Lester Strong and Brent Hobba to Casey, Matt Orchard and Jay McMillian make there returns to Casey.

The great Matt Witherden will continue to shoot a lot of 3s

People underestimated Oakleigh last year and they surprised everybody. Losing Kaban and JCB will hurt, but word is they had a few likley types at tryouts.

I wouldn't take it for granted that losing those two spells the end for Oakleigh in 2015, if they have a few recruits in hand, they may cover those losses without to much of an issue.

James Topp from Pakenham and David Smith from Mornington to Keysborough. Surely even they couldn't throw this one away?

When some games oakleigh only had 5 people score & and 80% of their total was between Kaban & JCB.
You'd wanna hope they have people that can replace them

Oakleigh will be fine, look for Bob`s old Mckinnon charges to be playing back under him. Note the departing players from Chelsea.

Casey women getting on the recruiting circuit as well. Amanda Hobba (Frankston seabl) and Tarryn wilkin (Sherbrooke State Champ) getting on board.

Who cares, its d2 basketball and no better than domestic.

Here we go again, have Keysborough not learnt that recruiting guys with massive egos does not deliver success?

Doubt they'll make finals

Word is that their is enough problems going on off court at Keysborough that they have no chance at being successful in any of their teams.

TBH we hear that all the time then they end up doing ok. It's probably people from Casey spreading rumours

No ex-mckinnon guys going to Oakleigh with Bob. Some more exciting young talent coming in though. Young being 20 to 24, so veterans by Oakleigh standards.

Word from tryouts is they potentially will be deeper with a greater scoring spread. Kaban and JCB leaving may be helping to recruit a better pool of talent with more guys involved!

Possibly another Import on the way as well with word that he is better than Kaban.

Eric Miraflores has left Keysborough for Craigieburn he is living back in that area

Miraflores never left that area, he was traveling from there to play at Keysborough.

As for Casey and Keysborough the only thing comparable between there two mens programs is both have lost in a grand final series.

One is now in rebuilding mode while the other is now through the help of $$$ moving up to the Division 1 level.

Both associations acheived nothing in 2014 with the mens sides not taking out anything and the womens teams both missing the finals. So why even bother discussing them?

Would suggest that the players should welcmome him very well, considering he went into bat for all of them and told the coach to stop bringing in new players each week and start developing the younger players they had.

Keysy won YL

Keysborough youth team got lucky, Had a whole team of ring in players with no Keysborough players in that team. Coburg were by far were the best team in that comp all year. The guy coaching Keysborough doesn`t have any idea about the game of basketball, I have no idea how he got that gig in the first place.

Cmon now DM. All if your obvious whining is getting a bit old mate. Better luck next year.

Sour Grapes DM

Maybe stop bagging other coaches and focus on revolutionising your zone so it don't put spectators to sleep.

At least you don't need to worry bout losing a third GF this year cod your sooking wore done the big v and you got to YL1 without winning anything

Keysboroughs YL team had a lot of juniors/
Ex juniors.

I think you'll find WP and Keysie will
Be the teams to beat. Teams like Oakleigh
And Pakenham who have kept quiet
Over the offseason could be threats who
Knows.

How will all the new clubs / teams perform?

Any word out of Collingwood?

HO, there is nothing prohibiting snr teams from recruiting.

Permission to train only applies to juniors.

VJBL laws don't apply to BigV.

You can poach as much as you like.

You need a clearance to change clubs if you want to suit up.

Id question the strength of a program in the lower Divs though that needs to hold open tryouts at Snr BigV level.

Surely the purpose of running a senior program is to provide pathways for your juniors.

Any other news on signings in D2?

Poaching is what it is called at the junior level, at the senior level it is called recruting.

Teams will often hold tryouts even if there future team is basically set in the hope that a surprise player might possibly rock up.

Matt Fennell to Ringwood is a big get for the Hawks.

"Open tryouts" screams "we don't have the cattle in pour program, nor do we have the ability to selectively recruit"..

You normally only see clubs with Coaches that have poor recruiting or networking skills and poor jnr development do this.

So if a big club like Dandenong or Knox is having open tryouts for their senior teams which they are, you are suggesting that they have poor junior development?

Dandenong only have "open tryouts" for bigv teams not their seabl, those are invite only, but the so called "open tryouts" are actually in house as unless you have been in a rangers junior program previously then you have buckles chance of making the bigv youth champ sides. If your returning to Dandenong you have to let the DOC know

Firstly, seriously Casey Men achieved nothing in 2014. 19 wins, up from previous best of 8. Lost Game 2 of GF by a point. Sure winning it would have been a bigger achievement but I don't see how you can say they achieved nothing.

