Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 23: NBL1 East 2023 Grand Final
236 Plays2 years ago
A very simple episode as the NBL1 East season for 2023 draws to a close. Lachy and Squin review each Grand Final game, discuss the upcoming NBL1 Nationals and upon the the MVP vs. All Star 5 decisions...
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of East Got Game, an unofficial podcast covering the NBL One East competition for 2023, where we review, preview and interview our way through the season.
Recent Sports Highlights
00:00:25
Speaker
With me is, as always, Locky France, and my name is Jacinta from the Central Coast Crusaders.
00:00:31
Speaker
Lockie, how are you going? You've had a very eventful 48 hours. I have had an extremely eventful, just the last 24 is eventful enough. My beloved Matildas and my beloved Sharkies men and my beloved Norse women all getting up. So it's been a massive, massive day or so for me. Yeah, huge. I mean, there's like three of your favorite teams winning. Well, not champ, two teams winning championships in the third.
00:00:59
Speaker
winning, you know, something close to a championship given they beat France in a penalty shootout. I mean, your nerves and emotions must be completely exhausted. Yeah, pretty much. But I've got to a Wednesday to, you know, get back in the swing of things. So up the tillies. Take a couple of days off. Take it easy at work the next couple of days so you can be restored well enough for the Matilda semifinal on Tuesday.
NBL One East Grand Final Recap
00:01:22
Speaker
So while you were having some fun at Olympic Park with the Matilda screening, we had the MBL One East grand final at Sydney Uni. And the first game was of course Manly Waringa Seagulls versus North Bears in the women's competition. Going into this game locky, pretty much every angle you looked at this game as a preview, it was neck and neck.
00:01:44
Speaker
Oh, 100%. Manly finished 20-2. Norse not quite at that level, but the way Norse dominated some teams in their wins, the numbers right across the board. You struggle to pick it. I don't think it's been consensus across the board from neutral fans going into the game. It was always a coin flip,
Match Analysis: Manly vs Norse
00:02:06
Speaker
this one.
00:02:06
Speaker
Yeah, it was a coin flip. Exactly. I think that's how the metaphor I also used on the day where people were asking who I thought was going to win. And I was like, but statistically basic stats, very close to call, looking at the rosters very close and even in the advanced stats, even closer. I think one of the stats that Norse had quite an advantage over Manly
00:02:28
Speaker
was field goal percentage overall and from the three point line. That was probably the only edge that they had statistically. Norse being overall rating team, like best defensive rating team, best offensive rated team, the team that threw the least amount of turnovers, the team that had the highest number of assists and steals and not too far behind, manly were either second or in the top three of the same statistic. Like exactly as you said, just flip a coin.
00:02:56
Speaker
100%. And you talk about field goal percentage and look at the disparity on the day. Yes, that is exactly right. We'll get into some of that nitty gritty just in
Commentary Highlights
00:03:05
Speaker
a minute. And I mean, as you know, I was very lucky to commentate this game with Caleb. Now we know his last name, Fogarty. Caleb Fogarty from Maitland. Big shout out to him. He did a great job on the day. Very easy to work with.
00:03:21
Speaker
He came very well prepared, very professional guy. So I was very lucky to call the game with Caleb. So thanks again, Caleb. Much appreciated. Might have to come up to Maitland one day and do a game again together. So maybe Locky, I'm just going to ask you what you thought of this game first, considering that you watched it today.
Team Strategy and Depth Discussion
00:03:39
Speaker
What firstly came to mind was when we were talking about depth across the two teams. Matt McQuaid was on last week. We talked with him and we mentioned the depth as you go further down the bench. Norse advantage gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And it was bore out in that game because Sarashika came off the bench, played 14 minutes and had six points and 11 rebounds.
00:04:02
Speaker
Moved to the bench in recent weeks to allow Jess Bygate to start, Renee Garlett just changing things up. You know, when Schicke was in there, boring out in the statistics, let's not forget four blocks as well. Norse having that ability to both Schicke and Karla Pittman off the bench to finish with, you know, 11 bench points to a grand total of zero from Manly.
00:04:22
Speaker
in a game where manly let it get out in the first half against the team that's got more depth than you, that's greater control in the tempo when they get a lead, they know how to maintain a lead. They don't necessarily have to go and blow you out because they know good they are at not letting teams get back into things. And when you go down and you've got to throw something different at the opposition, when the opposition's already got more depth than you, it just makes it very
00:04:45
Speaker
very, very difficult to change things up. I mean, not just depth, but I mean, manly only had four players who actually, you know, put the ball in the basket for the entire game. Annie Henderson finished 0-7, Zoe Miller 0-4, Josie Bowman 0-2.
Norse's Game Execution
00:05:01
Speaker
Just puts a real, real strain on your expected scorers.
00:05:05
Speaker
Eventually, the defense knows that they're going to be the players who are always scoring if you don't have those players chipping in, which Norse did. Except for Caitlin Martin, who only played 90 seconds. They had seven players score and four of them shooting in excess of 40% from the field. And of course, Emily Simons, six of 10, two point range, just consistent as always. And I thought she was absolutely exemplary out there for the best.
00:05:32
Speaker
Definitely. I think honestly, on the day, it really, and this sounds really silly, but.
