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Season 3 Episode 12: The Real Housewives of the NBL1 East with SJ (Love of the Game)
42 Plays20 days ago
Headlines from NBL1 East Round 7
EGG GOTW: Illawarra Hawks vs. Canberra Gunners (men)
Mid-season report card with SJ (Love of the Game)
Good Eggs of the Week
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:45
Speaker
Nope, don't need that again. Bit slow on the trigger finger. i was too slow doing it the first time and then I went for a second bite, but that's not needed.
Introduction and Overview
00:00:52
Speaker
But I should say welcome to East Scott Game where we give you the X's, the O's and the insights of NBL One East.
00:01:00
Speaker
Thank you for joining us tonight on YouTube and Instagram, watching this live as it happens, including the mistakes that we've already made. remember you can also subscribe to our youtube channel follow us on instagram and facebook at escott game or you can continue to find our episodes on your preferred streaming platforms on this week's episode we'll be covering our escott game game of the week between the illawarra hawks and the canberra gunners in the men's competition our top performances of the round aka our good eggs
00:01:37
Speaker
And we'll be doing a bit of a midway season recap with SJ from Love of the Game a little bit later. But let's make some
Meet the Hosts
00:01:46
Speaker
introductions. First of all, obviously, I'm Squin, as it says on screen.
00:01:51
Speaker
And with me, as always, is co-host Lockie France. Lockie, a lot to celebrate on the weekend. Plenty to celebrate, Squin. Absolute tons of stuff to celebrate.
00:02:02
Speaker
Was it?
Game Highlights and Recaps
00:02:03
Speaker
One of the, i mean, it's just been a couple of the biggest weeks we've had in NBL One East. We had the mother load on Mother's Day and then we had the big Sutherland Comets men's game.
00:02:14
Speaker
Oh, huge, huge. And then some very surprising and entertaining results as well. ah it's It's so dramatic that it deserves a reality TV series of its own. You know, the Real Housewives of the NBL One East.
00:02:30
Speaker
I mean, sport is the ultimate reality show and NBL1 East is chaos at its best. Yes. So this is why we say don't sleep on the East because it's always going to be surprising and entertaining.
00:02:44
Speaker
ah But before we get into our headlines of round seven, tell me what else there was to celebrate on the weekend, Lockie. You're not going to make me bring it up again, are you?
00:02:55
Speaker
I'm not following my own trumpet. Well, I'll blow it then. um It was Lockie's 100th NBL1 game as a commentator.
00:03:07
Speaker
He ah was very lucky that the game that fell on his 100th was Sutherland versus the Sydney Comets, so the two teams, two clubs he currently commentates for at the Shark Tank where it all started.
00:03:20
Speaker
ah Congratulations again, Lockie, and I was very, very chuffed to see that the Sutherland Sharks helped you celebrate in style by having – uh a banner on their on their board there for you to for everyone to see yeah we are first of all we had to get the big screen actually working that was the start uh it uses a lot of power supplies so if one goes yeah it's very ah it's very finicky we got it working and yes that was a nice surprise from our our producer chris who is the man who first asked me to commentate at sutherland so
00:03:56
Speaker
Yes, it was very nice. And I had the pleasure of ah getting ah Sharks women's captain Liv Douglas on the call for the second half of the game as well. That was very cool.
00:04:07
Speaker
Yeah, and she put up a really nice post on her Instagram story celebrating a 100th game as well. I thought that was really, really nice of her. it was really nice. she She's captain for a reason.
00:04:19
Speaker
Yeah. yeah One of the best humans and a true leader around the club. Awesome. Well, I'm glad that it was such a great weekend and such an entertaining game for you to commentate for your 100th game.
00:04:33
Speaker
ah I'm hoping that my long sleeve hoodie, Comets hoodie, isn't upsetting you too much given the result on the weekend. But also shout out to Sydney Comets for sending us these last
Commentary and Personal Insights
00:04:45
Speaker
year. It's finally cool enough in Brisbane for me to wear it.
00:04:48
Speaker
the say It can't upset me too much. I have one in my wardrobe. yeah do you wear it to your games when you commentate at alexandria ah lately i've been wearing my waratah league hoodie when i've been commentating very nice very niche very niche yes but uh let's get into the headlines from the round uh first of all lucky can we just take a moment to look at this ladder in the men's competition i mean my god
00:05:21
Speaker
This is the kind of perfect storm and worst nightmare slash perfect storm as fans and spectators. Yeah, so CLE leading at nine and one, and then second through fifth are separated by nothing because they're all six and three, and they've just about all beaten each other or lost to each other, or the split is completely indecipherable at this point.
00:05:48
Speaker
And then, so that's Canberra, Sutherland, Comets, and Illawarra. And then Maitland and Manly are tied for six, but we know who got the split there.
00:06:01
Speaker
ah they're fairway to the split, Manly. so But then Bankstown are five and five, just behind them. And Hills, Central Coast, and North are four and five.
00:06:15
Speaker
Yeah. i you're You're one bad doubleheader away from dropping or one good doubleheader away from moving four or five spots on the table. It's ridiculous.
00:06:27
Speaker
It is ridiculous. Yeah. Centre of excellence on this winning winning streak, but they come up against the Sydney Comets. next round, so that's going to be a really big test for both teams. Gunner's still hanging in there at second, like you said, and they've got Aubrey next round.
00:06:42
Speaker
Sutherland have Hornsby. Illawarra have Hills. Maitland have – Maitland versus Penrith. Now, Penrith are really hitting their strides in the last couple of rounds with Jonah Perez – getting player of the week with 21 and 19 against inner West Bulls.
00:06:59
Speaker
So this, this could be really, really interesting. This matchup in terms of how people might fall depending on the results. Yeah. Maitland, you know, three losses in their last five games and Penrith, you know, they're, they've run,
00:07:16
Speaker
they Even when they were winning one or zero or two games a season, or however many it was, they were running teams close all the time. And this year, they're actually picking up a couple of wins. Three so far. So, ah yeah. Real interesting one.
00:07:32
Speaker
The other interesting one to me is Inner West Norths. Mm-hmm. but And, yeah, but both teams that need to, yeah, well, inner west, we'll get to them shortly, but, yeah, north as well. for It's one of those games where, yeah, they're both just on the outside looking in.
00:07:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's, ah and we're just about kind of midway through the competition because there's 15 rounds. We've just finished round seven, so we're kind of on the cusp of, each you know, halfway point.
00:08:04
Speaker
um it's kind of a little bit now or never. The season's gone really quickly. You can't afford to spend too much time getting comfortable and working teams out because you've just got to get in there and and
Player and Team Analysis
00:08:16
Speaker
do what it takes to get wins.
00:08:18
Speaker
Exactly. i mean, if you get you know if you get to four and seven or four and eight, suddenly you've only got room for one or two more losses throughout the back end of the season where, you know, that's when players, you know,
00:08:35
Speaker
injuries start coming into play as the season drags on or things happen or, you know, your star kid ends up going off to college early or something like that. Who knows what could happen?
00:08:47
Speaker
And there's some clubs, especially here in North, so expecting the same in East, where some college kids are still graduating and making their way home and will come back and play NBL 1. So the roster changes are going to continue throughout, I guess, until the last few rounds or whenever the cutoff is by the time players need to qualify.
00:09:08
Speaker
Oh, you need to be able to play I think it's, is it 40% of the season? So if you haven't played a game by the time your team's played 12, then I don't think you can play.
00:09:21
Speaker
yeah You can't fly in if you literally are unable to qualify. long as you've played a game by then, you're fine, even if you miss one later on and can't qualify. But you have to be able to, when you play your first game, you have to be able to play.
00:09:36
Speaker
You have to be able to qualify. Yeah, obviously. That date is coming up pretty quick. Some teams have played 10 games already. Yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
It's not really a problem in North yet because you've only played three or four out of 14 games. But, yeah, like Bankstown have already played 10 games. So have Penrith. So i'll see oh I guess CLE probably don't have that issue. All their players are going to college, not coming back from college.
00:10:01
Speaker
But for Bankstown Penrith, if any of their guys are yet to come back.
00:10:06
Speaker
think Bankstown have enough. They've got enough guys. They've got enough bodies. They don't need any more. one
00:10:14
Speaker
um And I will just go circle back. You mentioned the split between Manly, Warringah and Maitland. They actually do play each other again in round 11. That's coming up quick. So that's a really close turnaround. Well, I think ah the women had a big win.
00:10:33
Speaker
So it be tough for Maitland overturn that. But think it was it a 13-point win Manly had over Maitland. Maitland could easily overturn that. in the return fixture. So that is definitely not definitely not decided.
00:10:48
Speaker
No, and not at all. Not at all. And you've got some other headlines to share with us from the men's competition. Take us through it. Well, I think the first one is the Inner West Bulls.
00:11:00
Speaker
And Squin, I have to ask, is it time for our viewers to crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside? um in In the most referenced way possible. we're not We're not inciting violence, but yes.
00:11:18
Speaker
What is going on with the Inner West Bulls? Five losses on the trot and three and six. And I did note down a few stats in that their their defensive rating is second bottom in the league.
00:11:33
Speaker
And their defensive rebound percentage, 61.4% bottom of the league. So they give up boards on nearly 40% of opportunities.
00:11:44
Speaker
But they don't offset that by getting their own offensive rebounds because they're second last in the league for that as well.
00:11:52
Speaker
And their opponents shoot, their opponent they hold their opponents to a low percentage, like low shooting percentage from three-point range. But... they allow 49 points in the paint per game.
00:12:06
Speaker
So things aren't shooting the three ball well against them, but they're allowing the opposition to get in the paint. And then contest any kind of rebounds that are coming from those poor shooting three point percentages as well.
00:12:20
Speaker
Yeah. It's weird. So they're kind of doing bits, but they're not doing the bits in between the bits to put everything together. And that's the thing. A lot of their other stats are really good. Yeah. You know, they don't turn the ball over. They're good assist rate. You know, they're second for turnovers, third for steals, ninth for blocks. So they, you know, get a few blocks here and there. Their offensive rating is third in the league, but their defensive rating is a higher number. So they're coughing up more. Obviously, at three and six, they're coughing up more points than they're scoring.
00:12:53
Speaker
Is it a case of... They're just trying to outscore the opposition, you know? You score 100, we'll score 105. Yeah, you're m yeah that's ah you only really kind of literally playing only half of half the game then.
00:13:09
Speaker
mean it's It's obviously the offensive side, the defensive side. If you're only going to take care of one side, that's always not going to be a guarantee. You're not going to guarantee that you're going to shoot a high percentage every game.
00:13:19
Speaker
The least you could do is stop the other team from scoring. The maths makes sense. yeah The maths is mapping. is mapping. The math is mapping.
00:13:31
Speaker
Let's put it that way. um And, Lea, like you said, so, yeah, round seven, ah they lost to Penrith away 86-71. And next round they have the northbe North and Newcastle Falcons in the one weekend, a doubleheader at home.
00:13:48
Speaker
That is huge for all three teams because they're all teams that need to jump each other. to get back in the race or stay in the race. Yeah, because we we can't count out Newcastle either. They are 12th with three and six.
00:14:04
Speaker
ah
00:14:07
Speaker
Hold on, it says. Oh, yeah. But um they have they have, you know, claimed a few big scalps already this season. Illawarra-Canberra, mate. That's pretty good.
00:14:19
Speaker
That's for damn good. That's damn good. So they've just got to apply that winning formula to these games next weekend against ah norson um oh well Newcastle, sorry, against In-West Bulls and Bankstown, I think they have a double away they do next weekend, Newcastle.
00:14:36
Speaker
um So they've just got to apply the same formula. They're going to look like they're in a but much better position.
00:14:43
Speaker
Yeah, so as long as they are the team that has three and don't turn up as the team that has six. Yeah, yeah. If you were part of the Inner West Bulls coaching staff, what would be the two things you would want them to prioritise to improve their performance?
00:15:03
Speaker
I would say
00:15:08
Speaker
defensive rebounding because their shooting percentages are good enough that if they get more looks than the opposition, they're probably going to win every time. if you keep popping up over boards and giving teams second chance opportunities.
00:15:26
Speaker
And guess defensive rebounding and forcing the opposition out of the paint.
00:15:37
Speaker
I mean, their second chance points aren't horrible. They are in the bottom half of the league, but it's not horrible. But eventually that's going to come back to fight No, those those two make so much sense to me. The two probably the easiest to fix that are going to have maximum results. defensive Improving your defensive rebounding and continue to force teams to shoot from the three-point line where they're obviously being able to guard that a lot more and teams are having a lower three-point percentage against them.
00:16:05
Speaker
Done. Easy figures. like the their Their own three-point shooting is good enough Like they they split their shots almost 50-50, two-pointers versus three-pointers, but their three-point percentage is high enough that it's more it's worth it for them because their their effective field goal percentage is better from three-point range than two-point range. So what they're doing at the offensive end, shot selection-wise,
00:16:33
Speaker
is correct. Yeah. just those little bits in between we've got to fix and you can have maximum results. There we go. There we go. It's a easier said than done, though, I'm sure.
00:16:44
Speaker
It is. And what other news have you got for us from the men's competition? ah but ah One that just popped up recently, and we'll talk a little bit about him later. Evan Wardlow, former Central Coast Crusader, has joined the the Canberra Gunners, averaged 11.5 points, 3.2 assists, and shot 36.5 three point four rebound three point two assists and shot thirty six point five but sent from three point range for crew last year um played seven only played 17 minutes in his first game for Canberra on the weekend in their narrow loss to Illawarra ah two rebounds and assists 0 of 5 from the field so probably just feeling his way back in I don't not sure he was playing much over over the offseason but
00:17:35
Speaker
But another addition for Canberra, who have now lost ah three on the trot, I believe, which I said the other week, ah you know, if they lose one of these three big games against, i think it was Illawarra, COE and Sutherland they got coming up, that wouldn't be too bad. But i've already lost one to make it, make themselves six and three.
00:17:54
Speaker
i little bit of little bit of pressure in that top four hunt. So hopefully Evan can provide a bit of spark for them. yes and as we mentioned earlier the gunners game against illawarra is our game of the week this week so we'll take a deep dive into it a little bit later because there's plenty to chat about from that game plenty to chat about
00:18:19
Speaker
uh and in the women's competition some big news coming out of coe coach of the women's program david herbert affectionately known as Herbie, who we had as a guest earlier this season on EGG, has announced that he has left um his role at COE and he's going to take a role, I think,
00:18:41
Speaker
um in Geelong. But
Coaching Changes
00:18:43
Speaker
let me read out the official Instagram post. It was posted four days ago, today being the 20th, so 16th of May.
