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Season 4 Episode 7: 'Scene Missing'
34 Plays7 days ago
Discussion points:
Illawarra Hawks men restricted players - rules explained
Praise for the top 5 teams in NBL1 East right now
EGG GOTW: Penrith Panthers vs. Sydney Comets (M)
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Promotions
00:00:32
Speaker
Yo, yo, hey everyone, welcome back to, almost said the wrong podcast name, welcome to East Got Game where we give you the X's, the O's and the insights of NBL One East.
00:00:45
Speaker
Thanks again for joining us tonight live on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook and remember you can follow us on Instagram and Facebook at East Got Game or you can continue to find out episodes on your preferred streaming platforms.
00:01:00
Speaker
While you're there, make sure you check out Cut to the Jace, a podcast featuring the Bankstown Bruin himself, Jason Caddy, and excuse me, it's The Cole World, a podcast by WNBL champion Beck Cole. Both of these podcasts brought to you by basketball.com.au.
Hosts' Weekend and NBL1 East Games
00:01:21
Speaker
Lockie, how are we going tonight? Doing great, Squint. How are you doing? Excellent. I am good, thank you. I've had a very long weekend here in South East Queensland because Labor Day long weekend is now, whereas your Labor Day long weekend is in October. So just to make things more confusing for everyone.
00:01:47
Speaker
And how how did you spend your long weekend? ah Doing too many things, adult admin things, and typically me, I have too many fingers in too many pies, so i was trying to do a lot of those side projects and side hustles on the long weekend and probably didn't have enough rest time, but that's okay. Next weekend will be rest time.
00:02:11
Speaker
Fair enough. And how did you spend your regular weekend? I spent my, well, I started my regular weekend going to see Maximo Park at Liberty Hall.
00:02:24
Speaker
But I spent my actual weekend weekend commentating Sutherland versus Newcastle, which was Sophie Brennan's 50th game and Lachlan Hutchison's 100th game.
00:02:35
Speaker
And Kate Kingham racked up her 1,000th NBL1 East Point. um Yeah, and Newcastle walked away with wins in both games. Yeah. But God, if I said it on the call.
00:02:48
Speaker
Sutherland and Newcastle play each other again with Lauren Nicholson and Mia Heidi in the mix. That is going to be something special. Yeah, both of those matchups would have been great night out at the Shark Tank.
Player Achievements and Game Milestones
00:03:02
Speaker
And a massive congratulations to Sophie Brennan and Lockie Hutchinson. And, of course, Kate Kingham, 1,000 points. I'm really glad that the Newey Falcons are keeping stats on things like that.
00:03:14
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. Me too. It's great. I feel like Lockie Hutchinson's played more than 100 games, though. He's played 100 NBL 1 games. He has played Waratah before that.
00:03:28
Speaker
So just NBL 1, yeah. So how many games do you think he's played for Sutherland at the semi-pro level? You know, when it was ABA, Championship, NBL1. He's got to be getting close to 200. No, I'm not sure. he's like and he's got So he's got 93 NBL1 games for Sutherland and seven for Aubrey Wodonga in South.
00:03:53
Speaker
And then according to AustraliaBasket.com, he's got another 56 for Sutherland. So he'd be on 149 games overall, if that's correct.
00:04:08
Speaker
Okay, so maybe it just feels like he's been playing for a long time. I think I just grossly overestimate how many games there are in a season. Yeah, so according to this, he made his debut in 2018, but it could have been before that. He would have been 19. He would have been good enough to play before that. Who knows?
00:04:26
Speaker
At least that many. And how good for Kate Kingham. We've watched Kate Kingham perform at a high level for a very long time, pretty much since she was under-16s for the new carourt Newcastle Hunters back then and now Falcons. So, yeah, big ups for Kate getting 1,000 points and even sweeter that she was named the Foot Locker Player of the Week for the NBL1 East.
Simpsons Memes and NBL1 East Content
00:04:52
Speaker
Yeah, massive. Yeah, I've known known Kate since the ah Simpsons meme era under-20s days. Yeah. Great, great, great times. um Yeah, and just watching her. She's such a lovely human as well. Someone you want to do well, you know, someone someone you can really easily cheer for.
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah, totally. i totally agree. ah Speaking of your Simpsons memes, by the way, Is there any chance that we could maybe bring that back in a bit more of an NBL One East flavor? Because I'm not sure if you saw today, i took some inspiration from your Simpsons Deep Cuts and shared a picture of Ryan Beastie with a Simpsons. Yes, I did see that.
00:05:31
Speaker
Yes. Yes, that was that was very good. I got a good laugh out of that. um I actually did have an idea for one. um
00:05:42
Speaker
it might be our might crossing the line. going to have an idea for it. I might share with you later. Yeah, sounds good. Let's keep it as a WIP for the time being.
00:05:52
Speaker
Yeah.
Round Five Analysis: Teams and Standings
00:05:54
Speaker
All right. But let's get into our discussion points for this week. We have just gone, we've just finished round five of NBL 1 East for 2026. I've got some discussion points up here on our run sheet, Lockie. Is there any that you'd like to add before we get started?
00:06:13
Speaker
No, I just added one down the bottom so we can get to that later. But no, I think we're set. think we're very well set. I think we are too. And now ah I just wanted to give a quick shout out to some of the the the top five teams in both the men's and women's competition at the moment in the East because there's some really impressive win-loss records so far to start the season. So with the men's competition, we've got the Canberra Gunners,
00:06:44
Speaker
still on top with a win-loss record of 6-0. Then you've got North Bears not too far behind them ah in second position with win-loss record of seven and one Then Manly,
00:06:58
Speaker
The men up there, they are just rolling at the moment, which we love to see. How good were some of those images as well popping up from the weekend? The bench is loving it. It seems like they're having a great time. They're 6-1 in third position. Illawarra in fourth position with six and one purely based on the point percentage. And COE almost slept on them.
00:07:20
Speaker
um Fifth position with 5-1. this how you saw the season starting in the men's competition, Lockie? um No, I i mean,
00:07:35
Speaker
ah yes and no. I mean, mainly mainly, I think the main, the only surprising thing is that they're two imports for unknown entities. We knew how good they had been in college or professionally or wherever beforehand, but it was just how good would they be in NBL one and they have properly shown up. But it's very rare that you would see at this early stage, the top five has a two game lead on the rest of the, um on the rest of the table, especially when like Canberra have already played Illawarra and headed Illawarra. They're only lost and Canberra sit there undefeated.
00:08:14
Speaker
so yeah, Yeah. um I mean, I probably, actually, I probably expected Bankstown to probably be closer at this stage, maybe five and two, you know, filling that gap rather than being two games back. But if you want to make finals, you better better get in quickly because spots are running out.
00:08:34
Speaker
I totally agree. Time is of the essence. Even though we have 16 teams in men's in the men's and women's competition and the season seems long, but every game counts. Hate to sound like a cliche. Because like you said, Bankstown are in sixth position, four and three. We probably would have expected them to have a couple more wins under their belt.
00:08:53
Speaker
But the Stangers is probably the biggest surprise. Their intense position at three and four, and I think everyone was expecting them to be, you know, pretty close to a perfect record at the start of the season.
00:09:06
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. I mean, they're still waiting on Mason Bragg to return, but there's... He's got to get back is the kind of thing. It's like when we were talking about Hill's women, it's like, well, it's going to be great when Piper Anderson's back, but she's got to get back first kind of thing. um And, you know, if he gets back sooner rather than later, I don't doubt they'll they'll be fine. And they are ah look pretty solid on the weekend with old Rain Smith absolutely popping off. So maybe they're they're starting to turn the corner a bit. But um it's a bit of a long jam there now between 6th and 10th.
00:09:39
Speaker
we'll get to one of those teams in there shortly. But, yeah, those things. And, I mean, Sutherland are one and four. And, you know, lost to Newcastle on the weekend. Jason Spurgeon was away. He was back at college in the States during his graduation ceremony.
00:09:56
Speaker
Against a Newcastle team where you think they... lost miles cherry having spurge it's like the biggest advantage i thought could possibly have had playing a cherry-less newcastle and they didn't have him and got done by almost 20 in the end so couple of teams down the bottom that are you know could also still make a run maitland especially and sutherland they've got to turn things around quickly they've ah had a pretty disjointed start first no coach then no players then he's done the other and
00:10:27
Speaker
Maybe they'll eventually get everyone back together. I hope so. hope it's this weekend against Canberra because they're going to need everybody. And, yeah, just going back to that point about Maitland as well turning a corner, given that they had a massive win against a team like Bankstown that have a high-caliber roster themselves, I think that is going to be a big confidence boost for them. And I wonder if it's just a matter of time, like, just for the final touches of chemistry to fall into place. Like, I remember a few years ago there was a Sydney Kings team who was absolutely stacked, right?
