No new teams that I am aware of. Redlands association who have been very strong in the QSL (of old) and have been wanting to go to top state level QBL now NBL1 North (of course). Haven't heard that they have made it into NBL1.

Signings? Nothing official, only a few hopeful rumours.

Have to say it. It hurts us northerners to not have BenDoes anymore. Hopefully, more news here in near future. Sorry to say but I will fire up in the season.

A couple of positives to finish on. Nelson Kahler from the Sunshine Coast Phoenix and Jarrod Bairstow from S W Metro Pirates have been training with Perth. Perth roster is full I think so no go, but I say, "Congratulations, however far you go from here on!"

Robt both Redlands and Northside wizards have been awarded entry for next season's nbl1, Perth have a roster spot available due to a season ending injury to majok, agree on bendoes.

Won't be 21 that's for sure think even 22 would be a stretch.

Really miss Bendoes.

Was Ben from Bendoes the old Bullets DJ?

The way Toowoomba conducted them self this QSL season it's not a surprise they are not in nbl1, horrible game day experience, they won't have the budget or the support for nbl1, they won't be back for along time. It's a real shame as Toowoomba use to be a real powerhouse back in the day.

And yes the old bullet's dj was the same Ben from Bendoes.

That's a pity about Toowoomba Mountaineers. Long history and lots of talented locals there.

Don't know about talented locals, the whole association seems to be struggling.

Got to say that each season I wonder where players are going to come from to make good teams. Always seems a struggle. Then, when the season(s) do start, we realize how many NBL players (particularly from the Bullets in S E teams and Cairns helps out the northern teams) are in the comp and voila, another good season. We'll all be ok.

At RipCity (Sunny Coast) we've got Patty Mills to go with our Izzy, Cam Oliver in the 5 so that Josh can play his preferred PF role, Thybulle to give Louie some backup in the SF role and so that he gets used to the language before Boomers duties. Otherwise it's been hard to fill out the rest of the roster. Still room for 2 imports and 1 restricted NBL player (both maybe from the Bullets) but the budget is getting very tight (we don't get NSs, do we?)!

(Well, it is 3.30am! What do expect? Serious dribble?)

Billy, thanks for the update on Redlands & Northside and that North Goldy are looking to get back. Sad re Toowoomba. That really makes the Brisbane area crowded with teams.

Redlands did a great job of recruiting for this past silly season and showed that they may be very competitive from the start. Northside may take more time although they put together a rather good roster without recruiting heavily from elsewhere. North Goldie, later, we will see???

Go to bed Rob lol

Hey Billy, Are you THE Billy Ross who won a national champ with the Clippers?

It's a secret mr Rob, but let's just say we know each other.

Neers will be back.

They just decided that things were too uncertain with COVID at the moment to commit to 2021.

Being a regional team they are reliant on imports and there is no guarantee the borders will be open soon (especially from the US).

This year was a write off after half their team decided to take an extended 'holiday'.

A year off may be good to concentrate on their local comp, especially their women, but by looking around all the local comps in Qld on SportsTG I think this may be a much bigger problem for all associations.

Toowoomba will have to prove to the NBL and bq that they will be able to compete in nbl1 and have some sort of stability, funds and other quality programs. At this present time they will not be back for a while. They have lacked any Quilty game day products (Qbl and Qsl this season have been a joke for a long time, no real good juniors coming through.the whole club needs a good broom through it much like the old Redlands had happen to it.

Rod and Vandy used to rip on Ipswich for cold showers.

Was told a month ago that Darwin nominated for NBL1 North. Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet. Can anyone confirm they were accepted in?

Brett Gadenne if that's really you thinking it's not though you balled for usq at Toowoomba back in the day, Darwin won't be in nbl1 this season, man Ipswich was and is still shity, and absolutely correct on Toowoomba the whole thing needs a big reset, they have been embarrassing for a while now

Sounds a bit like sour grapes there Billy.