00:05:37
Speaker
simple but sometimes basketball is just a simple game. It honestly just came down to Norse making more shots. There was certainly a period I think in the I think it was in the second quarter perhaps when Norse really started to pull away in the scoring. They started to get a few more open looks inside and in the paint and they just happened to make a lot of easy too. So Jolene Anderson, Emily Simons, they ended up having a couple of
00:06:04
Speaker
turnaround jump shots or one-on-one opportunities under the basket and they started to make it and then in that situation, in that certain period of the game, Norse ended up making I think six or eight points in a row just in those situations and then Manly weren't able to give them a reply. Pretty much that's what gave Norse their healthy 10 to 11 point lead and they were able to maintain that lead or extend that lead throughout the game. Like he said, as soon as Norse got a lead they just really held on to it
00:06:33
Speaker
I had to really feel for Manly because they were really doing as much as they possibly could. They were making quick adjustments. Bliss Henderson and Kimberly Hodge had some really great looks in the two man game on the pick and roll, but it was just one of those days where the shots that they would normally make day to day just weren't dropping. Like Kim Hodge had some really good opportunities to make layups from the high post.
00:06:59
Speaker
or even in the fast break and they just weren't dropping. I mean, Fliss Henderson herself was four from 13. Honestly, it was just one of those days where their shots weren't dropping. Seven of 17 for Kim Hodge from the field. For most players, you'd say that's a decent day out, shooting 40% from the field, but I know Kim would probably expect herself.
00:07:18
Speaker
to have a better day than that from two point range. Whereas, you know, Norse could, as you said, shot 40% from the field for the game. Four players shooting really well, probably only the three point shooting really dragging their overall percentage down. They've been quite up and down with their three point percentage all season, even though statistically they were still one of the better three point shooting teams overall for the season.
00:07:45
Speaker
It sounds like, you know, harsh criticism, but it's not exactly a high bar to be high in the three point percentage in the league this year. I don't feel like many teams have really shot the three ball that well. And as you said, teams go up and down. And I mean, both teams were probably down on Saturday. And even in that first quarter, it took a good six minutes for either team to start to feel comfortable. There was still, you could still feel some tension in both teams, particularly on decision making.
00:08:14
Speaker
lots of quick shots from both teams that perhaps were a little bit rushed and early on especially in a finals game when you're understandably a little bit more nervous and feeling the pressure a little bit if some of your easier shots like layups from the high post or like transition layups aren't going in as as well as they normally would that could start to play on your mind psychologically for the rest of the game and with the added pressure that's you know not ideal to
00:08:42
Speaker
have that playing on your mind as well.
Manly's Recovery Efforts
00:08:44
Speaker
But the good thing is that Manly kept shooting the ball because sometimes in those situations teams will just freeze up and stop shooting so they kept shooting the ball which was good. They came out really strong in the third quarter winning that quarter 21 to 18. Thanks to the likes of Alex Delaney who really came alive in that third she was much more aggressive one-on-one as particularly from the wing.
00:09:06
Speaker
And if she wasn't getting layups in that third quarter, she was getting to the free throw line and she shot six from seven from the free throw line all game. So that was a massive help for Manly in that third quarter. But how's about the last quarter? The final score was 10 to 12 in favor of Norse. And yeah, the fourth quarter was big periods of each team.
00:09:29
Speaker
just go up in a dodgy shot or a deflection or a turnover or a dodgy shot and I was like, can someone please call a timeout just so everyone can settle down. It's funny because I was Olympic Park around 3pm so I was just, I just had the live stats on even by then getting 4G service around Olympic Park was a bit iffy and that was, you know, an hour and a half before the Matilda's game even started. But I was watching the live stats and I thought it had frozen but then I realised the clock was still moving on it because the scores were not.
00:09:58
Speaker
Because I think it was about 5'4 for the quarter after about halfway or six minutes through it. What is going on here? And then you go back and actually have a look at what happened. Norse may be feeling like they just have to get a couple of baskets to put it away and doing too much and mainly feeling like they have to get a couple of baskets to get back in it and also, you know, trying to get it too quickly.
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's exactly what it was. It was like they were mirroring each other. Both teams going on quite a scoring drought. A few fouls as well. I think coming into the end of the third, Emily Simons got her third foul. I think it was three minutes to go on the third. She got her third foul and we expected her to be subbed off, but I don't think she was subbed off for the rest of the game. Coach Gallup just putting her faith in her that she wasn't going to commit any more fouls and be able to stay in the game for longer. But just a side note about your 4G coverage. It was exactly the same.
00:10:47
Speaker
at University of Sydney because unfortunately we weren't provided with a Wi-Fi access for us to be able to access the live stats during the commentary call and I tried to tether from my phone and I was unable to get enough 4G to tether so I had no live stats while I was calling the grand final. So just to add to the anxiety and the nerves of the day
00:11:09
Speaker
I had very limited resources. It's funny, I remember going to Flames Games down there at Brighton. The Faraday cage, as I sometimes call it, because, you know, radio signal gets out. Not the greatest place to be if you need phone
Strategic Plays and Second Chances
00:11:23
Speaker
service. You know, we've gone through it statistically if we take a little bit of a closer look. Points in the paint for North, 44 of their 71 points were in the paint. And like I said earlier, that was really achieved by a lot of different players. So it wasn't typically
00:11:39
Speaker
going into their inside players all the time. Like very early, North certainly looked to go into their inside players. I really liked how after a couple of unsuccessful offensive possessions, they'd hold back a little bit, wait till they executed the play until it got to like the third or fourth phase and got the likes of Jess Bygate or sometimes even Jolene Anderson on like a weak side screen and a curl cut right under the basket.
