Braves poised for NBL1

THE Bendigo Braves will start the 2021 NBL1 South season on the road against Mount Gambier Pioneers on Saturday, 17 April.

Head coach of the Braves men’s team David Hogan said the squad is preparing for a “more unique season than ever before.”

After the 2019 championship game lost and the cancellation of the 2020 season, Hogan said the players are eager for redemption.

“They’re all itching to get at it. There’s not many worse feelings for a player than when you don’t get a chance to redeem your loss or your final game,” he said.

“The guys have all approached the season as a new one, it’s fresh and we’re starting again. Hopefully we can lay the foundation to make that championship game again and go one step further.”

The Braves tip off the 2021 season at Mount Gambier, with a lengthy road trip Tasmania to face Hobart Chargers pencilled in for round 10.

“Mount Gambier for the first game is always going to be a tough one,” Hogan said.

“We’re used to playing the teams now, we’ve played them all once. The guys are just looking forward to playing in all honesty.”

The Braves will welcome back 2019 All Star and club MVP Ray Turner to the squad, a “massive” inclusion according to Hogan.

“Any time we can get a player of Ray’s calibre to stick around in Bendigo is obviously a massive win.”

With travel restrictions still in place, Hogan said signing overseas imports has been a “tricky situation”.

“The travel bubble doesn’t look like it will open up until June-July therefore making it hard to get imports because they wouldn’t qualify for finals,” he said.

That means club will continue its emphasis on local talent, with players from Echuca, Shepparton and Kyneton being looked at for the season.

“It’s good for them to play at the highest level of competition they can for Central Victoria,” he said.

When it comes to the women’s squad, the Braves have signed three big names with Abbey Wehrung, Cassidy McLean and Australian Opal Tess Madgen all putting pen to paper in recent weeks.

Women’s coach Mark Alabakov said Tess Madgen will lead the team with her experience.

“I love the way she goes about it. She’s humble, competes hard, looks after her body and is a great leader in the way she’s able to encourage and nurture the group,” he said.

With the team is coming together nicely, the hope is they will poise themselves for a chance at finals.

“The goal in any season is to present the best version of ourselves… we’ll back ourselves to be competitive with anybody in the competition,” Alabakov said.

“To be able to take on other NBL1 teams from out of state would be an absolute honour and a privilege and there’s some short-term goals that will keep the wheels turning with momentum in the lead up to something like that,” he said.

Mr Alabakov said the most exciting part of the upcoming season is to be playing in front of home fans.

“It’s been a long time coming to be able to have games with a packed-out Bendigo stadium and we’re very humbled to be able to get back on the floor in front of Bendigo people.”

This year’s season features four conferences with NBL1 North, Central and West joining the South conference.

The winners of each conference will compete in the inaugural NBL finals series against interstate champions in Melbourne.

The Braves are set to play 11 home games at Bendigo Stadium, and if you can’t make it down fans will also be able to live stream every game of the season.