00:18:53
Speaker
COE on their Instagram announced today, we farewell our women's program head coach, David Herbert. um Herbie has been in this role for three years and has contributed to the Basketball Australia pathway for more than 30 years.
00:19:08
Speaker
Thanks to all um all the best for your new Endeavors coach. And I think I do have a little bit of intel here based on what he's planning to do, ah if I can find it.
00:19:26
Speaker
He says he just needs a bit of a reset and he's going back to sports in school in Geelong. So he's going to take a ah smaller role but perhaps provide a little bit more work-life balance or focus on other things in his life. But, yeah, he's he hasn't got a big grand plan for now. So it's not something traditionally people would expect where you go from a job like that to, you know, the Opals coach or the WNBL team or WNBA team or something. He's just going to have a bit of a reset and see what comes up next. I'm sure he'll be flooded with offers.
00:20:04
Speaker
Oh, 100%. I think, yeah, yeah. once he If he realises he wants back in the game, there'll be are no shortage of people willing to ah willing to take him on. um No, absolutely not. So I don't think the COE have announced his replacement officially yet, but I know that Mel Downer has recently been appointed as assistant in the, say, last six months.
00:20:26
Speaker
um But I wonder if there'll be a case of um putting the job out out there but for app anyone and everyone, and an external application to apply for the role and see how they go. Yeah, but I'm not sure what the what the rules are surrounding the job in the first place. it may may have to advertise it regardless of who they might want to instill. Hmm.
00:20:54
Speaker
Sorry, we just got a comment on Instagram Live to explain my bedsheets. Yeah. I don't know what to... It's just an Indigenous print. I think I got them from, like, Adairs.
00:21:08
Speaker
I think that's... Emmett Adairs? Emmett Adairs, yeah. No relation. No... um Yeah, i don't ah but I don't know what else ah know i to say.
00:21:20
Speaker
I think it's kind of highlighting that this it probably isn't the ideal background to have on a live stream. It's the back of my bedroom. But, yeah, that's all I can really say. It's just an indigenous, cool indigenous print that I've got.
00:21:35
Speaker
um It looks like you have a skinned zebra. Apologies. I can see that. I can see how you can pick that up. Yeah. You know what? I've got a voucher to spend, Lockie Everett. I'll go and purchase a block colour sheet so doesn't weird out your eyes next time or something.
00:21:56
Speaker
my ah My quilt cover is a is clouds vomiting rainbows. so Oh, wow. that my My friend drew and I bought it to um help fundraise her moving to Europe.
00:22:11
Speaker
I bought it from her Etsy store. That's nice of you. Maybe I should get something even more colorful and outrageous just to annoy Lockie instead.
00:22:23
Speaker
um but yeah moving on also wanted to touch uh because on north and the newcastle falcons women again continuing their winning streak um both teams ah are still undefeated and they are nine and oh they are one of the few teams still in the nbl1 competition i was hoping that they'd be the only two teams but There's a handful of women's teams who are still undefeated, including two North teams in Mackay and the Southern District Spartans. But like we said, North only just started.
00:22:59
Speaker
I don't think it really compares yet to 9-0. But they're in good company. I think Coburn ah co Cougars from NBL1 West are also undefeated, as well as Geelong United NBL1 South.
00:23:15
Speaker
I think there might be one more that I'm missing. But I think we were certainly anticipating North women versus the COE in round seven just to see where they would fall and they had a dominant win. Like they didn't just win, they won by like 14 points.
00:23:32
Speaker
um So I thought that was really, really impressive. Certainly was. And, you know, the matchup, well, maybe not the matchup we all wanted to see, but the two big the two big young guns that we all wanted to see.
00:23:44
Speaker
Ruby Perkins went six of seven from the field to only 17 in 22 minutes. And Taff Fagan had 23 in 16. So I think they are the marketing budget was put to good use there, picking those two to our highlight.
00:23:59
Speaker
Yeah, especially I wonder if it was a little bit of a forecast, yeah, in relation to another announcement that was made mentioning those two athletes too.
00:24:11
Speaker
but will yeah we can probably share we We can probably share later. We'll definitely share later in the headlines. But, um yeah, it was um almost a bit of forecasting, I think, highlighting those two A little bit. because A little bit.
00:24:26
Speaker
Well, I mean, it's the Taya Fagan has just exploded back onto the scene. Like, she's had an incredible 12 months of development. I remember watching her this time last year and, she almost looked like Bambi and now she's, she's ruling the roost.
00:24:42
Speaker
She's absolutely dominating. I think we all, ah we all saw what she could be last season. It was like, once she, once she grows into herself, she'll be outstanding. And ah she's still very young, but she's definitely, ah definitely found a way into her body.
00:25:04
Speaker
Hmm. looks like looks' Looks like a different athlete this year. And our MVP contender from North, Carla Pittman, had another huge game with 25 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and three steals. So flirting with that triple-double again.
00:25:20
Speaker
and from the COE, it was actually Zara Russell who topscored for their side. 30 points, five rebounds, to assist two assists, two steals. That is a day out.
00:25:35
Speaker
I mean,
00:25:38
Speaker
she's been around the program for a while, and I think she's just, yeah. you I mean, they're very shorthanded at the moment. They're down to seven, and I think that's even with a couple of ah ah couple of ring-ins even.
00:25:50
Speaker
So, mean, they kind of ne they need players like Russell and Fagan, or probably any player who's actually a fully-fledged member of that CLI squad to step up at this stage because they are short on numbers.
00:26:03
Speaker
Yeah, because you look at the box score and there's a lot of DNPs listed. um But, yeah, it's due to lots of injuries, I imagine. Yeah, it is. Yeah, lot of injuries.
00:26:17
Speaker
Yeah, not ideal coming into a World Cup ah campaign either. But we'll circle back to that in a second because you have some more news for us from the women's competition as well.
00:26:30
Speaker
Yeah, so unfortunately, Davida Dale injured late in the season over in the UK, not available for Bankstown. So they've signed Julian Redmond, who had 37 points and 14 assists in her across her first two games.
00:26:49
Speaker
So she went to college at Illinois State. in the Missouri Valley Conference. She's got actually Euro Cup experience with probably the best known of the Belgian clubs, Castor's Brain, which I think they're generally in and around European competition.
00:27:06
Speaker
Fun fact, once played a first round NCAA tournament game against Caitlin Clark at Iowa. They lost 98-58 at Carver Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. But Caitlin Clark had 27 in that game.
00:27:21
Speaker
Redmond had 25 taking on a Caitlin Clark Iowa team. So that in it all if you that in and of itself is pedigree.
00:27:34
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Scoring pretty much half of your team's points against a team like that. I'd be bragging about that too. oh yeah.
00:27:45
Speaker
And some other big stat lines to mention from round seven in the women's competition. Riley Lutfer from the Oriwodonga Bandits had 41.9 rebounds against the Central Coast Crusaders, shooting at 73.68% overall, including 12 from 16 threes.
00:28:05
Speaker
Question mark, is that the most in the NBL One East ever? Because as we know, that does tie the WNBL record of 12 made in a game. so you would think That's the NBL 1 East record.
00:28:17
Speaker
It would have to be close. I'm just trying to think, like, is there, like, a game where someone like Shiloh Hill, when she had one of those massive outings, did she would ever put up 12 threes in a game? Because, like, at certain point you're struggling to think of, like, how many games have we had where people have even scored 36 points, which you need to get to to have 12 threes in the first place.
00:28:41
Speaker
So, I mean, it would have to be right. If it's not the record, it's very, very close. I think we can rule out LJ having done it in her any of her 50 pieces because otherwise Sammy Mack would have known.
00:28:55
Speaker
yeah Yeah, that's right. He would have known off the top of his head for sure. yeah And Jessie May Hall also had another big weekend against a very talented Newcastle side.
00:29:06
Speaker
She had 21 points, seven rebounds, five assists and seven steals. So really tempting us with that quadruple double. the first one That would be the first one in NBL1 East, if not NBL1.
00:29:20
Speaker
um And there's that really, really great clip of that NBL1 has posted on their socials of how she's beaten all five defenders from one end of the of the court to the other to score. ah Yeah, I think it just needs to it just needs all come together. They just need to, you know, there's going to be a day when she gets the points, rebounds, steals, and it's just going to come down to teammates putting the ball in the basket often enough to get her the 10 assists.
00:29:55
Speaker
that's the one thing you That's the one thing you really can't do without your teammates if you go up for the quad double is the assists. That's right. or A rebound, you probably need some help with some boxing out, but a steal, you can do all by yourself.
00:30:10
Speaker
Scoring, yeah, obviously team play, but at the end of the day, it comes down to you putting the ball in the basket.
00:30:17
Speaker
And Lockie Everett did mention that Munger and Heal have both had 50-plus games. Yes, correct. But the question that where we want that we're looking for the answer for is whether 12 three-pointers is the record for NBL 1 East.
00:30:33
Speaker
We know that 41 points isn't, but we have a suspicion that 12 three-pointers in one game would be the record. And we also have a question on Instagram Live. Is Kira Hudson done for the season with signing to a college team? ah my I'm guessing no. I'm guessing because college is normally...
00:30:53
Speaker
you know, the May to August kind of bracket of starting in August, finishing in May. I'm guessing um she's going to finish out the rest of the season and probably head over to college in August to start.
00:31:05
Speaker
Is that what you take from that as well, Lockie? That's what I mean. she She's not precluded from playing. if you're a If you're asking whether she has to shut it down because she's signed, no. I mean, she could choose to, but she doesn't have to because just because she's signed.
00:31:21
Speaker
Yeah, think there was – oh, yeah, no, because NBL one would be – think so it depends on the college sometimes. I know that there was some young WNBL players like Ruby Vlahov comes to mind when she was a DP for the Perth Lynx.
00:31:36
Speaker
She could only play the WNBL season or suit up for a certain amount of games until it was counted as fully professional and she had to be under a certain contract to qualify to go play for St Mary's. But I don't think with NBL 1 East and perhaps the college that Kira is going to.
00:31:54
Speaker
she's going to D1. She's going to New Mexico State. so it Oh, yeah, cool. ah they But it's still, it's NBL 1 and WNBL 2. Yeah. At the end of the day, it's she can, yeah, it wouldn't prevent her from playing.
00:32:07
Speaker
Otherwise, half the COE would have to toss it in halfway through the season. And, yeah, Lucky Everett on Instagram Live brings up a good point that Austin Rapp from NBL One South, who played for the Knox Raiders last year, he went pretty much literally straight from Nationals to college, like within – Like days. I think he yeah went came to Nationals, won a chip, and then think he was gone within like days.
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah, then he went to Portland, had a great season, and now he's going to Wisconsin. Certainly is. And then the last little bit of news is that in the last cup in the last week or so, the Emus and the Sapphires
National Team Announcements
00:32:53
Speaker
pretty sure it's Sapphire. No, the Gems, apologies.
00:32:55
Speaker
The Sapphire Camp got announced, but the Gems World Cup team got an announced. Yes, the Gems World Cup team and the EMUs World Cup team have been announced. So this is the under-19 World Cup team.
00:33:08
Speaker
They're both going to be playing. The men's is first in June and the women's is second in July. ah But, yeah, both teams being announced, both teams showcasing a lot of familiar names, particularly those who are currently in the COE program or have been before.
00:33:27
Speaker
So in the EMUs, we've got Emmett Adair, Shea Brogan, Dash Daniels, Alex Dickerson, Luke Fennell, Jacob Furphy, Madin Kawane, Ajak Nyon,
00:33:41
Speaker
Roman Sualipa, which I was a bit surprised about, Nash Walker, Jack Whitbourne and Rocco Zipkarski. Thoughts, feelings, comments on that roster, Lockie?
00:33:53
Speaker
ah Ten of those guys have played in the East?
00:33:59
Speaker
Yeah, correct. And some of are still, you know, a big chunk of them are still here. one of them dropped 34 on the weekend, Jacob Furby. Yeah. ah Yeah. ah All of that time of the boomers must have been helpful.
00:34:16
Speaker
Yeah. and well Emmett Adair is the the deepest from the east being a kid from north. Yeah, he is. Yeah, he's not just in east because he's from COE. He's actually, yeah, New South Wales.
00:34:33
Speaker
ah Yeah, and the under 19 women's gems team. Now, this team this age group ah well these age groups that will be eligible for this team is outstanding.
00:34:45
Speaker
um and even with the roster that they're taking, there are a couple of omissions due to injury. So Saffron Shields and Lara Somphai, who were the two most dominant players of this squad at Asia Cup last year, unfortunately unable to be there.
00:35:02
Speaker
And also Jessie Mae Hall chose not to be part of the squad as well, so unfortunately she's not going to be there. But this roster that they're taking, um is outstanding so it's people like Monique Bobongi, Amelia Dekic, Bonnie Dees, Sataya Fagan, Sienna Harvey, Callie Hinder, Praseyas Natowa, Ruby Perkins, Manuela Potch, Zara Russell, Madison Ryan and Monique Williams it's really scary and so um
00:35:34
Speaker
Above the Rim AU has also mentioned this on our Instagram live stream that it is scary that someone like Bonnie D's can still play under 19s. include And as the same with Bobongi and Potch who have literally have WNBL experience and they're going to an under 19s World Cup.
00:35:53
Speaker
Yep. You me, I'm all for Monique Bobongi and Bonnie D's content.
00:36:02
Speaker
yeah so still super talented i think madison russell may be bottom age and i think i can't remember if ruby perkins is technically bottom age or the right age group but um but yeah it's it's super talented group um aye honestly didn't know a lot about cali hinder until sammy mack from aubrey ah you know wrote to me on Instagram and said how he's happy that she's included.
00:36:29
Speaker
Of course, Hinder being Russell Hinder's daughter. Yes. I didn't put two and two together and I still got to get used that we're of the age now. We're out. Players that we watch children are in the league.
00:36:45
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. We're of that age where I'm like, this was my favourite player when I watched NBL in the 90s. Great. Now I get to watch their child. Like it's it's, I don't know how to describe the feeling of that, but it's very jarring.
00:37:01
Speaker
It's very jarring. um Yeah. So yeah, that's the teams going away. um ah don't have the dates off the top of my head at the moment, but ah it is definitely, the men's definitely the end of June and the women are definitely the start of July.
00:37:20
Speaker
um but yeah, it's a good times. um haven ah Have we missed any headlines before we get into our game of the week? Well, someone asked about Kira Hudson, which I forgot to write down. So no, I haven't missed anything because someone brought it up.