00:12:04
Speaker
And when you've got great passes like M. Simons and Kate Seabomb, who ended, Kate Seabomb had six assists, that's when their execution was at its best. And that kind of shows why they got so many points in the paint. Carla Pittman made some really good moves, but hers just kind of rattled out a little bit and Schicker as well with her six points in the paint too. So yeah, 44 out of 71 for a team that's not really known for their height and for their inside presence.
00:12:29
Speaker
on the offensive end I thought was pretty impressive. 100% and as far as you mentioned Anderson and Bygate getting in those good positions, that was actually one of the first things I noticed. Once the game started to settle down after those first few minutes and the teams actually got into running some sets and doing it, executing how they wanted to.
00:12:48
Speaker
There were a couple of players I even had to look back. I was like, is that just a terrible defensive breakdown by Manly? It's like, no, that's just Norse running a really, really good set and setting really good screens. And there were so many examples of that from both teams the whole game. Like there would be a really good offensive play and we're about to make a comment on that. But then there'd be an even better defensive play to stop that offensive play. There were so many of those.
00:13:13
Speaker
head-to-head battles through the whole game that was really impressive so it made commentating like pretty tricky too because
00:13:20
Speaker
Just as we thought we'd saw one thing, then it would very quickly change to the next. But yeah, second chance points as well. So, uh, Norse had 13 second chance points and Manly ended up with seven, but I think it was the timing of these second chance points, to be honest. There was a period, like I mentioned, I think in the second where Norse really started to compose themselves, got all those points in the paint, like I mentioned earlier. But then there were also periods of the game when it looked like Manly was trying to come back and chip away at Norse lead.
00:13:49
Speaker
They would have a couple of lapses in judgment and communication where a loose ball would go awry and North were able to pick that up and turn that into a score.
00:13:59
Speaker
I think the likes of Kate Seabomb was really good at coming in on the trail. She got a couple of handy points in those situations. So I think that was probably an outstanding step, but just really unfortunate for Manly that they just didn't have their best shooting day. Two points. First of all, 13, 17 second chance points, but only difference in one in offensive rebounds. So, you know, Norse doing more with basically the same amount of opportunities.
00:14:25
Speaker
The shooting percentage, I mean, Norse only had four more field goal attempts than Manly all day. Won it by 15 in the end. So it bears out. Who puts the big round thing through the slightly bigger round thing? Been pretty Norse heavy. We should probably give a few more props to Manly. Josie Bullman, I like to give a shout out. Statistically, you know, she got two offensive rebounds, which, you know, expected for Josie Bullman to get some offensive rebounds.
00:14:51
Speaker
a steal and assist, which doesn't look like a lot on stats. But given that she only played 16 minutes and given that she is a role player off the bench, I think the time she came on was very handy for Manly. She was able to give one of the starters a really good rest, but continue the momentum that Manly had on the court. So she was really great at playing her role.
00:15:12
Speaker
You're trying to judge Josie Bullman's performance by what is on the box score that is, you know, a mistake in and of itself, really. Exactly, exactly. The likes of Josie Bullman, and I think we've mentioned in an earlier episode, Annie Henderson, or the contribution I should say that they provide is generally not on a box score. But what about you? What are some of the players that stood out to you on either
Player Performance Focus: Alex Delaney
00:15:35
Speaker
team?
00:15:35
Speaker
Well, first of all, it was good to see Alex Delaney come in without a sleeve on her calf. You know, she tried to put the team on her back. You know, she recognized, you know, she's the player with the most pedigree out there. And I don't mean try putting the team on her back as in doing it all herself. I mean, just being aggressive, taking the opportunities on when they're not shying away from the moment. And I mean, you wouldn't expect anything less.
00:16:00
Speaker
from Alex. You finished with 16 and 11. 67 at the line, as you mentioned, shot the best percentage of anyone on the manly side. Back in the starting lineup for the first time in three weeks or so, it wasn't the smoothest transition into finals for manly for a team that went 20 and 2. I know that sounds ridiculous to say, but you're moving Alex Delaney from starting lineup to out to six man back into the starting lineup on grand final day.
00:16:29
Speaker
I mean, I think she took the situation on really, really well. Played 36 minutes in the end. We talked about Kim Hodge, finished top scorer. She top scorer for the game. Got to the free throw line a lot, 7 of 12 at the line, but got there plenty. Didn't have her best shooting day, but still got in some really good positions. The ball had gone in the hole a bit more. Could have been a much closer game down the stretch.
00:16:56
Speaker
And I think like just on Alex Delaney, again, in terms of we both spoke about how we liked how aggressive she was being. There were periods in this game where each team went into ISO ball a little bit too much. And that's when.
