JJs looking mighty fine plus the Sixers epic fail made for a great day of NBL.

Too bad the forum was down during it all.

Magnay doing his best on the defensive end to try make up for what he's done on the offensive end...

This one has got some feeling in it

Very scrappy game. Bad blood between a few of these guys.

CG couldn't buy a basket and I fear United will have a fair few games like this throughout the season. Not enough go-to scorers. The best local group in the league (alongside Sydney) but Clark and Lee, although they're quality players and quality people, don't quite bring that elite scoring talent United needed unfortunately.

Magnay and White both superb. White's performance the one positive United can take away.

All the calls seemed to go the way of the JJ's but they were clearly the better team. The Loe/Lee combo just doesn't seem to work, both foul prone with limited output. Thought United looked better with the small ball lineup.

Agree with your comments LV, just not enough scoring firepower for United when CG43 is having an off night, White playing very well but he needs to be paired with a scoring 5 in my opinion to help space the floor. Krebs/Cameron both under-utilised which is disappointing.

United will be competitive all season purely through the grit of Delly/Ili/White but need to make changes to be top 4.

JJ's definitely had the calls but I don't think it made the difference with the result

I thought the ref's contributed to the general discontent and chippy nature of the game, with their inconsistency. It was a very physical game from the outset, and a lot of contact went uncalled, but they also called some very soft ones and fell for flopping from both teams. That kind of inconsistency frustrates players.

Overall, despite a fierce contest that went down to the last two minutes, it wasn't a good advertisement for the league.


United does need to learn to just ride the calls and not get sucked in. It's a furnace of an atmosphere, you won't get the calls, JJs played with super energy, the only way to win is remain focused and execute well. United did neither.

Neither team could hit from outside last night either.

When CG can't get going, and everyone's missing from outside, the opponents will lock United down and it will get ugly at the offensive end. Teams like SEM and Adelaide and possibly Perth won't have the defensive capability to do it, but others will. There's not enough people who can simply make plays and break the grind.

For anyone reading there was a great highlight sequence from this game

White powers down the court, to Delly, then a no-look backwards pass to Lee who goes up for the dunk, Magnay blocks the shot at the rim, Crawford runs up and nails the fast break three

That sequence should feature prominently, showcased lots of great stuff

"It was a very physical game from the outset, and a lot of contact went uncalled, but they also called some very soft ones and fell for flopping from both teams. That kind of inconsistency frustrates players."

NBL officiating encapsulated in one succint paragraph.

Only very early days but JJs do look the predicted defensive nightmare and much better than I thought without McVeigh. Terangi serviceable with 11 points and 3 boards in 24 minutes and possibly better D. Roth said post game his role has been simplified to just play the 4 and that lets the rest of the team just do their thing. Also wants to figure out how to give Sword more minutes. Perthworld, maybe with Macdonald back when it matters you are right and they could still prove very hard to stop. But as I said, very early days. Interestingly McVeigh also said something along the lines that the team needed to just hold the fort in a recorded pregame message of support. Something might be read into that.

I think JJs are missing one shotmaker to be a championship team. Obviously tough on them to lose McVeigh at the stage they did. They'll no doubt stick with the group they have and try to make it work, but I suspect they might need to replace Sword to get that final piece. Hopefully he proves me wrong.

Melbourne are also one quality offensive piece short. They need a circuit breaker when they are shut down by a quality defensive team like last night. I think both teams will have good years and finish top 4 but do they have the scoring to progress past the SFs?

Agree with above. Both teams will finish 3-6 due to lacking one quality offensive piece. In other words, the losses of McVeigh and JLA.

If United had say, Cam Oliver or a healthy Jarell Martin type instead of Lee, or prime Scotty Hopson, prime Lamar Patterson type, or Rayjon Tucker, instead of Clark, or they'd be right there for the title

But I assume they've spent so much on Delly, CG and White that they can't afford absolute top tier imports.

That Magnay block was monstrous

LV - respect to you for your posting on United and the JJs.

You support you team with a balance except for the occasional thinking the refs are biased but not to the Goulding whinge level!) and acknowledge the other team in this context the JJs.


From a passionate JJs fan perspective I love that there is a passionate rivalry with Melbourne United.

A couple of years ago the thought of how a Tasmanian would be as competition there would have been no respect or expectation now it is great to see a powerhouse of the league in Melbourne United get fired up when they play Tasmania.

Love how White plays absolute gun.

Yeah the JJs Melbourne rivalry is really starting to build into something nice

Cheers Scout.

To be honest I wasn't that disappointed when United lost Game 5- very different feeling to me compared to Game 4 2019 which I also attended

I think JJ's were everyone's 2nd favourite team but now they've won, that feeling might be wearing off ;-)

I think one positive United can take from that game (aside from the form of Jack White) - is that they played so poorly but didn't get blown out of the water - only lost by 9.

Also for a big man - Magnay goes to the floor way too easily!
It is unusual to see Shea Ili have words with his opponents - but twice he said something to Magnay when Magnay was on once again on the floor and I can imagine what he said. I think a feather would blow him over.

If United just hit their freethrows it would be a closer game

If JJs hit their free throws they could have won by more - their % was very ordinary

Does anyone know if Goulding gets paid as a Referee's advisor as well when he plays ?

No difference to Cooks and others as refs adviser.

Come on now Dunkman we've talked about this!