NBLcentralWOJ
Years ago
NBL 1 Central Power Rankings
1. Sturt
2. Woodville
3. Norwood
4. Forestville
5. Southern
6. South
7. North
8. West
9. Centrals
10. Eastern
Enjoyed last week so thought I would try a weekly power rankings.
Sturt may not win it all, but unbeaten so far and playing very well, so they deserve the top spot. An even team balance means the pressure is not on one or two players every week to deliver and coaching has been first rate.
Woodville finally had their first loss after a lot of hype. Can they regroup and do they defer too much to Jacobs. If he isn't going well, who do they look to. Sturt looks like they had great game plan with an assortment of guards to matchup with Woodvilles back court. Devon McGee has also been missing since round 1 and dominated the summer league. Boonstoppel, Jackson and Stanbridge have been solid. At this stage, one of the contenders.
Norwood
With Turnage, they probably have the best player in the league and has good support around him. Lycett and D.Webber have a lot of miles on the clock so good to finally see some youngsters come through. If Green can contribute a lot more they could be dangerous, but so far has been inconsistent. Should hang around this spot for most of season IMO.
Forestville
At the moment they are living and dying by what Harris and his cool new haircut produces. Aside from Starling, Mays is the best big in the league and is good for 20 and 10 most nights. Losing Brine to an ankle may hurt short term, but may enable kids like Malith Machar to get some experience and minutes in his absence. But losing Teys and and Dewitt has proven costly in their title defence, just with their experience and ability to settle the team down. And despite the naysayers about Teys in the sixers, he is a great NBL1 player and could just get you those easy points that you need. But with Andy, you never know what's up his and lawyers sleeve for when finals come around.
Southern has a thin bench but has exceeded expectations. Apart from a last quarter fade out against West they could be 3-1. Should pick up another win this week against Central, hopefully they can get some minutes from their bench to give their starters a breather.
South. Starling is up there with Turnage in terms of Woollacott votes I would say and Johns has been steady. Ellison has been good but far more suited to coming off the bench. But Hulland and Mudronja are way lesser players than what North are waiting for in McVeigh and Dech. Hulland earnt a spot with one good preseason game when he hit a few threes and Mudronja has hardly been spectacular in his NBL appearances. They will certainly help, but are they enough to get the Panthers into contention. They did only lose to Norwood by a point and also to Southern by 3, so could be 4-0. But something doesn't feel right, and that probably starts with the coaching. Petty has been the butt of a lot of jokes on this forum, is he the right guy for the job? If they are sitting around 50% at the midway mark of the season, could a move be made, Starling or Johns as playing coaches. Cant remember the last time I've seen that since maybe Spear many years ago.
North finally get a win, desperate for their big 2 to come in. Even so, they've been getting embarrassed in nearly all of their games. And how long will it take for them to mesh with their team mates and a pecking order to be sorted. Dowdell has been disappointing, but probably getting targeted a lot inside. But this roster should shoot up the ladder in a month or so.
There has been a lot of turnover at West, speculation to do with Coreys style and guys tuning out and leaving. So its surprising that this new lot of guys seem to be doing the same. On their day they can beat anyone, but conversely they look terrible a lot. Maybe a bit more time is needed to mesh, especially with a ball dominant player like Ross coming in. Not sure where they will finally end up.
Centrals were lucky to get a win in opening round against a disinterested West. Dave Humphries will ease the load for Lual Diing and provide a veteran influence with a team of very good athletes. Should beat a few teams above them from time to time, but just not a very good team.
Nearly choked on my tim tam when I saw Rojo mentioned as coach of the year in one writeup. But he has definitely improved the least talented team in the league, but that's their problem, lack of talent. In previous years they could scrape a couple of wins behind a really good import, they don't have that luxury this year. Will really have to catch a team totally off guard to get a win or 2 this season.
