that we reviewed for an episode and we could spot Anthony Mundine in the crowd sitting next to a guy with a cowboy hat.
Player Pressure & Injury Updates
00:02:37
Speaker
Those two cowboys return this time or? i the I didn't see the cowboy hat guy, but there Anthony Mundine was there. Brian Gorgian was there. Andrew Bogut was there.
00:02:50
Speaker
uh yeah so some big names and i think um i didn't see him but i heard bill tomlinson was there as well which would not surprise me in the slightest um yeah it was a yeah some definitely big names in the crowd so but it was a very big crowd so there might have been more that i just didn't see Jeez, who do you think's feeling the pressure there? Do you think it's coach Sean Roger or do you think it's the likes of, ah well, Kawhit Noy didn't play, but, ah you know, Spurgeon and alike are feeling the pressure with the Hoops Capital coaching staff watching?
00:03:24
Speaker
Oh, I think they're all just, you know, scouting out. No pressure no more pressure than you'd have playing in a r semifinal with no Kawhit Noy on your team. Where was Kawhit Noy, by the way?
00:03:37
Speaker
Sitting on the bench. Do we know why? i just tweaked his ankle a bit in the game against Bankstown. So we'll get back more into that um later. But yeah, so um yeah, definitely a game of who was not there as much as who was there.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, interesting. Very interesting indeed. As we see, you know, Davo Hickey is off to Asia Cup.
COE Teams & Player Achievements
00:04:05
Speaker
So big props to him.
00:04:07
Speaker
ah But yeah, that sounds like a hell of a weekend, actually. And it looks like there are some other headlines we should mention as well. Yeah, I think we are. My country partner, Will Constantinidis, said it best on Saturday night. There's a reason called the Centre of Excellence because they're the only club with both their men and their women in the preliminary finals.
00:04:31
Speaker
Yeah, and this is a turnaround from last year because the COE women last season had to pull out of the finals from memory. And the COE men, how far did they get? Did they make it to prelims?
00:04:45
Speaker
I think they might have made it prelims. but yeah But, yeah so yeah, that was unfortunate last year, yeah, the COE women. Yes, the COE men made the prelim last year and lost 94.79 to the Maitland Mustangs.
00:05:03
Speaker
Stangers. Yes. Yeah, so... Yes, wins all round. um Centre of Excellence just eking it out over the Aubrey Wodonga Bandits down there at the hideout, seventy five seventy three And the men getting it done, 97-88 over the Norse Bears. So, yeah.
00:05:22
Speaker
yeah yeah Very interesting to see how ah they both go. The CLE women now coming up against Norse at Norse. And the men having to go to Illawarra. Oh. Yeah.
00:05:36
Speaker
I mean, but the thing is, we talk about about first and third, they all finished 15-5. So it's not like it's, you know, they finished way behind Illawarra in the regular season. They were right there. Yeah, that's right. It may be a case of, well, I don't think Illawarra are going to have CJ Moran, unfortunately.
00:05:56
Speaker
No, because he was also over at Asia Cup with Syria.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, which is great for him. Great for him. Obviously, unfortunate on the timing, but when you get called up for national duties, you've got to take it because those Viva opportunities don't come up all the time.
In-depth Game Analysis: Comets vs Sutherland
00:06:13
Speaker
ah And so, yes, what other headlines have you got for us? Well, of course, we have to talk about Comet Sutherland, who wasn't there. So for Comets, there was no Bawali Bales, no Dave O'Hickey.
00:06:28
Speaker
Bawali was on one crutch. So he was hobbling around a bit. He wasn't using it all the time, but I'm not sure if that was just because he like got excited during the game and stood up not thinking about it.
00:06:40
Speaker
And also no Gotch Malawal. So they were actually missing three starters from that team. And then, um yeah, no Kuat Noi for the Sharks.
00:06:51
Speaker
um Not sure if he could have gone, um but in any event, back your team to win and hope he's back to full strength for the game against Canberra. ah yeah and ah Down at Tuggies on the weekend. But yeah, ah I mean, players just, um it was just players stepping up all over the shop.
00:07:11
Speaker
And ah Isaac Gundy stepping up for for comments. He played 40 to 45 minutes for the entire season. coming into this game, and he got the start and did really well on defense. Committed a few um you know a few cheap fouls, but I think that's just a product of the defensive intensity he brings. He only had five points, but they were using him a little bit when they needed the defense to really be stepping up, and then when they needed the offense to be humming a bit more, Sharif Saipayel.
00:07:43
Speaker
would check in. That seemed to be how it was running. um ah That especially showed late in the game when they were chasing points. It was Sharif into the game.
00:07:54
Speaker
ah But, I mean, despite the loss, um massive, massive shout-out to Obi-Chan in that
Team Strategies & Player Performances
00:08:01
Speaker
one. 15 points, 18 rebounds, four assists, two steals, four blocks,
00:08:06
Speaker
um And just a menace at the defensive end. He had four blocks and least two of them were in the first quarter, maybe even three. So we always say with Hickey and Bales out that Che is obviously the next man up and he ah yeah um put the team on his back for a lot of that game.
00:08:27
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, sounds like a hell of a game. and And that's what makes finals time really exciting as well. It's the opportunity for bench players to step up and show what they're made of. And that's why having a strong bench is so important, despite only playing 45 minutes for the whole season. And so talk me through what Sutherland was showing.
00:08:50
Speaker
Sutherland, I mean, they brought Ryan Abbott into the starting lineup with um not having Kawhi Noy. So i think I think he's been... Ryan Abbott and Taylor Young, they've just been two great late season signings.
00:09:06
Speaker
Abbott finished with 10 points. Young with 10 points as well. But, I mean, they did they did their best to throw it away in the third quarter. they Comets went on a 17-2 run and over the first seven minutes of the third quarter.
00:09:22
Speaker
And then the Sharks came back. They scored the last six points of the third quarter to reel it back in. I think they were down by 13 at one point. So they reeled that back in, got a last second basket at the end of the third, and then they just ratcheted up the defensive intensity in the fourth.
00:09:38
Speaker
um Lachlan Hutchison did Lachlan Hutchison things in the big moment. He was 14 of 16 at the charity stripe as part of his 20. So he was three of 16 from the field. They...
00:09:49
Speaker
just that, that rim protection. I mean, we know Hutch can score the ball from any angle off the glass and they were making it hard, even for a player with his kind of geometric talents.
00:10:00
Speaker
But, uh, He just, yeah, late in the game, stepped up, um hit some clutch threes. ah They got Spurgeon going a little bit more as the game went on. He finished 7 of 9 from the field.
00:10:15
Speaker
ah And, I mean, the battle between Spurgeon and Syngorats was real fun. um But, yeah, it was just about once they got a bit of momentum back ah early late in and the third, early in the fourth, really ratcheted up the defense and just...
00:10:32
Speaker
Chipped away and chipped away and chipped away. And I mean, the fourth quarter was 31 to 18. I think that one point the fourth quarter score was 26 to 10. So they really came home with a wet sailor did the Sharkies.
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah, the Sharkies tend to turn it on like that during finals time as well. You know, they'll be bobbing along all season and yeah, really pick their time to strike and attack when it comes finals time. We've seen it the last, I think, three seasons.
