Mackay Meteors & Meteorettes

Those positive signs of team play have finally come through as we managed to beat the Brisbane Capitals on Friday night. That Brisbane team was firmly settled in 6th place on the Defence Jobs QABL ladder before our clash on Friday night, which made the win that much more enjoyable. Knowing we can compete with and beat good teams has certainly given our players a lift and all the signs are there to finish the season strongly.

It was a very exciting game as both teams fought hard to gain the momentum and get the edge over the other. The fourth quarter was one of the more exciting contests I have been involved in as a coach. Each time we managed to claw our way back and even up the match Brisbane got on a roll and extended their lead. It was pleasing to see these young guys hang in there and make the most of our opportunities in that fourth quarter. Cameron Springall certainly deserves special mention, he had his best game of the season to date, 29 point, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and more importantly only committing 2 turn over’s. I was extremely happy for Cameron, who has had a tough year so far, he has worked hard to improve his game as point guard of this team. Todd Blanchfield had another big game for us, scoring 16 points, grabbing 6 board and getting 2 steals, you certainly wouldn’t believe he was 15 years old when you see him play! Drew Williamson had a solid game, scoring 30 points, playing huge for us down the stretch (late in the game) and helping us close out the game.

This week we play The Caloundra Suns, unfortunately I am not in a position to give you a lot of information about this team. I will be receiving a tape on this team’s last game this Wednesday. I do know they have a very good point guard, Rhys Martin, Rhys helped Australia win a World Championship 4 years ago.

We hope you can come out and support the Dixon Homes Meteorettes and the 4mk Good Guys Meteors this Saturday.

I trust you had an enjoyable weekend and made the most of the “DRY” weather on Saturday and Sunday? It was pleasing to see that so many of our loyal sponsors battle the wet cold weather last Friday night and attended the Dixon Homes Meteorette’s and the 4mk Good Guys Meteors games. Those that came out were certainly entertained by some fantastic basketball!

Unfortunately the Meteors fell a bit short of the mark again last week, but we are seeing some very positive signs of a team gelling, confident players and supportive team mates. We achieved 2 of the three goals we set for ourselves last game, the only goal we did not reach was the rebounding goal we set. The guys have come a long way in four weeks time and I truly feel that the disruption of adding new players to the team mid season is now behind us.

Injuries are expected in sport, each season most teams have a few players out with injuries, and we have been no different. Last game Nick Chenery remained on the sideline with an injured toe, we are still unsure of when he will be able to join the team again. Jordon Gipson is out for a month with a suspected fractured ankle and Stephen Pennessi is out (yet to determined the length) with strained ligaments in the ankle. However, there is always a sliver lining, and we had some guys step up last week and play some great basketball. Of note Todd Blanchfield came in a did an admirable job defensively against a top notch NBL player. Todd played 30 minutes scored 6 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Brad Rasmussen was once again in fine form scoring 25 points grabbing 7 rebounds and 2 steals and Deba George has really matured at the point guard spot and truly out played the Cairns point guard from start to finish.

This week we play Brisbane, who are well placed at the top of the ladder, they are a very good team and will be expecting to come up here to Mackay and get a win. Obviously we have different thoughts!!! See you at the game.

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend, the weather certainly accommodated our requests? We had another tough loss on the weekend however, for those that did turn up to the game (actually, for those that could get into the game, unfortunately we had a packed house and had to turn away some paying customers at the door) witnessed a very entertaining game between two quality teams.

The Rockhampton team had a full compliment of paid players on their roster, two American import players, two NBL players, were pushed to the end of the game. We certainly didn’t quit and we showed real determination and grit to continue to play hard to the end. Although we fell short of each goal we set at the beginning of the game, I had a lot of praise for our team in the locker room after the game. We have taken some major steps forward as a unit and starting to see some real consistency on the court.

Last Saturday nights game was the best game by far for the two new big players we have, Kirk Newnham (Bam Bam) and Stephen Pennisi (Easy). They are starting to gel with the other players and more importantly the other players are starting to get a feel for Bam Bam and Easy’s style of play. I believe we are a few weeks from playing the best ball we can play as a team, but we are getting better with each game under the belt.

The standout player once again was Brad Rasmussen, Brad had a solid game all around the court. He is still feeling the affects of an injured ankle but he has been a steady and consistent player for us all year.

This week we play The Cairns Marlins (Friday night), Cairns roll into town with an undefeated record after ten games and a host of NBL players on their roster. It will be another huge challenge for our young team, and we are expecting this one to be the toughest challenge yet.

