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Season 2 Episode 3: "The Limit Does Not Exist!"
106 Plays7 months ago
Round 1 of NBL1 East has finally arrived and the league is off to an explosive start.
Lachy and Squin are back with game reviews, previews and the all-star 5 for Round 1.
Games reviewed are:
Sutherland Sharks vs. Penrith Panthers (men)
Sydney Comets vs. Albury-Wodonga Bandits (women)
This week we also discuss some predictions for the NBL1 East 2024 thanks to our friends from around the league.
*Note: apologies for the poor recording quality for one of the tracks.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Issues
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey East Got Game fans, we were planning to have Pat Williamson and Renee Garlep, the reigning NBA One East Championship coaches, as guests on the podcast this week. But unfortunately due to some scheduling issues we were unable to have them as guests, but hopefully we'll be able to have a chat to them in the future about their hopes and expectations for the 2024 season.
2024 NBA One East Season Predictions Introduction
00:00:22
Speaker
But for now, please enjoy this current episode filled with a lot of other 2024 predictions. But most of all, remember, don't sleep on the East. Welcome back to another episode of East Got Game, an unofficial podcast for the NBA One East competition.
Anticipation and Excitement for NBR1 East
00:00:50
Speaker
My name's Jacinta, who is just now an NBR1 East fan. And with me, as always, is the heart of the Shark Tank. It's Locky France. Hey Locky. Hey Squint, I think that's selling me. It's overselling me, but I'll take it. Hey, you've got to support your mates, right? Thanks. We're going to oversell you any day of the week. But we have finally reached round one of NBR1 East with much anticipation, excitement,
00:01:18
Speaker
and the build up that we've felt for the last few weeks. How was your first week of MBO1 East at the Shark Tank? It was a very long Saturday for me, turning up at 11 AM, actually 10 AM to help set up everything. We had a, we got a big win in Youth League Women, lost to our good friend, Reese Kane, he's Cambry Gunners Academy boys in Waratah. Got a couple of wins up in MBO1 and yeah, it was good to be back at the commentary desk with
00:01:48
Speaker
My boy, Jake. Yeah, it was a good, good time.
Crowd and Community Atmosphere
00:01:52
Speaker
I mean, the, uh, Penrith Panthers come to town for the Crosstown Clash. Oh yeah. I did like that Instagram post you made about the Crosstown Clash. That was very clever. Um, did, uh, what all of your expectations meant? Did you feel like you were just, you know, sliding back into your favorite pair of slippers was that sense of familiarity back with you?
00:02:12
Speaker
It felt very good to be back at a basketball stadium, commentating NBA 1. I think just about every Sutherland basketball fan felt the same because it was packed. It was massive. It was literally standing room only. Late in the game, in the men's game, they actually had to delay an inbound pass for a few seconds to
00:02:36
Speaker
clear people off the baseline because it was so like people will try to walk through during the time out and yeah there was a traffic jam.
Fan Interest and Community Support
00:02:45
Speaker
Yeah I saw in the background of some of the footage online and Instagram posts and things like that how big your crowd was and was it just you know more of the juniors becoming more aware of the NBA 1E's competition or what do you think is driving more fans to come and watch home games?
00:03:03
Speaker
I mean, we put on a good, good shot. I think I don't think I'm overselling it by saying that, but I think having the Waratah boys back as a team is good as well. Um, you know, they stick around afterwards. Uh, you know, having four home games is also really good on the one day. Um, yeah, I just think people like getting down to the Southern one games, you know, first game of the season, you come back, you are, you know, see if your mates you haven't seen for a while. That's just.
00:03:31
Speaker
good, good
Men's Competition Round One Overview
00:03:32
Speaker
time out. You know, especially the men be defending champions, you know, everyone sort of wanted to get out and watch them for their first game. Yeah, really, really good time. I was gonna, I was gonna say that having both your NBA One East teams reaching the finals last year is a big incentive to come and support them for the next season. But yeah, I really liked that feeling as well of when you've had a break, you're back into season, you see all those kind of
00:03:59
Speaker
familiar faces and friends and things like that. And you just get back into the gear of it. And that sense of community is always probably the reason why we stay in basketball for a lot of us. But nonetheless, let's get into the results of round one. Uh, Loki, you're going to be covering the men this episode. So take it away.
00:04:19
Speaker
Bankstown getting the win over North 7170 and it was my boy Andrew Walford dropping 26 including the game winner to uh get Bankstown the win there you know very very tight game. Your boys Central Coast picked up a 100 to 74 win on the back of 52 points combined for Robbie Heath and Evan Wardlow 174 over Hornsby.
00:04:46
Speaker
Maitland, well, if it's redemption season, it started off very well as they are knocked over local rivals Newcastle, big 109 to 72 victory.
00:05:00
Speaker
Will Cranston-Loud looking for back-to-back MVPs, 30.6 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. Newcastle can be buoyed by new signing. France is near a mobile hill, picking up 21 points to lead the Falcons.
In-Depth Game and Player Analysis
00:05:17
Speaker
Of course Sutherland down at the Shark Tank picking up an 87-73 win over a Penrith team that already looks better with Ben Kieran and Josh Cowie coming back from Hills back in their preferred colours. That was an 87-73 win for Sutherland but I have to say it was much closer than that. It just kind of blew out to 14 at the end when Penrith had to play hero ball to try and stay in the contest.
00:05:46
Speaker
Canberra, big 101-69 win over Illawarra, Will Mayfield on his return, 23 points, 10 rebounds for assists and three steals in his first game back from playing a season for Mount Gambier and one of this POD's biggest fans, Phil DePuj, 26 points for the Hawks, so good signs for him.
00:06:11
Speaker
Moving on to the M2 Derby, Inner West versus Hills. And it was Inner West picking up a 105-94 win on the back of six players in double figures. So four of the five starters plus Fiketi and Tolivi off the bench all in double figures.
00:06:28
Speaker
But Hill's plenty to be happy about with their big signing Chris Bryant picking up 26 and 13 against his former team and new signing Ish Sanders also dropping 26 for the Hornets. Aubrey traveled up to Sydney to face Comets and was the big name
Women's Competition Round One Overview
00:06:48
Speaker
signings who showed out as Bewally Bales and Obi-Chai starred with big double doubles for the Comets.
00:06:55
Speaker
whilst Devo Hickey dropped 32 and 12 with 4 assists, 3 steals and 4 blocks almost picking up a 5x5 but it was Comets getting a 94-78 win to not make your predictions look too good in the first night of the season, but Aubrey plenty to be positive about because they came back the next day and knocked off Hornsby 91-82 against the Valiant Spiders team
00:07:24
Speaker
This time Davo again, this time 36 points and 14 rebounds. And Big Kev, Leilock had everyone excited with 29 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, a steal and three blocks. Maitland continued on their winning ways, knocking off Inner West, 100 to 79 on the Sunday with Will Cranston-Lown again.
00:07:46
Speaker
amongst it. 23, 5, 3 and 5 steals just for good measure. A big weekend for some of our big names and some big, big results as well. So very intriguing weekend to start the season. Plenty to delve into that is for sure. And it is indeed Maitland picking up two wins to sit clear atop the table as the only team with multiple wins so far and big ones as well.
00:08:13
Speaker
210 points and 151 against across two contests. They are looking in fine, fatal are the Mustangs. Yeah, are really asserting themselves early. Like we said in the last episode, redemption season. I wonder if part of the incentive to get a lot of numbers on the board is to ensure that they avoid that tie here as well.
