By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE Pakenham Warriors have found their basketballing pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
He’s a two-time NBL championship-winner with the Melbourne Tigers, a three-time NBL slam dunk champion and now Brett Rainbow has joined the Warriors in their quest for this year’s Big V Division 2 championship.
He’s 38-years-old now and doesn’t quite possess the insane hops he once had, but don’t be fooled into thinking he can’t be a dominant force on both ends of the floor and put on show in the open court.
While Rainbow hasn’t played elite basketball in six years, he has a ball in his hand every day as part of his business – Tomorrows Stars Basketball (TSB) – which specialises in developing the sport in Australia across all levels.
His link to the Warriors started with point guard Cam Luke and coach Ryan Rogers as all three were at one stage involved with the Werribee Devils.
And now, Rainbow’s imposing frame is sure to shine another light on the Colosseum at Cardinia Life throughout the season. He just can’t wait to get started.
“I’m pretty fit and I shoot hoops all the time,” the athletic forward said, just after navigating the traffic from Prahran out to Pakenham to meet his new team mates.
“It doesn’t take me long to get touch back – it’s just going to be more of a challenge in games and getting game fitness and some strength in my legs. Once that comes about I’ll be fine.
“Like I said to Ryan on the phone, things are just going to be fast-tracked now and I’ll have to do a little bit of extra work away from the gym.”
Rainbow has taken his new role on as a personal challenge – to prove he can still more than match it with the big names at an elite level.
“I see a lot of athletes making comebacks and you don’t really understand at the time why they’d do it, but now that I’m in their position – I get it. There’s drive still there and a little more left to prove,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to that, but also helping the team however I can – even early in the season.
“I played in the Australian Basketball Association for seven years and scored over 5000 points but never won a championship there so that’s another goal for me – going all the way and winning another title.
“Any way I can help, whether it’s in a leadership role, or scoring 10 or even 20 points and getting a few rebounds and putting on a show to get the fans through the door to watch their local team, I’ll do it.”
The Pakenham Warriors will look to rebound from their Round 2 loss to Keysborough when they take on the Keilor Thunder this Sunday from 3.30pm at the Keilor Basketball Stadium.