00:17:11
Speaker
it just completely broke down for both teams. Like we know that both of these teams are very at their best team orientated converse to that. As soon as they went a little bit too much one on one in each offensive situation, that's when it kind of fell apart for each team. The difference being when Alex was started to go when Alex was starting to be more aggressive in the third, they were all open shooting options rather than trying to create something out of nothing. And sometimes you need someone
00:17:38
Speaker
to take on that responsibility to spark a little bit more in your team. So I think that was very well read by her. On this team, a lot of them aren't, you know, ISO ball, you know, cook you off the dribble kind of players. They play good team ball because they're good team ball players, first and foremost. You know, they're not a Shyla Hill, Will Cranston, Leon, who are going to cook you with a dribble move and hit the step back three kind of thing. And I think that's actually what I like about how they hurt these teams play, to be honest.
00:18:06
Speaker
No, me too. I'm the same. I much prefer, you know, I'm all for individual talent and skill and skill sets, but I also prefer a team with solid team principles and a team that you can see are committed to their system and their team principles and executing that really well. There's room for individual brilliance within the team setting. You're going to absolutely burn your defender with a killer move and it helps the team go for it. It's when it doesn't work that you get into problems.
00:18:34
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. And one of the matchups that was actually really, really cool to see was Fliss Henderson and Carla Pittman.
Rivalry and Social Media Buzz
00:18:41
Speaker
Because just the way, I mean, Carla Pittman's a great defender, but just the way Fliss Henderson was able to break her down in a one on one situation and still managed to get up a decent shot was really impressive. I quite liked that matchup. Yeah, congratulations to the Bears. Yes, and that rivalry between Norse and Manly certainly runs very deep and very passionately.
00:19:05
Speaker
were certainly some people expressing their opinions online and on social media about this matchup ahead of the game and Caleb also did the hard work and reached out to Tim Hill who's the high performance coach at Manly and has probably coached a lot of the people on the Manly roster himself and then also reached out to Mike Golding who's the high performance coach at North
00:19:30
Speaker
just to get a better understanding about the rivalry between the two clubs. And there certainly isn't any love lost between the two, which we love a rivalry. We do. I mean, if I was in Renee's shoes.
00:19:43
Speaker
I would have thrown on the X-Manly players at the end of the game. 100% Lauren Walker and Holly Wills would 100% be out there for the last couple of minutes if that was me on the sideline for Norse. I don't think Renee was willing to dabble into that part of the history between the two gloves, to be honest. I think she was just focused on winning and getting it over and done with because I don't think she's really wanting to get caught up in that stuff, to be fair.
00:20:11
Speaker
I guess that's why she's the one who's an Australian assisted coach not doing a podcast. Trolling people. Well, to be fair, we're not really trolls, though, ourself, though. It's like observers. I mean, I love Norse and there's a lot of players on that manly team that I really like as well.
00:20:28
Speaker
And I think it's really worth noting as well that for this North team, they had an all female coaching staff, probably the only team I reckon in the country that has an all female coaching staff. I'm going to make that bold statement.
Norse's Coaching Staff
00:20:40
Speaker
They'll certainly be the only team at NBL One Nationals with an all female coaching staff and also their manager as a female. So I think that's a really great achievement and milestone to celebrate.
00:20:51
Speaker
All right, but otherwise, moving on to the men's
Men's Grand Final Recap
00:20:55
Speaker
game. Locky, your boys, what are you doing? Sucks for Maitland making two grand finals in two years and losing them both. Only great effort to get there on both occasions because this was fifth versus seventh. Huge effort from both teams just to get there.
00:21:10
Speaker
Matt said it last week. Maitland had got to force Sutherland to shoot threes, and they didn't. Sutherland only had to take 10 threes for the entire game. They hit three of them, but more to the point, they were only forced into taking 10 threes for the entire game. And, you know, Sutherland did what they do, you know, got downhill, tried to get to the rack. Yes, finished with, well,
00:21:31
Speaker
54-52 points in the paint. Hard for Maitland to pick up points outside the paint because they shot 4 of 26 from outside. You know, that's a tough night out of shooting. Lucky Hutchison was 5 of 12, but he was the one shooting some of those threes.
00:21:49
Speaker
Cabrera, 55% from the field. Beasley, 58. Mitchell, 6-10, 60%. Jeff Gerlach, 3-5, 60%. Dengak, 2-5. But his length around the rim is just, you know, annoying for all and sundry. So he contributes in other ways. But Sutherland, yeah. 50.8% from the field and 55.1% from two point range.
00:22:14
Speaker
getting into close quarters and Beasley especially finishing so many tough ones. There were times where I was like, why did you catch the ball there, Markel? And he'd just lean back or lean left or lean right, crawling out from behind the ball and call of duty, just, you know, leaning and just putting the ball in the basket. When I was looking at the stats before I watched the game today, I was like, okay, the Sharkies must have got a lot of easy looks, but they were finishing some tough ones.
00:22:40
Speaker
Fair play to Maitland, especially James Hunter got left way too open on a few occasions. Scared me a little bit watching in the early stages. Maitland couldn't put the ball in the hole. James Hunter, you know, another thing we discussed with Matt, if James Hunter's hitting threes, he forces Gerlach out away from where he wants to be and those weren't falling for him.
00:23:01
Speaker
Matt Gray, 0-5 from three-point range as well, including that Frere, which would have sent it to overtime, which actually wasn't too far away. No, it really wasn't. Our second basket. Cranston-Lown, 2-7 from 3. Billy Parsons though, 2-4, including one that almost, you know, that one right at the end, the corner three, got them right back. 4 Sutherland to winner the line because it was 80-72 with not a lot of time left. Billy Parsons hit two of his four three-pointers.