00:10:59
Speaker
And they were just dropping a few games. Then they ended up going on like a 14, 16 and 0 run and winning the championship. So I hope i think i wonder if the Maitland Mustangs are writing a similar narrative for themselves this season. Like once everything clicks into place, it's all systems go and they're just going to go on this incredible run.
00:11:19
Speaker
Sydney Uni Flames championship season, fourth at Christmas, won 12 or 13 on the trot, including finals to finish top and sweep both final series. so Get everything together. that ah As long as you're in the eight, if you're hitting your straps then, we had we've had fifth versus seventh finals. We've had you know grand finals. We've had all kinds of teams make it. So just got to be there.
00:11:45
Speaker
That's right.
NBL1 Rules and Asian Players Strategy
00:11:46
Speaker
Anything is possible. And let's have a quick look at the women's ladder, the top five teams as well. North Bears on top, win-loss record of eight and zero followed by Manly Warringah Seagulls 7-0.
00:12:00
Speaker
i mean, you do the math. That's obviously why Norths are on top. But both undefeated. Newcastle Falcons in third, six and one Centre of Excellence in fourth, five and one Bankstown cracking the top five with five and two We love to see it.
00:12:15
Speaker
And, yeah, that's the top five. with And we've got Hornby creeping up behind them in sixth position at four and two. Again, is this the top five, top six that you expected after round five of this season?
00:12:29
Speaker
um more more I might have been put my Sutherland hat on, but, of course, no Lauren. Well, lost lost by four points with no Lauren Nicolás. I know Newcastle, no Mia Heidi, but...
00:12:41
Speaker
um Yeah, maybe, yeah. it's It's near enough to close enough. I think the top eight is probably just about... I know I said COE would miss out on finals, but that was more just being nice to my friends. um It is more or less the top eight, I expected. Yeah, I might have expected Sutherland. Maybe Sutherland could be four and one at this stage.
00:13:04
Speaker
But they've also only played five games. But especially, like, that top four, I think, especially, is um is pretty dead on and it's going to be a great weekend as well. Norse playing Newcastle, Manly playing Bankstown.
00:13:20
Speaker
The whole talk about will Norse or Manly go, Norse and Manly be undefeated come their second game in week 14. Well, if there's one weekend that either of them is going to trip up, it could be this one.
00:13:34
Speaker
Yeah, quite possibly. see yeah, that's going to be a great test for all four of those teams in the next kind upcoming round six. I think as well for me, the Bandits, I think I would have expected them a little bit higher, but they've just been really unlucky with some games. um And they've got Maitland, I think, at home for the next round. And I would say, speaking of Mia Heidi, it looks like herself and Katie Jones, who has signed for the Canberra Nationals this season, are just wrapping up their...
00:14:04
Speaker
their season in Germany. So hopefully they'll be back pretty soon. Yeah. I messaged Katie after their final series wrapped up and I said, you better be back for this weekend against Sutherland because it's at Sutherland and I want to wear my jersey. And she was like, oh, we'll see. So that's all the information I've got.
00:14:22
Speaker
Interesting. Okay. Okay. Well, that's okay. That's enough of ah a good a good tease, I suppose. Yes. arriving just in time. ah Very good. All right. And then next on our discussion point for today, something that I think we forgot to cover in our last episode, which was a question we had gotten from some loyal listeners a few weeks ago, was about the restricted players in the Illawarra Hawks men's team. So especially when Mohamed Kony had announced
00:14:54
Speaker
Well, they announced that he was joining the team. A lot of people were asking, hey, isn't that four restricted players now for Illawarra Hawks? So I thought we better clear that up. ah We do have a reliable source that has informed us as to how this was possible. But ah are you able to recall, Lockie, or do you want me to read it out? Yes.
00:15:13
Speaker
I am fairly able to recall because so the rule, i think, and actually I think the old bylaws might still be on the Basketball New South Wales website from when the rule for NBL restricted players was 25% of minutes.
00:15:28
Speaker
So I think that's maybe where some people... found the info like this is the latest info it's 25 but the bylaws now we've been told are restricted players nbl wmbl have to pay 50 of available minutes so you can get someone who's played up to 20 minutes a night in the nbl before they count as restricted and peatling and blanchfield both played somewhere around 18 minutes a game in this last season for the law orahawks plus you two imports um mims and cone so they don't have four restricted players they have two restricted players and peatling and blanchefield are just your regular old standard australian player and that's about it so yes under the old rules which you can still get on the bnsw website peatling and blanchefield have been restricted but not anymore
00:16:21
Speaker
Bang on. And we've also been told that the women is slightly different. So it's around 25 minutes a game maybe for the WNBL to be counted as a restricted player. So, yeah, that clears that that makes so much more sense now when we learnt of that update. so hopefully that clears it up for a lot of people. But hopefully that also means that ah clubs in the future can get a little bit more creative with their signings, retain some NBL players, especially those that are playing football,
00:16:50
Speaker
20 minutes and under just to get some more reps up in the NBL one and it's going to strengthen the competition as a whole and something that the NBL one South in the women's competition are doing particularly well is signing a lot of Asian national players Yeah. the Melbourne, like the Melbourne Tigers women's team have two Chinese national players and they are absolute ballers. Like we've seen them play at FIBA events. They've also got an Indian national player playing for the Ringwood Hawks Haniqarh.
00:17:21
Speaker
um breaking a lot of glass ceilings, which is perhaps another story for another day. But for me, it begs the question, can us in the east with our beautiful east coast beaches and metropolitan lifestyle start to attract some more Asian national players to the east, yeah given that Asian national players don't have as many restrictions. They're counted as locals.
00:17:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we've seen a couple of teams do it. Inner West have done it Hornsby, Keringai and the part they've signed. Players from China, sorry, from Taiwan and Japan, but not, like, on the same level as what they've done in the South. by I know, like, Mizuki Wakamatsu has gone off for 30 in this league. So, um yeah. So, and, like, comments had Arisa Takemoto. Yeah.
00:18:13
Speaker
i'm at tomatoes played um show how yamazaki shai oh like there's been a few around but none that are going anywhere close to the level that um and uh comments have a japanese um backup point guy this year as well in the men's so definitely got some but not to the same yeah not to the same level and i mean if you've got That extra, you can basically use it as a third import spot. If you can't find someone who's an NBL player or a you know ah an Aussie that's better, a local that's better, you may as well bolster your roster if you can find someone.
00:18:54
Speaker
Definitely. And, of course, remember in the inaugural NBL 1A season, the Aubrey Wodonga Bandits women's team had R Yamada. Of course. All-Star 5 season one. Yeah. So um that's the thing. They went out and got a really good Asian import. So, you know, that worked worked perfectly for them.
00:19:13
Speaker
h So, yeah, I think there's room for us to try and get a bit creative with pinching some nationals, Asian national players. Even um they had Jack from the film Gilas Filipinas play for Ringwood last year as well, the place of the Filipino national team. So there's lots of room there, but I just thought it was really interesting how South are taking that angle and East can take the same opportunity.
00:19:39
Speaker
And I think New Zealand, like any New Zealand player who isn't already a local, counts as the same for that as well. It's Asia-Oceanian. Yep. Yeah. Correct. Lots of
Stream Quality and Broadcast Expectations
00:19:50
Speaker
talent out there. Just, ah you know, got to get onto it first, I guess. But ah you've added a point to the discussion table today. What did you want to talk about, Lockie?
00:20:00
Speaker
I'm not the first person to talk about it this week because I'm pretty sure SJ was giving up large about this. And, frankly, I'm...
00:20:09
Speaker
we i talked about a little bit with the Hills Aubrey-Wodonga game where the cameraman just had the... what What we're discussing first is streams cutting out right at the end before the game's actually finished or not being filmed properly.
00:20:23
Speaker
So the Hills Aubrey-Wodonga game last weekend or a couple of weeks ago, the last men's game we did, Robbie and myself, ah basket down one end and it was right on the field was like a second before the siren and the cameraman didn't follow the ball for what was actually a potential three-quarter court buzzer beater which if it had gone in would have sent the place they just renovated lauren jackson's floor said i wouldn't need to do it again if that had got in uh and the camera just didn't follow um and then in the game we're about to re review spoiler alert which is penrith and comets in the men's game
00:21:01
Speaker
The stream, sorry, I'm not sure what happened live because we didn't watch it live, but trying to watch it on demand, they go to a timeout with two seconds to play, Penrith up one, and that's where the stream ends.
00:21:14
Speaker
the strength We didn't have that opportunity. It was a one-point ball game. Coach Will Hill calls the timeout, like you said, and we don't see the last play. Like, come on, guys. That's like ending a movie without us seeing the ending, like having no resolution.
00:21:30
Speaker
I don't know if that's the stream got killed then or if whatever they – I don't know if they use some automated process to, like, clip up these streams and that's just – where like the game clock said it was zeros on the stream. So that's where the cutting got done and it got posted or I can't imagine any actual human being would do something like that.