Secondly, direct recruiting without try outs is great but not all clubs are in a position to be able to do that. Plus try outs do give clubs the opportunity to look at their promising juniors in the context of competing at the senior level.

It's so easy for people to come on here and bag the smaller clubs, particularly in Div 2. It's easy to coach or administrate at a club like Dandenong or Nunawading. The real test is what you're capable of achieving at the other end.

SEABL teams do not need to have external "open tryouts"...

Most SEABL club Coaches get inundated with requests to train or play. They don't need to open the door.

They advertise within the club to let their players know they can try out.

This is not "Open tryouts"...

Billy

While I understand your point, my point is that the big clubs find it much easier to recruit / attract players at both senior and junior level. They also have a pool of paid employees that do most of the organsising etc. I agaree, the scale of the big clubs adds complexity but the reputation (deserved or not) and the available funds to pay staff means that a larger group are doing the work. Now if the keys to the boat are given to the wrong driver, the ship will run aground (Knox).

Gotta the love the offseason! Oakleigh will be decent i would say. Bob doesnt really put a 'bad' team on court.

Can anybody shed some light as to what is happening down at Keysborough?

Being a Youth League coach myself i have been swormed with Keysborough players asking to come and play and this has ranged from starting 5 players to lower level players. A move up to d1 and from what people have said a huge number of players were either shown the door or left. Can anyone shed light as to why all these players would leave? Number of people in the know have explained it as a 'toxic' enviornemnt

How does a toxic enviroment result in a 2nd year team winning a championship?

As written in an earlier post the guy coaching Keysborough YL in 2014 doesn`t have a clue when it came to the game of basketball. That was evident from watching the way he coached and how his team played all year. Obviously he put no steps in place to develop talent for the future and the team is now in disaster mode. Word is that players couldn't wait for the season to be finished so they could get the hell out of there, A number of the senior guys in that group have stated that trainings were a complete joke and the commitment from him to the team was well below par.

I think the results did speak for them selfs. They were a great team and did well obviously winning it all against a tough coburg team.

What silly comments about open tryouts. Clubs that don't have them are a little small minded in my opinion.

I know a club this tryout phase who have picked up a few likley types at theirs. They picked up a 6-3 combo forward guard, two 6-4 shooting guards who all have never played BIG V before just domestic. They are all 20 to 22 athletic, strong and only came to basketball recently. two of those have never played VJBL before. They also have picked up another 6-8 kid who played youth league last year.

Would never have seen them had they not held or advertised their tryout sessions

You just never who is living locally, or may have moved locally or isn't happy at their club and live close by.

Don't hold open tryouts then you will never discover them.

Gotta agree with above post about Bob Mann not putting bad teams on the court. Last season everybody thought Oakleigh would struggle with plenty predicting they would finish bottom two. How wrong they were.

Bob should have got coach of the year last year for what he did with that first year team.

I bet plenty will write them off again after losing Kaban and JCB. It wouldn't surprise me if they improve instead.

The guy knows how to bring together and build a team.

Tackle 84, So you are saying that the Keysborough YL side is going to be stronger in 2015 then they were in 2014?

Big call considering the quality of players they had in their best line up in 2014. From memory at the awards night they had a a lot of winners, All Stars, League MVP and they took out the title.

It must have been a really good recruting crop if they are "significantly stronger" then that.

Perhaps it is time for a clean out at the top end senior team at Keysborough and not at the bottom end which is what it looks like is happening.

Based on the Tigers NBL/WNBL push in another thread, the linked article suggests the Tigers will push for SEABL next year rather then Big V.

Tigers are going to need to spend up big if they are going to do that. The two championship sides they have arn`t exactly setting the league on fire.

Why is the coach suspended?

I'm hearing Norton is not playing again too. Weird situation going from All-Star point guard to retiree

Keep an eye out on some big news coming out of Pakenham

They've connected electricity???

You mean re-signed?

They are changing their name to Pakenham United?

Brett Rainbow will be playing for Oakleigh in 2015 to cover the loss of Kaban, Pakenham got no one left

Hamburger Bob as second import.

Heard Packy have a bunch of the players who got cut or are to old from Keysborough`s youth League side.

Yeah pretty much all of Keysy YL side have gone to Paky

So much for Paky promoting their own lol

what was wrong with their last import?

Demarcus claims Mornington will take out this years c'ship

Will be hard to scout as they wont be running anything it will be jungle ball. There is a small detail they may have forgot about in the game of Basketball though. you actually need to be able to stop the other team from scoring aswell.

