There were very promising signs tonight.

It makes such a huge difference having Rees and Cooper in the middle.

The most impressive thing about the win was that Farley, Holmes and Maher did not have blinders.

In fact it was Forman, Ng and Williams who got us over the line all playing great roles.

Dusty was fantastic as per usual but I was really impressed with the performance of our bench tonight.

Farley couldn't buy a basket and it was great to see we could still score over 100 without him firing. Good to see Farley sharing the ball as well with the other guys seeing his shots weren't dropping.

I wouldn't want to be Townsville because you just know he isn't going to have two bad ones in a row.

All in all a good win and an important one to get on the road given it will be close this season.

so if you had redhage, maher and dusty in your fantasy team that would be a good start...i guess...YAHOO

I have Chappell in one fantasy team (SAHFBL) and Redhage, Farley and Maher in another (Sportal). Shame about Farley!

My mini report.

Dusty - Great! He looks to have really worked on his outside shot, confidently looking (and hitting) a number of 3's. That is a very good sign for the Sixers. Inside game as good as ever. Wow.

Maher - Brilliant as always. Poised and unselfish. Great floor leadership. Very nice game.

Farley - Missed a tone of shots, some which looked good, others that looked terrible. His D was OK. Played unselfish. Looked a bit lost.

Rees - Did what Rees has always done. Boy did we miss him last season.

Holmes - Rebounded well, played smart most of the time, but like Farley missed a decent amount of his shots. He'll play much better.

Cooper - I like this guy! Never paid much attention to him before, but he was solid tonight. Looked comfortable in the system, played great D and looked solid on offense. Could be a really good pick up.

Forman - Looked clueless as ever in the first half but came on strong in the 2nd. Hit his shots when open, but sensed an feeling of panic when double teamed or forced to dribble. Good game however.

Williams - I didn't want the guy back but he played well. Under control, hit his shots and didn't try to do too much.

Ng - Played well in limited minutes. Hit a 3 and almost got a 4 point play. Gotta love the little guy.

Rychart shooting 3's! Must be the hair cut! Seriously, he has always been a reliable scorer. If he can now nail the 3's, he is going to be even more unstoppable. Great game tonight and a good confidence booster to get the first win. Considering the first 2 games of the season are both away, 2 consecutive losses would have been devastating.

are you sure it was not gun dad looking like rychardt ?

seriously - expect some big scores from this line up this season.

For the refs - was it a charge or block on coopers merciless drive to the ring in the 3rd quarter - looked like a charge to me !

Seemed like a charge to me, but the replay was at a bad angle. Redhage looked like he was on an angle so that might've been why it was called a block.

Cooper got two dunks which was promising.

Waiting for a boxscore to appear so we can see the playing times, but I think Ng was effective.

Still, we were up by only 2 at one stage in the last quarter and everyone got on the court. Besides Hambour, Smyth didn't seem to have a problem with giving every player a good go and the scorers were subsequently very even -- eight players had 8 or more points.

Some disappointing news, 2 prominent members from the 36ers hierarchy were seen barracking for the Breakers at a prominent Adelaide pub

Anyone not tip the Sixers? Interstate, many tipped the Breakers to be too strong at home.

I think I had the margin as Sixers by 5.

Absolutely golden performance by the great man.
Extra Sauce please!!!!!

Some random thoughts -

I thought Forman was great. He started a bit slowly and looked tentative but after he hit a couple of shots you could see his confidence grow and his whole game improved. He then showed more aggression at the defensive end and on the glass and I thought it was a great step up for Oscar. I honestly believe that was the best game I've seen him play at NBL level.

Maher was sensational. That guy just amazes me. The way he ran the team was superb. I have previously thought, and had it reinforced last night, that Maher is more valuable to us in the playmaking role. His decision making is such high quality and it's hard to fault anything he does. He looks after the ball, he involves team mates, he controls the tempo, he scores when needed. A true champion.

Rychart was impressive again. Produced what we've become accustomed to, but added outside shooting.

Ng was very handy. He will be important this year. I like how he doesn't force things. He can shoot the lights out but waits for his chances. Shot selection is a feature of his game that I really like.

Rees was the same old Rees, throwing the elbows around. Not that that's a bad thing.

I like the look of Cooper. Like others I haven't really payed much attention to him in the past but the guy can run the floor and is very active on the boards and good at the defensive end. Seems a perfect backup centre in our system. Should be valuable this season.

Now on to some negatives.

Jacob Holmes struggled a bit and forced his shots. He always forces his shots but he never really got into the groove offensively last night. But he did contribute in other areas and because he is so aggressive does help players around him. It wasn't all bad for Holmes and we know he'll get better.

Willie Farley was the big concern for me. If his shots aren't going down he really seems to be a liability. He doesn't contibute much else besides scoring. Three years ago his shooting clip was sensational. If he can't recapture that shooting touch then it could get ugly. I didn't think he fit into the offense particularly well. He was a bit of a black hole. The ball movement seemed to stop too often when it got into Farleys hands. It's only one game and he needs time to settle but that was possibly the worst game I have seen from him in an Adelaide singlet. It was reminiscent of his performances at the Razors. He'll still score, but he needs to work within the structure.

Overall some good positives for the 36ers. Nice to get off to a winning start for the first time in a while. And we did it with two of our 4 major offensive contributors playing poorly. If we can get Farley going we will be a very good team.

RE: the Block/charge

I thought it was the right call, because Redhage hadn't got his feet set before Cooper left the ground.

I assume that'd be why it was called a block, and I thought that was a pretty good call.

I tipped the sixers by 9

farley didnt seem all that i didnt think but in the next month or 2 i think he will find his touch

jst wondering wen is the 36ers first home game

Next Wednesday.

cheers isaac

While a few have mentioned Dusty's great game last night, I thought I'd mention that he's updated the journal on his website to talk about the Sixers going to Port Lincoln, New Zealand and then playing in the Blitz.

Some excerpts:

"I think if you had asked most of the guys on the team going into the Blitz on how our chances were 99% would have said we would be lucky to win one game. I don't think many of us were too confident after our performance in New Zealand a few days earlier."

"Overall this weekend was good for us to get our confidence up not only for us as players and coaches but for our fans as well."

Read more here »

you should never read to much into the 1st game although they played well i'm not sure new zealand are going to be a threat.