The fact is that USQ in Toowoomba where the Neers play their QBL games is one of the best stadiums in Queensland. It has 1000 comfortable seats (not wood or plastic), Canadian Oak floor boards (used specifically for their light color which were prefered for TV), high ceilings (for international volleyball), 'Shaq proof' hoops (at $60k each), great parking, and most importantly (in your book) HOT WATER.

It sounds like you haven't been to Toowoomba since they played out of Water St.

The Gouldsons have done a great job attracting almost $150k of sponsorship every year which I bet would be a lot more than your association ever raised.

There are a lot of good things happening at the moment and I would have no problem playing your team for a spot in the comp if, and when, it comes to it.

Hahaha your team would not get close to my clubs sbl team, the Shaq proof hoops are they the same ones that get stuck down when somebody dunks one? The stadium may be comfortable but it's always empty the music is rubbish the court annoucer is horrible,and the teams are rubbish what happens with your so called 150k as it sure as hell does not show in the product, but hey man you might win 2 games in QSL next season if your lucky, so good luck up the mountain with your empty comfortable stadium your Shaq proof hoops that are faulty your 150k that has done nothing to help anything and your crappy game day product.

It only looked that way as they where playing QSL1,maybe 1 or 2 players could legitimately play nbl1 from that group, game days where horrible, and to think they could have really made a go of it after all people where so starved of any sport and it would not have been real hard to get people in the Doors.

Much of that goes for that comp:
Excuses? The season was predominantly amatuer, to begin with. Not saying throughout the comp, but largely. Lots of juniors were given chances and lots of recruited players did not come from elsewhere to join teams.
Bright-lights? Some players, Bairstow, Kahler, Krebs and others(?) advanced their careers.

Robt alot of places put a effort in for QSL, see Redlands and Spartans and Logan, your club rip put no effort in at all even for the local derby vs Phoenix, it could have been a great thing for clubs to make a effort get some people in the stadiums and work on stuff for nbl1.

To NBL1 insider, on appearances, it certainly looks like what you posted fits, but I object to the use of the word "effort".

My club, Ripcity. As we could not attract senior, experienced NBL1-standard players for our QSL campaign (no payments offered)(our local, regular core also played this season for nix), our effort was aimed at our youngsters. Those youngsters also represented in our junior teams so we were even rotating our juniors in and out of the senior team (which had it's own advantages). Some success in that but we were never going to compete with teams featuring NBL names, Sobey, Cadee, Bairstow, Frolling, Kahler, etc. In the meantime, the club has put in place training programs aimed at increasing playing standards through-out our juniors.

Sure, we would have liked/loved much better results from this last QSL season, and I, for one, was disappointed with our results.

Now I can look forward to Rip's 2021 NBL1 team getting up and running. Already, some of our early approaches are looking positive. Soon as I'm allowed, I will devulge our signings.

who was the nbl1 toowomba nbl1 coachsuppose to be?

I think RipCity did an admirable job through QSL unfortunate injuries to the Tueta brothers meant that young core was left light on. Someone I was impressed with Elias Cato, whatever happened to him I'm not sure but he was impressive. Credit to them for sticking with a majority local team and the club did a good job manage players between QSL2 and QSL1.

Things started slowly for the Rip but the addition of the livestream and extra hands on GameDay made it more enjoyable as time went on.

Very interested to see what they come up with for NBL1.

Well done to Rob and team

Isn't Elias Cato a stand-out youngster? Played a couple of games for us before he headed to college in US (???).

QSl or should I say Matt for promoting your live stream for rip.

Elias Cato was fantastic in the few games I saw. Standout junior for sure. Where's he going to college?

??? Will find out for you.

NB: THIS IS JUST FOR "Rip", ABOVE.

Hey Rip, Just posting cos I like to use RipFanWinkle as my alias in-season!
Remember your nursery rhymes (do you even remember what a nursery rhyme is)?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Dutchmen, imbibes their liquor and falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains. He awakes 20 years later to a very changed world, having missed the American Revolution."