00:21:55
Speaker
so yeah ah that's what i thought as well given that when you watch the game replays they cut out all of the timeouts and all of the the the breaks so i wonder if it was just something similar like that it was a machine and not a man yeah i think so because like you see some of the clips like at half time it'll come back like 10 seconds later or something i can't imagine any person would be clipping clipping it like that if they are um help. um But yeah, but especially as commentators, we get told, you know, i mean, we're we're not perfect. don't know, we're perfect. um
00:22:31
Speaker
But, you know, we get told we're the voice of the league, you know, we're we're putting the product out there. We've got to be you know professional and keep on top of all these things. And it would nice for the the visual to you know the visual to be the same Yeah, especially like just at least real, like the little half time, like getting clipped 10 seconds over or whatever. But when it's, some yeah, when it's the end of the game like that, it just needs to be done better.
00:22:59
Speaker
And then ah our box score gave out, we still had the um commentator, deck fortunately but our box score gave out in the middle of the Sutherland game I think during the women's game we were trying to find how many offensive rebounder someone had and we just couldn't do it because so we only had that little commentators deck where we only get like the five main stats nothing major breakdown so yeah just little things to work through I'd probably that's probably fairly low on the ah ah agenda of things that can be improved in the league but yeah
00:23:34
Speaker
Getting the streams right and making sure we can actually see the end of the game.
Building Podcast Engagement
00:23:39
Speaker
Yeah, because these can be big moments, you know especially like that. If Comets hit a shot there at the end, that's a massive moment.
00:23:47
Speaker
Aubrey hit a shot a couple weeks couple of weeks ago, that's a massive moment and just gets missed. Yeah. yeah Yeah, absolutely. Totally agree. ah Well, the only other discussion point I'll bring up is that we are four Instagram followers away from 1,000 And now we don't do this for for likes and whatever else. We are genuinely, you know, to take homage from Will Mayfield and Caleb Fogarty's very good journalism skills, Lucky and I are just two nerds repping our conference. So we don't do it for the likes and the clout and all that nonsense that...
00:24:28
Speaker
uh that can be seen with content creating and podcasts we generally just like nbl1 east and want to promote the players and the coaches and the talent in it but it would be cool if we had a thousand followers purely because i think it helps with uh sometimes doing instagram lives i think you have to have a certain amount of followers but also it would just look cool yeah that's all it was all it is that's all it is would just look cool Going into season four with 1,000 followers, given that we don't post on that account half the time of the year, I think 1,000 followers would just look really cool.
Game of the Week: Penrith vs. Sydney Comets
00:25:05
Speaker
so if you
00:25:07
Speaker
if you hear this and you feel so inclined, please share with your friends. If you're someone like me that has multiple accounts, please, if you can, follow eScotGame on all of your accounts.
00:25:19
Speaker
And let's get to 1,000. We're four away. We're four away. we were five away when you wrote that, and Ethan Martin Coney just followed. So there we go. I know. I was already going to give him a shout-out in our game review, and I might have to give him some more praise now. Very good indeed.
00:25:35
Speaker
Okay. So should we get stuck into this game then? We've already alluded to our game of the week. It was a very tight game. It was ah it was very, yeah. So, yeah, this was the Penrith Panthers versus the Sydney Comets men held on Sunday, May 3rd at Minto Sports Centre, RIP Campbelltown Ghosts. I think that was the Campbelltown. That was them back in the day.
00:26:02
Speaker
Back in the day. um so yeah, so this was... we purely chose this game of the week because it was a one-point ball game, so indicating it was going to be close and exciting. But also, I think the ah consensus online, but maybe raised a few eyebrows now that Penrith have come so close to the Canberra Gunners and now they've beaten the Comets. So that's what kind of sparked my interest. What about you, Lachie?
00:26:29
Speaker
um I mean, it's always like... they comments beat them by 39 was it two two weeks ago yeah 95 56 that game will and i called um which was not the most fun actually it wasn't will and i it was gemini sorry That Gem's commentary debut. How dare I? But yes, it was 95-56. Yeah, 95-56 just two weeks ago.
00:26:55
Speaker
And Penrith, without Jonah Perez, were able to get the win, 68-67. We'll say that Penrith didn't have a game on the Saturday. Comets did. So this was a Stiga Barber, second game of a back-to-back.
00:27:10
Speaker
Had to get that in there. And Comets had won big the previous day, 92-69 over Hornsby. So, know, falling in a hole in the second half against Norse the previous week, they'd come back and won big. So they should have been, you know, feeling good about things and, you rolling on. You we're back in business. Let's get it, boys.
00:27:33
Speaker
But Penrith, I've got more ideas. Let's go the weekend 2-0 on the road. yeah ah i where What's the report on Jonah Paras as well? why Do we know why he wasn't there?
00:27:47
Speaker
i have absolutely zero idea. I yeah i didn't actually notice until i um remember if anything happened like not a couple of weeks ago. or Yeah, no, not sure.
00:28:01
Speaker
Maybe just it was that maybe it's just like a personal event, like a wedding or something. Yeah, I mean, Jason Spurgeon went to his graduation ceremony. Lauren Nicholson went to three x- three World Series.
00:28:13
Speaker
so Yeah, yeah, yeah. there' is All these cool stepping stones that happen as well. So, yeah, no pares for Penrith, but it looks like the rest of the team certainly stepped up.
00:28:24
Speaker
ah As you mentioned, it was a, I mean, a typically low scoring-ish game, sixty eight sixty seven First quarter was only 11 to 12 in favour of Sydney Comets. What were your initial impressions of this game from the first quarter?
00:28:43
Speaker
Comets. sorry boys but you look like a team that was a playing your second over back to back and b like you were playing a team you've beaten by 40 the last week last time out it's bit complacent bit yeah i i'm watching the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man team play five out basketball yeah i've kind of noticed as well uh Just like really soft hands. Like I'm not sure. I get that, you know, playing a doubleheader away, especially a Sunday game, you're usually like winding down on a Sunday. So maybe you're mentally conditioned to be a bit more relaxed, but just really loose and wacky waving arms, like you said, with the ball in that first quarter.
00:29:30
Speaker
Yeah. just And, yeah, absolutely. Big, yeah, you have a team full of big guys. And yeah, I'm just watching five out ball. You'd run like, you tie bring it up.
00:29:43
Speaker
Over you, get it, cross with Akhil, he'd fling it out. And someone had decided, it's my turn to shoot a three now. So I'll shoot a three. And there's no one in the paint. I'm just like, yeah, the first the first five minutes did not get good vibes from comments at all.
00:30:01
Speaker
I think, um and to be fair, i think the first quarter, like when we when we reviewed the game last week, we kind of made mention that it was off to a really great start for the first half.
00:30:14
Speaker
This was the, you know, the Hornsby-Maitland women's game we reviewed last week. And then things started to unravel a little bit in the third quarter for both teams. It was unraveling from the start for both of these teams. They both just seemed a little bit discombobulated with what was going on. Like people were had soft hands and kept dropping the ball.
00:30:35
Speaker
um Penrith's defensive intensity was quite good and it was good enough to be quite disruptive really early to kind of play into how the soft hands that Sydney Comets were playing with. But then both ends of the floor, yeah,
00:30:51
Speaker
I think just some very rushed haphazard decision-making offensively for both teams. Like it's almost like they needed to shoot their nerves out or something. Yeah, 100%. I mean, I think you can bet into the defensive energy and honestly, i think I have more notes about how things looked in like a qualitative sense than the actual...
00:31:12
Speaker
like analysis because so much of what pen good came from penrith came from energy from guys like jet hickson and simon kropes and later on when he got on court jesse weinstein uh so and i think honestly it was that energy throughout that kept penrith in the game for the most part but yeah the i mean Energy will get you a long way on defense. It can lead to getting a bit haphazard on offense um because I went back and looked at the stats and Jed Hickson, eight points. I'm like, but he was blown by guys all game and he finished three of 13 from the field. So but great on the defensive end.
00:31:55
Speaker
But yeah. um
00:32:00
Speaker
I mean, Comet's, two Two points in the paint for the entire first quarter. ah just, i don't I don't see that. You'll see in the second quarter how things can change, but two points in the first quarter. But, um yeah, this was definitely a defensive quarter.
00:32:15
Speaker
The offences weren't good, but the defences were. Dup, we know he's a great defender. he brought He brought some energy off the bench. And, I mean, shout out to the Comets bench in general um because they really got things started.
00:32:31
Speaker
It was,
00:32:34
Speaker
yeah, I mean, we just mentioned Ethan Martin Coney. First thing he does, comes into the game, sets the screen, rolls to the basket. He got called for a charge when he bumped the defender right near the basket, but it was the first time someone at Comets actually looked like they were running a set or doing something that looked more than just flinging the ball around and finding a shot. and that Yeah, I agree. That's what I really liked about his game.
