7 members of Blaze staff were retrenched today (including 4 players) according to the GC news. This is done prior to the meeting with the new investor. I hope there are no package deals/pay outs, however small, whilst still none to Joyce.

Hard to say I guess it depends on what your getting for Gold tickets. Is that their highest level ticket? Gold tickets in Adelaide can have you sitting twenty rows back easily

@danielmeers: "Spoke to blaze ownership group tonight. They maintain investor deal, worth more than $10m still on track. Some players likely to quit though"

Yeah I think we may be a bit ahead of ourselves worrying about ticket prices

Few things about to happen .....

Gibson would have to be one - Adelaide, Crocs and Tigers would be salivating for an easy kill.

Worthington would also be hotly pursued by anyone with $$/points left - but he may also have an option to go to Europe while his family is still young for a few years. I mean Europe has no $$$ issues do they ?

The Kiss of Death of Gibbo/Wortho strikes again ?

Hate to pick a carcass, but who've they got who'd be worth pursuing besides Gibson and Worthington? Petrie? Anyone else? Nevill and Dillon?

Bowtie/Statman, are these players leaving or being cut? Got any more details?

Contracted players
Worthington
Gibson
Goulding
Petrie

Un-officially, Daniel Dillon.

Would people be happy with a team of

Cadee
Gibson
Worthington
DJ
Schensch

Crosswell
Creek
Weigh
Daly
Cheap big

Points arent a problem nor would cap be

Strong at every spot and gives a core group of 8 to rotate through

I've spoken to one of the "contracted" players. He was told today that he is effectively a free agent. Looks like the team is going under.

Deadline for the team is COB Monday.

Breakers need a PG, I'd be real happy with Gibson as opposed to an Import PG, no surprises

Agree re Worthington.
The Tigers' spot is being held open? Is Mrs Wortho packing, home on the Coast.

People mentioned Gibbo/Wortho as hacks...you got to be kiddy they are both current Boomers and in the best 10 "Aussie" players in the NBL.

You might see both Gibbo/Wortho in Melb...shhhh!

Not enough points left for them both to Melbourne but anything's possible.

The Tigers have been poised for this. The old saying 'good things come to those who wait'.

Let's just hope this can get sorted on the GC, no matter who they have on the team I just hope they have a team. Losing a couple of bigger names might force them to spend a bit more sustainaby, at least for one season!

Given it has taken this long and it is now down to such a short period it has hard not to be pessimistic though.

is luke nevill signing with the blaze?

would be a good signing for them

BTW, given this comment in the article

"THE Gold Coast Blaze's marquee Olympic pair Mark Worthington and Adam Gibson are poised to chase foreign deals"

does that mean Melbourne has stolen NZ's mantle as the Europe of the south?

Petrie is one of the most underrated guys in the league, and was the sole light for GC in the playoffs last year. I'd love him on my team.

Crocs could also make a run at Gibson

If the Tigers were to sign Worthington, wouldnt that make them a little SF/PF happy and very light on at C & SG....would be a very unbalanced team once again? I can only assume they will play Dorsey as a SG and their squad so far would look like this;

C - Burston
PF - Ballinger/Walker
SF - Rush/Greer
SG - Dorsey/Lewis
PG - Tomlinson

To balance out their current signings I think they need to ink deals with a PG and back up Center.

Tornado, if they could afford both, they'd start Gibson at PG, Wortho at PF and slide Ballinger to C (with Burston backing him up). Not a huge issue, but I'd swap Greer with Walker in your little depth chart.

Gibson might not always be likeable, but the guy was spoken of as an MVP threat at times.

I would have Petrie in Adelaide for sure, though it could push Weigh to irrelevance quickly.

Chris Goulding & Petire are waiting out until COB Monday. Gibson is staying quiet, looks like Wortho is as good as gone according to other players in the league.

Petrie would be perfect for Adelaide, prob gives them what they need (mobile frontcourter who defends extremely well) more than any other player in the league.

Should things work out for GC on Monday though (touch wood) and Petrie, Goulding, Dillon and Gibson stay they are prob in a better spot with Wortho's contract off their books. If the Nevill rumour is true (with NBA out clause I assume) then their roster would actually be in very good shape.