00:11:03
Speaker
Well, not so much last season because they missed finals. True. But the the season before when they won, though. Well, that when they won it, 100%. hundred percent I mean, we keep talking about them finishing bottom half of the eight. and um And when do you talk to Sutherland players, that that's how they feel. They feel like once we're in finals with such a tight-knit group that, you know, we can come together and just get get those four wins we need.
00:11:30
Speaker
And they've got two of them.
00:11:33
Speaker
Awesome. Yeah, sounds like a really, really great game to be a part of whether you were commentating or just watching.
Newcastle vs Bankstown Game Review
00:11:39
Speaker
But being in the stadium, like being at the venue, sounds like it would have been a real treat. And I'm glad that it was packed out. So did the Sharkies end up taking a busload of people like we suggested last episode?
00:11:53
Speaker
i think no i think people um and I think people just drove up. I know some of the NBL1 women's players were were at the grounds of Alexandria before for the game, which is a very nice place to go. ah yeah but but i think the majority of the NBL1 women's team was there, which was good.
00:12:12
Speaker
Yeah. It was a very good crowd. It kind of reminded me of last year's grand final where... um because it was all comets on one side and sharks on the other.
00:12:24
Speaker
And you'd have one team would score and half the crowd would go up. And then everyone would sit down and then the other half of the crowd would go up. And this are just, especially when it was like late in the game of that Southern Newcastle game last year when they were going basketball basket for basket.
00:12:38
Speaker
At the same time, as saying gave me the same feeling watching the crowd in this one. It was an excellent atmosphere to ah be a part of. Almost sounds like an animated crowd, you know, when you see an old cartoon and it's like, oh I've just got to animate a typical crowd in the background and it's just so uniform where there's one side and the other side alternating but the cheering. Yeah.
00:13:04
Speaker
And the final headline you've got here for us is that Newcastle beat Bankstown while shooting only 29.5% and committing 20 turnovers. That is unlike Newcastle, especially on their home court.
00:13:17
Speaker
It is unlike Newcastle, but they still got the win. And, you know, is that the is that kind of the game that they had to scratch out?
00:13:31
Speaker
you know Just their one drop and their one blip and they still got away with it and got um yeah got the win and they you know reconvene and go back to our regular service next week. Because we did we did say that Bankstown are a pretty good matchup for Newcastle.
00:13:51
Speaker
um And I think just talking about it with people on Saturday, because obviously Comet Southern was the last game, was kind of saying that Bankstown were a good matchup, but sometimes yeah the other team's just better.
Local Players' Impact in Leagues
00:14:06
Speaker
And that might have been the case here. But yeah, 20 turnovers. They did they did force Bankstown into 24 of their own, but there's some eye-watering shooting numbers here. Interestingly, the only players who actually made a field goal attempt were the five starters for Newcastle.
00:14:28
Speaker
that's That's probably a bigger, ah you know, red flag than shooting 30% and committing 20 turnovers. um You know, Susie Wormsley played 21 minutes, didn't take a shot. Giselle Havas only played three minutes.
00:14:44
Speaker
And El Kaluski was the only other player off the bench playing 44 seconds. You know, it gets deep in the season. And we know that, you know, Rotations get shorter, whether by design or by circumstance.
00:14:58
Speaker
Hopefully, especially Havas, hopefully she's got more minutes in her next week or this coming weekend we because against a manly team that can throw so many different defensive weapons at you, you need all your options available.
00:15:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a really, really good point to make in terms of who was shooting what or who was shooting at all in that team. Because similarly, as we just talked about, the importance of the depth of your bench and having your bench prepared for something like finals, a la Sydney Comets men.
00:15:30
Speaker
I mean, if it goes pound for pound with the Newcastle team, what happens if there's injuries, early fouls and they've got to go deep? Do they have that trust in their bench to be able to step up and and not just be, you know, to make up the five and to add um to their very good team defence? But, yeah, be able to score because, i mean, Munger...
00:15:54
Speaker
I mean, Munger is absolutely exceptional in this case where she's putting up high numbers in high pressure situations every season now. 29 and 16 and 7 in this one against Bankstown is outrageous.
00:16:09
Speaker
ah But yeah, I mean, something's got to give some time. It certainly does. Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:19
Speaker
But, yeah, so they, I mean, Newcastle are very always a very gritty club. They're always really tough and they'll always have that club culture to do whatever it takes to win. so um very good that they got it over the line by 11 points. But what a great fight as well and showing from Bankstown.
00:16:37
Speaker
i mean, probably like one of the teams that need to be more celebrated this season because I don't think a lot of people had Bankstown picked to be making it this far into the season.
00:16:49
Speaker
No, no. I mean, you know, and the way they, and we talked about a couple of weeks ago, the way they, you know, retooled after Davida Dale, I think it was like, you know, a week or two before she was due to get here was when she did the injury.
MVP & All-Star Discussions
00:17:04
Speaker
um So that made it really tough. And they went out and retooled. And, you know, all their players, apart from, you know, their big name signings, they're all locals. Yeah. um and I think I think we tend to underestimate local products in this league or maybe just in general in that oh you built all these players up oh but you don't you know they're not the signings from other clubs and that's like like you know we look at You a club like Manly, that's all built up just about through their local players. There's very few players there not from Manly in the first place. And it's the same with Bankstown.
00:17:46
Speaker
um And I think we need to recognize that, you know, there are plenty of players that don't move clubs that are just as good as the players who do or come from interstate.
00:18:02
Speaker
Yeah, and also, again, big props to Coach Lauren Curtin as well for doing a great job with that team. Both Bankstown teams this season ah making it far quite far into the finals and rightly slow so, i should say, um because last season they were both just on the cusp and I think either missed out or got eliminated first round. So um the club should be really proud with what they've put up this season from both men's and women's competition.
00:18:30
Speaker
Oh, 100%. You bring back all these local these local players, some of them are still quite young and got plenty of room to improve, even though they're already making big impacts.
00:18:43
Speaker
Very good. And then since our last episode, NBL One East has released the MVP Top 5s for the men and women's competition, which is different from the All-Star 5, which...
00:18:57
Speaker
which I don't ah don't know why. ah I don't know. I may and ive always thought that the MVP votes were reflected, like the top five MVPs were reflected in the All-Star Five.
00:19:13
Speaker
but That is how I would do it. That's how, yes. But then I kind of thought, well, what's the difference here? And I think the difference is that, and you know, after every round, the coaches and the captain do the 3-2-1 voting for MVP.
00:19:27
Speaker
But All-Star Five... The clubs, I think, actually have to nominate a player in a certain position to be nominated to be nominated or considered for All-Star 5, and that's why there's a difference.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yes. So, yeah, right I think it's 3-2-1 for the entire season, captains and coaches. mean... i mean Let's just celebrate players.
00:19:54
Speaker
We could discuss the different voting methods, and I do want to discuss one different voting method later, but we'll get into the All-Star 5s first, or the MVP Top 5s. Yes, so the MVP Top 5s were announced as follows. We had Todd Blanchfield from Illawarra, Will Mayfield from Canberra, Jason Caddy was just announced as ah third place,
00:20:20
Speaker
in in the men's top five. Fourth place was Hunter Goodrick from North and fifth place was Kawat Noy from Sutherland.