00:33:02
Speaker
I agree. That's what I really liked about his game as well. um He only played ten just over 10 and a half minutes, but he had 10 points, five boards, and an assist in 10 minutes 42. Let the kid cook.
00:33:17
Speaker
Let the kid cook. Like you said, he actually brought some stability onto the court when he offensively when he came on, which is you know not expected for A, a bench player, and B, and a bench player that's, what, 19? Yeah.
00:33:30
Speaker
yeah ah Yeah, and I think he was playing a little bit out of position because a lot of his shots were under the basket. I think I saw this kid play a few weeks ago at an AAU tournament up here in Brisbane and he was playing a little bit more on the outside but certainly could get downhill and use see his size to finish really nicely on the inside.
00:33:50
Speaker
But you're right. He was the one person that had some stability that was taking a moment to make good decisions and was being really assertive under the basket and taking great shots. Like, i he was kind of my MVP of the game, even though he only had the 10 minutes. he was He was great. And, i the comment yeah, the Comets bench, when they brought on, they brought on um free my man Isaac Gundy.
00:34:15
Speaker
How does he only get five minutes?
00:34:19
Speaker
Sorry, i mean he didn't I mean, he doesn't feel like he gets a lot of opportunity to do many things, but but he when he's given opportunities, he looks good. But yeah, they I think they ran a full bench unit, either late in the first or early in the second. And the ball was humming around. Players were moving off the ball.
00:34:37
Speaker
was almost like the starters needed to be sat and shown. Boys, do this.
00:34:45
Speaker
It's certainly one of those games where i think some, I wonder as well sometimes, especially when you get to, but you're coaching a higher level, like you're coaching NBL ones where people do have contracts and get match payments and there's more at stake in that sense. But even when you're coaching division one reps and there's that other higher expectation of, Hey, my kids a little bit better. They should be getting more court time and more shots. But the end of the day, you've got to play the five players who are actually going to get the job done. And so if that's your bench players, like the Sydney Comets had 22 points from the bench. 22 of their 67 points were from the bench. yeah You just got to play who's getting the job done and who's cooking and let it go.
00:35:30
Speaker
yeah i mean yeah baby charles was two or four from deep i think he hit one one in the first quarter or early in the city yeah and like he was he was looking good off the bench he was and you know he's going to come in and just fire everyone up so oh yeah yeah yeah you got He's the guy that you sign like when you need a good good hype around your team, good culture, good energy. here's the good He's the good and energy and culture signing, baby Chow. And he's always good for defense in a three, like you said. ah But, yeah, I just i that i just thought ah Martin Coney was really good in that sense. Oh, wait, sorry. He had – oh, no, I'm looking at the wrong game. Yeah.
00:36:11
Speaker
Yeah, I just thought he was really, really good. um I thought like from the outset, though, the Comets started to get a lot better looks of the basket when they were going from a low a high to low option. So they'd get a high post catch, they'd get it in low. and when the two post players would be working off each other closer to the basket, they got some really good looks. But their best looks, I think, came from the fast break. Their transition game was really good very early once they were able to wrangle a good stop against Penrith.
00:36:42
Speaker
Yeah, and i think it's something, I mean, We look at Comets and go, oh, they're all really tall. but And, yeah, they are really tall. But, like, some of those guys can get out there and running. Like, Obieche, Akil Douglas, guys like that, they're no slouch. You've got Gotch Malawal on that roster. There's guys out there that can run and get up court quickly. And if Tai Baba Bay is not just dribbling the ball up court at pace, he'll find them.
00:37:06
Speaker
you Definitely. Yeah, I thought there were – I was hoping that –
00:37:14
Speaker
that Barber Bay in particular at some parts of the game would just tuck the ball under his wing after a defensive spot and just go and make his team catch up with him if he didn't have a score himself because he did it a couple times and it was just no one could catch him. It worked really well for them and it kind of helped – the Comets extend their lead when they were up by, you know, they were up by as much as 14 at one stage of the game.
00:37:41
Speaker
But ah look what about Penrith in the first quarter? For me, I mentioned um good defensive intensity, really going for the scrap, really being disruptive and pocket-picking the Comets, which I think rattled them pretty early. But offensively, just...
00:38:00
Speaker
really need to tighten up with some of their their shot selections and their change in tempo in the half court in the first quarter yeah 100 i did i um i did like jack tisich i think he he just he's he does a lot of um just lot of hard work out there he sets a lot of good screens roles when he has to does really good things um doesn't didn't always work out for them but um
00:38:28
Speaker
And I think the hardest thing is for Penrith is that Benny Kierens is so good, you know, he can direct traffic and control the tempo and slow it down.
00:38:45
Speaker
And then you've got Jesse Weinstein who gets the ball in his hand as the point guard and will just go and will just take someone on. And the problem is I feel like they both need to have the ball in their hands at the start of the possession to get the best out of both of them in this line. I don't think you could. I think Benny would be a bit wasted playing off the ball next to Jesse where he isn't so much with Jonah.
00:39:11
Speaker
And I think Jesse not bringing being the one bringing the ball up, it wouldn't matter who was next to him kind of thing, which is kind of unfortunate because they both had some really good stints in this game. Yeah.
00:39:23
Speaker
And they did they did overlap a bit, but um but not a whole lot, which I think think is was the best thing for the team, seem to be entirely honest. Yeah, I mean, most most of my notes were being annoyed at Comets, if I'm being entirely honest with you. But Tisic and Kripez had a couple of good players where they'd drop it in to each other. Yeah.
00:39:48
Speaker
Tissic had the final play of the quarter where Weinstein, I don't know how Jesse Weinstein created anything on that last play. It felt like he was dribbling the air out of the ball and then somehow a pick and roll.
00:40:01
Speaker
wild pick and roll appeared where tisic comes out and sets the screen and why is so no time how it manages to find him with the past two i'm getting them back within him one but they had depend on had a good enough good moments and only trail by one to make me feel that even if comets did get out of their funk pen they weren't going to runway with the pendrith were actually looking decent enough often enough and with enough energy that even, like, even it got, as you said, it got out to 14 at one point, and even though it still didn't, it never felt like a 14-point game.
00:40:35
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. It didn't, I was surprised when I was looking back at the stats that the Comet's biggest league was 14. Yeah, because it didn't feel like that. It always felt like Penrith were in touch of the lead or they were always going to be ready to make a run for it. But just just in that first quarter, know,
00:40:55
Speaker
You know, Penrith only made three field goals. Sydney only made two field goals. I imagine the rest was on free throws, which is another thing that we'll get to later.
00:41:06
Speaker
Because you know how love free throws. um But yeah. doesn't It doesn't look like most of these players do. Nope, nope. But, yeah, not great shooting in the first half. Both Sydney and Penrith shot 20% from the two-point range in this first quarter, I should say. Penrith, 14.29% from the three-point line and Comet's 28.57. It was just, I think it was one of those things where Penrith was playing this really,
00:41:39
Speaker
kind of not scrappy, but very intense, very disruptive defense. And when a transfer into offense, then they were still playing with that level of intensity and hype and started rushing. And then I think the Comets just kind of got caught up in that style of play a little bit too much. The Comets.
00:41:56
Speaker
were a little bit too passive in just allowing Penrith to control a lot of the tempo and momentum of this game. and they get and if you're going to get caught up in the opposition style of play, you're not going to win. And I think Comets were just maybe expecting that it would They were just going to like, oh, we'll well we'll click eventually.
00:42:19
Speaker
ah we'll win eventually. Or this will happen eventually. And there just this sense of either fatigue or complacency. It's hard to tell which which it was. um And I think they would just kind of rest on their laurels a little bit too much. we' like, oh we'll be right. We'll be right. And they were not.
00:42:34
Speaker
No. but Yeah. I mean, in the second the second quarter, I mean, they pushed the score out, but it still didn't, yeah, it didn't feel...
00:42:45
Speaker
Didn't feel quite right. um Because to be honest, in the start of the second quarter, I thought Penrith looked much better, especially at the offensive end. It didn't always fall for them.
00:42:57
Speaker
They had a couple of really good possessions with Jesse Weinstein starting um the second quarter. It had a couple of defenders wondering exactly what they should do. And he was able to find some teammates.
00:43:09
Speaker
I mean, he ah he absolutely wrecked Keto Brown on one play, just drove straight. by He didn't really break his ankles. Keto just kind of slipped trying to stay with him um and found Jet Hickson with this wraparound pass. But, I mean, Jet couldn't hit the three, but it was still – it was kind of, you know – I'm trying to find – think of the exact word I'm looking for. it it was It was just good to see. like It was a good play to see. like It didn't work out, but it – Yeah, it's something you like to see the offense doing, like humming like that. um
00:43:44
Speaker
Yeah. But I mean, Then the Comet starters came back in and they actually kept moving the ball like they had. Well, it wasn't all the starters. it was three starters. was just Ty, Barba Bay, Akil Douglas and Johnny Kornograk came back in alongside Chido Brown and e and Ethan Martin Coney.