00:37:37
Speaker
We do have one more question on Instagram live. Any news on Rentoy with Aubrey? ah No official news out of the bandits camp just yet about that situation. So might just have to keep an eye on their socials.
00:37:52
Speaker
um But, yeah, nothing nothing confirmed. ah Yeah, can't can't really say what what the situation is there. ah guess we'll just have to keep an eye on on rosters and things in an upcoming weeks and perhaps if there's any other announcements on Jasper's official Instagram and social media channels as well, if there's nothing on Bandits.
00:38:16
Speaker
That's all I can suggest really. Pretty much. Yeah, Yeah. um But yeah, we're ready to get into the game of the week. Very ready.
00:38:27
Speaker
Very ready. Excellent. Okay. So, yes, game of the week for round seven was the Illawarra Hawks and the Canberra Gunners held at the Snake Pit. Lockie, you said you're very
Game Analysis: Illawarra vs Canberra
00:38:38
Speaker
ready.
00:38:39
Speaker
Start us off. I love a game where someone gets a foul and a tech on the first defensive possession. And it kind of set the tone a little bit.
00:38:51
Speaker
It did, actually. you know, it did. i agree. It did. Well, it might have been a, maybe not the tech part, but maybe a bit of a ploy to ah try and from Illawarra to get into Canberra's head a little bit.
00:39:07
Speaker
I did write down, did write down a very similar thing. was like, uh, Is this Anstey in the NBA kind of tactics where, hey, part of your role today is to push around the Brindabella beacon and get in his head with physicality because you can match him for size and length. I wondered i also wondered if that was part of the tactics, but then i do have feelings around around that, but we can circle back too said tactics a bit later.
00:39:40
Speaker
Yes. If you didn't watch the game, um Toby Campbell bowed Glenn Morrison on the first possession and then threw the ball at him when he was on the ground. Yeah, you know, when when you get a foul and a tech in the opening possession, going to have a bad time.
00:40:01
Speaker
What? Yeah, okay. I mean, yeah ah like ah lot our life in memes, you're going to have a bad time. Yeah. Yeah. yeah But please continue. Okay, so when it wasn't Campbell roughing up Morrison, i thought Christian Moran did an excellent job on Glenn Morrison all night long, any time he was on him. um They went to Glenn in that left block spot um that he loves to get in, had Moran on him.
00:40:33
Speaker
And i only wish that Illawarra had trusted CJ every single time to go one-on-one. because Glenn's good enough to pass out of a double, oh recognize the double and get rid of the ball before it even gets there, while the guy's still abandoning his assignment. it happened, first time it happened, Ballinger went to help, and
00:40:59
Speaker
I honestly can't remember. Oh, Byatt. Byatt was there on the opposite side, and Glenn went, here you go, mate. And Angus Byatt had the easiest basket of his life, while CJ had Glenn not going anywhere.
00:41:12
Speaker
So I thought CJ was really good on him all night. When the offenses were flowing, they were flowing, but it didn't always take a lot for them to stop, for them to get into a one-out shot or just something stagnant or someone trying something someone dribbling the air out of the ball.
00:41:40
Speaker
yeah Is that for Hawks or Gunners or both? I think it was a little bit for both, but probably the Hawks' offense was, um especially in the first quarter, looked so good when it looked good that when it looked bad, it was made to look even worse.
00:41:56
Speaker
um There were some one-out threes. I think even Todd Blanchfield took a couple in the first quarter that were just like, Todd, you don't need to try and cook some guy with a dribble move and then just shoot over him.
00:42:09
Speaker
although he can and did do it and successfully on a couple of occasions. But sometimes the ball movement from the horse was so good that it made you wonder why and only took, it took like the first defender stopping things for them to just be like, oh, well, okay, we're not going to get a really good possession out of this. Let's just shoot. did i i note Did I tell you my Todd Blanchfield story for when I watched the Opals and Boomers in the Sunshine Coast last week?
00:42:39
Speaker
Um, I think so. when you were oh was it oh was it when you were talking to the people in front of you? Yeah, yeah. And they said, oh, it's really good that that older guy can still run around with the younger fellas. Yeah. He certainly can.
00:42:57
Speaker
Who do you mean? I'm gonna guess you're talking about Todd Blanchfield. Like, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That old guy's like, uh, let's put some respect on Todd Blanchfield's name, please. Uh,
00:43:09
Speaker
ah Let's. let's ah But I agree. I think I agree with ah what your take on the Hawks offense in the first quarter. I noticed that they were settling way too much for that outside shot, whether it was open or when it wasn't.
00:43:25
Speaker
think there was a lot of just, I don't know. I don't know what was the thought behind it, but it wasn't working. So when they called that timeout early in the first, I noticed distinct change in their offense straight after the timeout and they started to become much more productive. Well, they couldn't have been less productive.
00:43:42
Speaker
Because it was 8-0 when they called the timeout. Yeah. Yeah. and And then there was classic Canberra at the other end just doing what Canberra does, sticking to their rules for for that part of the game anyway.
00:43:55
Speaker
And I know exactly the play you mean when Ballinger went to help on Morrison and Morrison had that easy dump inside to buy it. Ballinger didn't need to help, A, because Moran had Morrison covered, but B, he helped up instead of across.
00:44:10
Speaker
yeah And so as soon as you help up and you don't know what's behind you, if anyone's covering behind you, that's, you know, given away you're giving away points for free, easy. yeah so But I i noticed the the same things that you did four for the first quarter, and I'm glad that Hawks were able to change it up because otherwise...
00:44:30
Speaker
Yeah, I was starting to get worried. Me too. It was eight nil and it could have been could have been a little bit worse. I mean, the first quarter, they actually shot 50% from three-point range in the end and Canva shot 40%. Both teams were splashing threes early.
00:44:49
Speaker
I would have liked a few more threes for the Shock Doctor, James Toohey, this game. But it was just one of those games where his opportunities just didn't come to him enough. Like, I don't know if it was just circumstance or plays weren't run for him or people were shooting too early in their offense or something, but I would have liked some more threes for him.
00:45:09
Speaker
Yeah. Although it didn't, I mean, Will Mayfield was wetting them for fun early. So maybe with him as the hot hand, you mean, he ended up shooting more, had sort more three point attempts than Tui did in the end, but It was very front heavy in the makes.
00:45:26
Speaker
i think he made three of his first four or something and then didn't make another one for the entire evening. Having said that, actually, is ah recorded here shooting eight threes. So it didn't feel like eight threes.
00:45:43
Speaker
and No, it didn't really. um Yeah. Which is weird because I definitely remember a lot more of Will Mayfield's threes. um And to be fair, a lot of them, like a lot of great open shots from both teams taken, but I also feel like both teams and even some of the three pointers taken from both teams, a lot of forced shots going up.
00:46:08
Speaker
It was almost kind of like a bit more an ego battle on like who can make the heart the better contested three than the other. Yeah, definitely.
00:46:20
Speaker
It felt like, yeah, it almost felt like they were in each other's heads. Like, you know, I have to outdo these people rather than just we're here to get the win and that is outdoing them.
00:46:32
Speaker
o yeah Yeah, yeah. Certainly had that edge to it. um Also, did you notice that the commentators referred to Iluwara as the capital of basketball in New South Wales?
00:46:45
Speaker
Well, then... ah Shots fired. ah a penny for ah newcastle sport um Newcastle sports. Yeah. Biggest association.
00:46:58
Speaker
The biggest association. 100%, you know. Yeah, shots fired there. That's a very bold cat claim. I do like the that added flavour of hometown bias, though. that I thought that was a nice little sprinkle there in the commentary. That good, but to be fair, that that was the hometown bias, but to be fair, they...
00:47:17
Speaker
were fairly even-handed when it came to foul calls. They didn't, especially that step-up screen by Moran that got called for an offensive foul. They called that one out as a good call. So, yes.
00:47:33
Speaker
They might have called Illawarra the home of but the capital of basketball, but reasonably even-handed outside of that. Yeah. Speaking of the foul count, like you already touched at the start, this was a physical game.
00:47:47
Speaker
It got very chippy. Like I was waiting for someone just to is completely boil over and start a fight or so or something because it was it was really chippy. It was very tense.
00:47:59
Speaker
But the foul count was only 14 to 15. So, yeah, very evenly called. They let them play. They did let them. The rest did let them play. I think there was like, I think we'll get into it when we cover some of the later quarters, but there were a couple of calls at the end of the game that I think were big impacts on how the momentum of the game played out.
00:48:21
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah. The whistle definitely came out a bit more in the latter stages of the contest. Yeah, yeah. it It was definitely one of those games, especially with that opening, the two opening fouls from Toby Campbell where it's like, all right, do we let them play or do we lock this down now and call absolutely everything?
00:48:43
Speaker
Yeah, and I think once, I mean, they had to sub Campbell off and immediately because of the two fouls. And, yeah, once, yeah, when it was Moran or even Blanchfield or Morrison and they were just playing straight up defense, it was,
00:49:00
Speaker
you know, it kind of a settled back a little bit.
00:49:07
Speaker
But, yeah, i think um i think like the first the game, quarter really felt like Canberra came out with their game plan and stuck to it very well.
00:49:19
Speaker
The Hawks in the first quarter had to make some really quick adjustments to get them back in the game, but they did that quite well. But then both teams were really just still feeling each other out a little bit, like still trying to test the waters by the time it got to second quarter.
00:49:34
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, at 24, 23 after quarter, twenty four twenty three after a quarter um
00:49:40
Speaker
Yeah, the second quarter, i mean, by by the end, I was wondering where the first quarter Hawks had gone. Or maybe not ah the latter stage first quarter Hawks because,
00:49:51
Speaker
um
00:49:54
Speaker
yeah, Canberra really started to put it together. That was when Mayfield absolutely went off. i That was when he had those two, three. I think he got eight points in the space of about a minute, maybe a minute and a half.
00:50:05
Speaker
early in the quarter and set set Canberra on their way. Um, to fair to Toby Campbell came back in for the start of the second quarter and immediately had two O boards and a couple of baskets.
00:50:16
Speaker
So it did some good stuff. I mean, he had five fouls in 11 minutes, but he also had 10 points in 11 and seven rebounds. So, oh Look, imagine if he was just able to stay on the court. If he had those stats in such a short period of time. So he had he played for 10 minutes and 34 seconds.
00:50:35
Speaker
He had 10 points, seven rebounds, an assist and a steal. He shot five from eight. Imagine if he was able to stay on the court a lot longer. yeah Not i only producing those numbers, but also being that physical inside presence to challenge Morrison.
00:50:51
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, 100%. Yeah, we definitely saw what he can do and what we would have hoped to see him do more of. Yeah, and hopefully, like, the fouls that he was called for, I'm all for, like,
00:51:04
Speaker
playing physical, playing aggressive within the rules, understanding that when you're someone that has to play, has to defend someone like a Morrison, you've got to find a different way to put him off his game or or something like that.
00:51:18
Speaker
So all for, you know, I understand those kind of mind games. But to be perfectly honest, some of the fouls called against Campbell, particularly when Morrison was involved, went way too far.
00:51:30
Speaker
it read to me like there was a little bit more spice in it, like a little bit of almost malicious intent in it, particularly when he started to carry on once the whistle was blown.
00:51:42
Speaker
There was lots of shoves in the back, elbows thrown, words, those types of things after the whistle was blown. And for me, too far. No place for that AMBL1 East.
00:51:53
Speaker
I think it's borderline gross behaviour I don't don't support that kind of thing. I'm all for like, trying to trying to get in someone's head within the rules, within within still that spirit of the game, so to speak. But when it's going to get start to get borderline malicious and it read to me like they were going to be ready for someone in the car park after the game, um no place for that.
00:52:16
Speaker
No place for that. That's what I, it actually made me really angry watching this game, seeing that behaviour carry on because that to me is automatic. Two techs, out you go.
00:52:31
Speaker
That's probably the harshest I've ever been on this podcast, but I really, yeah, I really didn't like i really didn't like it. Really didn't like it. No place for it in the East. but ah Hot take.
00:52:44
Speaker
Hot take. Yeah. But um back to the ah the rest of the game. Oh, the the and the rest of the basketball.
00:52:56
Speaker
It was times in the second. Yeah. Illawarra went to a zone and got a steal on the very first possession that they had it. They did so. um And it was probably the first time we really got to see Kobe McDowell-White open up the throttle um in the full court, like getting the ball either from a rebound or a short outlet and just getting downhill.
00:53:20
Speaker
The first time he did it, he got an name one got to the rack, got an And just... um and just
00:53:31
Speaker
I think, I don't know if I've mentioned, I've never mentioned it to you before, but I definitely love watching Cody McHale-White get downhill. Yes, definitely. Yeah, I think I, I think Canberra recognised it really well. So even when he backed up a little bit in the half court, they made sure it wasn't going to happen, but when he got that opportunity, just flat chat, straight downhill, straight to the rack and one opportunity. And that's something I really want to see more of if they can somehow conjure up the opportunities for him.
00:54:05
Speaker
I did wonder when they added Dent how that dynamic was going to work because I feel like Both of them, I definitely see Kobe McDowell-White Moore as a one and Dent as a two. Like that's how I would kind of play it because Dent can be really explosive on the fly, transition threes, taking it to the rack, making decisions.
00:54:23
Speaker
um Obviously Kobe can do the same, but I did kind of wonder how they were going to play together. I was hoping it would be kind of a switching of a role where i was like whoever got to the ball first was automatically one and the other would be a two.
00:54:35
Speaker
But um I'm hoping that they're able to kind of share the load a little bit more because I feel like Lockie Dent took on a lot of the load this game, but I'm hoping they're able to share because then ultimately as a team, they're going to be even harder to guard if you're going to have both of them kind of like, there's both of their strengths used and celebrated.
00:54:55
Speaker
And I think that's that's something we mentioned in last week's women's game where depending on who brings the ball up, there's different... rules um for the offense or you know, you run this half your playbook or the other half of the playbook depending on who's bringing it up kind of thing and play to the strengths of the player who's off the ball um in each situation.
00:55:20
Speaker
um But, yeah, I see i feel like ah things started to go – actually – ah know that oh I think it maybe that was third quarter. was Ballinger's layup in the third quarter off of McDowell White's steal.
00:55:37
Speaker
um That really shifted the and the momentum a lot. I think um particularly, I think it was third quarter, but there were signs of it in the second quarter, but mostly third and a bit in the fourth for all the Gunners.