00:08:36
Speaker
Let's just rack it up, let's just get heaps of points and we can avoid this kind of five way tie that we found ourselves in last year. But look, I mean, as we as we've spoken about before, they found their way out of it and made it to the championship game nonetheless.
Player Performances and Aspirations
00:08:50
Speaker
Like he said, massive results. Obviously, no time to watch all of the games because that would be somewhat impossible, but big numbers. Everyone's either coming out firing or not playing defense, but
00:09:03
Speaker
I kid, I kid, I'm sure everyone's coming out firing, very well prepared for the season. I love seeing the immediate impact of some of our MVP type people, not having to wait for them to settle into the team and the round and the league. They're just straight out of the blocks forming really well. And you know what? Shout out to Hornsby Spiders in the men's.
00:09:27
Speaker
They've turned it around, brand new roster, brand new coach. Funnily enough, they've got two former Crusaders players and the former Crusaders coach from this time last year. Yeah, because, I mean, we didn't hear, we heard a bit about Hornsley's roster, but not a whole lot. And then they are right before the season started, Aaron Redhead.
00:09:49
Speaker
into the roster, so heavy defeat first up, but you know, only falling by nine to Aubrey Widongo on that second game of the back-to-back, nothing to be sneezed at. No, and it is just really good to have, I was worried that Aaron Redhead wasn't going to be playing at all, so the fact that he's playing is already a win. The other former crusader that's gone to Hornsby is young Isaiah Walter, who's only one or two years out of under 18s.
00:10:17
Speaker
So yeah, I'm glad that they're both playing and able to find teams and hopefully they'll find their way back to
Upcoming Fixtures and Predictions
00:10:23
Speaker
crew one day. But if look, if Hornsby and that system's better suited to them, then I'm all for it. I am responsible for the women's fixture this round one and off the back as well was Bruins and Norse at Bankstown.
00:10:41
Speaker
and the final result was 70 to 83. Central Coast Crusaders hosted Hornsby, Keringai Spiders, winning that one 93 to 81. Maitland Mustangs hosting the Newcastle Falcons, going down 63 to 76. Sutherland Sharks women 94, led the Penrith Panthers with 70. Canberra Nationals and Illawarra Hawks was 64 to 54.
00:11:09
Speaker
It's a bit of a close battle there in the capital. In the West Bulls hosted Hills Hornets going down 45 to 90. Sydney Comets hosted Aubrey-Wodonga Bandits going down 66 to 99. Hornsby Keringa then backed up with a double header the next day and hosted Aubrey-Wodonga Bandits at the brick pit going down 50 to 107 and then Maitland with their double header on Sun Bay at home.
00:11:39
Speaker
getting up against the inner west rules 81 to 49. And also considering that COE and Manly have had buys in round one, given that a lot of the athletes from the men's COE program are playing in a tournament overseas.
00:11:57
Speaker
And doing quite well by all accounts. Yeah, I think they won the whole thing, didn't they? Yes, I think so, yes. And Rocco Zukaski coming away with MVP of the tournament. Having said that, he isn't a COE athlete anymore, but he was. But still, so yeah, good on him. MVP of the tournament. Yeah, I mean that Albert Schweitzer tournament is, you know, one of the most prestigious youth tournaments outside of, you know, the World Cups and that kind of thing. So yeah, excellent.
00:12:28
Speaker
And what was your, any main takeaways just looking through the results from the women's competition? I think one of my main takeaways was we knew it was going to be a three-pronged attack from Aubrey and I think you'll get into it later, but how are you going to stop the four-prong attack if, oh, a tail each is as good as advertised. Some of that really stood out for me was, um,
00:12:48
Speaker
Newcastle with Hannah Chicken a year older, a year bigger, a year stronger, putting up a big double double, you know, especially in the absence of Isla Juffamans to start this season. Hannah Chicken stepping up really well and that's a result that could be crucial down the stretch picking up that win over Maitland because I feel like they're two teams that will probably be in the end of the season, probably around the same kind of area in the table.
00:13:17
Speaker
Yeah, almost forecasting, you know, doing the hard work early to help prevent any issues in the long run. I guess that's why coaches always say you got to take one game at a time and just focus on winning the game in front of you. And then the rest will take care of itself.
00:13:34
Speaker
Kaitlyn Martin taking on a much bigger role, which I think was, it was expected to take on a much bigger role at North's. I think last year out of the two young bad court players I had, Karla Pittman definitely had the bigger role, but this year it looks like they've, Renee Garlips pretty much said, all right, kids.
00:13:53
Speaker
your turn together because they both started, both played big minutes and put up solid numbers. And Caitlin was equal game high with Matty O'Hara and Capri Morrow in that one. So yeah, great to see. I mean, we all know she's got the talent. Great to see that she's getting a much longer run this season. Long may it continue. So typically as the format of our MBL, of our episodes go,
00:14:18
Speaker
We've gone through the results and Lockie and I are both going to review a game from the respective men's and women's competitions. And then we're going to preview what games we've earmarked for Round 2 before getting into some season previews that we have reached out to some of our peers in the league to provide.
00:14:37
Speaker
before we get into our all-star five and some news and gossip to top it off. So, I guessed,
Detailed Game Reviews
00:14:44
Speaker
Lockie, that the game you were gonna review for round one was Sutherland versus Penrith, and am I right? You are, but I actually, I was originally gonna pick, I hadn't decided I was gonna come home on Sunday, and watch something else because I wasn't sure if, you know, Penrith, I mean, they played as close last season, but I didn't know because
00:15:06
Speaker
you know how low they finished down the table last season, how well they were going to go, if it was going to be a game I really wanted to dissect. Penrith, well, they gave as good as they got in the 87-73 defeat. Yes, Sutherland jumped out to an early lead, 26-12 after the first quarter, but Penrith actually won the second and third quarters
00:15:28
Speaker
And it really was a game of, Penrith would pull it back, Sutherland would jump out. Penrith would pull it back a little bit more, Sutherland would jump out. It was only a 14-point game because Penrith, they were down by eight or nine with a couple of minutes to play and really just had to try a little bit of everything in the last two minutes and Sutherland were able to get some weight points. Quick recap of the stats. The Sharks, we know they love to share the ball, share the scoring, and their big thing was having five players average 12 points or more last season. Well,
00:15:58
Speaker
On Saturday night, they had six players score 11 or more in those 87 points with Adrian Cabrera leading the way with 21 points, six rebounds for assists and two steals. And Jeff Gerlach, I've got some sad news. He's retired the shark fin celebration after the three. He's not got that anymore. He's got a new one. He's got the, he's got the three point try where he does the rugby league try celebrate, try signal from the referee, but puts three fingers out instead of pointing to the spot. So.
00:16:25
Speaker
Look out for that one. No, no, it'd be Jeff's not injured. He did have 17, 7, 5, and 4 though. He loves to be the Sharks. Nikola Jokic does. Jeff Gerlach. Clarison Muir, 15 points. New import, Brian Williams, 11 points. And Callum Norris, Penrith just let him get hot.
00:16:50
Speaker
He knocked down three threes from almost the exact same spot, almost burnt a hole in the floor on the right wing at one end of the court and finished with 12 points on 4-7 shooting, it was 4-6 at one stage. But for Penrith, just so good having Ben Kieran's especially and Josh Cowell back there.
00:17:09
Speaker
Of course, they'd gone to hills when Penrith didn't have an MBL1 team, but they're back and Ben Kieran's hill. It's not the fastest crossover in the league, but he'll still send people one way and then the other and take advantage of it. I think everyone knows that he can go one way and dish a pass to anyone, or he could go one way and go the other. He's just crafty. He's not the fastest mover in the league, but he's so crafty.