00:44:06
Speaker
And the ball movement remained good. They didn't just revert back to this kind of lackadaisical play. So that was when they started to actually hit their stride a little bit, I thought. Oh, for sure. And you can see that in the stats as well. Like this second quarter from the Comets, this is when they had their biggest lead of 14. They went on a 10-point run. They had 11 points from the bench. Then six of those 11 points were just Ethan Martin Coney himself. 14 points inside the paint.
00:44:36
Speaker
So really starting to focus on their strengths in that game. in that quarter. Comets ended up with 22 points in the paint the whole game though. Yeah. So after getting 14 of their 22 points in the paint in the second quarter, they've just then fallen away from it. And the other weird, interesting stat is that Penrith ended up having more points in the paint the whole game than Sydney, despite their height average being what?
00:45:03
Speaker
6'8". Yeah. It's, yeah, it's kind it's very interesting. Yeah.
00:45:12
Speaker
Just taking a look at the shot chart, I mean, like, you think about like more points in the paint, but we talk about Weinstein, like, being able to drive in on people, but he only had one basket in the paint. Jed Hickson had three. He could have had eight or nine.
00:45:27
Speaker
um Yeah, so it wasn't like it was all these guys using their energy to get downhill in the
Game Review: Stats and Strategy
00:45:34
Speaker
paint. There were guys like Kripes and Tisic doing things. I think Tisic had two putbacks in the space of 30 seconds late on in the game.
00:45:40
Speaker
That certainly amped up the numbers. But, um yeah, it wasn't all just guys being able to drive past a bigger man. They were fighting for it and getting in the paint to makete to um to bring that number back. But, I mean, back to back to the quarter at hand. 14 points in the paint and eight for the rest of the game. It's just a mind-boggling number.
00:45:59
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree, totally agree. And in terms of points and points in the paint, you know, Martin Coney again had four of those points. He had Douglas getting on the inside a little bit, Vichetti,
00:46:15
Speaker
um ah Big Johnny is getting in there, Ovi Chay was getting in there. Like it was it was a lot more consistent of the star players getting shots under the basket, but they definitely needed i just And I think as well the spread of scorers in the second quarter or at least the the people shooting in the second quarter was a little bit more balanced from the Comets in this quarter compared to Penrith. Penrith in the second quarter, they they had 18, so in this quarter was 18 to 25 in favour of the Comets.
00:46:49
Speaker
um But Caprez only had two shots left. in the second quarter, he's someone who needs to be shooting a lot more and a lot more consistently. Whereas Kieran's had, he had five shots in the quarter and Schwartzer then only had three. So I think just in terms of spread and shot selection, maybe a bit more balance needs to come by the Penrith Panthers in that sense.
00:47:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the the kind of numbers Prepeza has been putting up this year, he two two shots in the quarter isn't isn't going to cut it. I don't think he could reach his scoring average only shooting two shots a quarter, but even if he made them all.
00:47:30
Speaker
Yeah, and then this quarter as well for Paner from the three-point line was not the best, 11%, one from nine from the three. One of nine, Yeah. um So that, yeah, so probably just still tweaking some decision-making, maybe just playing a little bit more rushed, probably some more opportunities to slow down and get a little bit more organised. But, yeah, Sydney just started to look comfortable, but maybe a little bit too comfortable and that complacency started to creep in a bit, I think.
00:48:03
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it was out to 14. It got back to eight by the end of the quarter and late on, I mean, it you mentioned loose, you know, soft hands, you know, turnover prone in the first quarter. It didn't fully go away in the second quarter. They still were prone to having it poked away. It happened once late in the quarter with Hickson again OVC.
00:48:25
Speaker
um It was after OVC got an O-board and Hickson poked it away from him and went coast to coast. And I was like, okay, so, yeah, kind of interesting. Yeah, there's still, yeah, as long as,
00:48:41
Speaker
I mean, it seems it seems to be something Penrith are good at. They're good at active hands defence without fouling, I thought. i've felt me They would make good decisions. Maybe it's the ah the the reflexes of youth more than anything, but they are I certainly know that I'd i'd be fouling. I'd have 5,000 about seven minutes if I tried that nowadays. I would i would argue i would argue as well that the Comet soft hands didn't improve all game.
00:49:09
Speaker
No, no, I don't think. Let alone a second quarter. All game. They didn't make any adjustments to Penrith's style of defence or play or trying to pickpocket them all game.
00:49:20
Speaker
They just kept letting it happen, letting it happen. They had 20 turnovers, but I'm sure that the comments would argue that a lot of that they weren't getting and a lot of fouls called in their favour because it started to get quite testy towards the end of the game, towards the referees and the fouls called and things like that. But Comets didn't adjust to it at all. They weren't getting on their front foot. They weren't using their pivot.
00:49:43
Speaker
They were just being complacent and and holding the ball out for these guys to come and take it. Yeah, I mean, it finished...
00:49:52
Speaker
74 field goal attempts to 67. Even the Comets had four more offensive rebounds than Penrith, but nine more turnovers. In a one-point game, seven fewer field goal attempts. So it doesn't matter that you shot a little bit better overall from the field.
00:50:08
Speaker
You just gave them too many chances to put the ball in the basket.
00:50:13
Speaker
Yeah, and and then they still won the rebound count 55 to 42, the which means that, you know, they probably um should have dominated possession a little bit more, but they're just not using the, taking the value of the ball then if you're going to turn it over 20 times. Yeah.
00:50:34
Speaker
So it was, um yeah, there were some improvements in the second quarter, but um i still didn't see the comments being really assertive and trying to take control of this game before it got too out of hand. No.
00:50:48
Speaker
And I'd, Like we already mentioned, but it didn't feel like we saw a lot of Ethan late in the quarter either. I don't think so, no. I know that he started to make an impact a little bit more in the first. Let me see when he he's made his shots.
00:51:08
Speaker
So he he made a layup at 5 minutes 43 in the second, um another layup at 7.22. Yeah.
00:51:19
Speaker
ah mid-range jumper at eight, and then a missed jump shot at 6.30. So, yeah, it looks like he he made a layup at around the five-minute mark in the second quarter and then didn't it didn't look like he – well, he didn't shoot after that, so perhaps he didn't return to the game.
00:51:35
Speaker
Yeah, wow. I mean – Yeah, going off in the second and then you're done for the night. Yeah, man, i would have – I mean – As you said, you've got a lot of players out there commanding a lot of minutes, but he's a guy I probably would have had out there. hu I'd be happy to have him out there 20, 25 minutes to be entirely honest with you.
00:52:00
Speaker
Yeah. Especially if you're going to be that productive with 10 and five and 10 minutes. Yeah. But then third quarter things started. Oh, the only thing I'll say as well about the second quarter is that I don't think the style of play offensively from either team changed a lot, but it certainly helped shape the changes that were made in the second half. Yeah.
00:52:23
Speaker
for each team, more so Penrith, that I think helped them get the win in the end. So Penrith really came out firing in the third quarter. Things started to click a little bit more for them, and they won the third quarter twenty two to seventeen i think for Penrith, you know, i I said before about the Comets looked the best when they were running in transition, like when they werere getting fast break points. But for Penrith, for me, it's just going back to that old school game Ball movement, inside, outside, change sides, hit the shooters in the corners.
00:52:55
Speaker
They look much better in the second half when they dribbled less and passed more. Yeah, 100%. ah Kieran's facilitating, getting in the right spot, starting things off well.
00:53:11
Speaker
just that's That's what I was talking about earlier with the juxtaposition between Kieran's and Weinstein. And they needed someone. And it felt like as the game went on, their teammates were able to play the different styles better as well. It wasn't like, oh, Jesse's off, Ben's on, oh, and it takes them like two or three minutes to figure out he's exactly what they want to do. They were like, all right, Benny's got the ball, we're slowing it down a bit. Jesse's got the ball, come set a pick, let him go.
00:53:39
Speaker
ah Yeah, it really felt like they were actually got things really humming well by um throughout this third quarter. And come back to Kripez and Hickson just always always got the energy to match Weinstein. Those three on the court, maybe a bit more defensively even in this third quarter, but are just in general, the energy that those three bring is just elite.
00:54:06
Speaker
um I mean, Kripez had, was it three? Was it? Kripez all of them? Yeah, he was three from the 3.5 in the third quarter. Yeah, in the first two and a half minutes of the third quarter, he hit three threes.
00:54:21
Speaker
um And they were all off ball movement and sets or doing something to draw a defender out that got him open. It wasn't like, i mean, there was one where Akeel Douglas was this far away from getting a steal.
00:54:42
Speaker
But Penrith made best use of the opportunity when he was just a couple of steps out of the play to get Kripess open for a three. um I think that was, mean,
00:54:54
Speaker
i mean No, that was a different play. My apologies. But, yeah, I mean, three threes in the opening three minutes for one player is just – in a game like this where they were down eight and just brought it back that quickly is just massive.