00:20:31
Speaker
So just as the season has, you know, the narrative of the season has always been the two MVPs being between Will Mayfield and Todd Blanchfield.
00:20:41
Speaker
Mm-hmm. and and And Will Mayfield, already gone and won Defensive Player of the Year, so big props to him. Can he do the double, Lockie? I think he can. i was doing some back-of-the-envelope maths, by which I mean I wrote an entire script to download all the player stats for the season. um But I just... I think he had...
00:21:04
Speaker
um ah He had more big games that I think would get him the three votes more often. I know like Glenn Morrison was in the all-star five, but I think the the games that would garner votes are probably Will Mayfield um would get them on and um on a lot more occasions. And I mean, Kobe McDowell-White was all-star five as well. So he's alongside Blanchfield. So um I think Mayfield can do it. I,
00:21:33
Speaker
I don't know how much being defensive player the year will factor into the 3-2-1 each week kind of thing. That's kind of the thing that you notice more after a season, like watching someone throughout the season rather than each individual game.
00:21:46
Speaker
um But I definitely, he'd be, you know, he's been my pick for the entire season. But I believe it is down to our two picks, Mofield and Blanche. Literally, yeah.
00:21:57
Speaker
And the only thing that's ah coming to my mind about splitting these two players is that Todd Blanchfield didn't play as many games as Will Mayfield because Todd Blanchfield had to take some time away to play the Trans-Tasman throwdown.
00:22:14
Speaker
i um i was just trying to see how many games he'd miss, but I'm not that fast at counting. ah But he would have missed at least two games. Yeah. Two, possibly three games.
00:22:27
Speaker
And I think, you know, in ah in any other circumstance, I don't think that two to three games would have maybe made a difference. But in this circumstance, it definitely can. And I'd love to know the final count if it were if we were privy to that information once it's announced.
00:22:42
Speaker
Yeah, so I think it's it's two for two games missed for Todd Blanchfield because he's up to 19 now, and that includes one finals game. So... ah probably should check and Mayfield's played all 21. So he played all 20 games.
00:23:00
Speaker
So yeah, that's, that's six votes. He can go and get that Blanchfield can't. And it might be the difference. Those two have had both had outstanding seasons.
00:23:13
Speaker
Yeah, so, yeah, if if anyone's privy to that information once the final MVP is announced, that can tell us what the difference was between first and second, that we'd love to know ah because it's going to be tight.
00:23:27
Speaker
It's going to be tighter than, you know, a federal election type. Although the last federal election wasn't very tight actually. It was not, no, it wasn't.
00:23:39
Speaker
ah And I anticipated it was going to be a lot tighter. So you can imagine my relief when it wasn't, ah but we won't get too political. ah But yeah, so as it stands, um that is the top, the MVP top five for the men ah and for the women.
00:23:58
Speaker
the and The top five were Nicole Munger from Newcastle, Taylor Wurtz from Manly Warringah. Caitlin Jones has just been announced as the third place in the MVP race and she played for Aubrey Wodonga Bandits.
00:24:13
Speaker
Fourth place was Sataya Fagan because she's just on an absolute sweep this award season. And our fifth place was Abby Curtin. Now, I think the only award now that Sataya Fagan needs to be considered for is like finals and MVP.
00:24:28
Speaker
If they get there. Ooh. I mean, if COA win it, it's like Dustin Martin winning the Brownlow. If the team wins, she's getting the MVP. Not the Brownlow, the Norm Smith. Dustin Martin winning the Norm Smith.
00:24:42
Speaker
I think, you know, Richmond winning grand final, Dustin Martin was winning the Norm Smith. It's the same with yeah so you. Yeah. COA win the grand final. I think it's going to be because Fagan will put in an MVP performance.
00:24:56
Speaker
Yeah, look, I don't know any of the words you just said, so I'll take i'll just take your word for it. I know Brownlow and I know Hawthorne and I didn't know the rest. ah The Norm Smith is the grand final MVP in AFL.
00:25:10
Speaker
Player of the game in AFL speak, am I right? Yeah, in the AFL grand final, yeah, yeah. uh yes it's um yeah i think fagan would yeah yeah that would be the sweet what youth player defensive player third fourth in mvp just needs finals mvp just to just to add another one
00:25:33
Speaker
ah But, yeah, it's down to Taylor Wurtz and Nicole Munger. Now, Taylor Wurtz, for me, has also been outstanding, very consistent ah in our preseason episode based on the footage we saw um from her overseas stints.
00:25:48
Speaker
We could tell that she was a really, really great scorer and super quick, um Very tough to guard. Probably had a bit of a slow worst, like a slow-ish start maybe to NBL 1 East, but it's just stacked it on in the end. yeah ah So this one's going to be a close race too. But how do you see this? Who do you see this one falling to?
00:26:10
Speaker
I think it's going to Munger. i She is just just about every game just far and away. ah ahead of most other players on court.
00:26:23
Speaker
um You know, she gets a lot of support from other players at Newcastle, but very rarely is there anyone pinching boats off her. Taylor will stack up a lot of votes, um but I think Munger's, I mean, neither team lost a lot of games, but I think Munger's the kind of player that but kind of jags the two votes in a loss more often.
00:26:49
Speaker
So she might scoop a few votes even in the few losses that Newcastle have had. um But yeah, I just, I can't see it going past. I can't go past Munger, whether it was the 3-2-1 voting system or any other voting system. I think she's, she's got it.
00:27:05
Speaker
But happy now happy to be proven wrong. Oh, always, always. That's almost like our sub slogan. Our slogan is don't sleep on the east and our sub slogan is happy to be proven wrong.
00:27:15
Speaker
Yeah. ah Sammy Mack here in the Instagram live chat saying, don't sleep on Zara Russell. Absolutely not. She has found her, I mean, she's always been in great form, but she's gone up that extra notch after the u nineteen Women's Basketball World Cup where she was a really integral part of that Gems team getting as far as they did.
00:27:40
Speaker
Really great role player, knockdown shooter from the arc. So, yeah, she she's been having some ah hitting some great form in this finals time too. So definitely not sleeping on Zara Russell.
00:27:52
Speaker
Definitely not. i thank you thank you Thank you for foreshadowing, Sammy Mack, because if you scroll down our notes a bit, you will you will see her name squint. I thought Sammy Mack was going to be ah shouting out my – noticing my jersey.
00:28:05
Speaker
But anyway – I don't think yeah you can only see the top and I was going to make mention of it later in the episode because we also got to make mention of the jersey you've got in the background.
00:28:16
Speaker
ah yeah, that's just a flex. Yeah.
00:28:22
Speaker
um Okay, so before we get into the All-Star 5 for the men and women, ah you mentioned earlier that you wanted to talk about the difference in voting between the two. Do you want to talk about that now or after we announce the All-Star?
00:28:37
Speaker
I think we'll announce the All-Star, because what I want to talk about is All-Star 5 and other award voting. So I think we'll announce the All-Star 5s first or discuss them.