00:55:49
Speaker
They started to fall away from their offensive line. plan and their rules, I think. So we saw at the start, very team orientated. Everyone's very well organized, um a lot of more ball movement. And then I felt like there was a sense of panic setting in where they started to rely too much on one-on-one opportunities off the dribble.
00:56:12
Speaker
There were a couple of possessions as well in the second half where I feel like the gunners were like doing some kind of dribble drive or what's the dribble penetration and kick, but no one was actually looking to score.
00:56:24
Speaker
And the times when they fell into that, yeah, it was, they, they yeah, it really fell in a bit of a, in a bit of strife there. I think a little bit of that also stems from Illawarra did a good job of preventing Morrison from getting the ball really down low.
00:56:41
Speaker
um And then they a good job I mean, Glenn Morrison, sometimes he's just going to charge straight through whatever you put in front of him.
00:56:53
Speaker
But I think they get a good job of kind of stifling him when he would get the ball, maybe around the elbow, maybe even higher. and kind of turn and go, and they'd be there to try and stop him.
00:57:05
Speaker
And, yeah, occasionally they gave away a foul. and I mean, this is the one game you can't roast teams for their free throw numbers because they were both exceptional at the line. Yes, very, very good.
00:57:18
Speaker
Illawarra made it tough on Glenn when, yeah, he caught the ball up high and had to actually go to the rack and put it on the floor. which I guess he has shown repeatedly that he can do that, but we all know that both he and the camera offense in general would rather him get it in much closer quarters.
00:57:38
Speaker
Yeah, I think um as well that slight tweak from the Hawks' defense is, yeah, letting Morrison play from the high post but just taking a step off to challenge him to shoot it because Morrison has really great handles, decent foot speed for someone of his size and his position, but really great footwork.
00:57:55
Speaker
Like I think in this game, if he needed a highlight package on just his footwork, he could probably get a lot of clips just from this game. His footwork was great. But just challenging him, you know, shoot from that elbow extended, starts to cast a bit of doubt in his mind a little bit. And I think that was a nice adjustment from the Hawks.
00:58:14
Speaker
You talk about his footwork. They are up and under the bus under the basket that he went. definitely He split two defenders, went under the basket and... Reverse layup.
00:58:25
Speaker
Yeah. much Yeah. It was, it was really, really good. It was great. Really great. i um There were times though, that I just, it was, it was the middle of the third quarter where I, at least two, maybe three possessions and rogers bad defensive decisions from the gunners.
00:58:43
Speaker
um It was one where ah don't want to get the, I think it was Mayfield was just positioned all wrong. guarding Blanchfield.
00:58:55
Speaker
He was facing almost perpendicular to him, back towards where the ball was. When it went to the opposite wing, he shifted his body to get in front of Blanchfield. And Ballanchfield, you just can't shift your weight back fast enough.
00:59:08
Speaker
And then on the very next play, Wardlow ran to the ball, left to trailing Ballinger to come straight through to the rack. And And like like everyone was like, where's the fifth Illawarra player?
00:59:24
Speaker
It was Brad Ballinger just loping through and getting the ball because they both jumped to the player with the ball. um Yeah, just a couple of decisions like that. um Yeah, and then straight after that, there was a pick and pop that eventuated from Mayfield, but the ball got back.
00:59:45
Speaker
to him too slowly from bru Brooklyn Bruton. And it's just a cut a few things in quick succession just didn't work for the Gunners. And that was when Illawarra took the lead, forty nine forty eight um It quickly got back to a tie game, but just that little couple of minutes just kind of gave Illawarra a sniff and an opportunity to get right back into it, take the lead.
01:00:08
Speaker
And even though it was tight, it always felt like the momentum was with Illawarra coming back from that 10-point deficit that they had early in the second quarter. Yeah, I wrote really similar notes, actually, and also made the point of that it that point in the third quarter.
01:00:22
Speaker
ah It was Ballinger's transition layup. McDowell-White gets a steal and then three. Oh, yes. Yeah, that was really, really good. I think that's really started to put the pieces together for the Hawks and the timing of them getting their synchronicity and their chemistry right in this game was perfect because it was, you know, halfway through the third.
01:00:43
Speaker
um And so easy to carry that on into the fourth. I also felt like what was happening for the Gunners in the third offensively is that they had Bruton come on for a few more minutes.
01:00:54
Speaker
which we love to see. Bruton versus Bruton this game as well, which I wasn't aware of until we started watching. um i just felt like sometimes the ball would slow down a little bit too much when it was in his hands at point guard.
01:01:07
Speaker
So it just seems like four on one page of getting ball movement mostly through, ah you know, just pass, cut, screen away, lots of that kind of traditional rules.
01:01:18
Speaker
But I felt sometimes when it got into Bruton's hands for the Gunners, it just slowed down a little bit too much and everyone was a little bit too out of place. um And that's also when I wrote more shots for Tui, but he had eight, so maybe I'm just being too greedy.
01:01:34
Speaker
um well Yeah, but the Blanchfield three ball at, I think I put it at 651 in the third, really bailed them out of a very unproductive Oh, my goodness. Yes.
01:01:50
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It was a very unproductive, very passive. And then he's just like, listen, I'm going to put an end to this. It just bombs away. that was that was very timely.
01:02:01
Speaker
And that's what he can do. But you don't want him to have to do. Yeah, that's right. You don't want to have to rely on that too much. It is nice to have that definitely up your sleeve.
01:02:12
Speaker
But, you know, to be fair, there's a bunch of them that could probably have that up their sleeve too. um did, was making some notes as well and, uh, the different defensive rules that the Gunners started with as well. Did you notice that they were doubling Blanchfield a lot and then switching on others?
01:02:28
Speaker
But then it was very clear in the first quarter that that's what they were doing. And then as the game went on, I wasn't too sure if they were supposed to be sticking to that or if they were or if the game plan had changed on the defensive end for the Gunners because then um that's when I think as well sometimes there's a few miscommunications and a few easy layups and stuff like that.
01:02:50
Speaker
in the back end. But, I mean, Mayfield had his job cut out for him this game, having to guard Blanchfield most of the time. yeah and then And then trying to be the the one of the main scorers too. so And play all 40 minutes.
01:03:06
Speaker
And play all 40 minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah ah um I do have to ah a wag of the finger and the commentator brought this up. Well, one of the commentators is on my side. Anyway, low percentage two for ones.
01:03:20
Speaker
We're cancelling them. Especially because Illawarra went down, tried to get a quick look. It was a low percentage look and missed. And then the second half was a low percentage look as well. It was a contestant stream.
01:03:33
Speaker
Kobe McDowell trying to shoot over someone bigger than him anyway. the then Take your time on the first one because you never know what's going to happen on the second one. get into You may as well get one good look, then maybe have two bad looks.
01:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, and the pressure is getting worse and worse than second look. What if they go and get the O board on their own miss and then you don't even get your second look?
01:04:00
Speaker
Control the controllable and get one good look and if it happens to be early in the shot clock, so be it. We're cancelling low percentage two for once. Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot. That almost sounds like a a policy.
01:04:15
Speaker
in the next mbo1 east elections our policy is to cancel low percentage two for once
01:04:24
Speaker
uh but yeah going into the fourth quarter um yeah hawks really upped up their d in the fourth quarter when they got that layup at seven minutes and four seconds and it was 67 all the the dunk the the dunk Oh, was it a dunk? I wrote layup. He sort of got it over the rim. I don't think his hand ever actually got near the rim, but Ballinger, yeah. so hit The ball was in his hand over the rim.
01:04:53
Speaker
Yes, ah because, yeah, I wrote layup and I was like, hmm, I'm not sure if that was a dunk. So I'm glad you confirmed that it wasn't technically a dunk. Yeah, know. um So, yeah, the the two things that momentum shift here, I'll take a step back early in the fourth at 8.58, the offensive foul on the Canberra Gunners where – I think I can't quite remember the player, but they were bringing the ball up for the Gunners.
01:05:21
Speaker
They were guarded by Young Bruton from the Hawks. And Young Bruton had gotten beaten in the backcourt and was trying to chase in the frontcourt. And the ball carrier for the Gunners just tried to like just shook them off and got called for that offensive foul.
01:05:37
Speaker
and I was like. that was one That was when I started to feel like we've been letting them play all game. Yeah. Let the boys play. Let the boys play, yeah. And I think that was a big momentum shift. um that was It was 60 to 62 at that point.
01:05:54
Speaker
Gunners were up, especially when there were so many arms waving and elbows extending the whole game, just like you said. And all of a sudden they were calling that and i'm like, yeah. And that's kind of, it kind of started ah the favour back into the Hawks. So then the Hawks got that layup with set at seven minutes and four seconds and then tied up 67-67. Yeah, and then it was just kind of the Hawks were rolling pretty much from that point on.
01:06:21
Speaker
I mean, even before that, those Lockie Dent threes early in the fourth that he just created for himself. Well, I think it was three, it was Blanchfield after Moran stopped Morrison dead.
01:06:34
Speaker
dead Blanchfield came up in transition and hit one, and then Lockie Dent created a couple for himself. um
01:06:43
Speaker
And I forgot about that. morris When Morrison blocked a shot and Todd Blanchfield got the O-board and the foul as well. So even before that Ballinger layup,
01:06:56
Speaker
everything was falling Illawarra's way. I mean, even like, yes, Docky Dent was creating his own stuff, but Morrison blocks one and it ends up going to Blanchfield who gets an and one. Yeah. Or at least two free throws.
01:07:10
Speaker
Yeah. You're talking about controlling the controllables that were doing that. And then they started to get the, get the control over the uncontrollables as well. And the luck was certainly falling on their side, but at the same time, like respectfully for the Hawks,
01:07:25
Speaker
If they weren't hustling, if they weren't in the right spots, if they weren't hustling properly for those plays, then those plays don't come for you. So they were really locked in and focused and stepped it up a level in that fourth quarter to to boil this game over into their favour.
01:07:40
Speaker
I just think defensively for the Hawks, they were a lot more energised and they were... I'm not sure if it was they were communicating better or they just started to focus on being in better positions, but they were playing with a lot more desperation.
01:07:54
Speaker
They were double-teaming Morrison under the basket beautifully without overhelping or fouling, and they were double-teaming him in a way where it made his – like really obstructed his view to try and get an easy outlet pass. So that was chewing up lots of clock time. And then I just feel like their rotations as well after that fact were a lot better in this half.
01:08:14
Speaker
And then focusing on just getting out and running. You've got kids like Bradley Ballinger who's so versatile. And then you've got Denton McDowell-White who could throw a dime like it's nothing.
01:08:25
Speaker
Stops and run. Keep it simple with the talented roster that you have. Pretty much. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. I mean, and unfortunately, that was, unfortunately for the game, that was when we got a real rush of fouls.
01:08:46
Speaker
Yes, I noted the same thing. was like, is the battle getting to everyone more than the game kind of thing?
01:08:58
Speaker
That's like, yeah. I was hoping someone was going to call a timeout because I think there was like so many fouls in the fourth. I'm like, someone just needs to call a timeout and settle everything, settle everyone down. But no one wants to burn a timeout to do that when it's such a close game.
01:09:12
Speaker
Exactly. You need, yeah, you need to keep those for but late in the game. But it also, it I think someone needed to because like the last few minutes, like there was no scoring for like 90 seconds after, i think,
01:09:28
Speaker
it was Yeah, it was 79-74 with three minutes to go and there was which is when Morrison picked up his fourth on that drive and kick foul, which, no, sorry, no.
01:09:40
Speaker
The one where Moran slid over. Yeah. And they kind of just tangled up and fell down into a heap, and I was like, maybe by the letter of the law, but...
01:09:52
Speaker
It is. But, yeah, I noticed the same. The fouls really ramped up. That's why I said at the start, like, even though it was Hawks to Gunners in the foul count for the game, but the timing was really important and the impact of the game.
01:10:06
Speaker
So the funny thing is, though, Hawks were were over the team fouls in the fourth quarter with 4 minutes 13 to play. And you're right, no one scored for a while. It was a 79-76 with a minute to go Hawks favour.
01:10:21
Speaker
And their last six points, their last six points was free throws. So even though the Gunners had four minutes to play to kind of get themselves to the free throw line, it ended up being the Hawks winning the game at the free throw line in the end.
01:10:34
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it was, that again, but the foul, Glenn Morrison with his hand over Kobe McDowell, white shoulder. That was a foul. When he pretty much, it where Kobe was just trying to keep him out of the play. Clev was like, get out of my way.
01:10:46
Speaker
Yeah. I'm going to put an end to this. Just get out of way. Yeah. that That was a foul. And then the Will Mayfield bump on Wocky Dent.
01:11:02
Speaker
o What was what was that
01:11:08
Speaker
ah I'm trying to think. It was really late in the pace. So it was late enough that they they didn't need to fail. They still didn't need to fail. But Hawks were in the bonus by then. And Mayfield just kind of bumped him. And I was like, what what's this achieving?
01:11:25
Speaker
Yeah. I think I might have... I don't think I picked on up on that one. ah so yeah It was really late in the piece. And I don't know, maybe, i mean, maybe it was, like me honestly, it could have been that the Notorious NBL1 stream game clock was off by enough seconds that it was late enough to matter. Because I was wondering what it was when it happened.
01:11:53
Speaker
um It was very late in the piece. um and It was called at 33 seconds. So maybe it was called at 33 seconds with the score at 81-78, according to the play-by-play, 33 seconds.
01:12:07
Speaker
But it could have been later than that. So I'll give Will a pass on that one because I don't have a proper timestamp. Yeah, I can't quite remember ah it either. It was really late and maybe maybe it was just going. They're only down by three.
01:12:22
Speaker
So, yeah, it just seemed like it was a foul that wasn't going to do a whole lot. No. It's a hockey down to the line. But, yeah, what the Gunners didn't score for... They only scored four points in the last three minutes. and I mean, it was a 6-4 final three minutes.
01:12:38
Speaker
But, yeah, the Gunners, yeah, didn't score. Yeah, laid on. And, honestly, it felt a little bit like Illawarra in Canberra's heads. Yeah, there was ah that kind of panic that I saw in the third kind of continued for the Gunners in the fourth.
01:12:54
Speaker
And I think... the changing The changing in the calls and the quick changing in momentum and then Hawks' great defence, all of those kind of factors started to pile on and add to that panic as well because I noticed that the gunners started to go back to that very much one-on-one style movement like dribble, like a lot of offense based around dribble penetration or going one-on-one or something instead of moving the ball, setting good screens, getting open for each other, like the gunners that we know and love, when they resorted back to that kind of panic of just dribbling the air out of it then.
