Under 12 girls Champ should be interesting. Dandy and Melb finished 4th and 6th respectively at the end of the regular season and both teams have knocked out the powerhouses to make it this far.

Under 14 girls Champ between Altona and Bellarine could either be Bellarine's night or Altona will continue their hot streak. Bellarine however have defeated them at each encounter I'm pretty sure

16 girls Champ should fall into Eltham's hands but never know what Knox will bring out

18 girls should be a solid match throughout with Dandy beating Melb by 2 in the first final

12 boys Melb have been dominant all year and defeated Hawthorn in the first final but never know what happens on the night

14 boys, will Melb continue their amazing run since the classic or will the powerhouse Dandy come out on top? Should be a good game

16 boys, I doubt many people were expecting Hawthorn to make it over Knox but it happened. Hawthorn will come out and leave nothing behind and Melb better be prepared and not have a repeat of their Classic grand final loss

18 boys, Eltham V Melb. At first glance, Melb has it in the bag and it very much may happen but it is a grand final and anything can happen

dejan is going to dominate the U/18s , in paint like a artist, you know his money with the bank shot, in all honesty looking for a 50+ POINT game from the future college superstar.

On any other occasion, I might side with you anon but Melb U18s did not look convincing last Friday. I thought they started off as if Knox would have handed it over to them. Took them a while to get going and Dejan was not at his best (although he did score almost a half of the points), along with Wilson and Owies, I guess he is already in the Oceania series.

Similarly Waverly played a catch up game from the start, never believed they would win it, as opposed to Eltham, the kids just played their guts off and wanted to win so badly. So it will be interesting come this Friday who will show a greater conviction, Eltham or Melbourne. I just hope to see yet another entertaining game with lots of talent.


Also a fair assessment from Worker in re other games.

Worker - I'm actually the asst couch for Dandy's U12 girls. Melbourne was a big surprise defeating Bulleen & Knox b2b to reach the grand final. For most of the season the 12 girls was Dandenong, Knox, Nunawading & Bulleen (in no particular order) as the clear top 4 until Melbourne came on strong in the late part of the season. We'd beaten and been beaten by Knox, Nuna & Bulleen so even though we finished 4th we always thought if we played to our potential we'd have a pretty good shot. We'll have to play well again to beat Melbourne

Pauly B - Congratulations on making the grand final! Believe me I was surprised to see those results online myself but nonetheless, good luck and hopefully it serves to be a very competitive match up. A lot of potential from both teams there.

Dejan for MVP no question

Next Dante exum

Maybe its his mother???????

Hey! Anons' don't go jumping to any conclusions about the comments regarding Dejan. Have some respect for him and his family. Sure the comments are talking him up but who are you to say it's him or his family? Either think of something else to say regarding the topic of grand finals or talk about a particular matchup, in this case 18 boys Melb V Eltham, but don't go implying Dejan or his family are making those comments. The kid is 16 years old with a big future, keep the comments positive.

Well said Worker.

Somebody posted a question re next season prospects and disappointments.

Can't comment on clubs I did not see but IMO Melbourne U16 girls performed under par and also Waverly U18 boys, even without Deng Adel, should have done far better job against Eltham. On the other hand, Eltham U18 boys did extremely well. Also Dandenong U18 boys performed well during the season then just disappeared during the finals.

As a next season prospect - Melbourne U18 boys, with 4 bottom age players in the current starting 5 and the rest of the last year U16 coming into the picture - I don't see a team able to match them.

I agree Alpha, losing to Southern Pen, I expected a lot more from them considering who was in the team and as for Waverley, I could not agree more! Even without Deng, the talent they have is amazing. It is such a shame their season didn't end as well as many hoped!

As for Melb boys U/18 next year, I'm assuming many of the plays in Melb 2 will join their team mates in the 1s and as you said, it is very hard to find a team to match them! They will be a very fast team with a lot of athletic guards who will be a problem for the entire league.

A lot of discontent at Waverley u18 this year. That is why they under performed. Nobody will touch Melb next season at U18s. Only group to come close may be Diamond Valley who had quite a few bottom age players playing VC this season.