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah, so for the men, it was announced that Jason Cadee, Kobe McDowell-White, Will Mayfield, Todd Blanchfield and Glenn Morrison all made the all-star five for the men, as I mentioned.
00:29:02
Speaker
ah Again, coming down not so three to 3-1 voting but coming down to... nominating a player in particular positions. So even in the order that I read them, you've got your one and two guards, your three, your possible four, and your certainly five men in Glenn Morrison.
00:29:20
Speaker
And for the women's competition, we, oh, wait, do you want to go through the men first? um No, let's let's go through the women as well. Yeah? Yeah. So women's competition, we have Katie Jones from Aubrey Wodonga, Taylor Wirtz, Nicole Munger, Riley Lutfer and Sataya Fagan, which, based on what I just said about positions, doesn't look like the women's are really in positions.
00:29:51
Speaker
Hey, if clubs are allowed to dominate players in positions and they don't vet the positions...
00:30:00
Speaker
Game the system all you want. I've seen teams do it in Youth League. I've seen teams do it in Waratah. You've got two players who are both great in one position.
00:30:12
Speaker
Nominate one as a forward and dare them not to vote for her.
00:30:17
Speaker
Yep. This is exactly what I feel like has happened here.
00:30:22
Speaker
andt I don't hate it. No, that's the, that's, they're playing within the rules of the voting game. Yeah. Don't like, that like, like they say on bad boys, don't hate the player, i hate the game. That's right.
00:30:34
Speaker
I don't, I could never have any of these players.
00:30:39
Speaker
ah Yeah. and Like you said, every team has the right to nominate people. And I think it's a pretty strategic way to do it as well, especially if you want to showcase some of your um other talent in your team. Yeah.
00:30:54
Speaker
But, yeah, I think that Bryn's pretty unlucky also not to get a spot in that All-Star 5, given her position. Yeah, but but, I mean, you could have named Sataya Fagan as quarterback and she would have got votes.
00:31:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. That's true. And what was it in particular you wanted to touch on with the All-Star 5? Well, mostly the fact... Well, firstly, just want to say that I am coming around to this idea of an All-Star 5 being different to the MVP Top 5 because it means players like Morrison, McDowell, White, and Lutfer who maybe, you know, get overshadowed in the 3-2-1 voting and won't earn the votes yet, allar MVP Top 5.
00:31:40
Speaker
It gives them a chance to get... um recognition for their entire season performance. So I do like that about it. What I wanted to talk about was the fact that Kobe McDowell-White made All-Star 5 but didn't win Young Player of the Year.
00:32:02
Speaker
Because it seems to me that if you vote for a player to be... I mean, um I should preface this by saying I don't know if he was...
00:32:13
Speaker
Illawarra's nominee for Young Player of the Year. um But if you're putting him up as the All-Star 5 guard, you should be nominating him for your Young Player anyway. um so So we know Jacob Furphy won Young Player of the Year.
00:32:30
Speaker
Kobe McDowell-White gets All-Star 5 but doesn't get Young Player of the Year. Sort of makes me ask, do we do we need a stipulation that if you vote for a player who's eligible for Young Player of the Year in your All-Star 5 votes,
00:32:44
Speaker
should you be mandated to give them the three votes in young player of the year?
00:32:53
Speaker
Because it seems a little weird that you can vote for a guy who's eligible for young player of the year for all-star, but not vote for him in an award that has a smaller pool of players really to pick for. And also like Furphy and McDowell-White are in very similar positions. They're either going to be point guard or shooting guard.
00:33:13
Speaker
And they're both going to be nominated for both Young Player of the Year and All-Star 5 in the same position too. So, yeah, how does that yeah work but yeah work in a sense to give one to the other and and whatnot?
00:33:27
Speaker
Exactly. But that's that's what happens when you can vote for every award independently of each other. And it's the only real vote. It's the only real awards that, you know, one is a subset of the other.
00:33:40
Speaker
You know, you can vote for defensive player of the year and not think they're an all-star and, you know, vice versa. But yeah, young player of the year is literally a subset of, yeah.
00:33:51
Speaker
So i just think, yeah, if you vote, if you name one young player in your all-star five, that player gets the three votes. You get two, then the other one gets two and so forth if you name more than one young player. um But, you know, maybe people, I i can only imagine that people voted furphy for young player of the year because you sort of look at mcdowell aren't you like oh he's already in the nbl whereas furphy is the true the true up and coming young star um honestly in yeah in all honesty i prefer an emerging player of the year that a player can only win once so maybe an under twenty like still an age limit emerging player of the year once you win it then you have emerged and then
00:34:36
Speaker
you um you know, it goes to someone else the next year. Because I think in the in the A-League women's soccer, Ellie Carpenter won Young Player of the Year like a billion times because she started in the league at 15 and played for the Matildas at 15. So, yeah, I like the idea of an Emerging Player of the Year or a breakout player, breakout young player. And then after that, yeah, you can't you can only win it once. so Similar in the WNBL, how they used to have Rookie of the Year and then it become Young Player of the Year or Youth Player Ezzy just kept winning it.
00:35:10
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. they went Then they went back to Rookie and now it's Breakout Player of the Year. And they have Breakout Player and Sixth Woman of the Year as well. That's one thing we haven't had in NBL 1 is a Sixth Woman or Sixth Man of the Year.
00:35:25
Speaker
and know they do it in West. They do a lot of things in West. They do Commentator of the Year in West.
00:35:33
Speaker
do Do we just give that award to Matt McQuaid now? Yes. Yes, we do. Yes. That's probably why they don't have it in East because they know that Matt will just win it every year. and it be like Yeah. be like i see um Or the NBL efficiency award where they are stopped handing it out because Andrew Gay's won it seven years in a row.
00:35:53
Speaker
So they just got rid of the award because no one else won it. Well, yeah, it can be a commentator of the year can go to Matt McQuaid until he retires, which will be, i don't know, another 15 years maybe, 20 years.
00:36:07
Speaker
Never. And then like can i they can name the award after him, the Matt McQuaid Commentator of the Year Award for NBL One East.
Preliminary Finals Excitement
00:36:14
Speaker
Once again, we are giving you these ideas for free.
00:36:18
Speaker
For free. I would say that's probably our tertiary slogan on this show. We've got don't sleep on the East, happy to be proven wrong, and giving this away to you for free. We could start out our own, like, zeitgeist or lexicon of phrases, East got game-specific phrases to use in your everyday conversation.
00:36:42
Speaker
Yes. okay But, yeah, I think that's a really good point to make about the Youth's Play of the Year awards and, again, hopefully something that they will consider not just in East but across the across the yeah conferences.
00:37:00
Speaker
And I think it would be good if the awards could be kind of standardised across conferences as well. ah You know, like you said, West give out like a – and And Central as well give out, you know, um an award for the person who scored the most points, had the most rebounds.
00:37:21
Speaker
gold Golden Hands would love a Golden Hands Awards in the East. That's probably one of my favourites. Waratah still does Golden Hands. Oh, aren't we promoting it to the NBL1? Actually, I don't know if they do anymore because they don't have the full stats, but I know they you they did it back in the day.