00:55:09
Speaker
And it was good that they were able to get Kripez open, ah even if it wasn't inside because he just he just showed that he's feeling the three ball as well today, which I think of also just change you know gives the defence something else to think about.
00:55:27
Speaker
Well, ah yeah, I agree. I think the sets that they ran in the third quarter for Penrith were a lot better organized and they were getting their shooters the right shots. So of this 22-point quarter for Penrith, 18 of those 22 points came from the three-point line. Yeah.
00:55:44
Speaker
So you had ah Caprez, as you said, he was three from three. You had Schwarzer, he was two from four. And then you had...
00:55:56
Speaker
think that was it actually. I think it was just those two in the third quarter from the three. No, sorry. There was one more. Weinstein from the corner. He had one as well. Ah, yes. Yeah.
00:56:07
Speaker
So it was just the right people taking much better shots at the right time. And i think in the first quarter for both teams, I should say, a lot of the shots that were taken were probably not the best decisions to make at all. Yeah.
00:56:24
Speaker
So, yeah, so Penrith really came out firing, 18 of the 22 points from the three-point line. I can't really remember if Comet's made too many adjustments around stopping the likes of Caprez getting three threes in a quarter.
00:56:38
Speaker
um They did limit him in the in the fourth quarter, which we'll get to. He didn't have any. But, um yeah, it it's kind of really set the tone for the second quarter, the way that Penrith started to fire from the three-point line. Yeah.
00:56:54
Speaker
Yeah, it was it was one occasion that really stood out to me. It was more when Jesse had the ball in his hand. It was one time especially where he wanted to get into the paint and Tisic had already set up.
00:57:10
Speaker
And Tissage was kind of like trying to set a screen in the paint for Jesse to like barrel his way. I'm like, just get out of there, mate. Just take someone with you. Less bodies. Don't worry about trying to like make room for him. Just get out get out of there. That's the best way to make room for him.
00:57:27
Speaker
um So just clearing clearing that out a bit, I think would have been better. But the great thing about those six threes is they came off. different different actions, whether it was Jesse, whether it was Benny, there was one where um where Ben, ah there was a nice inbound play. That was one of Schwartz's schwarzes threes with the inbound play.
00:57:50
Speaker
um Schwartz inbounded and then relocated to the corner and Kieran's found him with Tisic screening, which I thought was really nice. That was the play right at one minute to go in the third quarter that got Penrith back within one point.
00:58:05
Speaker
It was just another way of getting someone else open. because we I didn't i ah wanted to see more. i mean, he ended up with 13 points. He was two of eight from three. um We got remember, Brody Schwartz has had bit of a bugger of a run with injury.
00:58:20
Speaker
So I don't know. Obviously, he seems back to it to full fitness playing 27 minutes, but it's all the mechanic yeah mechanics of shooting and everything like that might take her take a little bit. But...
00:58:33
Speaker
it's Yeah, 18 of 22 points. In the same way that Comets did 14 of their 22 points in the paint in one quarter and then but then went away with it. But when you do it as the game goes later on, it's more probably more of a case that you've adjusted properly and done it well, that you've suddenly come out and hit six threes in a quarter for 18 points, especially when your other three quarters are 14%, 11%, and And then you're shooting, yeah, six of ten from three-point range in one quarter.
00:59:08
Speaker
And it started with one guy and then went to others. So they were able to find other people once Kripez, you know, either was stopped or wasn't hitting.
00:59:21
Speaker
Yeah, and then equally for the Comets in the third quarter, they had three threes of their own, which probably came at good times as well, and they had a couple of buckets underneath. They had only had a 17-point quarter, though, for this one.
00:59:34
Speaker
um So Penrith's doing a good job of limiting the Comets to 13 points. I think that sometimes some of these shots, they were they were much better shots taken for Comets in this third quarter, especially these threes. They were all wide open, great shots to take. um I think the likes of Gok could have benefited from a few more looks inside, maybe running some of that going back to what we saw in the first half of some more high-low action between Comets
01:00:05
Speaker
all of these great fours and fives and bigs that they've got to play with on this Comets roster. I think I didn't see, again, a a real... conscious effort from comets to take control of this game they were just letting the game happen and as the game went on you mentioned before about how you wanted Weinstein to kind of clear out and make some space as the game went on Penrith did that a lot better and they were able to exploit some holes in that second line of
01:00:36
Speaker
Comets defensive rotation, whereas the Comets went and did the exact opposite. They were just in everyone's way all the time and it got worse and worse as the game went on. There was times where there were three of them in the key and there were times where something would be happening on on the strong side and there's no action on the weak side and everyone's standing around and then someone would go in the key and then others would go in the key and then everyone was just in the wrong. There was no floor spots whatsoever. No.
01:01:05
Speaker
There was no rules or floor spots or anything. it was so disorganised. don't know how they managed to stand to be in each other's space that close. They're all big bodies too. It's not like, you know, it's bad enough when it's under 10s and they're learning and they're all bunching like grapes.
01:01:21
Speaker
But to have like these giant men plus defence in such small space, I was like, who do you what are you running? what what he What was the plan here, guys? Mm-hmm. But, yeah, it was just I just kind of got a sense that they just thought that they were just going to win.
01:01:39
Speaker
Yeah. um There's no real leadership. No, it doesn't it doesn't work. Yeah, it doesn't work like that. I've
01:01:53
Speaker
i've mentioned him so many times, but can we just talk about Jet Hickson's defence on Obi Che? Mm-hmm. Obi...
01:02:03
Speaker
And we'll talk about we probably talk about it in the fourth, but I've got to make the point now. There was one time where Obi got a couple of steps run up, took on Hickson, bumped him and made something happen.
01:02:16
Speaker
And so many other times he would just go at Hickson from a standing start and Hickson was able to stay in front. And i think the kid's young against a guy who's played in the NBL, and he was more than hanging with Obi Che for a lot of the time. oh Obi won his rounds of the battle 100%.
01:02:35
Speaker
Check the stats. Obi only finished with eight points, two of eight from the field, and one of six from two-point range. I think Jet Hickson, his defense, just staying in front of Obi there for a few occasions was really, really good.
01:02:54
Speaker
And I think if Obi had probably thought, had got the opportunity or to just back up, take him on a couple of steps, or the but i i think it was more fortunate that he got the opportunity with a bit of separation when it happened. But take him on with a bit of a running start because I think he really could he might have actually had a much better time of it against Hickson than just trying to take him on from close range, like almost trying to just bump him from a standing start.
01:03:24
Speaker
Shout out to young Jet, really becoming a fan of his. Now, I can't remember if it was Hickson or if it was Weinstein that was giving Barba Bae a hard time.
01:03:37
Speaker
yeah know was I think that would have been Jesse. Actually, think I wrote down one. ah know I wrote down Schwarzer. gave Barba Bay a hard time. was definitely giving Barba Bay a hard time too. On one possession in particular where Ty was able to spin out of it and actually create a three for someone. But it was a hell of a time to get there before he was here. As I was mentioning earlier, the active hands defense from Penrith. And it was really good by Brodie to not commit the foul, but just better by Barba Bay to get out of it and make something happen.
01:04:11
Speaker
Yeah, Barber Bay's really hard to guard at the best of times, but when he puts on the jets and he's able to cut off the shoulders of his defenders, he gets low, he gets close to his defenders, he's really, really hard to guard, Barber Bay. I feel like he probably could have done this a little bit more throughout the whole game because even though Weinstein and Schwarzer and the like were doing a really good job on him to make it more difficult,
01:04:37
Speaker
um I think Barber Bay sometimes was looking for those fouls that weren't going to get caught. He just he just needed to shake him off and just blow by him. Yeah, 100%. Because if he if he was he was able to get low and skinny and get past him, he was either going to get a great scoring opportunity, potentially create an assist, or he was going to get fouled.
01:04:56
Speaker
i think and I think Comets really needed someone like Barber Bay just to take control of this game for them. There wasn't a lot of leadership. There wasn't a lot of... um camaraderie or all kind of team bonding going on when when the, I was going to swear then, when it started to get really challenging and they needed to close out this game, no one was pulling the team together and getting them focused, getting them organised. I think they were just, I don't know if they were just falling away or being complacent again of just like, we'll i will be right or just do this or just stand here or just don like, it and it's not going to, it doesn't happen like that.
01:05:37
Speaker
And and the like when you feel like, look, probably for me to say what they were thinking or feeling, but when a game that you should win and you know you should win it starts to get close, you start to get a little bit, you're like, why is it you start going from, oh, this is going to work, this is going to work, to why is this not working?
01:05:55
Speaker
what Why are we not able to beat this team that we beat by 42 weeks ago? What has happened here? We beat them by 40 and they don't have Jonah Perez this week. what What are we doing? what where Where is the win coming from?