Still, as Statman said, bigger fish to fry first for the Blaze.

Your right Isaac, you would swap those 2...that was an error when I was fiddling around.

Not sure about Ballinger as your starting Center and both he and Burston are injury prone. With Ballinger as our starting Center we got dominated and I cant imagine a starting front court of Balls & Wortho being able to defend Big Red and DJ or some other combos in the league?

Not sounding good for the Blaze.

Hopefully they get through this.

The only positive of losing them would be that with an 8 team league every team would play each other 4 times making it a more fair competition.

Nevill isn't going to blaze...

If Adelaide are serious about getting back some cred, Petrie would be a perfect fit. He has an effort level for the boards that was/is somewhat lacking here last season.

All Gold Coast players released. Team done!!!! Back to an 8 team league.

I think Big Red and DJ would defend Balls and Wortho better than the other way around, based simply on their length. No doubt Wortho would try to exploit DJ on the perimeter though...

Sad to see thing like this happen to great clubs. Their website has basically had no changes since they were saved from liquidation. Lets hope they survive. And to all the people saying the NBL would be better with 8 teams,that is a stupid thing to say, the NBL was just starting see good thing and then this happens.

Blaze sack playing roster.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2012/06/29/428005_gold-coast-blaze.html

Agreed...I want Petrie in Sixers blue next season!

I don't know how anyone could refer to that mob as a "great club"...

Dam 6ers fans!

Just because players are released does not mean they won't be re-signed by the club if the club survives past COB Monday.

Thank you natwhereyouat for your positive attitude.

Nat there will be no players to re-sign. All will have offers from other clubs by 5pm today now they have been released. None will stay.

Goulding and Petrie are waiting to see the outcome on Monday....whatever is actually happening then.
Bet that their agents aren't waiting but working to get offers of interest to show ASAP.
Heard that the lights are still on in the Blaze office,(seriously) the administrator works from there I guess.

With the level of uncertainty surrounding the club as a player you would have to be very cautious/skeptical about the future, even if they do get past Monday. Personally, I'd be looking elsewhere...

Even though we have two PGs, i'd still want the 36ers targeting Gibson with every possible dollar we have.

C Schenscher/Cheapie
F Johnson/Cheapie?
F Weigh/Creek
G Import/Cadee
G Gibson/Crosswell

I'm not saying they will re-sign. Just that IF the Blaze survive, they are allowed to re-sign their players, although they will lose Goulding's low point rating (rated at 7 but plays as a 1).

But who's confident enough to put pen to paper? i think most, if not all players, will now ask for their full contract paid up front if they sign with the Blaze.

KET, you would just start Gibbo at SG if you got him wouldnt you and still start Cadee at PG? Gibbo would give you an extra ball handler and experience in the back court but would still allow for the development of Cadee.

Petrie would be a great addition

I wrote that article and can guarantee you that it was most definitely not Paul. I have been unable to contact him since I got word lunchtime yesterday. We have had a close relationship with everyone in the Blaze organisation.

However, the employee did have some choice words to say about Paul's leadership.

As for the suggestion we copped out by not publishing who the employee is, you have to respect the fact that this employee wasn't authorised by anyone to provide this information. Not to mention, as Nat said, all these people can (and hope to) be re-signed if the deal goes through. As for this employee mentioning a pay increase, consider the fact these guys are still short the money they didn't get paid so if you were offered your job back, wouldn't you want some sort of compensation to make up for that?

People seem to know who dished the dirt? Who was it..

Well said Anon above. Kudos to the Tomlinsons for having the guts to back a team, but its not all their fault for the problems - the issues are systemic and it collapsed spectacularly to the detriment of the employees and now the league.

Any news today yet on the Blaze white knight investor which was meant to sign off or not ??

No news yet...

Do you know natwhereyouat when it is meant to be annouced, thought there would be something by now, not looking good ?

' Only technically insolvent ' All i heard in a Supermarket , just then . Assuming that was about the Gold Coast Blaze. I'd guess.

Announcement tomorrow.
"Secret investor meeting at a secret place tonight"........according to the GC news apparently.

http://andthefoul.net/archives/4150

Blaze deal fell through (investor didnt have the $$$ straight away), team needs a miracle before July 13 or it will fold.