00:17:33
Speaker
and he finished with 20.9 rebounds, six assists and a couple of steals to pace the Panthers. But I do want to focus on the Panthers for a bit, because I've had a bit of player turnover, but Caleb Jaden, Fatui Fatamohe, young guys, we talked about him in the season preview that, you know, they've got that core of players who just seem to love playing Penrith basketball. And those two guys being a year older, a year bigger, a year stronger, a year, a full year of playing MBL1 basketball. And they just looked
00:18:01
Speaker
more at home. Didn't have the biggest scoring impact but they just since their first day playing for Penrith in MBL1 they just got better and better and better and I think this is going to be a breakout season for one if not both of them. They've banged really well down low, you know, pass, they can score, they get rebounds. It's going to look good for Penrith. I think that three-win season of last year is completely in the rearview mirror because
00:18:30
Speaker
If you can tangle with Sutherland what they did in this one, they're going to cause some teams some problems this year. New Japanese player, Soulja Fukihara, even gave Woki Hutchison a bit of trouble on defense.
00:18:43
Speaker
finished with five steals, love to get his hand in, poke the ball away, doesn't mind kicking off a pass either. Don't want to say stereotypical Japanese guard, but we have seen a lot of Japanese guards since the Opals and Booms and playing in Asia more how Christly Japanese players can be and even in the league. They certainly have a style, a lot of
00:19:03
Speaker
their guards. I mean, if you think like Machida playing for the Japanese women's national team. Um, and he's just another one. He's, he's quick, he's crafty, he gets his hands in on defense and he's going to be a really good addition. Probably turnovers, probably killed. Penrose momentum. There were times I would get it back to, at one point they had it back to from 2028 to 12 or 26 to 12. They had it back to 28, 26 early in the second quarter.
00:19:31
Speaker
And then at another point they added a 34-33. So, whenever Sutherland would drop their guard, Penrose were right there to take advantage. Kieran's just directing traffic so well, and that's why he finished with six assists. He just had some tributions all over the board. Five players with six or more points alongside Kieran's 20. And Schwartz's, Brody Schwartz had 12. He's another young player who's, you know, really improved for them.
00:19:56
Speaker
But in the end, it was Sutherland who got the win. I listened back to Patrick Williamson's head coach, Pat Williamson's interview after the game. He said there were some things that they need to work on, ironing out the Kings, getting the rush, shaking the rust off. Defensive intensity needs to lift on occasion, which is why Penrith were able to keep getting back into the game.
00:20:18
Speaker
Sutherland, they just, you know, fall away a bit on defence and take full advantage. And they are incorporating two new players as well. Not just incorporating two new players, they had to replace Markel Beasley, but Jordan Mitchell had been at the club for so long. It wasn't like you were replacing another one-season import. You don't have to go through the betting in period with J-Mitt each year. He would just come in and be like, hey, J-Mitt's back. Oh, good. So this year, yes, they've got two new players in Brian Williams, the import.
00:20:47
Speaker
and then the young man, Clarice Amir, who was solid, first up.
Team Dynamics and Strategies
00:20:53
Speaker
We know, obviously, he's got bucket loads of potential. Three of four from deep, three of four from two-point range as well, including a finally, it took 39 minutes and 50-odd seconds to happen, but it was 39 minutes and 40-something seconds, but they were able to throw Clarice an alley-oop for a big dunk to finish the game off.
00:21:15
Speaker
It's only been waiting for it all night. He shot really well. Pat said he's not the loudest person off the court and the Sharks do have a lot of big personalities in the team. So he's just trying to find his spot. So is Brian, but you know, they both performed out on court. 15 points for Clarice, as I mentioned, and Brian did a little bit of everything to have 11, 5, 3 and 4.
00:21:37
Speaker
Only more to come from him. And watching Brian Williams in warm up, he could be really fun to watch as well. Like Clarice, he didn't get an opportunity to throw down a big one. Bit of concern over Lockie Hutcheson, who came off for a brief period and looked to be favoring a shoulder. Not entirely sure what happened there. Hopefully it's not too bad because he was definitely ginger on it after the game. You know, no big bear hugs after the game to celebrate the win, that was for sure. So that's definitely something to
00:22:07
Speaker
look for and he did take another second knock on it. I don't know if it was on it, but he came out for a little bit came back in and a Penrith player just
00:22:15
Speaker
Ran straight through him on a baseline play. Hush was there on defence and this penalty player just cut to the basket. Hush just stood there and took the full brunt of it. So hopefully that didn't make it too much worse. But for Sutherland, you know, you know what you're going to get. You're going to get Cabrera going to the rack. You're going to get Gerlach, as I said, playing that Jokey Troll, passing the ball around. Williams does look like a bigger, more versatile Jordan Mitchell. So he goes to the rack.
00:22:39
Speaker
Yeah, Gerlach and Hutchison will shoot the three occasionally but not as often as some others but if Amir's going to shoot three or four from three, Callum Norris is going to catch fire because that was the one thing that they really didn't have much of last season was three-point shooting regularly. Happy days for the Sharks but as Pat said, still a bit of rust to shake off and he won't be, he really won't be too happy about the fact that his team let Penrith get back into it so often.
00:23:08
Speaker
Really all you can do first up is get the win, bank it, move on. And you know, you've now had a chance to see what an opposition will throw at you. It's all well and good to go up against, you know, your teammates in defense who know the offense inside out. But Jared Moore is a good coach. You know, he'll pick weaknesses and he'll find things to work on at both ends of the court. Positive signs for both teams. Very good indeed. I'm really glad to hear that
00:23:37
Speaker
Yeah, Penrith have really wasted no time to make a more positive impact on the league. And like you said, the new recruits in clearance and Coway was just what they needed. And perhaps some now that they've been added to the group, maybe takes a little bit of pressure off the likes of Caleb and Jaden and some of those other younger high performers of the Penrith team last year on their debut might be a
00:24:04
Speaker
a better way that they can compliment each other and use Ben and Josh's leadership a little bit more. And yeah, not have all that pressure on their shoulders that they have to be the stars of such a high stakes team, I guess. A hundred percent. And you talk about leadership. He only played seven minutes, but Krenz Carlos for Penrith saw him once or twice just out of the corner of my eye on the bench, just
00:24:31
Speaker
saying things, talking things through with other players sitting there on the bench. We know he's been around Warrata League and MBL1 play for Manly last year, had a bit of time with Hills as well. He's been around for a good while, so he's got a lot of knowledge and wisdom to pass on. It certainly looked like he was doing that on the bench, even though he's playing time.
00:24:51
Speaker
wasn't that high. Young team, great to have as many veteran leaders in there as you can. Yeah, absolutely. And veteran leaders who probably still have a lot of playing days ahead of them as well, whether they're on court or even if they're still contributing in other ways, like you said, just passing on some wisdom or providing a bit of maturity and stability off the bench. That's good. Let's keep them around as long as we can.
00:25:16
Speaker
That's right. We love a comeback or a long story, a long tenured player in MBL1. That's not just in Ace, that's all over the country. That's everywhere. That's the one thing I think the conferences can agree on. Actually, it doesn't just, it's not just MBL1 because I saw a tweet from Jordan McCallum today who said that Darryl Corletto is down there balling for Mornington in Big V dropping 28 per game at the age of 42.
00:25:45
Speaker
That's that's given the different kind of education. Outstanding. All right. So I decided to review the in the women's competition, the Sydney Comets versus the Aubrey with Don the bandits.
00:25:59
Speaker
Um, being a tight match up and I was pretty keen to see a relatively newish looking Aubrey Woodonga Bandits as well. A lot of, um, core players have stayed in the side, but some new players have been added to the mix too. So this was at Alexandria and, um, the comments also looking like a pretty different team as well compared to last season.