01:06:08
Speaker
and Yeah. but he yeah let's You start thinking like, know, it's almost like going through the five stages of grief at some point. Yeah. When Tame Impala said, let it happen, they he they didn't mean like this.
01:06:20
Speaker
yeah but not that's not the That's not the moral of that song at all. ah But the fourth quarter, Penrith won 17 to 13. This um this was really in the fourth quarter when they i think their ball movement was at their best for Penrith. They started to exploit some of the rotations in the second line of defence, like I mentioned before.
01:06:46
Speaker
um two i think that they they shot a lot of threes again. They shot eight threes. They were two from eight from the three-point line, making some buckets, though, just based on pure hustle and tenacity, but able to limit the Comets to 13 points as well. But the Comets had plenty of scoring opportunities. I think they actually took more shots in the fourth quarter than Penrith did, but they just didn't capitalize. Yeah.
01:07:15
Speaker
I mean, at times, Comets looked like a team that was playing not to lose rather than a team that was trying to win. It was... They got out in transition, gotch mulow oil got into the paint.
01:07:31
Speaker
There were two men behind him, right between him and the basket. But with his... Honestly, and he pulled up and threw it back out and they sort of got something... I think he got it back and then took on the defense, but the shot was even harder.
01:07:45
Speaker
Or I think if he'd just turned and gone and stepped past his first man, he probably could have laid it over the second man, to be entirely honest with you. but um And it was like ah just a little bit of hesitation. um And then almost like getting out of there, getting into something, it didn't work immediately, getting out of something.
01:08:05
Speaker
But i mean, I was saved a couple of times by offensive rebounds. um I've got more than a couple of notes about Ovi Che getting stopped by Jed Hickson once again. but um And i mean, there was one time actually where he got stopped and kicked it to Douglas. And like you said, they had they had some good looks, but the shot just didn't go.
01:08:25
Speaker
So that time he was actually, yeah, Ovi was able to make something of it and the shot just didn't go. um but I wonder if they were just really tired because Akil Douglas had a great game the day before against his former side in Hornsby and he had some really good looks um throughout this whole game. I think he shot the most amount of shots for the Comet side against Penrith. He was four from 18, so not not his best day at the office. 15 and eight he ended up with. um
01:08:57
Speaker
But, yeah, i wonder, like, that just doesn't seem like him. me He just didn't seem to have his spark that he normally has. That was one thing I really liked about Akil Douglas last season when he entered the East. He just had so much spark and so much raw kind of energy, and that was a bit missing today. So I don't know if was fatigue. Maybe something else was going on. We don't know. But he was just missing that spark that he normally has. Yeah.
01:09:22
Speaker
is ah I do want to point out one particular play because I thought it was beautiful. It was just after 5.46 was a three-point play. um kian Benny Kierens and Simon Kripez running a pick and roll.
01:09:40
Speaker
and both defenders jump to Benny and he throws this bounce pass and it comes up and Kripez knows the bounce pass is coming and he and it sits right it bounces right to wayside and so I was like thank you and Tisic is there wide open the corner and someone just here you go mate make the best of it and Admittedly, Tissic, 25% three-point shooter, probably the right decision for Comets to let the man shoot. They needed the basket, and the boy from St. George came up big time, knocked it down. I thought that was one of the absolute plays of the afternoon.
01:10:19
Speaker
All set up by a bounce pass that only someone like Benny Kierens could throw. Yeah. Probably hit him. Split the defenders perfectly. the other The other highlight for me in the fourth quarter was probably Barba Bay's three-pointer in the stretch. I think he had a three-pointer with about two.
01:10:42
Speaker
Let me find it here. Just inside two minutes? Yeah, just inside two minutes. That was a great three-pointer. He was starting to get really G'd up.
01:10:53
Speaker
He made a bit of a flex. And then Weinstein just looked at him like, I don't care. You had no reaction. No reaction. Barber was like, did a flex, and Weinstein just looked at him deadpan as if to say, I don't care.
01:11:10
Speaker
Because that, if I remember correctly, that was really good ball movement. And they got the O-board and ran another set out of the O-board. for Barber Bay to get that through, which I thought was, I was like, where's this beat all day? Now you're running like proper sets with like 10 on the shot clock. Okay.
01:11:28
Speaker
Cook my guys. Yeah. What happens when it works and we get a little bit better organized. I think what was interesting too, the comments were in the lead. for 80% of this game until the fourth quarter, they only led for three minutes.
01:11:45
Speaker
And they really left it really a little bit too late to try and secure the win on this one. And Penrith are doing absolutely everything they could to win.
01:11:55
Speaker
They just, like Garen said on the call, they just wanted it more. Yeah. of point i When I saw that they went up, when Penrith went up sixty seven fifty eight with three and a half minutes to play, it I was like, you're telling me Penrith scored one more point in this entire game?
01:12:15
Speaker
Yeah. I couldn't believe that. um From a free throw as well. Yeah. And um interestingly, something, and I'm,
01:12:27
Speaker
I mean, you mentioned it last week that in overtime, suddenly one team completely changed their defence. In this game, with two minutes to play, Comets suddenly start trapping Benny Kierens in the corner as soon as he gets across half court.
01:12:43
Speaker
You didn't want to try that in the 37 minutes prior, even once? Oh, especially because they put Gok at the top of the press. Yeah. Which was a really great move because he is long and intimidating and he is mobile enough for a seven-footer to be at the top of a press. So, yeah, why didn't you flex? Even when you were 14 up, that's a safe time to do something like that as well because if it doesn't work, you've got 14 points. You're 14 points up. That's a good buffer.
01:13:13
Speaker
If it does work, that 14-point lead can turn into a 24-point lead. except And then, um'm to be honest, in my first half notes, it says if Comets had come out in the first quarter, like they came out, like they played in parts of the second, it wouldn't have even been a game at halftime. We wouldn't even be talking about this contest.
01:13:31
Speaker
No. But yeah instead, we're talking about 39 minutes and 58 seconds of this game. Yeah, correct, because we didn't get to see the final play. I would have loved to have seen what Coach Wilhill had drawn up for that. and What was it, 1.6 seconds left in the fourth?
01:13:48
Speaker
They had a timeout and advanced literally a catch and shoot. But I want to see what they drew up. I want to see what they had up their sleeve. I want to see who was taking the shot. Yeah. Oh, it's not on the play-by-play, so maybe they didn't get a shot up.
01:14:03
Speaker
Ah, that that would make sense. That would make sense then. Yeah, all it says on the play-by-play was that there was a timeout called. But actually, ah no, they mustn't have gotten a shot up.
01:14:14
Speaker
It just says timeout called and then that's it. So, yeah, even if if it was a missed shot, it would have been recorded. yep But, yeah, so that that is the story of how Penrith got a one-point win at home.
01:14:30
Speaker
But is it? Because still still a little bit of stuff went down in the final 20 seconds. Mm-hmm. Jet Hickson ripping the ball away from Gotch Malawal when Gotch was free up court, that that would be a different result.
01:14:45
Speaker
That was that late in the game. um Gotch leaked out in transition and Jet Hickson flew across the middle to rip the ball out of his hand to give, um to force Comets to have to foul. And then Kripez committing a tech?
01:15:03
Speaker
Was it Kripez? I thought it was... um Barber Bay that committed the Tech? No, Barber Bay shot three throws on the Tech. Oh, it was Kripez with the Tech. Oh, that is a... That tied the game at 67-0 and then Weinstein went and shot his one of two to put Penrith back one up one.
01:15:25
Speaker
Yeah. And he missed the first.
01:15:29
Speaker
Yeah, so that's right. it was That was all of the the the events leading up to the 1.6 seconds left of the shot that we didn't get to see. It was, yeah, Caprez's technical foul. He got subbed out. Yeah.
01:15:47
Speaker
And Angus Oll is subbed in. Yeah, Barber Bay makes his one free throw from the Tech. Weinstein goes for two after he was, ah he drew a foul from Akil Douglas and makes the one. Oh, my gosh.
01:16:01
Speaker
like who Man, Simon, mate, just keep that one in the head for next time and don't make the same mistake. Just like no reason to get chippy with anyone in that situation.
01:16:16
Speaker
Yeah. wednesday they might get the ah Get the free throws and walk away with it. And be done with it. But they walk away with it. Yeah. And so, yeah, so Caprez, though, ended the game with 21 points, three rebounds, two assists, shooting at 41.81% overall, including four from seven from the three-point line. Then we had Schwarzer with 13 and two, and he shot at 45.45% overall. And then Jack Tisic with 12 points and nine rebounds for Penrith. So they had three players in double figures,
01:16:56
Speaker
Jet Hickson, the only to get double figures in the rebound column. 42 rebounds in total for Penrith and only 11 assists. But they had 13 steals off those 20 turnovers from Comets.