00:23:30
Speaker
at the right time of the game, he's the one that brought it back to within three in those dying seconds. 15.6 rebounds. He just continues on his upward trajectory. He had that behind the back dribble as well to get to the basket on one where he looked absolutely dead to rights and just trying to get to the rack. So usually behind the back dribble in the paint, ends up in the ball going in the other direction. And someone who stood out for me in their 10 minutes was Will Mortimer.
00:23:57
Speaker
Yeah, I really liked him as well. He really showed up for this game. 10 and a half minutes. He played eight points, four rebounds, four from six from the field. Oh my gosh. Did you know he's only 16? So he's bottom age. Oh, wow. Yeah. I only like that too. I was like, oh, it's just probably someone from Maitland I haven't heard of. No, I thought he was top age 18.
00:24:19
Speaker
unless he's still to turn 17. He's still to turn 17, but still, that's still late. That was, that's still young. That's real young. And he was taking it to, you know, full grown men out there. Yeah. That's why I was even more surprised that he was 16. Cause I was like, hold on. You do not, A, do not look 16 and B, you are not playing like a 16 year old. I'm really impressed with him.
00:24:41
Speaker
Wendy Riley from Maitland who's Shaq's mum. She was the one that told me on the sideline he's only 16 and I was just astounded. So keep your eyes on Will Mortimer. I mean when you got Will Mortimer and Billy Parsons there's your use in that team.
00:24:55
Speaker
your program is in safe hands. But Sydney Hunter, she was expressing some frustration with the Maitland Mustangs men's boxing out and rebounding. And if look, if that's an observation from someone like Sydney Hunter, who was always in double figures for the season in rebounds, that's probably
00:25:12
Speaker
feedback that you should probably take on. Yeah. Yeah. I sit on just telling you something about rebounder. You probably want to listen to it. But funnily enough, Malin actually won the rebound count 45 to 40, but they did rack up 26 fouls to 21. So it was a lot more fouls in this game compared to the women's game.
00:25:29
Speaker
I did like in the women's game that it was physical and the referees just let a lot of it go. Like they just let them play through it. I did like that. I think sometimes in the men's game, it wasn't so much the physicality. It was just the defense was too reactive. Honestly, it's probably been a bit of an issue with both of these teams all season. I think we've mentioned that before. Yeah. So Sutherland really good job of finishing under the basket. What I really like about Jeffrey Gerlach being the captain as well. He always leads by example. His communication skills with his team were on point.
00:25:59
Speaker
any opportunity where he could gather the troops who was doing that. So I love that for a leader. But another thing with both games is that I think they were both cursed by the announcement of the awards on the day of the grand final. Something else that's also Sydney Hunter and I spoke about is why you got to announce the awards the day of the grand final.
00:26:21
Speaker
You know the award that will have been absolute poison is Will Cranston-Lowne getting MVP for Maitland because Locky Hutchison will have made it his personal mission to make sure he gets the win over the MVP. Not in a I'm the MVP and he isn't. You can't give Locky Hutchison extra motivation.
00:26:43
Speaker
The extra competitive motivation that makes sense. You know, he's just going in there. He doesn't need, he doesn't need the whole, I'm going to show everyone I'm MVP and he isn't. He just wants to go in there and go, I'm going to beat the MVP who is my direct opponent today. That's all he needs. Well, and that's exactly what he did. Not only did they win a championship, but then he was finals MVP. Exactly. It's interesting. Speaking of Hutchison, I'm talking about having Jeff as captain because Hutch is a leader in a different way in what he does on the court.
00:27:12
Speaker
having Jeff's calmness there. And as you said, he's always huddle, huddle boys, huddle up every time he can. It's really good having Jeff as captain and letting Hutch just lead as point guard. Yeah, that's right. I think especially when you get to this level, the semi-professional level,
00:27:29
Speaker
your captain shouldn't and isn't always necessarily your best player. It's the person that has those other leadership skills. Obviously leadership skills include leading by example, by performance and organization and particularly when you're a point guard.
00:27:44
Speaker
But leading by example of hustling, communicating, boosting the provider of the team, that kind of stuff. That's true leadership when you get to this level.
Leadership and Coaching Strategies
00:27:54
Speaker
You got to remember that Jeff actually did a fair bit of coaching over in the States before he came back as well. So when he finished in college, he coached for a bit. We already know he has a great basketball IQ, but that coaching stint over there would have only improved that.
00:28:08
Speaker
So, you know, he gets in the huddle and he's probably seeing things out there. It probably gains you one or two time outs essentially, just by having him talking about things in the huddle. Great advantage to have like the coach on the court in a point guard and then a coach on the court in a great captain with coaching experience. That's some, that's some X factor, secrets or stuff that we don't account for usually. Any final thoughts on this game?
00:28:32
Speaker
Massive, massive congratulations to coach Pat Williamson. Stepped up, you know, was assistant coach and youth league coach last year. Stepped up into the head coaching role. You know, did that intern program at Illawarra that Angus Berg told us so much about. Great, great work, Sutherland. Great work, boys. Proud of the whole team as a Sutherland.
00:28:54
Speaker
There you go. Yeah, massive congratulations to both winning coaches, Renee Garb and Pat Williamson.