I don't mind you using "Rip jnr", if you want to use that. Hey, did you know that there is an actor with the name Rip Torn (probably too young for that, too)?

Here's his bi-op, also from from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. (February 6, 1931 - July 9, 2019) was an American actor and voice actor, who had a career that spanned over 60 years.

... and now, Back to basketball folks!

Brad George just announced as South West Metro Pirates NBL1 Women's Head Coach - thoughts?

Hi Folks, my favourite subject, the one where Sunshine Coast Phoenix and University of Sunshine Coast Rip City become one NBL1 North team (as in one club with men's and women's, of course) is on the cards.
And it may be as soon as next season (2022). Not saying it's a done deal but it's being seriously talked about.

As I have previously stated, I loved the cross-region rivalry. Losing that is a small price for the benefits that will come from the union.

Another interesting theme for NBL1 is that apparently, imports will be a problem to recruit for this season (2021). As well as quarantine costs, the clubs will be facing huge flight costs (have a look at some airline ticketing for say March/ April 2021. On Cheapflights.com, the cheapest, economy, one-way from LAX to SYD on 28 March 2021(date at random) is $6331 and up to $21,133 for the quickest trip). And that applies to all of Aus. In Qld, 2021 season may be not much better than 2020. 'Cept no NBL players and none-to-a-few imports.
Imports who are already here should see this as a blessing as their value will undoubtedly go through the roof.

Well, that 1st part was a joy for me, the 2nd bit, we all have to live with!

Rip are gone from next season, only allowed to nbl1 this season as it was to late and to hard to change. Rip also only allowed to stay on the provision that they must disband next season.

My dream is (sorta) coming true. A single unified team for NBL1 for the Sunny Coast.

I had heard that there was to be the joining of the 2, Ripcity with Phoenix, but not by Phoenix. Better than now, anyhow. No complaints from me.

I believe that the games will be at the uni and that USC will still be a major sponsor. Just got to hope that the Rip players will also be absorbed by the single entity, Phoenix, and that we get a real local team out of this "union" (plus a couple of imports).

Absolutely Rob let's hope this is what happens.

My point, precisely. You not only get extra talent. You get to share everything.
Rip could afford the Tueta bros and others and phoenix could afford Kahler, the Robateau brothers, Jansen, Meehl brothers and others and 2 imports each (that's 4 between them.)

The above list shows 7 locals, I would add, at least Walters and Ilton (both have lived here and repped for several years.), that's 9, plus 2 imps, and 3 or 4 up-n-comers. That is a damn good team at this level, anyway.

When you combine resources, you actually have more funds available than before. With one team repping for the Sunny Coast, you halve the costs (of NBL1 involvement), attendances should (nearly) double, and sponsorships should even increase (with popularity and success of the new entity), making more funds available, if needed.

On the other hand, I can see where some may be concerned that the fabulous array of youngsters in these Sunny Coast clubs, are going to be hard-pushed to earn NBL1 spots.
Immediately, that's exactly what I see too BUT... consider the ages of the "main" local players above. Most are near 30 years. who will either leave the game or play lesser roles leaving behind the Robateau bros and Johnno to lead those guys who should have had a couple of years at or near the top of QSL still for their respective clubs, until they gain their places in the NBL1. The future looks good, very good for the Sunshine Coast Phoenix!

Have only heard unsubstantiated rumours re coaching. I suppose there can only be 1 HC and I see at least 2 candidates. O-oh!

Dale Ryan will be the coach if all goes well far better coach then Nathan, if the young guys are worried about making a team then that is good, for far to long on the coast people have only had to turn up to make rosters it will be great to finally have to make a team and actually work at it.bwantba sport work your ass off for it. hopfully they put on a good game night on and off the court.

Billy, "bwantba"?

Billy, "bwantba"?

So no Jono jannsen for the Phoenix for nbl1 2021 he will be playing in the nznbl big big loss.

Who have Sun Coast Pheonix announced as players so far?