01:17:11
Speaker
And Comets also only had three players in double figures. They were led by Akil Douglas, who didn't have his best shooting day, but still ended up with 15 and 8 assists. Then Barber Bay had 11 and four.
01:17:25
Speaker
He only had 10 shots. and he get The guy's got to give give him more shots. Two from four from the three-point line and four from 10 overall from the field, which, look, 40%, not great, but he's a guy that I would like to be. We know that he can go off. He's a guy I think needs some more shots.
01:17:44
Speaker
Yeah. And then, of course, our guy, Ethan Martin-Coney, in 10 minutes, 42, five from six from the field. Yeah. ah With Comet's 55 rebounds overall, 17 assists, which isn't too bad, but 20 turnovers and eight steals. And the free throw count, I I know that there was a lot of talk about, you know, between the players in this game about the referees calling what they should and shouldn't be calling, you know, people getting a bit annoyed.
01:18:18
Speaker
Penrith had 17 trips to the free throw line to Sydney's 19. So I think that was fairly even. This game was certainly at risk of going for two and a half hours had the referees called everything. So I think the referees did a pretty balanced job of keeping enough contact and physicality and calling what needed to be called.
01:18:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we were talking the other week that we don't want games with players that can handle physicality to get called, you know, really tight. Just, I mean, I don't... Calling or not calling things didn't have an effect on the watchability of this game or, you know, I didn't think it was too physical.
01:19:03
Speaker
I thought everyone could handle themselves out there. Nothing really egregious happened, i don't think. i feel like it not I don't think it feels like it could be more physical. I just felt like there were opportunities for defence to be more consistent and um everyone I think a lot of players could have committed to playing defence, like square up defence. I think there was a a lot of defence that was kind of half-hearted from both teams in in both in a lot of the game and there wasn't a lot of boxing out.
01:19:40
Speaker
So things, you know, when people were contesting offensive rebounds and putbacks, there was lots of bodies in the air like an AFL game again. um I think that certainly goes a long way in terms of dominating possession and securing rebounds and giving your team a much better opportunity to try and get some more fast break points. But free throws, Penrith, 10 from 17. And...
01:20:04
Speaker
o cut and Comets, 13 from 19. Easy six, seven points, guys. Come on. Yeah. Come You know who you are, guys. You know you'll all know your stats.
01:20:21
Speaker
Yeah. But maybe maybe it's the Sunday afternoon game again. Who knows? ah But, yeah, so at least we know now that... ah ah how it became a one-point game and how Penrith got the win. I will say, though, online it says that only 67 people attended this game in Minto.
01:20:45
Speaker
But if you watch the game and you hear the crowd, that sounded ah like a lot more than 67 people. Certainly did, although Minto's got an echo about it. I haven't been to Minto for a very long time, very long time. was last there for CPL finals. I'm
01:21:09
Speaker
trying to remember.
Upcoming Matches and Player Impacts
01:21:10
Speaker
Maybe to remember. I think Alex Tui was in 14s or 16s at the time was the last time I was at Minto. Oh, gosh, that's a while ago. I've got stuff i still got the program. Would you but would you even believe it? believe that.
01:21:27
Speaker
a hundred percent would have hundred percent would believe that i was actually i was looking through it a while ago, yes. yeah that was the last time i was at meantime But, yeah, that was Penrith's first win as well. So props to the boys getting their first win, like we said, ah even without Jonah Perez, which is a great, which is awesome for them.
01:21:47
Speaker
Yeah. um I'm trying to see who they've got next round, but it's not coming up on the line. Penrith have Hornsby-Karingai at home next, followed by Illawarra, CLE, Central Coast and Sutherland. Central Coast is the only away game of those five.
01:22:03
Speaker
Okay, so, yeah, definitely another gettable game for them next week against Hornsby. And the Comets are four. So Penrith are now 13th on the ladder with a win-loss record of one and five. Comets are eights on the ladder with a win-loss record of four and four. And they play the Hills Hornets next round to are currently ninth on three and three.
01:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, i'm not well, I mean, those teams are right next to each other on the ladder right now. But Comets, more importantly, is their long-term future because they've still got to play Maitland twice, Norse again, Illawarra, COE, Canberra.
01:22:46
Speaker
Six of the teams they play the rest of the season are above them on the ladder right now, and that doesn't include Maitland because Maitland are currently one game behind them.
01:22:57
Speaker
Oi, that is a tough road ahead. That is a really tough road ahead. So this, dropping this game against Penrith may very well just come and bite them on the bum. So they're going to, like, you think Hills, Aubrey-Wodonga, Horsby-Karingai, those are absolute non-negotiables at this stage.
01:23:15
Speaker
Because, yeah, when you've got Manly, COE, North, Inner West, Illawarra, Canberra, Sutherland and Maitland twice.
01:23:23
Speaker
you you're going to have to win some games that people aren't expecting you to win. That's right. It's time to pull something out of the bag. I did hear some rumours, though, at the start of the year that Rain Smith is going to miss some games because of some potential boomers opportunities, so which I'm not too sure when that's going to be, but um that may work in some teams' favours.
01:23:45
Speaker
Yes. and So what happens when you have such elite players playing in a semi-professional competition? I know. I know. I mean, it sucks when they're gone, but it's so good to have the league. That's right. Even for us up here at Brisbane Caps, we had Mila Sower assigned for the Caps.
01:24:07
Speaker
But because she was doing so well with her 3X, she got called up for 3X3, Gangaroos, called up for Opals and called up for something else, I think. She unfortunately was only suited up for the Caps, I think.
01:24:22
Speaker
three times last season. Yeah. And when she was there, she was hitting like 40 points a game, but then she was like, oh my country needs me. Goodbye. I have to go now.
01:24:34
Speaker
I have to go. My planet needs me. All right, so that is a wrap on that game. Unfortunately, we don't have an athlete interview this week despite our best efforts, but hopefully we'll have one booked
Interviews and Season Highlights
01:24:48
Speaker
next week. If you're an athlete listening to this and you'd like to be a guest on East Scott game, please send us a message on our Instagram DMs. We'd love to have you. Or if you know a teammate that we've been trying to contact, can you give them a nudge to read their DMs and write back to us, please?
01:25:08
Speaker
That would be great also. um But otherwise, Lockie, any kind of final thoughts or anything to look forward to for round six?
01:25:20
Speaker
Anything to look forward, I'm sure there'll be plenty to look forward to for round six, not least Sutherland versus Canberra at the Shark Tank, where you'll be able to hear my dulcet tones, if you can call them that.
01:25:31
Speaker
um Obviously, we mentioned earlier the big games, North Newcastle, Bankstown, Manly on the women's side. Those will be absolutely mammoth. ah Aubrey-Wodonga, Maitland, a sneaky one on the women's side. i think Aubrey-Wodonga will want to...
01:25:48
Speaker
you get this show on the road properly and putting a gap between themselves and teams like Maitland is a very good start to our start to doing that. ah And then on Sunday, the ah the Georges River Rumble, Bankstown, Sutherland.
01:26:05
Speaker
Sutherland 1 and 4 at this stage, remember? They've got to play Canberra and Bankstown. So lot to go on there. But, I mean, it's... ah And one other i will point out, Inner West Illawarra in the men.
01:26:22
Speaker
Maybe a good good way to get a a read on how good Inner West are. I don't think we talked, I don't think anyone's really talked much about them. They are sitting there in, I think, sixth or seventh at this stage.
01:26:37
Speaker
Yeah, seventh at four and three. So if they can give, give at least give Illawarra nudge, it'd be interesting to see.
01:26:48
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. i would totally agree. It'd be interesting, you know, Bankstown, I think Bankstown, Bruins and Manly Warringah in the women, of course, but in the men as well. The men are rolling.
01:27:01
Speaker
Yeah. thanks I think that loss at home against Maitland. Manly men are just really exciting this season and they're rolling. I think that's going to be a really good game to keep an eye on, especially like to to see it because they're both in the mix of the top six. So I think that will shake up the order a little bit.
01:27:22
Speaker
I'm not too sure if they play each other again, though, later in the season for the losing side to get an opportunity for the split later. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think if you if you had to be in one place for both men and women, it would definitely be ah can by combined men and women, Bankstown Manly. That's the place to ah place to be. Just have to check. and Yes, they do play Manly.
01:27:49
Speaker
Yep, they play each other again in round 12 at Manly. So redemption, there is an opportunity for redemption, but... If you're using this Panerith Comets game as an example, every win counts.
01:28:02
Speaker
It certainly does.
01:28:06
Speaker
All right. I think that's more or less the show for this week, Lockie. Unless you've got any any other tips or tricks up your sleeve before we... ah remember ah We should tell the good people remember to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and we've got a YouTube channel still up and running that our live streams go to. We've got two people watching on YouTube at the moment as well, so we'll give them a wave.
01:28:31
Speaker
But otherwise, Lockie, in the meantime, what do the good folks out there need to do Just don't sleep on the eighth.