Demarcus will actually lead the league in scoring as there is no coach trying to hold him back

Going to be very interesting, It is well and truly a weaker league in 2015. WP and their stacked list will be tough as will Mornington.

Have to ask at these teams who go out and chase all these offensive weapons, you do realise there is only one ball?

Who is going to step aside and become the role player or are they actually silly enough to think they will score 120 per game.

That comment cracks me up. A weaker league .???? D2 will be much better than years gone by. Wodonga with two imports will be tough!! Coburg have 3 ex SEABL guys and an ex SCM player. Tindal to Mornington instantly makes them a chance, Wp will be 100000x better with ABK and apparently another SEABL player from Frankston. Oakleigh have a bunch of new recruits. And no doubt Keysy and Paky will open up the Cheque books again. Will be much improved from 2k14

Can you even have 2 imports in D2?

Not sure Coburg have 3 ex SEABL guys? ex SCM, yes.

Keysy and a cheque book? lol where are you getting that from? I have mates that play there and they all pay $500 each to play, nobody gets paid including the coaches.

Seriously, it's D2... The only Divisions worth discussing are State Champ, VYC and D1, the rest is glorified domestic. The standard in D2 and below would vary significantly between games. Some teams will boast some talent that simply doesn't play at a higher level purely because they cannot be bothered training properly. But to be debating whether or not the standard is any higher/lower than previous seasons, who cares? We may as well be talking about A Grade over in Warndoo.

Now before everyone gets all hot & heavy about the above. I am not saying that D2 or below doesn't serve a purpose. in fact, I actually support that these divisions exist, the more people we can encourage to stay within the sport, the better. I also see the enormous benefits of providing a pathway for junior basketballers to stay on with their club and play seniors. What I don't agree with is the amount of financial resources some clubs throw at these programs and the resulting shuffle of players every year simply to buy wins.

SC should continue as is as the premier division under the Big V banner. 2 x imports and player movement to promote the league as the best possible.

D1, maybe limit to 1 x import to promote more local contingent. Can still shuffle players through teams but clubs should be encouraged to utilise 'home grown' (home club) talent.

D2 and below, no imports and adopt the VJBL policy of 2 transfers into a team per season. Really encourage clubs to use their own players. Adds the incentive to get things right from the very bottom of the pyramid in the first place. Once clubs can look after their own from the get go, then we can start talking sheep stations.

"Nix" Please elaborate? Who is it you think is being paid at the club.

ABK is Alex Bogart King

Yeah, ABK will leave SEABL for the dizzy heights of BigV D2.... Right..

Coin

Were the gulls at full strength? I`d assume that Corey wasn`t playing?

There is a thread on YL that lists all teams and divisions.

Any practice games results!?

Have recently heard that Keysborough YL Men have lost 90%of their YL team from this past season championbship winning team. How can a club who is in such a tight market and geographical area be affording to lose all these players. Word on the street is that the new coach has some in and cut or rubbed players the wrong way causing all the players to leave. How can a club do this? This will surely have a huge affect with the progression to the senior men's. Just this week a vital part of their plans decided he would quit and play elsewhere. It's plain obvious the management of what was once one of the fastest growing clubs in the state.

Clubs need to understand that if you oust loyal players who have given everything to the club over the years for a bunch of money hungry players who wont be around for more then a season. Ir Miraflores.

What a joke of a club which was making serious strides. Caught behind the 8ball by a mile now.

Typical Div 2 talk in the pre-season. Same clubs making a lot of noise who then persistently fall over when the action starts.

Pakenham, Keysborough, Mornington and Westernport all talk themselves up at this time of the year, but notoriously fall over when the rubber hits the road after the season starts.

I would be looking out for the silent ones. For me Bob Mann and his young group from Oakleigh will be extremely interesting to watch with a season's experience behind them and a proper pre-season going into 2015.

Not much noise comes out of their camp,but you just know they will be competitive so they would be the ones I would worry about.

EMPTY VESSELS........

So much effort and time put into talk about youth league. It`s a development league and not about championships get over it. The sole purpose of youth sides is to make the senior side more competitive.

^ Above poster are you trying to say that the Keysborough youth side was a bunch of paid players to win the championship they got?

Clutching at straws their arn`t you?

Wodonga with two imports huh? Well, how about a novel idea... Get a partnership together with the Bandits, stop being all egotastic over ownership, combine your coin and actually put together a decent roster for both the men and women.. Now, there's a bloody good idea! Instead of having a D2 side nobody pays attention to..

It's a town that is smaller than some of the other centers with a SEABL team so why feel the need to dilute the talent even more? Seriously...