00:37:40
Speaker
yeah Yeah, no, they definitely did back in the day because when I played ABA, which was before Championship League, which was before NBL1, and I was playing in Canberra, then the likes of Kelly Abrams was always ah for golden hands because she would, an assassin on defence getting steals and then could just throw a dime like one of the best shooting guards or small forwards there was. So, yeah, she was always up for golden hands.
00:38:11
Speaker
ah Very good. And so hopefully we'll find out who the MVP is maybe next week or maybe the end of this week, perhaps, given that we are recording on a Tuesday.
Women's Matchup Previews
00:38:23
Speaker
um Maybe i'll qui I might even quickly check Instagram to see if they've announced who came second while we've been chatting. I think they've been doing one per day. ah yeah, that makes more sense.
00:38:36
Speaker
Yeah. Than going to the weekend knowing who the MVPs are. Hmm. and then the curse will fall upon them. No, I'm only joking. um
00:38:47
Speaker
ah So interesting preliminary finals note. Talk to me about this. Yeah, so all four preliminary finals are match-ups that only occurred once.
00:38:58
Speaker
So across the two, two in Man, two in Man, and every time the prelim final is on the same court as that regular season match.
00:39:09
Speaker
Really? Really? um almost certain. I went and looked it up, Manly, Newcastle. I know Illawarra COE, Canberra Sutherland, and North COE.
00:39:20
Speaker
ye Wow, that is uncanny. I don't know. How did you even pick up on that? Oh, just when I went and looked back through the results, I was like, oh, this is the same game.
00:39:33
Speaker
Oh, this is the same game. Yeah, Manly, Newcastle. Yeah, 100%. hundred percent
00:39:39
Speaker
wow yeah ah wow that's so funny yeah that is cool that is cool well let's get into the poli preliminary finals then let's also see how many times i'm going to stumble on saying the word preliminary this episode uh um So the first one is Manly Warringah Seagulls, Newcastle Falcons in the women's competition.
00:40:04
Speaker
Manly finishing first in the regular season. Again, minor premiers and Newcastle third. It's going to be played ah this Saturday at the Nest from 6.30pm.
00:40:15
Speaker
Now, before we get stuck into this preview, why 6.30pm? ah Junior Comp has just started ah Manly. um So it's the first few weeks. they just don't They just want to keep everything on the exact same time scale as it was originally um scheduled for. Because, you know, parents and kids need to get there and get in rhythm. So they're just doing everything exactly the same.
00:40:43
Speaker
you can't really You can't really up and move Junior Comp this early in the season without everything getting kind of haywire. So they're playing it at 6.30. Now, I mostly ask as well because we have our semifinals this weekend in NBL 1 North and Logan are playing Cairns in Logan at 6.30 as well.
00:41:02
Speaker
And I don't think they've played a game at 6.30 all season. Well, Manly usually play their women at three and their men at five. so Even on a Saturday? Damn. They're always the early start. Not the traditional five and seven.
00:41:15
Speaker
Nope. Most hubs are five and seven. Comets aren't. Oh, no, Comet's at like 10pm and midnight or something. Yeah, thanks for the captioning my page. 5.30 and you've got to get the train home to Cronulla. Hey, when you had to drive down and play at 8 o'clock on a Saturday and you're in your 30s, I'm sleeping in the car on the way there.
00:41:39
Speaker
Fair, fair. I rate it. but then and ah The last time I did that, though, I did drop 20, I think. So, you know, it worked for me. Three game maps work. ah For some. But, yeah, this preliminary final, Manly, Newcastle at Manly, it's going to sell out. It's going to be an absolute right in there, I'm sure.
00:41:59
Speaker
ah So to get here, though, Manly defeated Aubrey Wodonga in the qualifying final and have had the week off. Newcastle lost to North in their north in their qualifying final by 10. And they've gone on, as we mentioned earlier, to defeat Bankstown in the semifinal.
00:42:16
Speaker
ah Regular season, though, all of your usual suspects putting up good numbers. So, you know, MVP candidates in Munger and Wurtz, Dickinson as well, 20 points the last time these two teams played.
00:42:32
Speaker
Is this also a case, Lockie, where these two top teams have only played each other once in the regular season and have now circled back to final time? Yes.
00:42:44
Speaker
Yes, it is. And I... I can't believe Manly and Newcastle only played each other once in the regular season. It feels kind of weird. feels like I want them to play twice every season, but I played once.
00:42:55
Speaker
ah Yeah. So finished 95-72 to Manly. And I mean, Munger almost had triple-double. 16 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists, four steals.
00:43:11
Speaker
She was 4 of 14 from the field, 6 of 6 at the line. And... I just feel like Manly, like Munger is good enough that she can turn up on Saturday and go back to dropping 30 or 35.
00:43:27
Speaker
But Manly are the one team that can make it really hard for her with the amount of defensive players they can they can throw at her.
00:43:36
Speaker
And I think like going bench for bench, matchup to matchup, if you're matching all 10 to 12 players from each team, down the line in a dual, not in a dual, but, you know, in a one-on-one kind of situation.
00:43:52
Speaker
i think Manly have the edge in terms of ah experience, especially because they've got a lot of young people in that team who have played at this level, in this team, especially for a while. um and Yeah, and they've just got that slightly higher skill level if you're going to go deep.
00:44:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's a, yeah. I mean, we already mentioned it, that only five players even took a shot for, for Newcastle in their semifinal. Um, whereas Manly Waringa, you know, you're bringing, you're bringing Annie Henderson, Sari Mowbray, your first two off the bench.
00:44:29
Speaker
Um, yeah, that, that alone is, is massive. And then, i mean, Chloe Dix and Freya Byker have under 20 gold medals under their belt from this year. um,
00:44:40
Speaker
um I mean, Chloe Deeks doesn't get a lot of playing time, but that's just because of how good the Manly team is. You watch her in youth league and she is hooping every weekend. can Is this, according to our schedule, did we end up reviewing this game in the regular season between Manly and Newcastle, or was this the game where we went to review it and it wasn't available?
00:45:05
Speaker
This is the game that we didn't review, so we reviewed Manly North instead. That's right, yes. We were due to review this one, because but then there's no video online. Yeah, I was very happy that that was the doubleheader that Manly played that weekend. It was a very good bailout, the Manly-Norse game.
00:45:22
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. lucky Very lucky for us, yes. Dickinson will likely match up against Jefferson, I'm guessing, but then you've got the likes of Bullman and Hennessy. Henderson, far out. I am really...
00:45:37
Speaker
flipping today, Boulman and Henderson that are able, as we've mentioned before, able to guard two to five, one to five. they They're going to be able to keep switching on Munger like we have seen in the past. And I think like, you know, as as much as as great as Munger is, for any player, having people switch on you all the time and then having to adjust and readjust all the time, that can chip away at you a little bit mentally.
00:46:05
Speaker
It really can. Fortunately, I think Nicole Munger is probably one of the best equipped players to to handle it. But ah
00:46:17
Speaker
i yeah I do think Manly are going to make it make it very hard for her. And then ah also there's the problem Newcastle also have is handling Taylor Wirtz.