01:13:28
Speaker
Very unproductive, as we saw, like you said. only scoring, what, two to four points in that last five minutes. um But, you know, Illawarra, like we said, peaking at the right time. They won the third quarter 20 to 16, but they won the fourth quarter 31 to 8.
01:13:43
Speaker
And as the game continued, ah their two-point shooting percentage actually got better in the second half. And their three-point percentage was 40% the first quarter and in the third quarter a fourth quarter.
01:13:58
Speaker
So they were able to really bring out something special. Now, whether that's due to better shot selections or um everything just started to click with them ah by that stage. They hit those three of three to start the fourth quarter, which, yeah, set them on their way. So, I mean, hitting them when you need them.
01:14:20
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. It's not always going to happen like that, though. They're not always going to be able to turn it on and off like a tap. aye But um one last player I want to shout out, CJ Moran, more screens than JB Hi-Fi. ah Yes. hes I mean, that's why he's the reigning defensive player of the year at the Mackay Meteors.
01:14:41
Speaker
And I wonder if that's exactly why. I'm still pretty sure. um Joe Carlow, who coached the Mackay Meteors last year and NBL One North and was assistant coach to the Hawks.
01:14:52
Speaker
I feel like he was involved in some this recruiting, given how many kids, great pieces playing from the North. so Really? But, yeah, that was a great recruit, really, really good recruit.
01:15:05
Speaker
Perhaps someone we may be sleeping on for potential defensive player of the year, contender in NBL One East for the men's competition. um Yeah, it was nice to see some good screens set after the last men's game that we reviewed where i was like, come on, guys.
01:15:20
Speaker
Timing, set your feet. ah But, yeah, he hes he's really, really good. He does a lot of things that aren't sometimes on the stat sheet. I also wanted to give shout-out to Angus Byatt from the Gunners. So the Gunners, you mentioned earlier, missing three key pieces. so Lockie Smith was out sick for this game, unfortunately.
01:15:43
Speaker
Cam Pender out early in the season due to injury, not too sure when he's able to return. Who was the third person I'm missing that's an out?
01:15:52
Speaker
Because said three. Did I? ah didn't say three. Oh, I thought you said three. But anyway, those two particularly. Yeah. their Their absence was certainly felt in this game.
01:16:04
Speaker
But Angus Byatt getting the opportunity to be in the starting five, he did really well. Yeah. He yeah it was it great defending one-on-one. Sometimes after a switch or in a transition situation, he had to ah switch on to Blanchfield. He did a great job containing him and not letting not letting an easy dribble penetration.
01:16:25
Speaker
um yeah he had a great game think he i think coach herrick said that he's only like 19 or 20 so hopefully another great local that the gunners program can hold on to for a long time and have the next dynasty of them the morrison mayfield tui dynasty hopefully by it will be part of the next one very much so yeah but uh ah You talk about, you know, Brad Ballinger coming off the bench, 16 points, three rebounds, just the the versatile guy that can do everything. Really like how he plays.
01:17:00
Speaker
um Interesting that Matt Mims only saw his first minutes in the second quarter. but when you look at that loaded starting five from the Hawks, McDowell, White, Dent, Moran, Campbell, Blanchfield, I would be okay with sitting with the six-man. mean, it means you can slot him in. Do you want top you want him for Dent?
01:17:23
Speaker
Do you want him for McDowell, White? yeah You know, you've got a few options. you want to run with a three-guard lineup for a little bit? know, it gives them a little bit more flexibility. Yeah. not trying to shoehorn all three of those guys in there. And look, your import doesn't have to start just because they're an import.
01:17:41
Speaker
And six man mean, I've heard it from people before. Sometimes it's good to have one of your best five players come off the bench. So if things don't work out at the start, you've just got that spark, that punch to come in there and go, right on, we're taking this over.
01:17:59
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I've definitely been in teams or coach teams where we've had that approach. And it just means you've got a better chance of having a high level of like continuity when by the time if you're sixth or seventh players are just as good as your starting five, just in terms of subbing and combination and continuity, it can be really, really handy.
01:18:21
Speaker
But, yeah, so overall it was a very it was a very tight game, very physical game. I think the the game count came down to momentum shifts and timing of particular events in this game.
01:18:35
Speaker
um I think it also came down to ah how each team adapted to change. So Hawks adapting to change quite quickly and Gunners adapting to some change but not consistently enough. And it looked like they were getting a little bit panicked.
01:18:51
Speaker
Well, that's kind of my summary. What would your summary be? I think that's that's probably fair enough. When it came down to it, Illawarra stuck with their principles better than Canberra did.
01:19:03
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I think so too, yeah. And we know that Coach Herrick listens to the podcast, so, you know, hopefully he knows we say everything with love and that, you know,
01:19:15
Speaker
and that's you know it's all It's all objective and we're just doing what we do, saying saying what we see. um But, yeah, I would love it if they were to play again, but I don't think they play each other again this season. and I think they're one and done.
01:19:31
Speaker
no. Let's just double check that. Maybe in the finals. Oh, going have to wait to the finals. Oh, that's going to be like a long time brewing between the two teams. Oh, no, I stand mistaken. Round 12.
01:19:48
Speaker
Canberra Gunners, Illawarra, again. Tuggeron. At Tuggeron. Yes, let's go Round 12. So that's a good break. So playing each other in round seven.
01:20:02
Speaker
Then you've got, ah yeah, four rounds until you meet again. That's a good amount of time ah for both teams to make those adjustments and extra scouting notes when they meet again. I'm hoping that that Tagrenong crowd as well can get behind the Gunners and they can get the split just to make the standings even more interesting than they what what they are now.
01:20:26
Speaker
Very nice. Purely for the math that I can't math, but I'm happy to admire.
01:20:33
Speaker
um But, yeah, let's see if our guest is ready to jump on. um Yes, they are. Look at them, patiently waiting in the wings. All right, so our very special guest this week, what we're going to do, it is round seven has just concluded of NBL 1 East.
01:20:52
Speaker
It's more or less halfway given we've got 15 rounds this season before the final. So we thought – We'll get another NBL 1 East champion on to the podcast tonight to talk a little bit mid-season ah reports.
01:21:06
Speaker
It's none other than SJ from The of the Game. Hello, hello. How are you? um good, thanks. It's freezing. So glad to see you guys on the live one too. I'll listen to you last while. There's two things I want to point out real quickly. Please, please. Firstly, um congratulations, 100 games. And ah what a game too, man. Comets up against the Sharks.
01:21:26
Speaker
and That was huge. enjoyed listening to the coverage too, man. So well done. Oh, thank you. And secondly, I want to be the defence attorney. I agree with the two for one.
01:21:38
Speaker
The low percentage two for one? The low percentage though two for one. Yeah, if it's 30 seconds, you don't take it, but 35, you got to go for it. Let's go, boys. what if What if it's even between 35 and 45? Because sometimes you can get a ah a luxurious two for one when it's around that 40, 45 seconds. If it's between 35 and 45, you should be able to get high percentage looks.
01:22:02
Speaker
Agreed, but even 32 seconds, you let it slide. Because it's tough. Love that extra context, SJ. Thank you so much for joining us. It was very last minute, but thank you for making time and also being patient because we did run overtime with our yapping in the headlines today. Time just escapes us because, you know, we love to yap.
01:22:23
Speaker
We love a yap. um But, yeah, appreciate you jumping on to talk about the halfway report for the East. Yeah, it's been good. Honestly, the East has been amazing this season. i And I love listening to you guys yap because you actually like learn a lot about the games, the in and out
Behind the Scenes
01:22:39
Speaker
that. Because, bro, look, not everyone's going to watch the full replays of the games that you guys are covering.
01:22:43
Speaker
um So, yeah, it's it's great information and I love it. Oh, thank you kindly. It's, ah you know, 90 minute replay that probably takes sometimes at least two hours because we're always rewinding something and rewatching and rewinding something and rewatching. I certainly did that with that COE Hornsby men's game a couple of rounds ago there because that was just too quick for my eyes to comprehend.
01:23:09
Speaker
um But yeah, SJ, tell us about your week. Tell us about your round seven on NBL One East. Were you commentating or were you a spectator this weekend? No, so i was doing the Bankstown Bruins covering against the Hills Hornets. I was doing the commentary.
01:23:22
Speaker
and But everyone was just talking about that Sydney Comets and Sharks game. So, Lucky, how was the atmosphere, man? Tell us a bit about the atmosphere because that place was rocking. It was rocking. You know, it's sometimes hard to feel it when you've got the noise-cancelling headphones on.
League Growth and Development
01:23:38
Speaker
But there's... It was one of those nights where, yeah, it was it was the atmosphere around the stadium was big, but it all felt centred on the court. Like the players the players brought more energy than the crowd even.
01:23:52
Speaker
Like that first game with Kuat Noi, it was big, but it was the crowd delivering all the energy. This game, it was the players. It was Bawali just absolutely taking off like a stab rat at every opportunity he could to get up court.
01:24:07
Speaker
It was waiting to see what Devo Hickey would do next. It was Kuat Noi just being Kuat Noi. It was just, yeah, a game with seven guys with NBL experience. And like I said on the call,
01:24:18
Speaker
It's just the guys. ah thought Dave, I'm not surprised he didn't try to take over. I thought he might, but when you're such a player like Dave, you recognize that, you know, it's Bawali's team at the moment.
01:24:31
Speaker
And he just, he facilitated Bawali and Bawali just had himself an absolute night. And it was just epic. Yeah, because Devo Hickey, he can do it all, man. Like, he can, um like, contribute to the game in different ways. And in a way, that is Boali's team. And, Bo, him and Noi went toe-to-toe all game. And it it was great to watch. And that's what the Mb1 East kind of, for me, is all about this season.
01:24:56
Speaker
It's about, like, all these younger players getting to play with these big names and they're just loving it. um They're kind of taking the bull by the horns and they're embracing it. So even in the women's competition, you've got those two Norse and Falcons kind of going undefeated. So yeah, the NBL1 East is, it's the place to be.
01:25:15
Speaker
certainly is the place to be. um I think especially now, like even with Hickey's late but very welcome arrival to nbo back to NBL1 East, surely by now everyone else in the country has to have eyes on the East.
01:25:32
Speaker
Because if we're attracting people like Noi, Bawali, Hickey, and that's just the men's competition of calibre, aside from the high calibre of the female competition, in the east surely people got to start taking us a little bit more seriously yeah you also forget like jason caddie jalen galloway um but for me it's also the young players like like at bankstown brooms you got charlie mcbeth um like he's learning from all these young guys i remember speaking to um lachlan hutchinson also he's like man these youth league players like bailey mccarfer like they're itching at the play against all these big names um and you'd you'd kind of see yourself lucky um what's the quality like around the league even from like the youth leaguers the improvement from last season
01:26:10
Speaker
I mean, you summed it up perfectly saying that like these young guys want to play against these big names. like Harrison Rayner went up against... He didn't play Youth League.
01:26:22
Speaker
um Usually, he would be our starting point guy for Youth League. He didn't play Youth League on Saturday because he had the task of taking on Bawali every time he was on court. And a bit of Debo, you know.
01:26:33
Speaker
He was tasked with... And he... yeah he gave a pretty good account of himself while he was out there. You know, the guys, you he's come up from Melbourne, taken a flyer on playing for Sutherland. And yeah, some of these young guys that are getting proper NBL one experience, they're just going like, just taking off the trajectory that just playing against these players. It's not just what happens in the game. its you go away.
01:27:00
Speaker
you know, during the week and go, okay, this is what I got to do but in the next offseason. Okay, this is what I did against Bawali or against Blanchfield, against Kadir, against Galloway, whoever it is, or against Munger or whoever else and go, okay, this is what I couldn't do against these players. This is what I got to work on if I want to get to that level.
01:27:19
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
01:27:22
Speaker
Yeah, well, very good. And was we've got a little bit of a run sheet here just to cover the first half of NBL1E so far. So I'll go to you first, SJ.
01:27:33
Speaker
Give us a quick, I mean, you you touched a lot, ah a bit of a summary of the men's competition. Give us a quick summary of the women's competition based on what you've seen so far. Look, because I love watching the Bankstown Bruins. Like even I saw Lockie against the Sharks. Like if the girls are kind of even playing in Sydney, I try to rock up early to watch their games, um seeing their growth. um With the competition, you got, like I was saying on the call last game with the women's comp, it's top heavy.
01:27:56
Speaker
um So you got about six teams who you know is going to be there. But then the last two spots, um they're open for everyone. Like I'm looking at the Bankstown Bruins. I'm like, hey, if you guys can stack up just a few wins in a row, um you could kind of be in the mix.
01:28:08
Speaker
And then you got Hornsby. Yeah. Jessie May Hall my favorite player to watch um because she racks up all the like the stats but I'm a big steals man like anytime I look at the box score you look at the steals and then i actually watched her that game against Bankstown and she got 10 steals and then i was just like blown away because that just means you're like you're understanding you're reading the game um and she does it and she's quick as too man like really quick And that was the first time I actually showed my daughter. i'm like, my daughter's won. I'm like, this is how you got to play later. This has got to be you sort of thing.
01:28:35
Speaker
um so yeah And also the men's side from Hornsby, um they're actually getting a few wins and they've been competitive all season. And honestly, I got Hornsby as one of the best crowds um when that place is rocking. I don't know if it's the brick wall or something like that, but the noise just bounces back.
01:28:50
Speaker
um So shout out to Hornsby because they all show up. But yeah. for the women's squad, like, you know who the top six is going to be, but the rest, they can all steal like it's a dogfight. And the talents there, like you got Canberra, who's also struggling.
01:29:02
Speaker
um You had Crusaders. I know you were big on the Crusaders at the start of the season. You just didn't, Oh, yeah, have I kind of feel obligated to be big on the Crusaders to be fair being a home club. But, yeah, I know that calibre of roster that they've got. You know, they've got literally an ex-Olympian in their squad.
01:29:19
Speaker
um And they've got, you know, Jazz Falkadiers being a WNBL squad member. Muffy Lotus played WNBL. Herrick, Domkins, WNBL. So that's was like.
01:29:32
Speaker
They've got a lot of experience and high IQ. but yeah, just can't put it together. And very low on numbers and injuries. Yeah. So, because you've got the Sharks too, Lockie.
01:29:42
Speaker
are The Sharks. Like, you commentate their games with the women's squad. Are they on one win? um Yeah. Yeah, they are on one win, aren't they? Yeah. That's thousand squad. Yeah, they just, yeah.