Championship Outcomes
00:29:00
Speaker
But yeah, massive congratulations to everyone. I also have to say a great job to all four competing teams bringing their fans along because the atmosphere
00:29:08
Speaker
in the venue was insane. So at halftime, Caleb and I took our headsets off and we couldn't hear anything because it was so loud in there that we actually wanted to put our headsets back on. It was so loud, you couldn't hear yourself think. We were lucky enough that we were able to hear each other really well, but outside of that,
00:29:28
Speaker
It was insane in there there were manly fans that had posters and big photos of the coach and the players printed out they had bond singlets that Spelt something but I couldn't quite make out it said we had a whole bunch of Norse fans that had some old-school North Jersey sitting behind the benches and I saw a lot of old-school
00:29:47
Speaker
Maitland Mustang's warm-up tops worn as well on the weekend, which really was a bit of a throwback for me. Did the Norse fans have their big, fuzzy bear head? There was a bear, but I don't think it was a fuzzy. No, the fuzzy bear head wasn't there. No, that didn't come with. That's unfortunate. He's an underrated Muppet. Yes, you're an underrated Muppet too, you tell me. That's what they call me. An underrated Muppet.
00:30:15
Speaker
So as it stands now that the Norse Bears women are the champions of MBL1 East for 2023 and the Sutherland Sharks men are also the champions.
NBL One Nationals Preview
00:30:25
Speaker
Next week they head over to Perth for the MBL1 national finals over the 18th to 20th of August. For the women standing for the first day that kicks off on the Friday, Norse Bears are going to play Northside Wizards who won the MBL1 North.
00:30:44
Speaker
The Warwick Senators who won the championship last year have re-entered and they're going to be playing Norwood Flames who won MBL1 Central and the winners of MBL1 West this year went to the Coburn Cougars which was the first time ever Coburn have won a women's championship so congratulations to them and they're going to be playing the undefeated Bendigo Braves. They went through MBL1 South undefeated and now won the championship.
00:31:13
Speaker
Well, you talk about undefeated because Sturt went undefeated in MBL1 Central Women in the regular season and then lost to Norwood in the grand final. Absolute pain. Absolute pain, that would be. 18-0 and no ring. I can't imagine. That's similar to South Carolina in the NCAAW season where they went through undefeated and lost in the semi. Yeah.
00:31:39
Speaker
Yeah, in the central grand final, Alex Wilson, 23.16 rebound, six assists, played all 40 minutes, got them over the line.
00:31:51
Speaker
Far out and grand final MVP naturally. So that would be day one of the NBL one nationals on the Friday. So that's going to be really, really good. North versus North side is going to be an interesting matchup. And to be honest, me naturally knowing a little bit more about the women's team, North are going to be quite, I reckon they're going to be competitive.
00:32:09
Speaker
I think so. You know, they'll be very well drilled. They've gone from having, you know, some of the most talent of being very well drilled to a position where, you know, there will be teams with more talent out there, particularly the likes of Bendigo. But being well drilled is a very, very good place to start. And there are still some very, very good players on that Norse team, even at a national NBL1 level.
00:32:29
Speaker
For sure. And I think that depth is going to go, is going to be in their favor as well. Because I know that while Bendigo are undefeated, they do have the likes of Atwell, McKay, Kelly Wilson. So, but I think they only really play like seven players, whereas Norse have the flexibility to play like eight or nine sometimes.
00:32:48
Speaker
I know that last year they were missing Elena Smith because she'd gone to Poland. Remember last year, Townsville came out and blitzed it on day one, but they only ran with six and even the six didn't get a lot of minutes. And then Aubrey Wodonga, even without LJ, were able to take advantage and run eight players and go and get the win on the second day. That's correct. That is correct. And so for the men's draw,
00:33:13
Speaker
The first day of the MVO1 Nationals is going to be Knox Raiders versus West Adelaide Bearcats. Knox Raiders doing a pretty good job over Sandringham on the weekend and Bearcats beating Forestville Eagles in the Central Final. Now Bearcats are loaded. They've got Drimmick, McCarran and the new signing for Illawarra Hawks, Loughlin. Is it Ulrich? Yeah, Lockie Ulrich. Big 611 guy, is it?
00:33:43
Speaker
Yeah, he was in finals MVP. I'm super excited to watch him in the NBL season. Then we've got Rockingham Flames, who won the NBL One national title last year for the men, just so happened to also be from WA like the Warwick Senators in the women's competition. They're going to be playing
00:34:00
Speaker
Ipswich Force, who's also super loaded. They've got a Galloway brother, Nathan Sobey, they've got Matt Hodgson. I mean, the issue with NBL on Nationals last year, particularly for the men's competition, was that a lot of the NBL talent couldn't play. So some of the teams that competed weren't taking their full roster. So for example, Hobart Chargers had Sam McDaniel and Harry Frohling in their championship winning South team, and then
00:34:30
Speaker
didn't have either of them when it came to Nationals, so they didn't perform as well as you'd expect. I mean, there were there were guys there on teams sitting in the stand watching the game because they weren't allowed to play. I mean, there was one one game there were five or six NBL guys sitting in the stand. They all right should have been playing.
