Sport
29 September, 2022
Maryborough Blazers begin season looking to maintain their powerhouse status
The Maryborough Blazers are back with a vengeance this weekend, with the main aim between both their men’s and women’s teams being the opportunity to add to recent silverware in the Country Basketball League (CBL) North West division. The...
The Maryborough Blazers are back with a vengeance this weekend, with the main aim between both their men’s and women’s teams being the opportunity to add to recent silverware in the Country Basketball League (CBL) North West division.
The Blazers’ men’s team will tip off their season with a double-header for round one, with games against the Macedon Ranges Rockies on Saturday night, before backing up with a game against the Castlemaine Cannons on Sunday, while the Lady Blazers will take on the Rockies in a Saturday twilight encounter.
An interesting quirk of the fixture means that this weekend will be the only occasion the Blazers will play in the first three rounds, with two byes to immediately follow before both teams return to the court in three weeks’ time.
Men’s Blazers coach, Brady Neill, says the approach to this season will be the same as previous years, especially with the continued development of young talent.
“We are sticking with a very similar method — we’re focusing on the local talent that we have here, and breeding it into another level of basketball. It was successful for us in 2020, as well as the last four or five years when we have made playoffs. We are looking at developing a number of kids that have put in a lot of work and a lot of effort, and reward them with good minutes. To have the core group of players that have played 50 plus games at CBL level is only going to benefit us,” he said.
Neill has had to chop and change the roster at his disposal for this season, but believes he has the team that can challenge for a championship in 2022/23.
“We are missing two from our 2021/22 roster. We are going in without Harry Butler, who’ll be a big out for us — he’s one of the core players we have had, but we have Rhys Brown coming in, and he has been a quality player for a number of years in the league, and we also have a good relationship. I am looking forward to getting him back. Matt Johnson is another who is coming back after missing a few years, and we also get back Bailey Jacobs, who spent this year in Ballarat playing Big V Youth League for the Miners, which will only benefit his productivity this season as well,” he said.
Neill is well-aware of the challenge the two byes in succession will bring to his group.
“It’s a difficult start. We have two really big games — in a short season, every game counts. You don’t get to play those teams twice now. We have had a shorter pre-season, but we’ve been more in-detail with our training sessions and what we want to do, and focus on getting through this weekend, hopefully going two from two,” he said.
“We would also like to use the two byes to prepare for the slog of the next period of games that we play in a row, with a lot of double-headers, including four games in two weeks, which can be tolling on the body. We need to picture the long run and set ourselves to be at the top end again.”
In the meantime, women’s coach Claire Blower believes the two byes is a blessing for her group, who have largely come in fresh off participating in football and netball finals.
“We have managed to get a few training sessions in as a group. It’s been a bit disjointed with girls playing footy and netball, but we have had a few sessions where we have had everyone, which was good. I still think we are coming in fit with the other sports finishing up. We have our first game this weekend and then we are able to get some training sessions in with the two weeks of byes,” she said.
“It will be good to get ready as we go on. We’re not sure what Macedon will be like this week as they are new to our competition, but we are hoping to get a win, then progressing from there hopefully to keep the momentum going.”
Like Neill, Blower has had to deal with changes to her roster for this season, but has also been able to largely keep many of the pieces that delivered the Lady Blazers their 2021/22 title.
“We have retained most of our squad, which is awesome. We’ve had this group of girls together for a lot of years now. We had a couple drop off for various reasons, which is a bit of a shame, but it’s up to them, they want to do a couple of other things over summer. Kasey Burton is going overseas, and she was really valuable as an assistant coach, as well as adding to the team,” she said.
“We’ve added Elisa Pica, who will be an absolute knockdown shooter, a fantastic person and someone who will add heaps to the team. We still have Millie Cracknell and Annie Collins returning this year, as well as some of the Maryborough locals such as Maggie Tranter and Charlotte Cain. I think Charlotte will play some more minutes this year, with Maggie battling injury at the moment, which will be good for her confidence going forward.
“Claire Constable is another who is coming in. She played her juniors here, but she is coming back to play with us this season.”
Blower shared the secrets to the Lady Blazers’ success from last season, and is prepared to utilise the same message in their quest for back-to-back championships.
“The reason we have had so much success is that we’ve been able to have fun while we are playing and we just enjoy each other’s company, and play for each other as a result. We’re a real team-oriented group, and there are people who would give up the ball for a better shot. We still have the same vibes and same mindsets from last season to go out and have fun,” she said.
“Hopefully the results go our way again — last year when we came up against Bendigo in the grand final, a lot of people wrote us off pretty early, but because we were out to do our best as an underdog, I think that helped us have that success. We’re not letting it get to our heads that we were successful last year.
“We’ve been lucky in that we have had girls willing to come from Ballarat that are giving back to the association, and it’s a good place to play. The people who come across to help out in a small town, such as those from Ballarat and Bendigo, have made it a good club to play for. I think that’s why we’ve been so successful.”
Neill has the final say, urging supporters to come down and support both the men’s and women’s teams this season.
“We’re hoping for a lot of support from the Blazer Nation again. The girls are looking to back up their title defence and we want to get back into the finals and give ourselves a chance to have both take home a title,” he said.
The Lady Blazers will tip off against the Macedon Ranges Rockies at 5.30 pm on Saturday, with the men’s to follow at 7.30 pm, before backing up on Sunday against the Cannons at 2.30 pm.