00:26:23
Speaker
Um, so it was quite a fast, it was a pretty fast paced game for most of it. There was a lot of possessions where it was up and back. There are a lot of deflections, turnovers.
00:26:35
Speaker
probably fouls in transition, but then a lot of also transition buckets from both sides as well. So it wasn't a typical type of game where you have your initial period of going up and back and trying to establish yourselves and then each team kind of settling down and running some sets. It definitely wasn't a game like that. Neither team, well, both teams did have opportunities to play a lot of half court sets, but the one team was definitely more successful in execution than the other.
00:27:06
Speaker
Um, being Aubrey, given they won 99 to 66. Hobbits sometimes in the half court looked a little bit disorganized. Um, but I feel like that probably comes from a place where 70% of the time the ball was either in Dale's or Anderson's hands. And I think there are a lot of possessions where.
00:27:27
Speaker
Dale just took over. Demita Dale, the new import number two for the Comet. She just kind of took over and she would have the ball for the whole possession. And there are a lot of possessions like that. So when that thing starts to become your norm of how you're going to run your half foot offense, that's going to confuse the hell out of the other four players.
00:27:46
Speaker
but that's also gonna be the new standard of like, oh, well, I guess if she's got the ball, she's probably gonna go one on one, so I'll just stay in my spot. So then all the other times when that doesn't happen, that's when the disorganization comes in. It's kind of like really turning on and off a tap. The tap's on when it's in Dale's hands, all right, we're just gonna stay where we are. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, if she's having a sub-op, what do we do? Where are we going? Where are we running? It's very jarring. And I think that's where a lot of the disorganization came from.
00:28:15
Speaker
So Davida Dale and Piper Anderson took 68% of the team's overall shots in the whole game. The Sydney Comets actually put up three more field goal attempts than Aubrey, but shot at, I'm going to round it up to 30% overall. Piper Anderson
00:28:35
Speaker
She had some success from the arc early in the game, and she continued to try and find that success. She had 15 three-pointers in the game and shooting five from 15, which is a lot of threes. That's practice session threes. And I feel like the other times when the comments, like I said before, sometimes when it wasn't either in Anderson or Dale's hands and the rest of the comments were kind of scrambling to get organized and figuring out what we need to do,
00:29:04
Speaker
There were also situations where I think some players were like, oh, I've actually got a good scoring opportunity. I might not get it again. So I'm just going to go for it.
00:29:13
Speaker
because in the other possessions, the ball's more likely going to be in other people's hands. So I think some of the sharing, look, I don't know what Coach Gorman has planned for this team. Maybe she wants to run it in this way of having the two main players, uh, making all the shots and all the plays and everyone else is just there to support in whatever way. It was really reminded me of a Phoenix Suns team that we in the NBA finals a couple of years ago when it was just Devin Booker or Chris Paul and everyone else.
00:29:42
Speaker
being yourself out. And so they made the finals against the box, but then they ultimately lost. Enough of the negatives for the comments, the positives. They still look really good in offensive transition, similar to last year. Running in offense and scoring layups is definitely still their strengths. They got a little bit lost on D-trans sometimes, but I think it made up for it with the way that they could run in transition on offense. They managed to nab
00:30:12
Speaker
14 offensive rebounds against the team that have the likes of Ashley Hannan, Lauren Jackson, and Mikmela Pivik. So grabbing 14 offensive rebounds against them is pretty good. However, they did lose the rebound count 4-1 to 63, which is expected. I mean, you've got three of nearly the top six best rebounders in the comp in one team.
00:30:39
Speaker
Um, so that law is always going to be an uphill battle. Um, Aubrey though, what I really, really liked is this, their fundamentals as a team, like using their team principles were really good. So they had really great spacing. Um, and that spacing was really interesting instead of trying to get it all the way down to the extended 45. Um, a lot of the possessions in transition would be stopped a little bit higher. And that actually spread out the defense so much.
00:31:08
Speaker
that it gave people like Jackson, Hannon, Peavey. However, Peavey also had nine assists. So she was usually the one making these passes with the likes of Murphy and Rice. But it just opened up all those shots under the basket. So so many times in transition, they would just get it down the side of the floor. The defense would spread perfect opportunity for a big to run basket to basket or just open up.
00:31:34
Speaker
So their spacing really led to a lot of shots under the basket. A lot of their passing as well. There were lots of possessions even in transition where they didn't even need to dribble. Their passing was just so good. And because of their passing was so good and their team concepts were so sound, they actually had 24 assists for the game compared to the Comet 7 assists. So I think that's the number of assists is truly reflective in the style of play that each team
00:32:04
Speaker
demonstrated in this game, one being very offensive heavy of individuals, the other being more teen orientated. And it just kind of came apart. I think it was one of those games where because it was so frenetic, there was no team that was really establishing any kind of control or being comfortable. Comets always looked like they could still be in it and be a threat.
00:32:29
Speaker
But it all kind of came undone in the third quarter with Aubrey was on within the third quarter, 24-8. Pretty much by that stage you could tell it was going to be really hard for comments to come back after that point. But some other outstanding stats for Aubrey is 52 of their 99 points were points in the paint, 24 points were fast break points, so their transition game was also pretty good. 30 points were from the bench and 21 points were second chance points.
00:33:00
Speaker
They tried to control the game as much as they could and take as much opportunity from.
00:33:05
Speaker
this kind of chaos that was loose balls, fast-paced game, disorganisation. It did a really good job of trying to convert from that. LJ was just, LJ, 22 and 16 in nearly 26 minutes shooting at 53% overall. That was mostly under the basket too. She only took three three-pointers because she probably didn't need to. They didn't run a lot of pick and pop for her.
00:33:30
Speaker
Again, probably because they didn't need to. And she just looks so comfortable the times and she just catches it on the block. And in one motion, we'll just turn around fade away and switch. It's like name a name another player that can do that. So automatically. Pivock was everywhere. 15 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and four steals in just 30 minutes. So welcome back to Kayla. I mean, she's never left.
00:33:58
Speaker
We've only had 17 and 13 in just under 22 minutes as well. She also shot really well. She shot at 56%. I should also mention that Michaela Pivik with those stats shot at 75%. I really want to highlight Awatea Leech, who's come over from New Zealand playing in that point guard position for Aubrey Wodonga.
00:34:21
Speaker
I was really impressed with her. Her on-ball defense against Davida Dale was really, really good. She still got a bit of length to her as well. She's probably on the shorter side. Her wingspan is still deadly. And I thought she did a really good job of steadying the ship. When she could, she had a really good recognition of when to run and when to pull it back and slow something down and wait for another option.
00:34:49
Speaker
Yeah, I was really impressed with her. I'm hoping that she'll have quite an impact, be a bit of a dark horse in NBL One East. And I see some potential for her getting some DP spots in.
00:35:00
Speaker
WMBL for next season. And I know I'm basing that up one game, but if I had to pick someone in that one game for a DP spot, it would, she would be on
Preview of Upcoming Key Matchups
00:35:11
Speaker
my list. She was really great. Um, and I should also finish with a positive for comments. Davita Dale is super talented as well. Um, even obviously why she's got the ball in her hands a lot of the time. Uh, so she played 34 minutes and she had 31 points, nine rebounds and nine steals. So she almost had a triple double with steals.
00:35:31
Speaker
And some of her steals, she's quite crafty, so even when she's guarding the ball, she isn't necessarily applying pressure where she's got her hands active and she's using her body. She's kind of passive, she's laying back, and then she'll get into the rhythm of how the ball is traveling and be able to pickpocket. So if she's guarding you, guards in NBL1A, I would practice your ball security because she's coming to pick your pocket.