01:29:54
Speaker
They just can't get out of their own way. They just, nothing feels quite as... connected as it should be, which is weird because um like you can say, Oh, we don't have Lauren Nicholson, but we didn't have Lauren Nicholson for the entire year. Last year, we had pretty much the same squad except for Taya Webb who's back at Launceston. So yeah, you're right. This team should be, have been putting up um more wins than they have.
01:30:24
Speaker
um I guess this week against Hornsby will be, you know playing a team that that's three and five, but has got a player like Jesse Mayhall there and Kira Hudson.
Player Spotlights and Predictions
01:30:37
Speaker
yeah They've got good pieces around them as well. They've got the import Aiyana yeah did that'll really be That'll really show where they're at. Are they one and eight because you know they've had to face some really good teams or are they one and eight because they're You know, ah they yeah if they can't beat teams of this caliber of like, yeah, get over someone like Hornsby, that's a problem. and I mean, they couldn't ah couldn't get over Illawarra on Subasa Nisbet's first game.
01:31:03
Speaker
And I thought Illawarra were going to jump up, but they haven't been able to get wins either, which is kind of interesting. But I guess it just shows, I mean, Illawarra v Hills next week. That could be ah ah could be interesting for both teams.
01:31:19
Speaker
Yeah. tipping point kind of a bit of a tipping point game for both of them yeah um and now also sj biggest highlights of the nbl1 east so far what comes to mind oh there's a lot honestly i'm gonna start off with like just all the big name signings like know about you guys but like you just kept rolling in you're like all it's gonna stop suddenly like you got jason cadilla and then you got greedy the next one came up and you're like oh shit like everyone's coming um But it tips off to Quattanoi.
01:31:49
Speaker
um He was pretty much like the biggest signing. Because do the Sydney Kings podcast um for the Basketball Fix. And Quattanoi was always like one of my guests. He was always down to talk. And then once I knew he was coming to East and he told me the reasons why he was staying in the East, I was like, man, like that's going great for Sydney basketball. So that was one of my highlights.
01:32:05
Speaker
um And then you just got the plays, man. Like Daylon Richnell's dunk. um You got Jalen Galloway's dunk. Like all these guys playing in the league. But also...
01:32:17
Speaker
Just the quality. Every game. like i remember last year, like ah sometimes you were looking for matches of the round and you were kind of like, oh, like by this week, there's like seven or eight of them and you're like, oh, which one do I pick? like Every game's quality.
01:32:28
Speaker
um So that's definitely another highlight. But mine is the arrival of Boali Bales. I'm coming back to the Comets. like That team last season was like the real deal. When Boali went on that run last season, man, like that Sydney Comets team was dangerous and every team in the finals wanted to avoid them.
01:32:44
Speaker
And then This season, it kind of feels like last year's crew up against the new crew because youve got the Sharks, the Hawks, and the Bruins. And then you had the Comets, Gunners, and Maitland kind of running or back with the guys that had played last season.
01:32:57
Speaker
So it kind of feels like a little bit of us and them sort of thing at the same time. So ah like I'm loving that because it's just the quality of the league at the moment that every game, and with the men's side especially, the top eight that is right now, that you can pretty much lock it in that that's probably going to be the top eight to finish the season, excluding a few play like a teams that might make a run.
01:33:15
Speaker
But man, like going to be pushing for that top four spot. Like home finals going to come in handy because you don't want to travel to Canberra and do all those places. Like i was talking to few of the Bankstown guys and they were like, man, that travel to Canberra is tough.
01:33:27
Speaker
So you just got to be driving before a finals game. So yeah, just the quality of the men's season um has been my highlight so far.
01:33:34
Speaker
Yeah. What about you, Lockie? Yeah. i just I think SJ made a good point about Bawali coming back. in Comets are starting from a higher point this season when they get Bawali back.
01:33:45
Speaker
Like last year, they were, you know, are they going to make finals? Are they not? Kind of thing. This year, they're already entrenched in the top eight, even before they get Bawali. And now they've got Devo for a few weeks to shore things up as well.
01:33:56
Speaker
So it's only up for them. um My highlights so far this season. Oh, geez. But I'll go... i know I know everyone wants to talk about the big names, but Gotch Malawal making his debut on the weekend.
01:34:10
Speaker
That was so good. He is. i mean I've been waiting. I've been coming to all the comments, the comments have. It's Gotch. It's going on. um Yeah. So that was definitely a highlight on the men's side. um But honestly, yeah, most of the highlights came on the men's side in preseason with all the ne signing announcements and then just how well they've all put up.
01:34:36
Speaker
Every one of them has performed as we've you know as we've hoped they would. um Sorry, can I ask a question too? Like, you know that game? Because, you know, the game up against the Comets and Sharks, that was your 100th game, yeah?
01:34:51
Speaker
Have you ever been excited for a game, like before a call, ever excited like that? Or was that like something different for yourself? I mean, your 100th game and that sort of scenario, the players? mean...
01:35:02
Speaker
i mean I've been more excited for other games. um when i went to nat When I went to Nationals and did the main court, the first main court game between Canberra and Frankston.
01:35:17
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that game was good. Yeah, but before, yeah, even before that, calling it with Matt Hickey and just like, um yeah, i probably that was probably the game I was most excited for. But ah but when it hit me was when Sutherland put up the big big sign that said, congratulations, Poggin' France.
01:35:36
Speaker
Okay. it that Now it's real. um Yeah. So it's been all the games I was excited. So that that that was when it hit me, was when they started actually talking about i Because that's big, man. 100 games is big by so respect.
01:35:51
Speaker
I'm sure, like, surely other people, the two feet in the paint boys must be getting up around 100. Where's your spreadsheet, boys? You got to have a spreadsheet. Those two feet in the paint boys will rack it up this season, but they're doing three teams by respect.
01:36:03
Speaker
Yeah, they're going do 100 games in the season, let alone in their career.
01:36:11
Speaker
ah but Yeah, I don't know how they do it. Yeah. and on the i mean On the women's side, um i mean, you can't... I mean, I think the biggest highlight is to come and it'll be that North-Newcastle game in a couple of weeks' time.
01:36:27
Speaker
um I think... um
01:36:34
Speaker
Highlight for me is the re-emergence of Maitland. Hmm... Every other team up the top is always there.
01:36:47
Speaker
Maitland finished sixth in 2023, went five and fifteen last year, and now they've managed to retool. They got a second air import again. They got Milwoskovic back. They got Alexis Plater down from Coffs Harbour. And she is driving from Coffs Harbour every week because she's still in year 12.
01:37:04
Speaker
And i think just having another team – around the place. And also, like, Inner West as well, finally, you know, putting it together a little bit. Just more teams in the mix.
01:37:16
Speaker
Because I think last year we sort of looked at it and we were like, all right, there's probably 10 teams that can make finals. This this year It's only going to take, even for like, you know, what if Lauren Nicholson makes a miracle return?
01:37:32
Speaker
What if Leilani Mitchell Michaela Domkins put it together for Central Coast? um The new signing for Banks Stout. She's nice. She's real nice. she she real nice There's not a team out there that even if they don't make finals, can't have a significant say in what happens on the women's side and probably in the men's side as well.
01:37:53
Speaker
The men's side, it's a little bit, been happening a little bit more over the years, but in the women's side, it's far more competitive. And like you said, it's great to not have to look at a roster and go, uh, which game do I really want to go to? It's, I want to go to every game. Yeah.
01:38:09
Speaker
Yeah.
01:38:11
Speaker
I'm sorry. I just want to make a point on very on one thing that Lockie said. You were talking about the whole Sydney Comets when they sort of started. um like Like this season compared to last season when Bawali came. And for me, like I remember talking Chou after round one. i was like, boy, if you boys can kind of hold on to like a plus 500, just collect all these wins up against like the Falcons. um I think they beat like Panthers, whoever they want.
01:38:30
Speaker
But then you saw the growth of like Mundine, Chou, Vili. Obrey kind of taking up a bigger role offensively. And then, for a while, he came in and then it was just like game over because their defense is um probably the best defense in the comp right now.
01:38:43
Speaker
But I've got to ask you, this is the thing that I've got to ask you, man because you do Comets and Crusade, i'm sorry, Comets and the Sharks. If that was to play in a finals, man, who are you locking in? who you Who would you be backing? Who am I supporting or who do I think would win?
01:38:55
Speaker
Who do you think would win? Well... Hey, honestly, that i'll they'll face again in the semis. In the semis or grand final, that would be another finals matchup. i I reckon... i'll if da it Well, Devo will be over at Summer League by then. so i Yeah, who are we going?
01:39:13
Speaker
um I'm going Sharks. I'm going Sharks in a final. No no Devo, Sharks get it.
01:39:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know... They're going to play again in the regular season first, don't they? Oh, do they play again? Oh, I'll go with the schedules one week at a time. That's all I check for.
01:39:38
Speaker
I think I only look at weeks ahead as well when we have to refer to it in to provide more context of teams where or games we're reviewing or something like that. Otherwise, i'm I'm also like one at a time, one at a time.
01:39:50
Speaker
So it's also been your highlight of the season so far. I would say similar to what but both of you have said, certainly the big signings and especially a lot of the big signings that have originally come from East, even if they were juniors coming back to East.
01:40:08
Speaker
i've really I've really liked that. I've really liked how many teams have a been able to hold on to their core group and then modify or enhance them just a little bit because I think having that sustainability in our clubs is really important. Yeah.
01:40:26
Speaker
Yeah, i really love seeing young talent like Ruby Perkins and Jessie Mae Hall just go off in this at this level. Like earlier in the episode we spoke about the under-19 World Cup teams that are going away in June, July, and to think that Perkins, Fagan, Jessie, oh, Jessie Mae's not going, but Perkins and Fagan, you know,
01:40:49
Speaker
dominating NBL one East as teenagers. And now they're still going to the world cup. Like that's, that's pretty cool to watch. Pretty cool to watch in your own backyard, but also just the general caliber of players that we have here. Like I said, we've got Leilani Mitchell is a former Olympian.
01:41:05
Speaker
We've still got a lot of MB for like current and former NBL WNBL talent. Um, And I just love overall how NBL One East just keeps going strength to strength. And I think that, you know, testament to those high-caliber players who have returned and keep returning and hopefully they'll be able to encourage others to to come in in future seasons. So, yeah, pretty general highlights. um But I think just the general growth of the league is just really nice to see.
01:41:37
Speaker
But what about, tell SJ, some of your biggest surprises so far in this season, whether they be good or bad? um I'd say the drop-off of the InterWest Bulls.
01:41:52
Speaker
and That's kind of caught me off um because that's a talented squad. And, like, I remember was a game against Hills. Like, that was a very emotional game. I think was Zach Hutchins' first game back against his old club.
01:42:04
Speaker
And then the boys just kind of, like, they lost a bit of but togetherness. um And then, yeah, then from then on, after that game, they've kind of just, um like, fallen off. But also the competitors just of the league, like, you don't know who's actually going to,
01:42:17
Speaker
win like you got Hornsby and the Bandits just collecting wins and how about the Bandits man got like they've had a tough run like they had Jasper Rentoy and then he kind of um did it before and then you got Matty Gray who's an ex Mustang champion um just dropped 35 and if Bandits are to get a few dubs man they're gonna Matty Gray and Freeman to step up so they've been two surprises for me the Bandits and the Bulls but yeah other than that the league is just Like, it's just amazing at the moment. um So, like, even when you think about, like, Penrith Panthers, they just got a one. Like, the bottom three in the NBA 1 East all collected dubs last week.
01:42:55
Speaker
So, it's like, there's no real surprise. Like, every team's competitive. um But, yeah, it was just those drop-offs of, um yeah, the Inner West Bulls would probably my biggest surprise so far from what I've seen.
01:43:08
Speaker
Because I saw that game against the Bulls, man. They couldn't miss. They couldn't miss.
01:43:13
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree. What do you think, Lockie? What are your some of your biggest surprises? And those were, especially the Bulls, not just, yeah, the drop-off since their start.
01:43:26
Speaker
Because they were 3-1 and now they're 3-6. Yeah, and obviously, you know, I didn't think the Shafts women would be 1-8 at this stage. I think they're better than that.
01:43:39
Speaker
Yeah.
01:43:43
Speaker
ah Yeah, I think, I mean, yeah, I don't want to make it sound negative, but I think the the ones that are most surprising are probably the teams that are, um you know, down from where we do expect them to be.
01:43:56
Speaker
um if you look at some of the teams that have been on the improve, like InnoWest women, you know, they went out and got Talia, Tupaya and Christina Moore and three three imports taking and advantage of the um Asia Oceania player rule kind of thing.
01:44:11
Speaker
Yeah. So probably not as surprising some of these teams are coming up. But yeah, the um yeah yeah definitely Inouye's men.
01:44:26
Speaker
Because that's one thing that i want to ask you guys too. like If you're looking at the men's top eight, who do you reckon can sort of um shake it up like from the bottom eight clubs? and like Who do you reckon is the best chance at making the eight?
01:44:40
Speaker
Yeah. I would say, ah want to say, ah want to say North when they're at full strength.
01:44:53
Speaker
Um, Because it's hard. like When you look at that top eight, it's hard to break into it because that's a tough top eight, man. like that's tough It is a tough top eight. And Bankstown are their gatekeeping eighth spot and they've only played a couple of games with Galloway.
01:45:08
Speaker
um so it's problem I know Bankstown are eighth, but they're not what I would have them probably going on a run now. I'm going to be honest with you, because i'll do the Bankstown Bruins game, and that men's squad is literally like just, I don't know like a little team chemistry away from being a top four easy team. They've got the talent, they've just got to find the consistency, and They got like all these new faces coming in, like also Jalen Galloway, but then they got Dominic Keyes coming in, um Andre Wolford, Hayden Blankley kind of two still finding their role, like with a talented squad.
01:45:41
Speaker
um Once they all figured that out and Charlie McBeath comes back from um his America trip at the moment, like that Bankstown Bruins squad is going to be tough. Because you also have Goum Majak, he's going to be the backup big. So yeah, that's a strong top seven.
01:45:55
Speaker
So when we talked about Goum Majak in our first game of the season that we reviewed, Yeah, didn't he open the game with ah with two blocks or something? Yeah. Yeah.
01:46:06
Speaker
ah there He certainly left an impression on us. ah Yeah. I think the the plus side of Bankstown men's squad is that they have a lot of squad members, so they can account for people, you know, going away on trips to America, injuries, et cetera.
01:46:22
Speaker
But then the downside of having a big squad and – a relatively new squad is how do you formulate that chemistry so quickly and successfully? i think it's way too many combinations to play with.
