I think Perth and Gold Coast are definitely the early favourites.

Like any season, depth and fitness will be the key to the championship.

Not really. Knew that Perth would still be tough (and were one of the few teams with their full roster in play, besides the Alice game). Breakers have potential again. Rest are roughly around the same level.

Blaze are at this stage overated IMO. Sure, on paper we seem to have all the right pieces but the way they have played in the 2 games Ive seen so far shows there is a LOT of work to be done. Id expect them to start very slowly and build throughout the season. Just need to ensure they dont get themselves to far behind before making a run at the finals.

Perth will be tough again and NZ are top quality as well. Even without Penney they have a team who will do very well. Abercrombie is a superstar in the making. If they can get Penney back...look out!

Yeah Breakers import Wilkinson looked to have the goods. Was bagged a bit when first signed on another thread.
Blaze look to be the improvers.
Kings where a surprise with there results and are alot more competitive then I thought.
Taipens may struggle no depth at all on there roster new import will need to turn into a monster dble dble guy who can work in tandem with Loughton for them to have a chance.
All the rest seemed to go the way everone expected.

That's a pretty average bench.

GC say a "virus messed up our Top End Challenge" (http://linky.com.au/8i4qg).
That might explain the slow start. I think they'll be veeerrry good this year.

TBH I can't even remember too many actual results from the comp but it was good to get a better picture of the newcomers. Ervin, Winder, Freeman and Wilkinson all look fantastic.

Is NZ still signing Sean Marks or what? That would be a pretty imposing frontline.

NZ are waiting for the Wizards to waive him so they can sign him. 10years in the NBA under his belt will go a long way to helping NZ to it's first title

A good way to test the strength of a bench is which of those guys would or could start elsewhere. The only one is Dusty and he is getting on.
Just don't think there is much depth, but you can disagree.

Has Crosswhite been starting over Dusty?

it has raised the question over the sixers ability to close out games again this year and get some wins! when centrebet had them as the favourite for the wooden spoon i laughed it off...but now in the only real test so far they did finish dead last!! hhhmmmm!!

The results in the Top End challenge were so close across the board that even if Adelaide beat Perth by a point, they still would've finished last. Only Perth won both their regular games (and was a buzzer-beater off going 1-1). Only Adelaide lost both theirs (and was a buzzer-beater off going 1-1 too). Every other team was 1-1.

This pre-season, they've come from a few points down to beat Townsville and Wollongong in the two games I've seen personally. Against Melbourne, they came back from miles down to really only suffer at the hands of Corletto lighting it up from long range.

I don't think Adelaide should be top four with the bookies, but nor do I think they've shown a problem with closing out games. In fact, a few years back, they would've turned 10 point deficits into absolute blow-out losses. This pre-season, they've rallied quite a few times - I think that may be the biggest improvement about the team so far, and hopefully they can keep it up.

Whilst it is reassuring for the fans to see their Team win pre-season tournaments and play well in practise matches, no Championship points are on offer.

There have been some positive signs towards a better showing than last year. The main thing that irked most fans last season was the way the 36ers played and how they repeatedly snached defeat from the jaws of victory.

Even if they dont win the Championship this season, I think most fans would appreciate a lot more positive way in which they play. There is no such this as an honourable defeat, but they sure are better than what happened too many time last season.