00:35:59
Speaker
But she also tends to drop back a little bit when she's guarding the ball in the perimeter and she's able to snatch some overhead passes with her length and athleticism. So she's quite unassuming on defense sometimes, but nine steals is outrageous, just outrageous.
00:36:15
Speaker
Yeah, that could be a season high for the league for any one player and it's been done on night one of the season. Night one against a team that's going to be in the top four. Yes. I also noticed Aubrey Wodonga shot 90% from two point range and had 18 points in the paint in the first quarter according to the stats. Does that mean every one of their field goals in the first quarter came in the paint?
00:36:43
Speaker
Yeah, probably. I mean, from the tip, Michaela Pivock had a layup from the tip. So, and yeah, Comets got caught out in defensive transition a couple of times. So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if that was right. So yeah, it was, it was a game with lots of potential. Comets have a lot to
00:37:08
Speaker
improve on in terms of organization. I feel like they could probably use some of their other talent a little bit more effectively. Like they've still got Alexandra Carus. She played 20 minutes, but she only had three points, three rebounds to assist, which is still good. Um, and she only had five shot attempts and then Sarika Schilling's work. I mean, she's had a few seasons off understandably, but she's still super talented. So I hope once she gets going,
00:37:34
Speaker
to be able to be a bit more of a scoring option for comics as well. Just a bit of a shaky start for them, but certainly not down and out in any means. They're still going to be a threat for that Top 8, I think. But Aubrey, very mature, very organised, very classy team to watch. I feel like Aubrey are going to beat
00:37:57
Speaker
some finals teams by 30 plus this season. Wouldn't put a lot in the result. Comets had just been, you know, abject. It would be different, but that Aubrey Wodonga team is going to beat a lot of good teams by a lot of points this season, I think.
00:38:12
Speaker
Yeah. And I think everyone, as everyone can probably imagine, it's just the question of how many games LJ will be able to play. But if she keeps racking up the numbers like she did this weekend, she's still probably contender for MVP. That was more or less that game. Yeah. Good win on the road for Aubrey. Still a good showcasing of talent for Comets.
00:38:34
Speaker
Um, yeah, and I think only way is up for comments. And I mean that both literally and metaphorically as comments fly up in space.
Season Predictions and Commentator Insights
00:38:45
Speaker
So if we're looking now towards round two for next week, uh, we're just going to take a little bit of a glance at the schedule and just on first glance, Lockie, are there any particular games that you are most interested in watching?
00:39:01
Speaker
Um, well, I think for the men's side, you can't really go too far past, um, Maitland versus Canberra because that is a rivalry that is brewing and has been brewing since the start of MBL one. Um, yeah, that's got grand final history, semi-final history. Uh,
00:39:24
Speaker
Both teams will be very, very aggrieved at the way they lost the game they lost that in each of those seasons. So yes, when those two teams tangle, it's always a lot of fun and they're not, not to be biased, but, uh, Sutherland or Albury, Wodonga versus Sutherland. I think that's going to be big in both the men's and women's competitions.
00:39:47
Speaker
All four of those teams could be, uh, uh, probably top four contenders. So definitely if I need to look out for, I think we said we need to get a goat pun for the LJ Sports Center. I don't know the goat pen. Yeah. Goat pens pretty good. Cause what I mean, the only goats that I've kind of seen have just been roaming around on a piece of rope in someone's backyards that's not contained. I don't know what the.
00:40:10
Speaker
container or the boundary is called for a goat. I think a pen is right. I think the goat pen down in Auburn would longer. I just keep nicknaming things. I nickname players, I nickname games, I nickname stadiums. I'm not the name raider from Pokemon.
00:40:30
Speaker
Well, I think it's part of the job as a commentator sometimes, you know, you get in this habit of creating nicknames for places and things and people. Very, very fun to watch both of those games. So you get, uh, definitely get your value for money down there and down there on the border on Saturday night. But which games are you looking at, Squint?
00:40:49
Speaker
Or just before we move on, I wanted to ask your opinion on the Maitland and Canberra rivalry. Like you said, it is only a newly established, organically established rivalry in their history with finals match ups, as you said. But do you feel like, you know, there are some teams, whether it's in this league or other sporting codes that have a long standing rivalry, you know, like the Lakers and the Celtics?
00:41:14
Speaker
Historic rivalry. Do you feel like the rivalry is felt stronger between two teams when that history is more recent than it is far, far away? Yes.
00:41:30
Speaker
in a way, but I feel like it's only felt stronger if there has been history and then it's renewed recently. Yes, the Lakers and Celtics, but then when they played in final series, you know, around the 2000, you know, started 2010 decade just before that as well.
00:41:50
Speaker
you know, that rebuilds the rivalry. So this rivalry between Canberra and Maitland is budding and between these two sets of players that have been there for both of those games. So, you know, on the Canberra side, that side is almost unchanged from what it was season one, season two, and Maitland's not much different either.
00:42:08
Speaker
But for a rivalry to continue on, they have to keep playing each other and having good games because it's not a local rivalry. So you don't have that hatred like a Newcastle Maitland, like a Liverpool Man United in soccer where they're half an hour down the road or Man City Man United, that kind of thing.
00:42:28
Speaker
So if they keep playing and get to really build a rivalry where both fans feel the history, then the rivalry becomes something. They don't have good games if they don't meet in finals for the next five years. It's just going to be, remember a few years ago, Canberra and Maitland played a couple of times and it was really fun. And it's just going to be MBL1 nerds pulling it out every time.
00:42:54
Speaker
But there's definitely something there, and between these two sets of players, there's going to be feeling about it. It has to continue if it's going to grow. See, this is why I asked you. Great answer. This is why I asked you. Okay, so the games I'm kind of keeping an eye on in the women's competition. I think it'll be really interesting. The Bankstown and Illawarra Hawks games will be really interesting because they're both two teams who did pretty well last season, particularly Bankstown. And like we mentioned,
00:43:23
Speaker
Another year on for the younger players to feel more confident and in the league and be ready to contribute a bit more. Illawarra have been able to recruit some pretty handy players as well in McDonald and Aandorf.
00:43:38
Speaker
So I'm really excited. I think this is going to be a game that's going to be a real litmus test for both of the teams of where they're potentially going to stand compared to the rest. And I think these are two teams who could potentially be fighting for the eight spot.
00:43:56
Speaker
So I think this game maybe won't be the best game to watch, but I think it will be really important for both of those teams and how the rest of the ladder rolls out over the course of the season. And the other game is actually Comets and Crusaders.
00:44:15
Speaker
similar reasons, comments, you know, if they get themselves together, we'll still be super competitive and hard to beat crusaders now with an even more loaded roster, which we're getting to mention in news and gossip, um, have the potential to win it all with this roster, with this roster under coach manpa, um, really have potential now to win it all, which I'm very excited about. But like I said, in the previous episode can be their own worst enemy.
00:44:42
Speaker
So this will be a good test of character, I think, to make sure that they're able to steady the ship and make quick adjustments to ensure that they get a win over a team like Comets. That could be a banar skin for them. Yeah, it really could. And, you know, you mentioned in your game recap that Sharika Stirling's worth, yeah, she's been in and out of basketball for the last few years, but
00:45:07
Speaker
Yeah, we all saw what she could do back when she was playing with the Sydney Uni Sparks when she was playing with Hornsby and Comets in Warrata League. If she gets back to the player, we know she can be. It's going to be big for Comets. And you never know when it could happen. One day she could just walk into training, knock down 10 threes in a row and feel like she's back. Or it could take a couple of weeks. You just never know when you're going to feel, you never know when you're going to be back.