01:46:36
Speaker
Nah, they've got Jason Kadee there. He'll figure it out. Jason Kadee. That is probably the best the best thing is that, like, watching Kadee, if he needs to facilitate, that's what he'll do.
01:46:49
Speaker
If he needs to score, that's what he'll do. He just – he knows – yeah, I mean, what you expect from a guy with, you know, as many NBL games and international experience under his belt as he has –
01:47:01
Speaker
He's going to, you know, do the right thing every time, um especially playing for his junior club. Like, he but you know, he's got an extra reason for this to all work for him. Yeah, he's he's the anchor. And I wonder if it, without him, it perhaps wouldn't work as well as it has been without such a,
01:47:20
Speaker
an anchor in a sense of the position he plays, hometown hero, and that wealth of experience where it can just be more of a leadership role and fill the gaps and let everyone else play their role to their biggest potential.
01:47:33
Speaker
um But, yeah, so I think I'm really rooting for them because they just seem like they You can tell by the way that they play as well. They all seem very committed to their game plan and to each other.
01:47:49
Speaker
And that's really hard to sometimes orchestrate as well when you get to semi-professional league because sometimes egos and stuff start to play into it. But they all seem like they want to genuinely play their best and for each other. So that's why we really root for them.
01:48:06
Speaker
And honestly, they do that for half a game right now. They just got to do it for the full 40 minutes. And then you'll start seeing them kind of deliver because they had a great win up against Hills, but they went down to COE and COE is tough, man. Like that COE squad.
Team Performances and Surprises
01:48:20
Speaker
um I remember watching them that first game up against Bankstown Bruins in round one. And man, it was scary because they were like 12 deep and everyone literally played 20 minutes. Like it was it was freaky to watch. And I was like...
01:48:32
Speaker
And you saw Furphy last game. I think he played 31 minutes, which is probably like he averages 23 minutes a game and then he got 34 points. And I'm just like, that's what the Canberra Gunners... Oh, sorry, the COE is all about because they all play defense like Ladgley, Koulibaly.
01:48:46
Speaker
When I first saw him, I was like, holy shit, like this guy knows how to play defense and the plays they run and things like that. So for me, they're 9-1 and... one and I know going to lose a few players and all that, but I don't know who's going to stick around, but whoever sticks around going the system.
01:49:01
Speaker
um So they'll figure it out and they'll be competitive. So COE has also been a big surprise for me.
01:49:07
Speaker
Yeah. The tricky thing with COE as well is that the way that their scholarships and program runs doesn't coincide always with the season. So they some athletes that have been there,
01:49:19
Speaker
like two, three years will graduate before the season ends and then the new graduates may come in. But then also this year we've got the under-19s World Cup. So both COE squads are probably going to lose some main players.
01:49:33
Speaker
I'm not too sure – I have to go back and look at the draw, but perhaps they've got those weeks off in the draw. They do I think that's the COE only play 10 of the rounds. And then they do that sneaky sneaky um game against Canberra that they do the week, the Friday before yeah the long weekend in June. Yeah, the Thursday games just before the long weekend just to kind of sneak it in at the end of the round.
01:49:58
Speaker
Yeah, so they yeah ah they'll probably have all those rounds off. And they built up a healthy lead. They've got a three-game lead at the moment, so nine and one, they'll take that. Yeah, I mean, nine item nine and one, what three more wins and you're pretty much guaranteed playoffs. But, yeah, I mean, it's it's always tough for them to go overseas and come back and come straight back into a NBL one-com. And we saw last year, they had to the women's team had to pull out of finals.
01:50:25
Speaker
and's And he's also my coach of the year, so I'm backing him in. Let's get it. Robbie? Yeah, I'm telling you, when I watched them that round one, I was like, holy crap, like that's a well-coached team. Like they were running plays and I was talking to Lajly after the post-game interview and he wass saying, man, like they're getting us to run technical like offense and defense.
01:50:43
Speaker
And then I always try to get those boys on the show and they're like now we've got training. we got So they're training every single day. So like hats off to them, man. ah Hopefully we see one or two of them in the NBA too.
01:50:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I think there's a high chance that we're going to see them, if not in the NBA, certainly in an Olympics or something one day, given that Furphy already suited up for the Boomers last week, that trans-Tasman throwdown. Yeah. So that's the cool thing about having COE in the East is that we get to see them while they're young and super talented and you can see the potential for them and then you get to watch their career grow.
01:51:22
Speaker
as far as it can go is really, really exciting. It's a weird pri proud mum moment when you don't even know the players like as people.
01:51:32
Speaker
um But I would agree surprises for me would be the Sutherland Sharks women on paper easily should be a top eight team. just can't, i just they just can't get the pieces together.
01:51:45
Speaker
um And perhaps ah Sutherland Sharks women and Crusaders women are examples of like regardless of who you've got on paper, you still have to make those pieces work cohesively to get wins.
01:51:58
Speaker
um I think on the men's side, I'm kind of surprised ah that north ah North is sitting at 11th. I would have expected them to be a little bit higher. um but I think I had, ah and I am surprised at Aubrey men as well because when we did our preview episodes, there were lot of players that were new to that roster and when we did our kind of scouting based on clips what you see online and, you know, always those clips you see online can't be taken as gospel because people only want to add the best bits sometimes.
01:52:31
Speaker
They looked like a really exciting team, young, quick, young. Looked like they'd have some great chemistry, but, yeah, just haven't been able to put it together either. So that's probably some big surprises for me as well.
01:52:44
Speaker
um There's probably even more surprises to come, though, in the second half. I actually want to say a really good surprise is that Hornsby program as a whole. Mm-hmm.
01:52:57
Speaker
um coming into NBL 1 East, low on numbers, low on resources and players, really making the grind to be competitive and getting better but and better every game, every season.
01:53:09
Speaker
But this season you cannot take them for granted at all, the men's or women's side, despite the men's record being 2-6 and the women's record being 3-5. You cannot take either team for granted.
01:53:23
Speaker
because they're very competitive but what i like as well there just seems to be a really great culture around both of those programs now so a little bit a lot of changes in a short period of time but it looks like they've got a good formula now so that's been a a big green flag and a big green tick for me for the team in green the team in green yeah
01:53:46
Speaker
yeah and they recruited well. The men's side, they recruited really well. Mohamed Kona, Akil Douglas, um they're both two talented players. um And yeah, that Hornsby crowd um deserves a shout out. They bring the noise. So yeah, hats off to them. And it's great to see them doing well because I tipped Hornsby last week on my match of the week and someone actually DMed me and said, bro, I've never seen anyone pick Hornsby Spiders.
01:54:09
Speaker
And was like, I'll back them in, I'll back them in. I'll be honest, like when NBL, in the inaugural season of NBL 1 East, when Hornsby were really struggling, there were definitely games where you're like, oh, it's hard to pick a game of the week. Oh, this game's going to be ah a blowout.
01:54:26
Speaker
And often it would be Hornsby. So they kind of unfairly got that early reputation of being like, oh, they're always going to, they're not going to be the team that's going to win. Two years later, three years later, they've turned that around so quickly.
01:54:40
Speaker
They very easily could have just given up and pulled out of the NBL 1 East altogether. But, like, they persisted and have started to create something really great that to now that people are backing them to win.
01:54:54
Speaker
But, yeah, so and I think last of all, ah you touched on it before, SJ,
Season Predictions and Awards
01:55:01
Speaker
about predictions. I was going to ask both of you if Now that we're at the halfway point, if you feel like you would want to change your award prediction, so just to remind you, SJ, you picked the Gunners for the men's champions, Todd Blanchfield for MVP, Christian Little for Defensive Player of the Year, and Robbie McKinlay, as you mentioned, as Coach of the Year, Women's North Bears MVP Jesse May Hall, Jada Rice, Defensive Player of the Year, and Nathan Kerwin for Manly Warringah Seagulls for the Female Coach of the Year.
01:55:35
Speaker
now that we've had basically half the season is there any any that you would potentially change or you're backing yourself um we'll go with the women's side first um i'll back north um i'll back north um i love what that squad's about um So I'll stick with Norse. um MVP, Jessie May Hall. Hell yeah, I'll stick with that.
01:55:58
Speaker
um And said even if she doesn't get it, I'm going to enjoy watching her play. um I love watching her highlights. um As said, like my daughter watches it with me now so she can learn a few things. um So I'll stick with that.
01:56:10
Speaker
Defensive player of the year. Was that next? Yeah, defensive player of the year. Yeah, Jada Rice. had I had Davida Dale at the start, but then she didn't sort of walk up. She wasn't coming. So I was like, you know what, um Jada Rice, um she's leading the league in blocks. And if she stays out of foul troubles, she can easily average over three blocks a game. So I'll stick with Jada Rice.
01:56:29
Speaker
And the Manly head coach, um yep, Manly, they're literally – they can push like I remember last year the bandits were 20 and 0 um and they still didn't get the grand final ring um so mainly it's one of those teams that can cause that upset and that Manly squad was going toe to toe with the bandits last season um I remember watching a game last year Manly up against bandits and man I think the Michaela Pivic just hit like a game winner um three and I was very impressed Manly and then they added um Taylor Worts to their team now who's killing it. So yeah, I'll stick with coach of the year because that manly team will probably finish sort of third, fourth, and that'll be a great season for them. It's just about, can they get that done in the finals?
01:57:12
Speaker
So I'll stick with all them for the women's side. Awesome. And what about the men's side? Any any changes? Are you going to or you're going to stick with them? It's changed so much. So, like, just to remind everyone, we asked everyone to put in their predictions after the first three rounds in the Easter break, and we gave it at least three rounds to give the league an opportunity to hurry up and announce all their rosters because we're not very good at that.
01:57:37
Speaker
The league and the competition is not very good at that. Yeah. not the competition as in the people that run nbl1 just clubs are not very good at announcing their rosters on time uh but there's been so many changes again yeah look there has been changes but look i'm gonna stick with my pick in a way of remember how i told you guys before it was kind of like last year's crew up against this year's crew which is illawarra um the Bruins and the Sharks.
01:58:06
Speaker
So either the Gunners, Mustangs or Comets. I'm going one of them three because I'm underdog guy. So I'm a Detroit Pistons. I'm an East. So we stay away from the West Coast, like all that sort of thing. um So if I was going to change it, I'd go to the Comets.
01:58:20
Speaker
um But yeah, either Gunners or Comets, that'll be my prediction. um MVP. Yes, I would like to change that. um Yeah. Who you got instead of you subbing out Todd Blanchfield and who you got putting putting in um Look, i actually messaged you and I said, look, I want to put William Mayfield as my MVP.
01:58:39
Speaker
You missed it and you left Todd Blanchard. I was like, all right, you know what? Todd Blanchard might win it. you know what? There could also be a chance that I just didn't write the right thing as well. So let the record show from now on that SJ did pick Will Mayfield for MVP at the start of the season. we can We can back you on that.
01:58:59
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm going to go Will Mayfield or Bawali Bales. I'm staying with the East Coast sort of concept. I'm one of them two. For my defensive player of the year, Christian Little, lock it in. um I love watching him defend.
01:59:10
Speaker
um He literally, like, I know Mustangs are five and four, but every single game, Christian Little kind of... gives 100% on both ends. And he always gets about like five or six steals a game sometimes. so And I remember the game against Falcons, arm he literally willed a comeback just based on his defense. um So I love what Christian Little's doing. So I'll lock that in. And coach of the year, nah, just given the give to him now straight out.
01:59:39
Speaker
So the other kind of thing Lockie and I talk about often, and even with some of our peers, you know, in the in the DMs about coach of the year is that, I think it is voted by your the other coaches and I think the captains of the teams perhaps or at least definitely the other coaches.
01:59:55
Speaker
And sometimes coaches like Robbie McKinlay and even Sammy Mack last year won't get as many votes because other coaches feel like, yeah, well, you had the loaded roster so you should be winning that many games without taking into consideration how hard it is to recruit and get the chemistry right and all that kind of stuff.
02:00:15
Speaker
Yeah, but with the quality of NBA 1 East this season, they might give it um i give him some votes. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah. um So, Lockie, let me remind you of your predictions. You also had the Gunners as the men's champions.
02:00:32
Speaker
You also had Will Mayfield as MVP and Christian Little as Defensive Player of the Year. But you had Sean Roger from Sutherland Sharks as Coach of the Year. And for women, you tipped the Newcastle Falcons, Munger for MVP, Jessie May Hall for Defensive Player of the Year and Will Granger from the Stangers as the Coach of the Year.
02:00:53
Speaker
any Any changes? Absolutely none because I'd look so stupid if one of them if I changed it and one of them won it. No, I mean, yeah you like the only the the only one I'd really consider changing at this stage is the Gunners because, I mean, COE are just absolutely streaking ahead at the moment.
02:01:20
Speaker
But um we all know how hard it is to be COE and play a full season plus do all those rep camps and Junior Nationals and World Cups this year and then back up to finals. So, no, I got – the Gunners can turn it around.
02:01:42
Speaker
And, mean, obviously, would be easy for me to go, no, Sharky, Sharky's a fine. So, although we lost two games on the weekend. But I'm going to stick with everything. Yeah, my boy, Sean, Coach of the Year.
02:01:56
Speaker
I mean, between us, between but either got the Sutherland coach or the man from Sutherland, Robbie McKinlay, to win it. So you're covered. You're covered. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
02:02:07
Speaker
I love how you're knocking wood in between. ah reckon you should have just went to Sharks to win the whole thing. You know you want to say it. It's an emotional hedge. If camera win, I'm right. and If the Sharks win, I get to celebrate.
02:02:20
Speaker
100%. Very safe bet. Very safe bet. I think I had ah the Hawks to win the men's competition with Blanchfield as MVP, Christian Little, Defensive Player of the Year, and also Sean Roger as Coach of the Year.
02:02:36
Speaker
Also a good example of a loaded roster, but it's about putting the pieces together in the right way to get some wins. ah And for women, I had Newcastle Falcons, Nicole Munger and MVP, Jessie May Hall for Defensive Player of the Year, and Sammy Mack from Aubrey Wodonga Bandits as Coach of the Year because while he didn't get it last year, going undefeated in the regular season, a lot of people were saying, well, you should be because of that loaded roster.
02:03:03
Speaker
This time around, he's got a completely different roster. recruited some absolute guns and seeing success again. ah and just the way he's able to create ah opportunities like that are really showcasing his players' strengths, particularly on the offensive end, I reckon is like, is great and deserves a ah lot more credit.
