If North Get this SEABL player and Dusty with their current squad I think they will take it out.

North








Forestville
West
Centrals
Norwood
Sturt
Southern
Woodville
Eastern
South

Sorry forgot Norwood, which would push Centrals out of the 5

1. North
2. Forestville
3. Norwood
4. West
5. Centrals
6. Sturt
7. Southern
8. Woodville
9. South
10. Eastern

North, I think you will find Rychart is playing just not the whole season, but believe he will be here for the end that matters, also think they will have Reardon soon and lets face it they didnt miss a beat last year. the Burdons, Zorich, Mapunda and Hambour, still a nice line up even without the other two.

Forestville have recruited well in the off season but think Pero will be in the same situation as Dusty and wont be here for the full year. I have heard Cameron Wood may have come out of retirement too not to mention Snake and Wilson lobbing in the nest.

Norwood same old although Ben Loman is a whisper to play and Leith Marsden ran around in the summer, so who knows, at the end of the day any team with Mathews running it is a chance.

West have maybe the 3 best young players in the comp but also have the 3 biggest attitudes too in the bigs department. Spear will get these guys playing better, as evident with Craddock's improved form but still think that the west antics will hurt them. Is Mann still playing?

Centrals will improve majorly with new direction and enthusiasm. Reeves will be the go to and IF Reggie plays have a lot of experience too. Last whisper was he pulled out due to work which would be a loss for the league.

Sturt caught many off guard last year but havent added a real go tooer. Shepheard and Gower though will help get some wins but the comp is stronger again this season.

Southern have the big horses to get it done, but are young and a little unsettled. Could be a dark horse to raise a couple spots in my opinion.

Woodvile, if Dench does play will stay here if not will be down the bottom. The loss of Mapunda to North hurts them, Birmingham and Wilson will have to have 60 between them a night to make it happen.

South, Same group plus their Canadian shooter, but i feel this will be another year with out the playoffs for the panthers. No Scanlon, no chance, although having said that they were the giant killers last season.

Eastern, the post R Hill era could be a long and painful one. The pick up of Zac Carter is a nice one but no real studs in this group to take them to the finals.

Heres my thinking:

North
Forestville
Norwood
Sturt
West
Southern
South
Central
Woodville
Eastern

The top two, even with or without their gun imports, will still be quality teams. Huge depth which will count during a shortened season.

I expect Norwood to challenge again, and adding Lomman to the bench only makes them stronger.

Im expecting Sturt to get in there. Dodman, Gower, Ng, Ng, Shepherd is a formidable starting group, which means a few of last years starters are now off the bench. Really depends on how many quality games they get from Ng, Gower, Dodman.

Not sure about West, they have some young guns that you would expect improvement from, so they may have an up/down season. If Mann/Truslove play a lot of the season, the difference between up and down may not be as big.

Either way it makes for an exciting season with so much talent around.

Source anon 250, because i have spoken to him in person about a month ago and its what he said.

Was that before or after Dusty started having groin problems???

Surely the Bullets would not be silly enough to let him play again with the risk of further injury!

Agreed. Can't see Centrals finishing above 7th.

I think Norwood might slip to fourth(behind North, Forestville and West). Mind you the pressure will be on both Forestville and West - everyone is expecting them both to improve and on paper they should. Forestville adds Gerlach and Pero while West are unchanged except they have Truslove all year and 3 young guys who all should be much better. Both will expect at least top 3.

Are both Ngs playing for Sturt - if so lock them in for the finals too.

That leaves the same bottom five again. The best of those looks to be Southern.

I cant see both Ng's playing this season. expect darren to show for a few games but nothing serious. I dont understand why every1 is putting woodville round the bottom when they just missed on finals last season.

Haven't seen any mention of Dave Bowley's move to Sturt. He and Gower into the team alongside Dodman will help.

I think its because every team in the comp has improved from last year except for South and Eastern through recruiting or just young players getting better. Woodville found it tough last year due to their lack of depth and this will be magnified by the fact they lost a starter who played 35+ minutes and have so far recruited no one to replace him.