"If Cameron stays Fit"... There's an oxymoron if ever ive heard one.

Moron or Morno lol

Who they lose too?

How do they beat Chelsea D1 men and lose to Blackburn Y1M?

The teams that one the three Youth League divisions for Men this year would all be top three in D2 men. It isn`t a strong comp at all.

*WON

Can't read too much into preseason at best of times let alone before Xmas!

How does everyone think d1 will shape up next year with new teams on board and player movements?

Keilor will only goes as far as Andrew Kaban takes them to be honest.

Casey i think will be one of those teams fighting out fof the final finals spot

Casey might be there with their bigs, but their guards are going to have trouble guarding and scoring against the top 6 teams in the league.

Firepower? Yes the three seabl guys will be tough, but can't play all three on floor at same time. Outside of those three there are going to be some big holes that will cost them. Do they have a guard that can get the ball up the court and defend the other teams top guards? Canovan and the likes will have a field day.

Strong and Hobba arn`t bringing the ball up the floor, in order to score they will need someone who can get them the ball. Casey would have better served going for one less big and securing a good PG.

Hutchy back to Geelong from Corio Bay. Just announced

Any imports at D2 level?

Deneefe gives them a solid guard.
How are other finals teams looking ?

Where did Orchard go?

Orchard has gone to Southern Peninsula, Smart move.

Gelder care to elaborate? If you are going to accuse someone of something you better back it up?

Do Corio Bay have any talent left? They will drop down the ladder next season I think.

Ringwood to win it all again, GO HAWKS!

and what might that rule be? :)

And Rule 1 is what?

What are you going on about?

PROFESSIONALISM

Professionalism with some of the characters they have on their squad???

O say the McDonald's Geelong Supercats Big V men’s team will field one of the most experienced rosters ever seen in the Division 1 competition would be an understatement.

Veteran centre Seb Loader will play game 400 in the opening round of the 2015 season and he will be joined this year by fellow Geelong 300-gamers Paul Hutchison and Keith Harrison.

Hutchison again calls Geelong Arena home after three years with Corio Bay, and Harrison, who will also assume assistant coaching duties, returns for the first time since 2009 following five years back up in the SEABL.

The return of both, along with talented youngster Emerson Varley, will more than cover the loss of feisty playmaker Brett Goodgame.

Coach Graham Byworth will also be hoping for continued improvement and out of tall trio Lindsay Cole, Dion Smith and Ben McCawley.

With Loader nearing 40, McCawley, who was hampered by an ankle issue in 2014, will be expected to share the load at the five spot.

Geelong made a sixth playoff appearance in seven seasons in 2014, but was bundled out in the semi-finals by Southern Peninsula.

"We came within 14 points of a grand final berth last year and we are looking at going at least one step further this year," Byworth said.

“We have high expectations.”

The 2015 Big V season begins on the weekend of March 15-16.

2015 ROSTER

Dane Bow
Lindsay Cole
Simon Evans
Keith Harrison
Paul Hutchison
Michael Lesic
Seb Loader
Benjanim McCawley
Andrew Przybylkiewicz
Ben Scannell
Dion Smith
Emerson Varley
Steven Wiasak
In:

Paul Hutchison (Corio Bay)

Keith Harrison (SEABL)

Emerson Varley (SEABL/Youth League 2013)

Out:

Brett Goodgame (retired)

Re Orchard, To put it in plain words, he was cast aside for another player.

Casey trying to get as many dandy players as possible.

okay then.

im with you know, I get the professionalism part now I re read it.

SEABL season delayed start due to Knox pulling out next year, so most teams will start training full time in New Year I believe.

Gelder: Orchard not being at Casey has a big back-story that isn't appropriate for forum based discussion, be careful what you talk about. Wasn't "replaced" as was suggested.

Billy Hoyle: Possibly these people are leaving, but are not required or wanted if they're not interested in representing the best interests of the club. Why would any club want families or players that don't truly love and care for their club.

I'm simply suggesting, that no club would want players, junior or senior, that truly don't believe in the direction the club is going.
Good luck to them elsewhere, they chose to leave of their own accord.

Seniors haven't had any higher or a turnover than any other club. 17 returning mens players from the Men & Youth.

Just post and worry about player movements, not eventually picking on how clubs are run or their conduct.

That's great spin. Are you a politician?

If Casey are on the cusp of being a power, why do they not get any of their junior teams into VC?

Those pieces have been there for years and people have been talking about Casey being on the cusp for probably ten years. They and Pakenham have a monopoly on their regions and still don't achieve too much.