00:45:34
Speaker
No, that's right. It just clicks one day, mentally or physically. It's just something that clicks. So, um, yeah, it's going to happen. So yeah, that's the, the games we're e-marking for round two. Um, I think it's time that we get into our season previews, actually Locky. So, uh, what we did over the last couple of weeks, we reached out to a couple of our peers in NBL One East to ask them for their season previews for 2024.
00:46:04
Speaker
And just in time, on the official MBL1 social media channels, my recent predictions were posted. And yes, that brought on a lot of anxiety on Friday, because as a lot of commentators and media kind of personalities in basketball might tell you is that we don't like sharing predictions.
00:46:27
Speaker
But it has become part of the culture and the league. So it's always really hard to do and kind of puts you in a firing line. And I did get roasted by one person in the comments, but that person, at least I knew that he was just having a joke. So I didn't say that too badly. But predictions are always tricky. So, but we wanted to see what our peers thought in the league as well. Actually, it was funny when they posted it on X.
00:46:54
Speaker
Someone commented with the Mean Girls meme, she doesn't even go here. I just thought that was hilarious. That's pretty good. I don't live in the East anymore, even though I still have an investment in it. I thought that was hilarious. Plus, great reference from Mean Girls.
00:47:15
Speaker
Every, is there, there's no such thing as a bad mean girls reference. The limit does not exist. Yeah, that's right. The limit does not exist. So we will be posting on our eScott game Instagram account, some of the predictions for MVP, defensive player of the year, coach of the year, um, that some of our peers have currently submitted. They also asked for a couple of the notes, um, from some of our peers as well. So I'll talk about first of all,
00:47:44
Speaker
are boys from Two Food in the Paint, James and Garen. Some of their tips or other opinions for the season include that the Bankstown men are going to break into the top four if their chemistry works. Lewis Holley will lead the galaxy in rebounds per game. Both Maitland sides will fly under the radar but will dominate. Keep an eye on Hornsby's men
00:48:11
Speaker
Totally new roster with a fresh mentality and a lot of use. And they're also tipping the Crusaders women to make the final with their roster and their excellent coaching. And they're also tipping the Crusaders men to make the final as well. Carla Pittman and Meg Jefferson will go next level this season and potentially be All-Star Five. With the Norseman, or Pat Fraser, who's now joined Norse, is going to be a dark horse and a player to break out if he gets minutes.
00:48:42
Speaker
So that's some pretty well thought out considerations and opinions for the season. Did any resonate with you, Lockie? I like the bullish calls about Pittman and Jefferson. It would be great to see them get in, but it is going to be an absolute log jam to get into that women's All-Star Five. Younger players on the come up, Maitland. Yeah, I mean, big on Maitland. I'll admit that.
00:49:11
Speaker
I mean, I think they're bang on with Hornsby, with Hornsby men. Definitely. I think they've, I mean, they've already kind of shown that they can, you know, that they can hang, can the Hornsby Corringo spiders. So yeah, it's nice to get some well thought out predictions, a bit of a bit of substance behind them.
00:49:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good way to put it, put a substance behind them. So we appreciate you guys putting that thought and effort into your submissions. James and Garen from Two Feet in Dothang. I've got to say it right.
00:49:46
Speaker
And our other friend Robbie Clayton, who is a commentator with Hills Hornets. He's made a submission. And one of his final thoughts is that he has Aubrey making the finals for the men's and the women's. And most importantly, it's going to be the best season of NBL One East yet. I hope so. Yeah. Can't really
00:50:08
Speaker
that really argue with that. So one of our other friends Matt McQuaid from Inner West Bulls and legendary commentator and Sydney King's encyclopedia. He has also submitted his predictions and some tips or final thoughts on his for the season of 2024. Players to watch include Davo Hickey from the Bandits, Bewale Bales from Comets and also Jai Smith in Newcastle and Brian Williams from Sutherland. Now the Jai Smith from Newcastle
00:50:37
Speaker
I'm going to guess is the import Jasmiths from the G-League. No, there's anything wrong with the other Jasmiths. It's contributor. That's right. Also contributor. Just start making an assumption. Matt's prediction for the men's competition as a whole is that it will be extraordinarily competitive and that there are five to six legitimate title contenders and a couple of others who will make noise. And in a women's competition,
00:51:03
Speaker
He believes it's a three horse race between Norse, Manly and Aubrey Woodonga. He believed their head and shoulders above everyone else. But having said that, he hasn't seen the COE team just yet. And you know, Lauren Nicholson's impact onto the shark season is yet to be seen as well. I feel like we sent this over for the big announcements that came out of Crusader's women's team as well.
00:51:32
Speaker
Yeah, so I think most of us had our predictions or our idea of how things might go pretty much locked down and then Crusaders dropped their big news. The only other big take that he's got from Matt McQuaid is from a false perspective, Alexander Higgin's teacher will make a run as the lead MVP. That'd be cool because if he's going off, it's going to be very fun to watch. Yeah, I agree. It certainly has the potential to
00:52:02
Speaker
have a breakout season, given he's had such a great off-season getting some experience overseas, so you never know.
Community Engagement and Awards Predictions
00:52:09
Speaker
And the final one was our friend Caleb Fogarty, who is a great play-by-play commentator for the Maitland Mustangs.
00:52:17
Speaker
Um, he's got a lot of takes, uh, a lot of love for Maitland as well. And some of his predictions, he's predicting them to be the men's championship this year. Anyway, so keep an eye on our Eastcott game Instagram, where we'll be posting some of the predictions from some of our other friends from across the league. Um, I'm sure everyone's got their own predictions. Um, willing that they are willing to share if you so dare is my recommendation.
00:52:46
Speaker
Feels like the only person who hasn't given their prediction yet is me. Oh, well, take it away, Locky, if you're ever so game. Uh, I am game. Um, I try, I will admit I tried to steer away from Sutherland biases, um, which I am notable for in my writing and calling as I'm always
00:53:12
Speaker
Too far biased against my favourites to avoid the perception of bias. And it never ends well for me. I've got All We Were Donger winning, winning it all in the women's competition. And Maitland, they're getting it in the men. They're going to do it. Women's MVP is going to come from the bandits, but it's going to be Michaela Pivock. Ooh, what did you say about bias before? Um,
00:53:46
Speaker
I thought about putting Lauren Nicholson for MVP and I also thought about putting her for defensive player of the year, but I just can't swing putting a player who's only going to be here for 10 games max. Men's MVP, I feel like CB, Chris Bryant, unfinished business.
00:54:07
Speaker
He's fired up for that MVP. I tell you what. He has, he has NBL goals. Started off with 26 and 13. Yeah. He can have an MVP caliber season. Uh, so in lieu of Nicholson, I've gone with Brooke Flowers for Manly Waringa to be women's defensive player of the year.
00:54:28
Speaker
and I've gone Lockie Hutchison to get men's defensive player of the year. Everyone in our list has picked a different player for men's defensive player of the year. It tells you the elite level that's out there. And then
00:54:43
Speaker
For coach of the year, I've gone Sammy Mack from the Order of the Donger Bandits first season as a head coach to get it done. It's going to be tough with that roster to get coach of the year, but I think if he can reel off a championship in his first season as a head coach, I know he's been assistant for a long time. I think that will be enough. Hopefully the voters will see it the same way.
00:55:06
Speaker
And I'm going to go with double championship coach of the year winners in the men's. It'll be Maitland head coach, Luke Boyle, getting coach of the year as well.