Don't know why everyone is so convinced Norwood won't be up there. Did any players leave?

As long as they have Matthews and Cooper they will be a serious threat IMO.

What sort of problems has Dusty been having with his groin EC ?

Coaches 08, he did have the problem at the time and said thats the reason he isnt playing all season. Bullets are fine with him playing to get in shape once he has had the break after the NBL season.
At the end of the day him and Schuller are boys and the chance at a back to back isnt something he would want to miss.

coaches08

Eastern have improved from last season, they got rid of Bungey.......

Not sure about Forestville improving their list. I think people forget how big B. Cambell was for them last year. He has gone. As has Fildes who gave them double figures off the bench last year. Also apparently Haydon is going OS and Dougie is doubtful with his knee. Yes they add Gerlach who is quality, Wilson is solid but certainly no BC and they didn't make the the finals last time Pero played for them so I don't think they are in any better shape than last year. Still a top 5 team but won't be surprised if they finish 3rd or 4th.


North easily favouites. Champions last year then add Mapunda who is arguably the leagues best 3 man. Gonna be tough.

Think Sturt will be top 5 possibly top 2 or 3. As someone wrote earlier, a team with 2 Ng's, Sheppard, Dodman, Gover Bowley, Paget, Hakendorf, and some other promising youngsters, they will be very tough to beat.

West by the sounds of things havn't changes too much from last year so expect their young brigade to get better and for them to stay in the 5.

Norwood seem to be the same too. Webber is at college but from all reports will be back half way thru to finish off the season. As long as they don't drop too many games early with Webber and possibly Cooper out whilst resting they should be top 2 at best, 4th at worst.

Reckon the final 5 will look like this

North
Sturt
Norwood
Forestville
West

Centrals should improve. No real bigs but will work hard and should be disciplined for once. Simpson really did a pretty ordinary job... hopefully Whitmore can do better.

Woodville will struggle unless they get some last minute recruiting in to cover for Mapunda and they need a big.

Eastern will be small. If Hill, Watson, Magden all play and can play together, throw in Breheney and that makes them solid with alot of fire power and will certainly take some games off some of the better teams.

South will struggle without Scanlon. Hopefully Smith can come back and have an immediate impact.

Southern should be exciting to watch. Very young, with some athletic bigs. Not enough fire power to win enough games but expect them to be more competitive then most would think.

Just spotted on the CABL website that Graham Kubank is going to be an assistant at North this season. As good a pick up as any players for them i would think. Also says that Dusty IS playing. Only wont be back if he gets a European gig.

North also sign Jason Reardon from Geelong which is a huge inclusion for them. Coming over to try and crack the Sixers squad (a bit like Watson), so I don't know why he signed with North, realistically should have signed with a mid range team where he can show his stuff!

article on Reardon joining North in todays Geelong Advertiser.

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2008/02/05/11041_geelong_sports.html

Also know that Jason chose North because of the way the program is run and the coaching. He does want an NBL shot but also wants to win most of all. Good luck Jason.

#170941 - a bit harsh picking his worst games from two years ago. In 2007, Mapunda was much more consistent & averaged over 20ppg and almost averaged a double double.

A more than useful pickup me thinks. One criticism is the shooting percentage, but that may also improve at North as they have more depth to share the scoring with, so his shot selection may be better.

Dusty will not be playing one game for North this season...

Who doesn't start for North when they have a full side:

Zorich
Burdon
Reardon
Hambour
Dusty
Mapunda
Rowe

Mapunda and Rowe?

Well by that list it wont matter if Dusty doesnt play, they will win anyway, good talent best system. As for who starts if they are anything like last season didnt look like anyone cared who played just played team ball. going to be good to watch the battles between Forestville and them this year

mojo - best system? Open your eyes kid

I do agree North will be very hard to beat.. but just for the record, Mapunda is perhaps the most over-rated player in the league. If he were as good as he thinks he is then there'd be trouble. But he ain't