By RUSSELL BENNETT
A NEW era in Pakenham Warriors basketball will begin on-court this Saturday.
The Big V Division 2 outfit will take to its home floor, ‘The Coliseum’ at Cardinia Life, this weekend for its first practice game in the lead-up to the new season.
And there’s a raft of new faces – both in the playing, and the coaching ranks – for fans to get used to.
Some of the inaugural women’s Big V roster has begun to filter through, with Melinda Magdich, Kylie Thomson, Courtney Dickson, Chloe Marten, Vanessa Westh, Natalie Bjelan, Kelly Richardson and Jaime Armstrong set to form the bulk of a strong nucleus.
On the men’s side, guard Pat Golong and big man Simon Lokan have also been linked to the club.
Golong is a 193cm (6 foot 4 inches in old currency) athletic guard with an impressive leap and the ability to finish under contact at the rim, while Lokan is a 205.7cm (6 foot 9inches) forward who averaged 6.4 points and 6.1 rebounds for the Willetton Tigers in Western Australia’s State Basketball League in the 2013 season – one in which he had double-doubles of 18 points and 11 rebounds, 10 and 12, and 15 and 11.
Warriors’ coaching director Darrell Morgan, 24, predicted an exciting season ahead, adding that a premium had been placed on player fitness in an attempt to avoid any horror runs with injury.
“There’s a culture of everyone playing for each other and staying in great shape is definitely part of that,” he said.
Morgan would be familiar to many in the local hoops scene.
Originally from Beaconsfield, he recently spent a year on the Perth Wildcats’ development squad. He played junior domestic basketball in the local area before moving on to Dandenong, and in addition to his time at the Wildcats, he has also spent a year at Iowa in the American collegiate system, and with the Lakeside Lightning in the State Basketball League.
In his role as coaching director for the Warriors, he’ll be keeping an eye on the coaches from under-12s right up to the Big V teams.
Warriors’ favourite son Jeff Reid has taken the men’s Big V coaching reins from his own former coach at Pakenham, Ryan Rogers. Rounding out an impressive coaching trifecta is Darren Thomas, who – formerly of the powerhouse Ballarat system – will head up the Warriors’ brand new Big V women’s team.
The Warriors’ Big V men will be in action this Saturday at Cardinia Life. Tip-off is at 6.30pm.