We hope you can come out and support us.

I certainly hope you had a better weekend than the one we had! I would like to call it “Sleep Walking” basketball, if there was such a sport.

Unfortunately, for the first time all year we got out worked on the court. One of the trade marks of this team so far has been our work ethic, but that certainly wasn’t the case over the weekend. We were very lackadaisical in our approach to the games and had less than impressive effort for both games. In saying that, we did take some steps forward as a team. Kirk, Pennisi and Tolo are staring to gel with the other players on the court and I am getting a feel for what these players can offer us in terms of strengths. Nik Chenery had a great game against Ipswich and is starting to make the most of the court time is getting.

We all knew that this team is going to be up and down this year we are young and inexperienced , it is very important that these low points don’t last long! We must get these players playing with confidence again, because right around the corner are the two best teams in the Defence Jobs QABL league, Rockhampton and Cairns waiting to play us.

This weekend we play against Rockhampton Rockets, they have one of the best teams in the league, they have lost one game, to Cairns last weekend. In our first game against Rockhampton we got off to a poor start, but finished the game strongly. We can’t afford to start the game slowly this time around. We are hoping our new recruits will be up to speed with our system and will help us shoot down a Rocket.

Please come out and support us this weekend, we will need all the support we can get.

We had our first road trip of the year last weekend, In the first game we played against The Rockhampton Rockets. When I reflect back about how we started the game against Rockhampton it reminds me of a quote I saw one day, when I was in Dunedin New Zealand;

“ Experience is the hardest we to learn” “Because first you are given the test, then you learn the lesson”

Rockhampton truly taught us a lesson in the first half of that game, one that I feel we didn’t need to learn. We didn’t execute the game plan and it hurt us in a major way. However, in the second half of that game (after a few stern words during half time), the players went out and played basket for basket with the best team in the league! We lost the third quarter 20 – 17 only by three points and the fourth quarter 25 – 19 and that is a major achievement for our young team, one in which we can build upon.

The game against Gladstone gave us an indication on how far we had come as a unit over the past 6 weeks. We played Gladstone in our first game of the year and beat them by 10ish points here at home. Well, down in Gladstone the players really clicked with one another and we got a great showing defensively. We ended up beating a solid Gladstone team by 67 points. As a coach it is pleasing to see your players play well, particularly after having a frustrating game like we had the night before.

This week we have another road double header, both games are must wins! Please find attached the scouting reports on both teams and a copy of our daily schedule for the week.

I trust you have had a relaxing weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather Mackay had to offer? We welcomed the arrival of two new players into the 4MK Good Guys Meteors team over the weekend. Kirk Newnham arrived back from the US after completing four years as a student athlete at a US university and Stephen Pennisi joins us fresh from a season in the Spanish league. Their height and age will truly help raise the teams average considerably! Now comes the hard part, trying to transition these players into a team that is well down the track in terms of systems and chemistry. It is simply going to be a huge ask to have 2 / 3 players come into our team environment, pick up the systems, grasp an understanding of what we are trying to achieve offensively and defensively, be in mid season game shape and perform at a high level? I have yet to see this transition happen successfully but I’m going to ask anyway. We have to be careful not to upset the balance we currently have with the players and somehow gradually work these new players into our rotations. I just want to make sure this is the last time we will be bring in players this late into the year, we want our team solidified before the first game of the season.

The next six games on the schedule are huge for us, basically the results from the next six games will determine wether we are going to be in a position to compete for a playoff spot, or if we need to start building for next year! We play 2 of the best teams in the Defence Jobs QABL competition, Rockhampton and Cairns. The next six games are as follows:

• Rockhampton : away 26th May
• Gladstone : away 27th May
• Toowoomba : away 2nd June
• Ipswich : away 3rd June
• Rockhampton : Home 9th June
• Cairns : Home 15th June

I feel if we can win 4 out of the next 6 we will be in a great position to finish the season strong and compete for a spot in the playoffs. If we go 50% 3 wins and 3 losses we are going to have a shot at the playoffs but it will be very difficult. If we finish this next 6 game stretch below 50% we would have dug ourselves a hole that might be to big to get out of.

As you can see this weekend we will play our first double header, Rockhampton Rockets on Saturday night and Gladstone Power on Sunday afternoon. The Rockhampton Rockets team will be playing in the Defence Jobs QABL finals later this year! Enough said!!! They are the best team in the competition by far. Gladstone has a new coach and will be a much improved team, at home that have pushed some teams really hard so we will need to play intelligently to get a win down there.