00:34:48
Speaker
And it was, yeah, so Cady and Krebs were supposed to play for Gold Coast Rollers, and then Harry Frohling was supposed to play for Hobart, and they were all playing for Brisbane at the time and were called away to get ready for the MBL Blitz. I think they've worked on the timing though this time, so that should be avoided. Then in the final matchup for the first day of the Men's MBL One Nationals Finals, it's West versus East.
00:35:12
Speaker
And that is the Geraldton Buccaneers versus our very own Sutherland Sharks. Do you know much about this Buccaneers team, Lockie? And be all one West.
00:35:23
Speaker
Not really my jam on the women's side. I take a bit of a look at it, but that's mostly because it's always full of Pac-12 players. But usually like MBL1 West, at least with the champions, I know two or three, maybe four of the men's players. But really on this Gerald to team don't really know a lot of the names. Evidently, they've put together quite a handy team and got over the line in the grand final.
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah, it looks like also another very close grand final. I think all of the grand finals across all conferences were really close and entertaining, so great to see no blowouts because we don't want that in any game, let alone a finals
Nationals Format Explained
00:35:58
Speaker
game. The way that the format is going to work for the NBL One Nationals is that teams will play three games, one per day, Friday to Sunday.
00:36:07
Speaker
A random draw took place with the state CEOs mid-season to determine the Friday night schedule. The Saturday night schedule will be determined by the result of the Friday night games. So Saturday's format is 1st vs 5th, 2nd vs 4th and 3rd vs 6th.
00:36:24
Speaker
and Sunday being championship day. And the points system works along the lines of you get points if you win the game, but you also get points if you win a quarter. And then that gives you your total amount of points. And then based on those points, that's how they determine the rankings for the Saturday games.
00:36:43
Speaker
However, they've listed the championship games on the Sunday, 11 a.m. for the women and 1.30 p.m. for the men. So we were guessing offline lucky that like it was last year, they will still have a couple of games on quite early that Sunday with a couple of, with a little bit of overlap with those championship games. Imagine if you're literally any team, you go all the way to Perth and you play two games. That's a bit, it's a long way to go for just to play on the Friday, Saturday.
00:37:11
Speaker
I don't know, I reckon it'd be pretty cool like a working holiday. So I wouldn't mind it. I wouldn't mind having that Sunday off just so you can chill in the morning, be a bit of a tourist, and then rock up to watch the first championship game, you know.
00:37:23
Speaker
a little bit more relaxed and carefree and get some recovery in. Yeah, maybe, you know, sit in the crowd once you're done, you work for the weekend, you know, a couple of beers with the team. Oh, wait, that was us last year in Melbourne. That's exactly what we did in Melbourne. And thankfully, Guzmas and Gomez were the responses, so we also had free burritos. And free socks.
00:37:43
Speaker
And free socks! We did have free socks except Matt Hickey unfortunately missed out on the socks apparently. Fingers crossed GYG are sponsoring again and he can pick some socks up this year because he is over there, isn't he? He is over there. Matt Hickey is heading back over there. Excellent commentator from NBA One South. But you know what Matt, that's what you get for being such a good commentator and getting the championship game. You miss out on free socks.
00:38:07
Speaker
But anyway, that will be NBL One Nationals. I had a good chat to James and Garen yesterday. The two commentators from Norse are now also doing some stuff at Hornsby. They were arming and airing whether they should go to Nationals, considering that now Norse have qualified. And I said, look, if you've got the time,
00:38:25
Speaker
and the money, just go. Don't second guess it, just go. It's so much fun. Yeah, just go. I mean, we went as commentators. I mean, I've been to enough junior national championships just as a fan and they've all been so fun that I can only imagine that MBL won nationals would be next level.
00:38:43
Speaker
So fun. And we went to the first one last year. So I imagine that, you know, there would be a little bit some a couple more improvements, not that it was bad, like ordinary really needed improving. But just with experience, as you know, things just get a little bit more fine tuned. And
00:39:00
Speaker
You know, there's going to be those NBL guys there this season that weren't last year. I mean, I don't think there's as many as would have been there last year if they weren't allowed to play. But I mean, you see guys like Dremick, McCarran, Ulbrick, plenty of good NBL players there. And I tell you what, it is a real shop window for those guys who are right on the cusp.
00:39:18
Speaker
Maybe an MBL team's umming and ahring or, you know, shown you can do it in East or shown you can do it at MBL one level, but can you do it against the best of the best in MBL one? Those guys who haven't had the chance to show out against MBL players. Yeah, that's a very, very good point, actually. It's going to put them under the microscope. It's always worth if you can to try and get a training spot at least and still put your face under the right people's noses. And I mean, not just for this year, for next year as well.
00:39:46
Speaker
Yeah, exactly, exactly. It's all about building some relationships and getting your name out there, I think sometimes. Definitely. And then just to finish up the episode, not a lot of news and gossip, as you can imagine being the end of the season.
NBL One East Awards Discussion
00:40:00
Speaker
NBA One East Awards were all announced leading up to the final yesterday. But Locky, they did announce the MVP nominations. And then they announced the All-Star Five and there were two very different sets of five players. What was your takeaway?