00:46:30
Speaker
yeah yeah that's true in that terms of ah of a match-up uh i was just gonna say as well even though if people are switching on manga just to try and disrupt her a little bit you'll probably still be nice enough to compliment the defender and say hey man you're doing a really good job because she's just that nice
00:46:48
Speaker
yeah She's like, I really like what you did there. You did a good job. Yeah, she's just that nice. ah But yeah, you make a good point there. Who from Newcastle is going to try and ah contain Wurtz?
00:47:02
Speaker
Or are we going to see something different from Newcastle away from the man-to-man situation? Are they going to go into some kind of zone action? Because sometimes Manly in the past have you slowed down or been a bit sluggish in the scoring end when it comes to zone.
00:47:16
Speaker
I seem to remember that was... Match-up zone. yeah I seem to remember that was a theme last year. Teams went zone a bit against Manly especially. I think there was one game where a team almost exclusively played zone.
00:47:32
Speaker
um And why not? if I mean...
00:47:39
Speaker
it It's certainly an option. um And I think teams are often far too reluctant to play zone for extended periods.
00:47:53
Speaker
um You know, they'll play zone and be like, all right, well, that's a... It and almost feels like sometimes it's like, oh, yeah, that's enough of that. We'll drop back into man. This is, you know, it's working okay. But I mean, I've seen teams do it in NBL one level. Just...
00:48:07
Speaker
Act like you're that under 12s coach that's completely flouting the rules and just play zone for 40 minutes. Yeah, it's almost got a weird stigma attached to it that it's like...
00:48:19
Speaker
You know, it's frowned upon to play zone for long periods of time, even if it's working for you. It's this um kind of underlying irritability about it. ah But yeah I think um in terms of the matchup against Wurz, I think it's going to be ah Claudia, Wahape, Andrews' time to shine in that matchup. I think that will be a really, really good matchup.
00:48:42
Speaker
Yeah, she I mean, she is an excellent defender, um fairly underrated defender as well. But I think, yeah, that's that's probably going to be the best option, definitely.
00:48:56
Speaker
And then moving right along to the second preliminary final between Norse Bears, who place second in the regular season, against the Centre of Excellence, who place fifth. They're playing on Saturday 5.30 at Cave.
00:49:10
Speaker
the bear cave And again, another team that's only met once in the regular season. Am I right? Yep.
00:49:20
Speaker
Crazy. Crazy. You can't write a better script.
00:49:26
Speaker
um So to get to this point in the finals, the North north did it defeated Newcastle in the qualifying final. and had the week off. The Centre of Excellence took the long road, defeating Canberra in the elimination final, then defeating Albury in what seemed like a hell of a game in the semi-final.
00:49:45
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And in the regular season, nors defeated Centre of Excellence 88-74. But since then, I think there's been a lot of roster changes. Would that I be right in saying that, Lockie?
00:49:58
Speaker
ah Maybe not a lot, but a very big one insofar as Jolene Anderson played 18 minutes in in that game and is obviously no longer um the Norse roster, unfortunately. But, um I mean, Sammy Mack...
00:50:15
Speaker
The man knows his staff. We all know that because Zara Russell dropped 30 the last time these teams played with Sataya Fagan providing support with 23. So those two players combined for 53 points.
00:50:30
Speaker
And I dare say a lot of the supporting crew for COE are much better players now have developed more. even in this short period, talking about Aleknewick, Izzy Smith especially.
00:50:43
Speaker
ah They've just come on in leaps and bounds. So there's a lot of pieces there that can definitely do damage for COA.
00:50:55
Speaker
Yeah, what has happened down there in the last couple of months? Did something happen while the others went away for the U19s? Because these rookies of the COE have just come alive in the last couple of months and they're contributing consistently good numbers.
00:51:12
Speaker
Maybe that was just it, you know. I mean...
00:51:17
Speaker
you don't you Some of your big names are away. Maybe you just get a little more personalized focus because there's only you know eight or so players actually yeah at the COE. They get a little bit more focused, get to work on some things, get a few weeks off from actually playing games. And they're still training a lot and maintaining their fitness because it's basically their job down there.
00:51:39
Speaker
So when they come back, they're refreshed. They've had a good spell off, but they've been training plenty hard. And maybe that's just what they needed because they talk about it going from you know high school to college and college to the and NBA, or especially the NBA more than the WNBA, is that the increase in intensity is what gets you.
00:51:58
Speaker
And you know you hit you know Christmas, New Year in the NBA, and you've already played more games than your college season ever was. Maybe it's a bit the same here. You know, they just had three or four weeks off playing, back into it.
00:52:13
Speaker
The younger ones, absolutely flying.
00:52:18
Speaker
Yeah, so it's going to be a really interesting matchup. Like you said, ah Uh, no Jolene Anderson, but we lose to Jolene Anderson and we gain an easy Morgan.
00:52:28
Speaker
So hopefully she, she only got 18 minutes against, uh, the Falcons. So there's your missing 18 minutes. Uh, but she wasn't four fouls. So that's probably why her minutes were quite restricted in that game.
00:52:45
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, that's, uh, I think she's going going to level up. Uh, ah In terms of both preliminary finals, are you willing to tip, make your tips? ah May as well. Why not?
00:53:00
Speaker
I'm going a sp Spitbridge Stoush Grand Final. Manly Norths. Run it back from two years ago. I agree. It is going, that's, I think that's what the, how it's going to play out. I think Manly and Norse are going to get the wins and the rivalry will grow stronger and the history will keep getting woven.
00:53:22
Speaker
Beautifully said, Squin.
Illawarra vs COE Men's Game
00:53:24
Speaker
yeah Oh, look, we just had Manly and ah Taylor Wurtz jump on Instagram live, but I don't think they were there long enough to hear us tip them.
00:53:36
Speaker
ah Oh, well. uh okay let's move on to the men's prelims in the first matchup we've got illawarra who were the minor premieres against the center of excellence uh who plays third in the regular season they're playing on saturday at 7 p.m at the snake pit another venue that is just the roof is just going to be on fire at the snake pit oh and look If it's going to be, if it's this cold weather continues all the way to the weekend, you know, Hawks fans are going to be warm and toasty.
00:54:12
Speaker
Oh, won't they just? I mean, they'll be hanging off the rafters. They'll be hanging over the side of the bar. They've got those upper deck seats that people will be, you know, screaming from.
00:54:24
Speaker
It's quite the place, the old snake pit. Yeah, it's great. It's a place that probably does need a couple of renovations and touch-ups, but at the same time, you don't want it to change.
00:54:36
Speaker
Correct. They've given it a paint, which is nice, um especially when I used to take my camera down there and shooting into dark brown wooden grandstands was not great for the lighting situation.
00:54:48
Speaker
But I'm sure there's other far more qualified people than me to complain about that. But I do i i love going to the Snake Pit, honestly. And they have a dedicated media table there. Oh, that's very nice. That's classy. That's classy from Wollongong.
00:55:02
Speaker
That spare score bench that's right behind the home where the home team bench sits. You go down there, say a media accredited, they put you right there. It's beautiful. That's awesome. Very nice. You don't have to fight with others for a seat.