I even doubt even DV would be much of a threat to Melb. Melb had a total of 11 bottom age players play VC this year with 7 making top 4 in Res and the other 4 playing tomorrow night. The amount of talent they have is to be commended especially with their pool of guards; possibly some of the best guards in their entire age group. DV will most likely rise to finish 2nd but there is also Blackburn who are always ready to surprise everyone.

U12 Boys Champ - Melbourne 55 def Hawthorn 42
U12 Boys Reserve Mornington 35 def Eltham 30

U12 Girls Champ - Dandenong 33 def Melbourne 26
U12 Girls Reserve - Nunawading(2) 44 def Dandenong(2) 43

U14 Boys Champ - Dandenong 59 def Melbourne 44
U14 Boys Reserve - Eltham 55 def Knox 24

U14 Girls Champ - Altona 72 def Bellarine 54
U14 Girls Reserve - Geelong 57 def Bulleen 44

U16 Boys Champ - Melbourne 45 def Hawthorn 31
U16 Boys Reserve - Coburg 57 def Geelong 46

U16 Girls Champ - Eltham 46 def Knox 31
U16 Girls Reserve - Altona 49 def Nunawading 42

U18 Boys Champ - Melbourne 66 def Eltham 52
U18 Boys Reserve - Dandenong(2) 63 def Frankston 60

U18 Girls Champ - Dandenong 43 def Melbourne 39
U18 Girls Reserve - Southern Peninsula 68 def Geelong 50

U20 Boys Champ - Kilsyth 50 def Dandenong 38
U20 Girls Champ - Warrandyte 51 def Sandringham 43

There were 16 Associations represented at the VC Grand Finals.

While Dandenong & Melbourne continue to dominate competitions the improvement of Clubs across Melbourne & Regional Victoria is clearly evident.

Good for Basketball.

It's great for the game to have a more even spread of representation.
I think what it highlights is that many of the clubs that havent been traditional powerhouses have put a lot of effort into development over the last few years and we are now seeing the results of this.
Time for some of the "bigger" clubs to focus on what matters rather than relying on bringing in coaches and players to win them titles which obviously isnt working.

The above comment is an ignorant statement and is also disrespectful .
I have been a parent of both a boy and girl at Melbourne(no longer there due to logistics, so not a biased parent by any means)
And I can tell you now that the coaches at Melbourne work harder
On developing the players than at other clubs the kids have
Played at. Funny we went to a rival club where a high
Profile coach used a different exit to the parents.
I would guess over the last 5 years my kids would have
Completed over 50 6.30am sessions with either
Nick (doc) and Nigel purchase, Johnno goodman.
Nicky Simpson in the girls 12s works harder and
Cares for the kids more than anyone I have seen.
My son has trained with all these so called poached
Melb players who have gone onto higher honours
Through natural ability and bloody hard work
With nick getting up 3 times a week at 5.30am
To be there. Get off their backs with cheap shots
They are also genuinely nice people who care about the kids

Anon. Being a genuinely nice person, who cares about the kids, and works hard, does not mean the club doesn't poach.

Speaking of Melbourne, it seems like the girls club at least is in decline under the reigns of the new DOC. Long term, VC winning coaches will be missing in 2013/14. Matt has gone from the 18'1s, Jenny from the 16-1's, Sam has gone from the club and Nicky Simpson, whilst still with the club, isnt taking the 12-1's. This is on top of the plethora of girls who are leaving, or have already left.

Here are two legends of Australian Basketball Lindsay and Andrew Gaze. Their names are the first most people recall if you mention the Melbourne Tigers.

One of the things I like to do is watch good coaches - coach. I've certainly learned more about the game of basketball from watching Lindsay & Andrew in action. I’ve been fortunate to also watch other coaches like Nick Abdicevic or Nigel Purchase in action as well as they take skills sessions each Friday morning or coach high level representative teams.

All of these coaches have a philosophy that guides their actions in helping athletes "prepare, develop and improve their sporting performance" Special Olympics Coaching Guide

Probably my first tip for all coaches is to watch other coaches in action and ask what can I learn and use from this?

Congratulations also to David Watson the director of the boys Melbourne Tigers club for his support of the coaches of the junior teams in strengthening their general coaching skills.

Rhea13 you say players are leaving, which age groups and are they bit part players looking for more time or good players as all clubs have churn, doesn't mean anything about the club unless they are good players leaving