00:40:17
Speaker
I mean, the All-Star 5 looked a little more position-specific, but it didn't feel a lot position-specific compared to what the MVP race was. I mean, I get it. If they want to, you know, call it position-specific All-Star 5, that's fine. The problem is now you're saying that I think Kim Hodge was one of the players who was named in the All-Star 5 who wasn't in the MVP race. So what? Now you're saying the
00:40:45
Speaker
best center in the league is, at best, the sixth in voting. Izzy Bourne was actually in the All-Star five, so I imagine she would be center. And Timmy Hodge would be at the four. Was Izzy in the MVP? Izzy was in the MVP. No, so, you know, so what are we saying? Yeah, it says a lot without saying a lot kind of thing. When you see players who are in the All-Star five, not in the MVP hunt and vice versa, you're telling everyone that they're not in the top five for voting when you release the All-Star five like that.
00:41:14
Speaker
So based from what I was told about how it all works is that you have your three, two, one votes after every game and that goes towards MVP. Nominating and voting for people for an All-Star Five is completely separate and it does go by positions and the clubs could nominate particular players for particular positions. I have heard about that nominating players for particular positions because a lot of teams who have got good wings, for example, or a really good point guard and a really good wing.
00:41:44
Speaker
will name the wing as their nomination for Ford. So they ultra star point guard doesn't lose out on, on votes to a player from the same, you know, you know, they can name two players, even though the wings probably been playing shooting guard more of the season than actually like the three or four spot. This is correct, which I think is also a bone of contention with a lot of people in the East who either pay that close attention to these things or have to vote.
00:42:12
Speaker
So for me, begs the question, when it comes to voting for All-Star 5 or picking an All-Star 5, should we just go positionless and just reward the players who perform the best over the season? I don't think you need the clubs to nominate certain players. You don't have to tell me, you know, what position. In fact, the league should probably put a list and say, you know, these are the inside players, these are the outside players. If you ask me, it should be two guards, two bigs, and then your fifth can be either.
00:42:42
Speaker
not hemmed into positions, but also not completely positionless. Because if you go guard, guard, forward, forward, center, then it gets way too, then that's when you do get players who are like, you know, just in there, you know, it was a down here in that position maybe or something like that.
00:42:59
Speaker
And also, as far as... I hate 3-2-1 voting. I absolutely hate voting. Because if you think Sutherland... I can't remember who they played. Why don't we win the COE game? Nicholson had 28, Fabro had 21, and Norris had 20. Are you telling me that Norris's one point, or 20 points in that game, is worth one vote, when there are players out there who are going to have worse games, get the three votes?
00:43:26
Speaker
Yeah, I completely agree. I think that whole thing needs to be revisited. I think it's really, I think it's just a bit outdated now. And I would like to see some other kind of system used. I wonder if the other leagues are still using that 3-2-1 system as well. Because we still even had to use it on finals day.
00:43:45
Speaker
No, yeah, I'm not a fan. MVP, it should just be a season vote, three, two, one for the season or five, like the NBA does, you know, is it five, three, one or pick a voting system and just let people vote for their top players throughout the season because the three is not a three in every game.
00:44:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. I totally agree. Yeah. So things to look forward to in future MBL1 seasons as well.
Closing Remarks and Next Episode Preview
00:44:12
Speaker
So Lucky, any final thoughts before we finish this week's episode? If you are heading over to Perth.
00:44:18
Speaker
have an absolutely wonderful trip and scream the house down for our ace teams please. So just a reminder, Friday the 18th Nationals kicks off. The Norse women playing Northside Wizards from Queensland at 4.30pm. Now it's listed as 4.30pm. I'm going to guess that's 4.30pm Australian Western Standard Time. It's not listed on the website but we can use our noggins. At 8.30pm on the Friday the 18th of August, again assuming it's Australian Western Standard Time,
00:44:47
Speaker
Sutherland Sharks will take on Geraldton Buccaneers. So that's going to be a late one. And you mentioned North's Northside. I'm going to claim this till the day I die. Northside featuring Sutherland Sharks junior Courtney Woods. MVP of the conference, MVP of the final. She's had an absolutely outstanding NBL one season, Courtney Woods. I'm really excited for her going into the next WMBL season.
00:45:12
Speaker
Yeah, me too. Yeah, I mean, yeah, she has just come on in leaps and bounces coming back from college. Got in there with Townsville, great player development up there. So just before we wrap up as well, it was great to see a lot of familiar faces at the NBA One East Finals on the weekend. Spoke to the likes of Coach Jez from Sutherland, Sydney Hunter, Matting Washington from Maitland.
00:45:36
Speaker
Kathy and Brittany from Bankstown Bruins, a lot of Maitland fans and a lot of Norse fans. And we received a lot of lovely and positive feedback about our podcast, Locky. So we really want to make sure that you know, we appreciate that A, you guys are listening and B, that you guys are enjoying it. So thank you again for listening and your ongoing support. We're very happy to be showcasing NBL One East. Also, Coach DK was there, had a good chat to him.
00:46:06
Speaker
before he chuffed off. I might put some photos on our Instagram as well. But yeah, just wanted to say thanks again to everyone for listening and tuning in. Despite this being grand final episode, we'll probably do one more episode to wrap up Nationals before we finish our very first season of eScott game.
00:46:25
Speaker
Make sure you subscribe to our podcast, whatever streaming service you may use and share with your friends. We've also noticed that a couple of people have very kindly left five star reviews on our Spotify. So please go ahead and write yourself a review on Spotify, Apple, Google or Pocket Pastas if you please. And most of all, don't sleep on the