00:55:17
Speaker
Exactly. So to get to the prelims, Illawarra defeated the Comets in a game that was quite anticipated and then perhaps a bit of an anticlimax with 116 to 76 win at home.
00:55:33
Speaker
And the centre of excellence, again, taking the long road, losing to Canberra in the qualifying finals and then defeating Norse in the semifinal. ah I'm going to say it again, but did they only meet once this season?
00:55:47
Speaker
They certainly did. geez, Louise. They just love making it exciting for us, don't they? They certainly do. And it was also a bit of a whitewash um unexpectedly. Illawarra defeating the Centre of Excellence 102 to 72.
00:56:05
Speaker
not a game i don't It's not the game that we reviewed and I don't think I watched any of it at the time. Did you, Lockie? Yeah. I don't believe actually did watch this game, but it was right where I have a feeling it was – trying to remember exactly when it was because silly me didn't write down the date of the game. But regardless, is quite a result, quite a – it's stamping your mark the game. It's a spanker. It's a spanker.
00:56:39
Speaker
Yeah. it's it's a its You're playing with the big boys spanking. And, well, playing against Illawarra, they got some big boys. It was on June 15th, that game. So it wasn't too long ago. And Illawarra really blew it out in the fourth. They won the fourth quarter 34 to 15. So the game was only 11-point margin. And then
00:57:02
Speaker
a shorthanded COE absolutely put to the sword in the final quarter. Yeah, that's to be fair, I know that I was a bit harsh there on the COE for but that regular season game. yeah The final quarter, at Illawarra won and the COE in that game didn't have the likes of Furphy ah and a couple of other...
00:57:26
Speaker
Scholarship holders who a bit more experienced had already graduated by then and we saw some of the new scholarship holders rolling in. So it was a bit of a transitional time, I think, for so for the COE as well.
00:57:40
Speaker
Down on numbers, Blanchfield was in top form, had nearly every stat except for a steal. ah But, yeah, do you see this game going a similar way?
00:57:53
Speaker
No. What do you... know you no Well, the first... the The second name on my notes is that CJ Moran was 7 of 10 from the field, had 18 and 9 last time they played.
00:58:06
Speaker
He's not there because he is playing for Syri at the Asia Cup. Yeah. Woo! Um... I mean, Nash Walker had six points in that game. Last week, he came out and dropped 33.
00:58:17
Speaker
Is this the, you know, is he, you know, taking off? Is this, is that, you know, his breakout game? i ah Honestly, i think Illawarra get it done, but it's not going to be silly margin like 30 points again.
00:58:32
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I don't think it will be 30 points, that's for sure. um Christian Moran, CJ Moran is big out because he just provides so much rim protection and size and reliability on the offensive end for Illawarra.
00:58:47
Speaker
He's always in the right spot. He's like the real anchor in that half-court offense because he's such a good role player in the four to five spot. ah it's He's going to be really hard to replace.
00:59:00
Speaker
he He really will. They might do it a ah little bit by committee. But, i mean I mean, we've watched a couple of games and they've got some other big bodies they can throw in the paint, but no one that really protects the rim as well as consistently.
00:59:16
Speaker
Or scores the same way he does. Yeah. Yeah. Because he's really mobile.
00:59:24
Speaker
I see this going to Illawarra as well, ah but I think it's going to be maybe 10 to 12.
00:59:32
Speaker
Yeah, I think i think you're 100% right. I mean, um without
00:59:39
Speaker
without Moran in the lineup against Comets, Toby Campbell started. He had 10 points and fouled out in 15 minutes. So that's something to keep an eye on. Yeah.
00:59:54
Speaker
But, yeah, I just, yeah, it's not going to be anywhere near as I mean, I hope it's not anyway. We don't need any more blowouts in the ah in the finals.
Canberra vs Sutherland Men's Game
01:00:08
Speaker
No, I definitely don't think this is going to be a blowout. Yeah, 10 to 12 I'm picking. Yeah. ah And then the last but definitely not least preliminary final for this season is the Canberra Gunners who finished second in the regular season versus the Sutherland Sharks who finished eighth.
01:00:27
Speaker
And they're playing at 7.30 p.m. this Saturday at Tuggeranong. Wow. Is it a bigger venue? Is it size? Like, would love to know why it's at Tuggeranong.
01:00:38
Speaker
I have no idea why it's at Tuggies, but that's what it said on the schedule. Yeah, my only guess is a clash with juniors maybe, or maybe that Tuggeranong can be hold it hold a bigger crowd than Bell Connon.
01:00:51
Speaker
Well, I mean, Tuggies is hosting nationals, so it must have some sort of size to it. I mean, the first and only time I've been to Tuggies was 11 years ago, so I don't remember.
01:01:03
Speaker
It's been even longer since I've last been at Tuggeranong, but not too... We'll be returning there not to not too soon anyway.
01:01:15
Speaker
well be We'll be there, hopefully, one day back there at Tuggies. ah But, yeah, for the fourth time, how many times did these two teams meet in the regular season?
01:01:30
Speaker
One, which means i didn't get to commentate Canberra this year. Oh, not even... They didn't go to Comets and they didn't go to Sutherland. Rude. Rudeness.
01:01:41
Speaker
Well, the year's not out. You know, there is a chance that you might get to do them at some stage. ah But you'd be having to book the NBL 1 East Grand Final to probably book them and then Gunners also have to book their ticket to the East Final. So that's that's your chance there that you get to do the NBRA.
01:02:02
Speaker
Yeah. I'm um um not banking on it, to be honest, a Squid. I'll be i'll be happy ah watching watching the stream of this one. And so, again, the last time, so Canberra defeated Centre of Excellence in the qualifying final, Sutherland defeating Bankstown in the elimination final, and then Comets in the semifinal last week.
01:02:26
Speaker
ah The last time these two teams met, it went into overtime and Canberra defeated Sutherland This was Kawat Noy. this was with kotnoi Yes.
01:02:39
Speaker
And if I remember correctly, Sutherland had like, I'm pretty sure they were up late. Like I think they could have won it in regulation. um I mean, it went to overtime. Probably both teams could have won it in regulation, but regardless.
01:02:53
Speaker
ah Yeah. 140, 1496 in overtime and all the big names came to play. Mayfield 13 of 17 at the line on his way to 22 and eight.
01:03:04
Speaker
Hutchison eight of 13 from the field, 23.7 rebounds. Kawhi Noy nine of 10 at the line on his way to 19 points. Uh, ah You know, just guys stepping up, Luke Jamison, Adrian Cabrera, Glenn Morrison and Emilio Fonwu.
01:03:21
Speaker
You know, it was the big name stepping up and also those those support role players that have been starters but kind of don't get the same and don't get the same love. But when you look at a box scare score, they've regularly got double figures next to their name.
01:03:38
Speaker
And someone that was missing from that last game was Cam Pender. that That's a big, big in. he has but I mean, he got Young Player of the Year nominee playing half a season or so, maybe little bit more. But to even get nominated in the first place. Because that's just not like that's get nominated by your club and then finish top five in voting for it.