02:03:28
Speaker
So he went 20-0. He didn't get the coach of the year last year. That's correct. Correct. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. yeah so ah ah Yeah, so that's that that's my picks. Yeah, I don't think I would change any of them either. I mean, those Illawarra Hawks men, though, make me really nervous.
02:03:50
Speaker
Like, give come on, guys. Get it together. Honestly, now, when it comes to the whole men's competition, i don't think you have to worry about placing so much. Like, whoever's in the top eight, they can all win it from whether they're coming fifth or sixth.
02:04:04
Speaker
So, for them right now, it's just kind of like feeding each other out. Kind of like, just like, it's like a sparring match at the moment just for like, That's why the Comets win up against the Sharks was massive um for them, for the confidence that they could actually.
02:04:15
Speaker
And a shout out to Damian Clark. He came out with the coldest line ever where he's like, the Sharks have a couple of Kings, but the Comets have the Aces. And I was like, bro, like, wow, like that was cold.
02:04:27
Speaker
But that's the kind of um mindset that you guys get from the whole regular season where the regular season is going to mean a lot, but any team in the top eight can actually win the the title in my eyes. You Bankstown Bruins, like with their talent, man, they can win it from eighth if they finish in eighth. So, yeah.
02:04:44
Speaker
It's going to be a great season, man. I can't wait for it. do you Two years ago, the men's grand final was fifth versus seventh. hu Correct. Correct. Yeah, I remember... right which Who was that? Was that the Sharks one? Maitland-Sutherland was fifth versus seventh. There was a big old tie. a fear There was a think a four-way tie for fifth spot.
02:05:06
Speaker
Yeah. and yeah went to um yeah Went to the r went to the yeah four-way split. I think think Sutherland played a bunch of the teams only once and got wins against most of them.
02:05:22
Speaker
Yeah, and it was. I remember that as well because we, that was the season where, you know, Maitland made the inaugural final against Gunners. Then the next season they saw themselves, you know, at the bottom of that top eight and had to play Inner West Bulls in the elimination final. And Inner West Bulls had CB, Blake Morrow, like Roland because they play second and then they lost.
02:05:44
Speaker
And then ah Sutherland then played Norths away in their elimination final and just demolished Norths. um And then it was like, it's it's totally different come finals time. Totally different. Yeah, they they really got it together and peaked at the perfect time, those two teams, and made for a very entertaining grand final.
02:06:05
Speaker
And I know this is very, very, very selfish of me, but I ah wish that ah William Cranston at León was actually still in the East um with like Manjoel, Christian Little against like the caliber of players that's in the East right now.
02:06:16
Speaker
um I feel like he would have loved it and he would have carved up too. So that's one thing that I always think about with the whole um way the competition set up. Like if you still William Cranston at León, it would have been would have be an interesting competition.
02:06:30
Speaker
we are We all miss William Cranston Lowne. Who is leading NBL 1 South in assists, by the way? Man, it was crazy because I remember talking to him at one of my shows and I was like, like what is it that you need to do differently in your game? Sorry, no, he's not. He's leading his team in assists.
02:06:45
Speaker
But 5.71 assists per game, Will Cranston Lowne. That's still really good. Yeah. there And everyone talks about his size, man, but he plays defense too, man. He's a pest on the defensive end. So I'm praying to God that he kind of gets the whole NBL kind of deal coming up because, yeah, that dude's a real talent, man, and deserves it. Yeah.
02:07:05
Speaker
Yeah. Third in East for assists.
02:07:10
Speaker
Yeah. Third in South for sorry. And like point five behind the leader
02:07:18
Speaker
Yeah, and it's all right to be selfish with that stuff, SJ, because we definitely would like to have you back as well. Final question. I'll go to SJU. I'll go to you first again. What do you want more of in this second half of the season or anything you're particularly looking forward to?
02:07:37
Speaker
um Just honestly, nothing. I'm just being selfish now. Whatever's happening right now is just going to get even even better. And honestly, that's kind of like the reason why i created Love of the Game um was because it was more kind of like to build the storyline of the whole regular season, not just everyone paying attention to the NBA 1 East when it came to the
Purpose and Promotion of the League
02:07:56
Speaker
finals.
02:07:56
Speaker
Because I feel like that was like what a few people kind of like especially the neutrals. I'm talking about the neutrals, um not really paying attention to the game finals time. So I was like, Like, all these players, like, even the imports, like, they come sacrifice a lot with their families to kind of give this a go. And I was like, you know what? What can I do to kind of do that? So it's just tell their stories, um talk about the high level of competition. And it kind of all came to fruition when the Sharks versus the Comets.
02:08:20
Speaker
um Because when Kuat Noy signed up to play in the NBA 1 East, that's literally what it was all about, um getting everyone together, i just enjoying. Because basketball, you need that bit of tension. Like, you need that sort of, um like...
02:08:34
Speaker
sort of like that competitive. And as I said, from one to 16, every game is going to be competitive. um So I'm not going to be selfish and exactly what's going on um should stay the same. And as semis hits, the intensity is going to hit up and the game is just going to elevate even further. So can't wait for it.
02:08:52
Speaker
And Lockie. I want more teams selling personalized jerseys. I need another manly jersey. i I need. Do you though?
02:09:04
Speaker
I have one. got a whole collection. Fair, fair. only have one man. I've got three Bancastown jerseys and one manly jersey. Yeah, fair. yeah the That's out of whack. It's out of balance. Yeah.
02:09:15
Speaker
Yes. I'd also like to see some more jerseys sold just in general, like especially if it's if someone has a pink round jersey, a mental health round jersey, an Indigenous round jersey.
02:09:29
Speaker
I've still got mine from ah Crusaders before, you know, when it was still Waratah. um And they're some of my favourite jerseys. I would love it if we if that was more of an option.
02:09:41
Speaker
Actually, I... Being less selfish, I would just like to see every club have their players' names on their game jersey. ah Inner West Bulls do that, man, and it's amazing.
02:09:53
Speaker
It's amazing. Sharkies do it. Some clubs do it. Some clubs don't. um I know you can sell the sponsorship. um Yes, so jerseys with names on them and name below the number so the women's ponytails don't cover the names.
02:10:11
Speaker
Yeah, I love that one. That's a good call. Yeah. But, yeah, it's certainly going to it's certainly shaping up to be a very, very exciting season, especially the way that the men's ladder is already shaping out. It's going to be a very tight race. i don't There won't be any boring bits at all this season, and we're also going to continue to see the North Bears women and the Newcastle Falcons women ah continue their undefeated streak, both 9 0.
02:10:41
Speaker
ah But one of them, is going to lose that streak when they meet in two rounds time. So, rubbing my hands at that one. Yeah, you both picked Falcons. I tipped North, so...
02:10:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. um It's going to be super, super close. I think like a good surprise actually for me with that Norse women's team is that a lot of their Norse juniors, they're not even technically Norse juniors, but a lot of the younger players who came to Norse and have worked their way up into getting more minutes by being in the program the last couple of years, ah they're just shining right now. Like Emma Donnelly returning from college and now playing in Norse. She's improved a lot in a short period of time and I wasn't expecting her to have such a big impact on the league and on that team so that's been a really really nice surprise um yeah it's going to be one of those games where I think it's going to be like bench versus bench how deep are they going to go how deep do each team's need to go what are going to be the one percenters that uh is going to get each team the win in that game very excited
02:11:51
Speaker
And so before we do, i actually want to give a shout out to JMO, JMO's page, who's doing some content for the women's game. Because when I was doing the commentary, was like, i want to like try to do something for the women's game also. but But I work, I've got a family, like I can't commit to that stuff. So I saw her doing some content for like a few kids sort of tournaments.
02:12:12
Speaker
And then I reached out to her because she was studying um sports sort of journalists also in her spare time at TAFE. I was like, look, if you want to cover the women's game, I'd appreciate it so much. um And she's kind of taken it on board as she's doing some great work promoting the women's game because the talent's there.
02:12:27
Speaker
Like I saw the bandits, Katie Jones, are Riley Lupfer doing her thing, Sniper. um And it's just kind of like elevating the women's game where for me personally, like i would I wouldn't pay attention to it. But now that you're actually seeing those things, you know,
02:12:41
Speaker
It helps the whole brand of the NBL1 East from the men's and women's side. And lastly, before I do go and end the show, i want to say thank you, Lockie. um The Sydney Comets actually like reached out for me to do one of the country games.
02:12:52
Speaker
Yeah. And then they said, yeah, Lockie lockki um kind of um reached out, told me, like, you'll be interested in doing it. um So I wanted to say thank you for that because um I appreciate man, straight out. Because being able to commentate games, i've actually enjoying it.
02:13:05
Speaker
um And then especially, like, the quality of Comets and COE. And then she said, yeah, Lockie kind of suggested. I was like, but i have to so I have to say thanks. I got you, man. No, yeah, Kiara messaged me and was like, we need a commentator. I know you're – because I've got someone home game this week.
02:13:21
Speaker
Who is there? I'm like, well, if Bankstown are playing away, then SJ.
02:13:28
Speaker
Yeah, I appreciate that so much, man. Yeah, because when she told me that, I like, fuck. I was going to say thank you then. They said jump on the show. And I was like, I'll just say it to you on the show, man. So, yeah, thank you.
02:13:39
Speaker
All right, any final thoughts, feelings, hot takes before we wrap up the show? What's been a very long show tonight? Oh, we need to do our good eggs. Oh, we need to our good eggs. We do.
02:13:51
Speaker
SJ, do you want to stick around for our good eggs of the week? You don't have to if you don't want to, but you're welcome to What's the good egg of the week? Is that the play of the week? but it's not So basically we used to do All-Star 5, but now I notice that the NBL1 socials have started to do an MVP ranking, which is way too similar for my liking to All-Star 5, so we changed it up a bit.
Good Egg of the Week
02:14:17
Speaker
So we're now just doing basically a player of the week, but we call it a good egg of the week because ESCOT game shortened is EGG. so like but Yeah, was the girl.
02:14:28
Speaker
Yeah, we give the good egg of the week, not necessarily to someone who has been like the most outstanding performer statistically. It can just be for for any reason, really.
02:14:40
Speaker
It's very vibe space. Very vibe space. can be a team, can be a club, can be an individual, just whatever we feel like, really. Is that one from the men's, one from the women's, or just one in general? Yep.
02:14:54
Speaker
One from the men's, one from the women's. So, Squin, who's the men's good egg of the week? Yeah, this week I will give an honourable mention to Jonah Paras from Penrith Panthers. He was considered.
02:15:08
Speaker
i also considered Glenn Morrison just because he was copping a lot of heat in that game against the Hawks and he was able to not take the bait and stay pretty well focused and I admired him for that. So that's also another honourable mention.
02:15:22
Speaker
But I... yeah Got to give it to Preston Purifoy from Manly Warringah Seagulls. They played doubleheader this weekend and he performed consistently well in both games ah and in both games helped his team get big dubs.
02:15:38
Speaker
So they played Maitland and they played Sutherland. Against Maitland, Preston had 22 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. uh eagles sea eagles winning that game against maitland 104 to 91 but they will play each other again in round 11 so an opportunity for the stangers to get the split and then uh backed up the next day against sutherland sharks Manly Warringah winning that one eighty nine to eighty four And Preston Purifoy again, 22 points, three rebounds, three steals.
02:16:12
Speaker
And the clincher is that that was one and done for Manly versus Sutherland. They don't play each other again this season unless they perhaps will meet in the finals. Two big wins for Manly this weekend. They're now up to seventh with a win-loss record of five and four.
02:16:28
Speaker
And in the next couple of rounds, they play Crusaders, ah Hills, and Illawarra Hawks. So two of those three, they're all definitely gettable.
02:16:39
Speaker
So here's my good egg of the week.
02:16:43
Speaker
What about you, Locke? ah Well, on the women's side, it's... ah pretty close to Preston Purifoy. It is Taylor Wurtz from the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.
02:16:56
Speaker
So plenty to celebrate in the household. Taylor had 28 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals, and hit eight of 16 from beyond the arc in a 91-64 win over Maitland, and then followed it up the next day against Sutherland with 27 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals,
02:17:15
Speaker
And two blocks and shot seven of 13 from beyond the arc. So hitting a better than 50% across the weekend on 29 attempts. And one of those games, 91-64 over Maitland and 96-62 over the Sharks.
02:17:30
Speaker
Sending Manly to seven and two. Equal fourth with Orwi-Wodonga, but Orwi-Wodonga had the split. But I think it's fairly safe to say that they'll have the split on Maitland after winning the first game by 27.
02:17:44
Speaker
So Preston and can't keep them apart.
02:17:50
Speaker
We love a successful couple.
02:17:53
Speaker
Sorry, can I have one good egg? Can have one good egg? Yeah, go for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Honorary good egg. Yeah, shout out Jacob Sinkorak, 100 games um for the Bandits. um And they got the dub, the much-needed dub too. And he's flying up the rankings in the c assist. um I saw him at number two and I had to like double check. Like, oh, like is that right sort of thing?
02:18:12
Speaker
um So yeah, hats off and respect to Jacob Sinkorak for 100. There you go. Hitting 100 games, it's in vogue this week. Yeah, 100%.
02:18:23
Speaker
Yeah, very good shout out. We missed that one in the headlines. very good shout out for Jacob SJ. Nice pick up there. Yeah, because I love the Bandits crew. I love the Bandits crew. So I follow all their social medias and stuff like that. And yeah um they did a nice piece for him too where they gave him a jersey, 100 jersey.
02:18:41
Speaker
And yeah, so I had to say it to him too. sir They do good things. At Aubrey Wodonga, you know, like the jersey presentation. You get some clubs who play reaches 50 games or 100 games and no one even knows, let alone recognises it.
02:18:56
Speaker
So, yeah, very good to see from Aubrey Wodonga. And they're always good on the socials as well. Yeah, good good professional running of that club. ah Yeah, always good on the socials and things like that. Great fan engagement, game day atmosphere, doing a lot of good things down on the border.
02:19:17
Speaker
ah But, yeah, gentlemen, any final thoughts, feelings, hot takes before we officially wrap this episode? No, I think i think we are got all the good the hot takes out during the game review.
02:19:30
Speaker
Yes. Yes, we did. No, I'm not prepared for the – I am prepared for the consequences, but I also don't think anyone's going to care what I say. It is what it is. Just going to double-check what the new thing you say.
02:19:45
Speaker
I'll tell you offline. Tell you offline.
02:19:49
Speaker
All right. Thank you again, SJ, for joining us for a midway season review. But as we always like to say, Lockie. Don't sleep on the east.