My understanding if Rockingham won the conference then the runner-up team from the NBL1 West Final would of been the next team for the National conference

I noticed in the first game that nbl players aren't there. Peatling, Mccaron.

First game in and each teams nbl guys aren't there. Wasnt the whole point of earlier starts and condensed seasons so this wouldn’t happen again like last year?

Defeats the purpose of the playoffs and obviously not a true indication of the teams that fronted up only 1 week before.
Players who didn't hit the court in GF now required to play major minutes in 'tougher’ games

Yep, heard that NBL players will be missing.

What's the point of under strength teams playing for a 'National Championship'? Lame.

My interest is completely gone.

Expand it or scrap it

Wasnt the whole point of earlier starts and condensed seasons so this wouldn't happen again like last year?

Why are all the NBL players missing? Surely their NBL teams wouldn't prevent them from playing this weekend? It doesn't make any sense!

NBL trying their best to promote NBL1 as a good product. Social media loving the NBL connections, promoting key players and big names... and then in the national finals it's a flop.

The bigger budget teams without reliance on NBL players still doing well.

personally was hoping West Bearcats would have had a crack at the national championships, but we are playing a ressies team.

Nbl1 east is really showing how poor it is.

Beantown Drmic tweeted about workload recently

Love the concept of the NBL1 National Finals, but right not it is a flawed model without the conference champions turning up without their star players. Too many NBL players are missing.

Its a major problem if NBL1 can't get most of the elite domestic talent to bother showing up for the national finals! Clearly work needs to be done to build the prize money/ prestige of the event. I'm disappointed, because I think having a 2nd tier national competition could be great for basketball in the long run. It could be our own version of March Madness one day!

It gets people from regional cities engaged all over the country when their team has a good run and gives players on the fringe of the NBL a chance to get noticed. I've been investing a bit of time in following different players and teams this season, only to have no-one show up for the National Finals and now I just have zero interest!

Exactly Beantown. It should be the pinnacle, but falls flat as it becomes a shell of what it could be.

This year it seems more a player driven decision not to attend whereas last year clubs said no.

NBL Central is showing also how poor it is too. Big first loss.

Require that all healthy players play in the Finals or scrap the whole thing. What a waste of time.

Perhaps the National Finals should just be scrapped, and the NBL1 media machine can revert to promoting respective Conference Finals as the pinnacle.

Have since listened to three separate interviews with NBL/WNBL players who could've travelled to WA. They all said their main focus was on winning their Conference and that Nationals weren't considered due to mental/physical fatigue (fair enough). In that case, why bother flogging a dead horse if it's obviously not going to work.

A shame as I loved the National Finals in the 90s and 00s. Things change though.

TG63, if you take out 3 NBL players (McCarron, Drmic and Olbrich) and insert 3 standard Central players into those minutes of course the team is going to suck. They will get flogged again by Rocky today. They just do nt have the cattle to compete.

Could they put $500-$1000 up for the winning players to incentivise them?

Sobey would be on $300k a year at Bullets. I doubt a $500 - $1000 incentive is going to sway him.

@Bored - Cockburn Women came in full strength and still got pumped by 40. Just shows the difference in the Women's league. Poor old "Bought not Built" TT's $$ misfired and he had no bench to come in and provide anything. Great to see all the other WA teams stand up though.

Was an absolute joke to be honest. That West team would struggle to make finals in reserves.

The format needs to be scrapped if the NBL players won't play

It would have been nice if Thompson & Smith had brought their games & shooting touch to Perth to provide some much needed support to the phenomenal efforts of Ally Wilson! Both Thompson & Smith have struggled big time at this next level which would have disappointed Will Smith & Norwood Flames greatly...

Agree Sebastian. Perhaps West should try not to "buy" a conference final next time or at least buy players that will be able to represent them.

Agree Silent Observer. Embarrassing.

Congratulations to Knox, clearly deserved the win with their starting 5&4 man out. South clearly the best conference.

No different to Ipswich TG63

Feagin is a very good player, don't no much about him but he’s a cut above.

Wouldn't say Ipswich 'bought' a conference title. They certainly recruited well though.

Didn't stroll to the title by any means. Seeded 3rd for Finals with a 13-6 record . Made it to the GF and got flogged in Game 1, obviously turned it around for G2 and G3.

They signed players that suited their program with the ambition of getting the association's first senior men's title. They accepted that if they progressed from the GF that they'd be without the NBL players. As it was, they were missing NBL players for training during the week of the conference GF.

They simply didn't place value on a tilt at a National Title, which speaks volume for the concept as it currently stands.

All 3 Big North teams buy in NBL players. Ipswich, Gold Coast and Logan. Recruited well means they opened their cheque book to Sobey and the Galloways as a minimum. Hodgson and Deng Deng wouldn't be playing for love either.

Every men's team in North bought in good players, don't just limit the quip to Logan, Ippy and GC. They were simply good enough and well coached to place top 3.

Heard Hodgson was playing for basically nothing also. It's his home assoc so probs true.