00:55:18
Speaker
Now the tricky thing with predictions is that while we can see it as people who obviously do a podcast and commentate and see the game in a certain way, sometimes I feel like there's always a safe bet as well with how the awards actually end out as well. So I think for me, when I was picking predictions, that kind of played in my mind of like, I know that LJ is going to be probably away for a period of time with the Olympics, but it's LJ, like how can you not?
00:55:47
Speaker
How can you not give her votes when she's here? And I think what also people need to take into consideration is that
00:55:58
Speaker
I've noticed, and some of my friends in the league have also noticed of this almost double-edged sword of being awarded something like an MVP or a coach of the year. Because when you're awarded that and you make it to the finals, you tell me how often it happens that the coach of the year or the MVP actually go on to win the championship in that same year. It's almost like the universe will let you have one, but not the other. Very rare.
00:56:25
Speaker
that MVP and the coach that you will go on to actually win the chip in the same year. If you didn't get nominated for a prediction, consider that because we didn't, we didn't jinx you. Yeah, we didn't curse. It's like the Madden curse when you get on the cover and then your career just goes down. Yes, exactly. In making these predictions, I'm sure I have slept on the best part of 400 players out there. And for that, I am sorry. Yeah, it's not personal. Sometimes we just
00:56:55
Speaker
I'm going to pick one! I'm going to pick someone! Yeah! And we don't have that, you know, that betting book from Back to the Future 2 that have all the results that we can do.
All-Star Selections and Standouts
00:57:08
Speaker
Just a bit of fun. We're going to roll into now our All-Star 5 for round one, which is always something fun to do as well. Did you have quite a task with your hands here locking, picking an All-Star 5 for the men's?
00:57:24
Speaker
I did in a way, but the players in the double headers, few players in the double header that had double headers this week absolutely showed out. So that made it a little bit easier for a few spots, but that just meant there were fewer spots to cram everybody else into.
00:57:40
Speaker
It was a little difficult because, I mean, like the two boys from Hills, Chris Bryan and Nish Sanders both dropping 26. Will Mayfield had a really good game. Andre Walford, Ande Buu stepping up from Warrata Lee. You know, he's not an import that is flying in from the G-League, you know.
00:57:58
Speaker
Had to show out in Warrata to get noticed. Playing for Cormac Corey last season, so 26 first up for him. He was really good. Robbie Heath, 29. Only thing against him was that he did it on nine of 29 shootings. So sometimes, although with that said, I've got another player in here
00:58:20
Speaker
Did a little bit more to make up for his not quite electric shooting, but I suppose I should stop avoiding, you know, avoiding cutting players from my All-Star Five and just get on with who actually did make it. Even the audience in suspense here.
00:58:41
Speaker
That's right. So, um, so first up it's the MVP, the defending MVP, Will Cranston-Lown. He had 23 points, five rebounds, three assists and five steals in a 100 to 179 against Swinn over in a West. But he also had 30 points, six rebounds and seven assists shooting 13 of 19 from the field and that big 109.72 win the night before against Newcastle.
00:59:11
Speaker
A luxury start to the season for Will Cranston-Lan definitely going to be in the MVP conversation again.
00:59:17
Speaker
Of course, Kanko passed Davo Hickey with his 32 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and four blocks. Of course, that came in a 94-78, first up loss, two comets. He bounced back the next day because he dropped 36-14, five assists, three steals, and a block in a 91-82 win over Hornsby. Massive week for Davo Hickey. And his teammate, Big Kev Blalock,
00:59:46
Speaker
He had 17 points, eight rebounds, three assists, a steal, and six blocks. So you can probably take that AYL out of his name and just call him Block. And he followed up with 29 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, a steal, and another three blocks in the 91-82 win over Hornsby the next day. And then a lot of players from that Comets All-Green Men's game, because we've got the Comets pair who helped
01:00:13
Speaker
their team to victory had Boalie Bales, 27 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and a block, shot 11 with 30 but did more than enough to make up for that low shooting percentage to lead his team to victory. And Obie Che, 24 points, 18 rebounds, and 4 assists, shooting 11 of 20 from the field to help lead Comets to an opening day 94-78 win. So there you have it, men's All-Star 5 that could have been 8 or 9.
01:00:41
Speaker
Wow, that's a pretty good start to round one for NBA One East. I had a similar list for the women's competition where I had a lot of honorable mentions, such as someone, you know, another new signing that we weren't aware of for Hornsby, where at least I wasn't aware of, is Ayanna Bay. She had 25 points and 11 rebounds against the Crusaders and shot at 47%. So pretty good for a debut.
01:01:09
Speaker
Kokura Riley, 21 points, six rebounds, three assists versus Newcastle. Nicole Munger just back doing a bit of everything as Nicole Munger likes to do. 21 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and four steals. So she was flirting with a triple double as well. And I just wanted to give a shout out to Bianca Dufomaya.
01:01:32
Speaker
who came back out of retirement and she dropped 18 points on return. So welcome back to the court. My All-Star five was also a little bit tricky because there were a lot of really good stats and essentially just came down to who had more stats. So at the very top we've got Michaela, Donkins, well the Central Coast Crusaders who had
01:01:55
Speaker
24 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists against the Hornsby Corringi Spiders. Vanessa Penooses for the Sutherland Sharks. In her game against Penrith this weekend, she had 29 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals in just 29 minutes. That's a point a minute. So that, for me, warranted a spot in the All-Star Five. Number three is Talia Tupaya from the Penrith Panthers in the same game.
01:02:23
Speaker
She had 33 points, five rebounds, and two assists, and she shot at 52% overall, which actually included 60% from the three-point line. But that's pretty outstanding, especially if you're going to drop 33 on a good team like Sutherland. Then we also had Davita Dale making her impact on MBL1E stuff to coming down from North. She had 31 points, nine rebounds, and nine steals against all Riwodonga bandits.
01:02:52
Speaker
And last and certainly not least, it is Lauren Jackson. Versus the comments, she had 22 points and 16 rebounds. And against Hornsby on the Sunday, she had 33 points, 16 rebounds and three assists. And I'm not too sure how many people got to see on social media. I did post it on the Eastcott Game Instagram story. There's this great photo of Dale Walker.
01:03:22
Speaker
from Hornsby standing next to LJ. I think they're waiting for a free throw or something. And you can, it's just that caught her in the moment of like just looking at LJ and admiring her while LJ was looking in the distance and it's so perfect. I think actually Abby from her way may have gotten that photo and someone on X had made it into a meme. And it was, it was great. That was probably one of the highlights of around that photo. So that was the all star five.
01:03:50
Speaker
a pretty good start for round one, I think. And based on the results and the numbers on the floor this round, I can guess that it's just going to continue to be this high calibre.
01:04:03
Speaker
I do think you're right there, definitely. Absolutely. And like, when you think of like teams like Albury, where three or four players are putting up weeks where they could all make all-star five. And then there's plenty of other teams where they could have two or three players doing the same. So it's going to be difficult for us all season. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. That's what sometimes that's a fun bit, I guess.
01:04:27
Speaker
Um, and now we're going to finish the episode with a little bit of news and gossip. And the only real specific news or gossip I have is that a whole bunch of signings, a whole bunch of clubs decided to announce their signings literally days before the league started. Now, I don't know about you Lockie, but I don't like being told in a lot. I don't like that drop. No.
01:04:53
Speaker
So the ones that we mentioned before, the likes of Aaron Redhead and Isaiah Walter, who have gone to Hornsby Men's. Obviously, Ayanna Bay, who looks like she's a new player in the league from, we haven't mentioned her in a previous episode, have we?
