Eltham is NE of Melbourne. They have alot of teams, so i'm sure he would be able to play.

Diamond Valley isn't too far from Eltham. That too can be a good option. They have a really solid program.

Those two clubs have alot of teams, so both present alot of oppotunities to young kids. Also both are NE of Melbourne CBD.

Thanks

depends where NE is....Warrandyte, Eltham, DV, Kilsyth, Ringwood, Blackburn all could be considered NE....even Bulleen or Nunawading or Knox....there's a whole bunch of choice....

smaller clubs are Blackburn, Ringwood and Warrandyte

medium are Eltham. DV, Bulleen

huge are Kilsyth, Knox, Nuna

each have their success....tiny old Blackburn won the Vic U12 champs last year from memory ...normally Nunawading poach all their players by Under 16's :-)

who keeps stats like that

I wouldn't consider Eltham "Medium". In some age groups they have more than 10 teams!

Pretty much all the clubs with junior programs in the North-East have been covered off. With some of my comments and perceptions on the clubs below:

Kilsyth - Huge - your a number not person here. After U14's they consider themselves "elitist"
Knox - huge - very strong program with a good reputation
Eltham - huge - but more family oriented than above 2
Diamond Valley - Pretty strong program with a prtty good reputation
Nunawading - historically has been strong
Bulleen - historically have been strong. Very political though looking from the outside - always comings and goings (like most big clubs I guess!)
Warrandyte - growing fast in numbers and credibility, family oriented
Ringwood - my perception is that they are on the decline - wedged in betyween Knox, Nunawading, Blackburn and Warrandyte is hurting them
Blackburn - boys program gaining some credibility. Girls very weak.

Yea, Agree with you DandyBoi. I used to play for Sunbury Jets, NW of Melbourne, and Eltham and DV were always solid teams. It depends what his objective is with Basketball i.e Does he want to be part of an excellent team and get little minutes or does he want to be on a team of lower ability where he gets really good minutes.

IMO, Stay away from Kilsyth. You will be easily forgotten.

Winning is a pretty high objective, although he also like his fair share of courtime, plus a bit.

What about more north, or north west?

dandyboi...just to clarify, was more talking about association size rather than rep program size...if you want to go with huge as far as rep program, you probably start with Melbourne..

Melbourne of course would claim they are from the NE of melbourne.

and the SE, and the NW, and the east, and everwhere between sunbury and the border and of course, from dandenong to lakes entrance...etc etc etc.

If the kid is any good, melbourne will find some reason why all of the sudden "he approached us and wants to play with us"

Melbourne are big in terms of number of rep teams but not association size as they really do not have a domestic program.

They are really based out of Oakleigh and MSAC and therefore could be considered East if not South East, but they do pull players from all over Melb Metro.

In the North you have Darebin who are in a similar league to Ringwood in the North East. In some respects you could argue they are on the rise like Warrandyte.

Whittlesea are out that way too and are a bit smaller. Coburg are there too but are now very weak in comparison to Whittlesea and even more so Darebin.

Then you have Broadmeadows who are the strongest in that area but they are really getting towards North West out with Craigieburn who are solid and similar to Warrandyte in size and depth.

Keilor is a bit further West and arguably the strongest in the tru North-West region, particulalry in the boys. And further out you have Wallan and Melton who are significantly smaller than Keilor and Broadmeadows.

Hope that helps.

Q: "Who keeps stats like that?"

A: I do, and hopefully others do to.... By recording how the boys are playing, it provides feedback to the coach as to where they need to improve.

I didnt even know the game was played in Vic.

Dandyboi - Not sure your perception is right on Ringwood being in decline. Seems like they are willing to take on new opportunities and work on their program if this local press is anything to go by. http://linky.com.au/vxjza

Diamond Valley have strong boys program with Al McAughtry in charge. Bulleen have Tom Maher as Director of coaching and taking on a boys team (U12-1) I think.

Well ballboy it's just my perception isn't it then? I still reckon Ringwood are nowhere near as strong as they once were say 5 years ago.

You are right that Tom Maher has the Bulleen 12.1 boys this season.

Anon posted #214733 is on the money too. Trials are done and dusted and the first phase of grading will be completed in 2 weeks.