01:04:00
Speaker
That's huge. Someone who had the season he had in terms of length. Yeah, and he can still get nominated the lot in the next two to three years too. That's amazing. it's cry And i yeah I am banking on it. He will. Don't worry about that.
01:04:16
Speaker
Yeah, he's got to win it. I mean, it would be cool if he could win it back to back. He's just got to knock off one of the COE boys. Yeah, that's right. That's the biggest issue. um Looking at this game statistically, ah Canberra were, say, rounding up 35% from the three-point line.
01:04:35
Speaker
Sutherland were 44% from the three-point line. that's a That's an anomaly for the Sharkies. Yeah, yeah. I mean, but kind of good for them that they're playing this preliminary final away, but on the same court where they shot that well. I mean, that's always a plus.
01:04:52
Speaker
Yeah. um Bow count, 22 to twenty four like Really splitting hairs here statistically between these two teams.
01:05:03
Speaker
um But, yeah, really surprising. i mean, not surprising in the sense that Sutherland made a run it at it late, like they won the fourth quarter twenty three to seventeen because that's what they're good at and even in the longer context of the season, back in the season.
01:05:19
Speaker
But surprising because the Gunners are usually like really good in the fourth quarter and can lock down. But obviously that showed in that overtime period where they won 11-3. Exactly. You've got three points in an entire overtime. That is ah is really good. i mean, because ah you think you if you started a quarter with three points in five minutes, people would be wondering what the hell is going on. So it's the same in overtime.
01:05:45
Speaker
Oh, and I just think of like particularly the men's competition playing at that slightly higher level of pace. Mm-mm. I could say slightly, but the high level of pace and the physicality purely because they're just bigger bodies.
01:06:02
Speaker
Like ah the someone's got to be bringing the pickle juice on Saturday in case this is going to OT again because, yeah, strength and conditioning will only get you so far. You're going to need some.
01:06:15
Speaker
Load up on the electrolytes now. Yeah. Yeah.
01:06:20
Speaker
um But yeah, that that's going to be really exciting too. Are you going to head down to watch that one? Absolutely not because I have work the next morning. Oh, that's a shame.
01:06:31
Speaker
That's a shame. you'll watch it in the comfort of your own home again. I might be at a game and, you know, sneaking a look on my phone. Oh, okay. Cool, cool. Because, I mean, the women's games were at Manly and North, and even Illawarra isn't the biggest trek for me, living in the Shire. So I've got plenty of options. for forget For a lot of games that aren't really near me, I have a lot of options.
01:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, that's very lucky. Very lucky to have that opportunity. um Okay, so who are you picking out of this one? You're going to go Sharkies? Coming from the bottom half of the eight to make the grand final once again, the Sutherland Sharks.
01:07:13
Speaker
Started from the bottom, now they're here.
NBL1 East Finals Anticipation & Community Support
01:07:15
Speaker
<unk> That's right. So I'm going to pick you the Gunners. I'm going Illawarra Gunners Final Classic. Oh, a Macquarie Pass.
01:07:27
Speaker
Oh my gosh, that's... I was just happy with Team Minor Premiers versus Team Second. The Classic 1-2 Clash. That is also a very, very good thing.
01:07:40
Speaker
ah All right, so we're both picking the Manly North final. ah You're picking an Illawarra Sutherland men's final. I'm picking an Illawarra Canberra final. Happy to be wrong, but very excited to be getting ready for another big weekend in NBL1 East. It's going to be absolutely massive.
01:08:00
Speaker
Get around it. Have you got any other NBL1 East-related news or gossip to share with us before we wrap up? Um... no i don't everything's focused so much on the finals um and it's great um yeah actually the one thing i will give a shout out is uh again to our friends james and garen from two feet into paint they uh have posted their own unofficial end of year ah season awards on their instagram
01:08:34
Speaker
And podcast of the year among six of our of our peers out there was East Court Game. Yes. There we go. East Court Game.
01:08:46
Speaker
I know it's not ranked, but we are at the tops we are at the top left. Top left. is hot left and I'm going to take that as our own personal championship. There we Cheers, boys.
01:08:58
Speaker
But, yeah, thanks so much for the shout-out, of James and Garen, and they're always very supportive of East Scott game. We're really glad that it's helpful. somehow ah but for you guys and obviously for everyone else.
01:09:11
Speaker
ah They've also got the unofficial East Awards for videographers and photographers. A lot of familiar names in both of those lists.
01:09:22
Speaker
I recommend you go to the Two Feet in the Paint ah Instagram. Check out the slides, and mostly so you can see who the videographers and photographers are. Get their Instagram handle and go give them a follow.
01:09:37
Speaker
because they're all really, really outstanding. They certainly are. Yes. Some of the best content creators around the country are right here in the East. Seriously. ah we we sometimes don't know how good we've got it with that type of media.
01:09:54
Speaker
ah The only other thing, random thing I'll mention is that Tyrese Proctor, who is ah an East product, even though he hasn't played in NBL1 East, there's a really cool article that's been released today on either the Age or the Sydney Morning Herald by our friend Roy Ward about Tyrese and his last couple of years at college. Yeah.
01:10:17
Speaker
And he's to looking forward to his season with the Cavs. um go ahead and check that out too. And I will say he did play NBL 1 wild card for COE that season against Sutherland.
01:10:32
Speaker
that that You know what? I'll take it. I'll take it. And a reminder, do you want to tell ah remind everyone actually when the NBL 1 East Grand Finals are on?
01:10:44
Speaker
The NBL One East Grand Finals, Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre, Saturday, August 16th. Women's game tips at 2pm. Men's game
01:10:56
Speaker
after all the presentations are done for the women's game. Yeah, men's game after that. Yeah. And remember, the East have the honour of hosting the NBL1 Nationals in Canberra. That's going to be, I guess, like the curtain raiser for the and NBL Blitz tournament that's also going to be in Canberra.
01:11:17
Speaker
So all of you East heads, let's get down to the Nationals, get down to Canberra, make some noise and show why NBL1 East is so great. It's going to be from Friday 29th August to Sunday the thirty first of August.
01:11:32
Speaker
Games do start the Friday. um So take you take an extra day off work. Treat yourself. Come down to Canberra. I shouldn't say come down to Canberra. I'm not there. Let's go down to Canberra. Let's all go to Canberra.
01:11:46
Speaker
We'll all go to Canberra. We'll, um you know, survey that the best coffee places, the best pastry places, et cetera, that Canberra have to offer. And I'm not joking because Canberra's, you know, culinary scene has definitely been coming up in the last few years.
01:12:01
Speaker
ah Yeah. Let's just, let's just show up East nationals is great. It's got a good vibe. um I think it's going to be a good time. So let's all get down there and support it. I'll do it. I'll be there.
01:12:13
Speaker
Yeah, I'm considering going too, actually. So I should probably book my flights and stuff soon. Yeah. ill so I'll book the ah the Murray's bus.
01:12:23
Speaker
Mate, I've got them on speed dial. I've booked that bus so many times.
01:12:30
Speaker
um Alrighty. Well, it looks like that should be the end of our show because we're now we're just getting a little bit silly. we are. But once on a serious note, what should we leave the viewers and the listeners with, Lockie?
01:12:43
Speaker
Don't sleep on the east!