01:05:11
Speaker
No, no, no, I only saw that just recently as well. Yeah. Um, obviously two massive signings for the Central Coast Crusader women being Leilani Mitchell and Michaela Domkins joining an already talented roster. Um, so that's massive. Yeah. Well, I mean, you said Crusaders were bullish and this is definitely the signing to put them over the top of the pair of signings to put them over the top.
01:05:38
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's, you know, you're getting a great, the perfect point guard in one signing and then a great power forward to compliment that or could even be Michaela could play two to five really. So she can slot in anywhere. And what other signings from memory have we learned about in the absolute eve of NBL One East?
01:06:03
Speaker
Well, we learned that Vanessa Penneus is actually on a slightly longer deal than we thought, which is good. She might cover most of the time until Lauren Nicholson gets back,
Signings, Rumors, and Concluding Thoughts
01:06:12
Speaker
which would be good. Good for the Sutherland Sharks, because they definitely needed her against Penrith. I think she scored.
01:06:18
Speaker
their first 10 and 13 of their first 16 points against Penrith as they got off to a pretty slow start did the sharkies for a game that they won by 24. That's definitely something to help the sharks and apparently a new another import for inner west is coming but we're not quite sure who yet. Fingers crossed that um
01:06:39
Speaker
and a bit of improvement. Tough week out first up for them but another import, sure up the numbers. Very exciting and I'm sure as the season goes on there will be lots of more news and gossip but yeah really not preferred when
01:06:55
Speaker
clubs are announcing their signings the day before the league starts, or maybe some, not even at all, because, um, we were wondering whether Hannah Chicken was coming back to play for Newcastle. And I don't think I ever saw an official signing until, you know, there was some Instagram posts by Isla Jufferman that she was in the team. Yeah, everything dropped very late, which
01:07:18
Speaker
I mean, guys, we want to we want to do a season preview that has all the news. So we're not caught saying that a team could finish seventh or eighth when they could be grand finalists.
01:07:30
Speaker
That finishes the episode covering round one of MB01 East 2024. We will continue to have player interviews throughout the season as well. So keep your eye out for that. But otherwise, Locky, any final thoughts? Looking forward to round two. I think there's some excellent games. Remember, it's only a 14 week season this year. So you have an early double header or something like that and you don't put it together. It should be quickly
01:07:58
Speaker
on the back foot. So everyone's going to come out charging hard early, which is great. Yeah. No time to waste. Don't find yourself in a five way tie like the boys. That concludes the episode for this week. And remember most of all, don't sleep on the East.
01:13:37
Speaker
Definitely plenty to look out for down at, I think we said we need to get a goat pun for the LJ Sports Center. I don't know, the goat pen? Yeah, goat pens pretty good. Cause what, I mean, the only goats that I've kind of seen have just been roaming around on a piece of rope in someone's backyards that are contained. I don't know what the,
01:13:59
Speaker
container or the boundary is called for a goat. I think a pen is right. I think the goat pen down in Auburn would longer. I just keep nicknaming things. I nickname players, I nickname games, I nickname stadiums. I'm like the name raider from Pokemon.
01:14:18
Speaker
Well, I think it's part of the job as a commentator sometimes, you know, you get in this habit of creating nicknames for places and things and people. Yes. So yes, that will be very, very fun to watch both of those games. So you get to definitely get your value for money down there and down there on the border on Saturday night. But which games are you looking at, Squint?
01:14:40
Speaker
Or just before we move on, I wanted to ask your opinion on the Maitland and Canberra rivalry. Like you said, it is only a newly established, organically established rivalry in their history with finals match-ups, as you said. But do you feel like, you know, there are some teams, whether it's in this league or other sporting codes that have a long standing rivalry, you know, like the Lakers and the Celtics?
01:15:06
Speaker
Um, historic rivalry. Do you feel like the rivalry is felt stronger between two teams when that history is more recent than, than it is, you know, far, far away? It, yes, in a way, but I feel like it's only felt stronger if there has been history and then it's renewed recently.
01:15:36
Speaker
So if teams have a, you know, like, yes, the Lakers and Celtics, but then when they played in final series, you know, around the 2000, you know, started 2010 decade just before that as well.
01:15:51
Speaker
you know, that rebuilds the rivalry. So this rivalry between Canberra and Maitland is budding and between these two sets of players that have been there for both of those games. So, you know, on the Canberra side, that side is almost unchanged from what it was season one, season two, and Maitland's not much different either. But for a rivalry to continue on,
01:16:14
Speaker
they have to keep playing each other and having good games because it's not a local rivalry. So you don't have that hatred like a Newcastle Maitland or, you know, you know,
01:16:28
Speaker
like a Liverpool Man United in soccer where they're half an hour down the road or Man City Man United, that kind of thing. So if they keep playing and get to really build a rivalry where both fans feel the history, then the rivalry becomes something.
01:16:47
Speaker
if they don't have good games, if they don't meet in finals for the next five years. It's just going to be, remember a few years ago, Canberra and Maitland played a couple of times and it was really fun. And it's just going to be MBL1 nerds pulling it out every time. But there's definitely something there and between these two sets of players, there's going to be feeling about it, but it has to continue if it's going to grow. See, this is why I asked you, great answer. This is why I asked you.
01:17:19
Speaker
Um, okay. So the games I'm kind of keeping an eye on in the women's competition. Um, I think it'll be really interesting. The Bankstown and Illawarra Hawks game can be really interesting because they're both, uh, two teams who, um, did like pretty well last season, particularly Bankstown. And like we mentioned, uh, another year on for the younger players to feel more confident and in the league and be ready to contribute a bit more.
01:17:45
Speaker
Illawarra have been able to recruit some pretty handy players as well in McDonald and Andor. So I'm really excited. I think this is going to be a game that's going to be a real litmus test for both of the teams of where they're potentially going to stand compared to the rest. And I think these are two teams who could potentially be fighting for the eight spot.
01:18:11
Speaker
So I think this game maybe won't be the best game to watch, but I think it will be really important for both of those teams and how the rest of the ladder rolls out over the course of the season. And the other game is actually Comets and Crusaders.
01:18:30
Speaker
Similar reasons, comments, you know, if they get themselves together, we'll still be super competitive and hard to beat. Mercedes, now with an even more loaded roster, which we're getting to mention in News and Gossip, um, have the potential to win it all with this roster. With this roster under coach Mayimpar, um, really have potential now to win it all, which I'm very excited about. But like I said in the previous episode can be their own worst enemy.
01:18:57
Speaker
So this will be a good test of character, I think, to make sure that they're able to steady the ship and make quick adjustments to ensure that they get a win over a team like Comets. That could be a banar skin for them.
01:19:11
Speaker
Yeah it really could and you know you mentioned in your game recap that Sharika Stirling's worth yes she's been in and out of basketball for the last few years but yeah we've all we all saw what she could do back when she was playing with the Sydney Uni Sparks when she was playing with Hornsby and Comets in Warrata League. If she gets back to the player we know she can be. It's going to be big for Comets.
01:19:36
Speaker
And you never know when it could happen. One day she could just walk into training, knock down 10 threes in a row and feel like she's back. Or it could take a couple of weeks. You just never know when you're going to feel, you never know when you're going to be back. No, that's right. It just clicks one day. Mentally or physically, it's just something that clicks. So yeah, it's going to happen. It's going to happen.
01:20:04
Speaker
So yeah, that's the games we're earmarking for round two. I think it's time that we get into our season previews, actually, Lockie. So what we did over the last couple of weeks, we reached out to a couple of our peers in MBL One East to ask them for their season previews for 2024. And just in time,