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The Sureway Wollongong Roller Hawks are ready to take what they believe they should’ve been given - a fourth consecutive National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL) championship. 

 

 “Last year we played three quarters (of the season), we’re undefeated, we all thought we should’ve been awarded the trophy,” says Roller Hawks captain Brett Stibners.

 

The 2022 season will feature four teams with the Roller Hawks competing against perennial powerhouse Perth Wheelcats, grand final opponent for the last two championships, the Queensland Spinning Bullets and new kids on the block, the Darwin Salties who will be led by established NWBL stars and Territorians Tom O'Neill-Thorne and CJ McCarthy-Grogan.

 

“Two exceptional players, they’re going to be very strong and they also have Darren Skuse who used to play for us, big, strong guy and a couple of guys from Victoria so they’ll be very, very competitive, I think they’ll be pushing for the final,” adds Stibners,

 

Round 1 is in Perth from 3-5 June. Round 2 is the Roller Hawks home round at Shellharbour from 17-19 June. Round 3 is in Brisbane from 1-3 July followed by Finals hosted in Darwin from 15-17 July. 

 

The Roller Hawks begin their campaign against home side the Wheelcats on Friday night before meeting league newcomers Darwin on Saturday. On Sunday the Roller Hawks play the Queensland Spinning Bullets. 

 Pic Tristan Knowles 2

Leading the charge for the Roller Hawks will be Tristan Knowles, fresh off spearheading Australia’s men's wheelchair basketball team to gold at the Asia Oceania Championships in Thailand. 

 

“The Australian team has got a long and proud history at that tournament and I guess the taste of Tokyo finishing fifth was still very much there and a big motivating factor,” says Knowles.

 

Knowles lead the team in scoring and assists including 34 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds in the semi final and 21 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds in the Gold Medal game. His performance earned him Men’s All-Star 5 honours for the tournament.

 

Knowles spent much of his time on court in a line up that included fellow high pointers Michael Auprince and Jordan Bartley; a high point triple threat that the Roller Hawks will also look to implement this season with Knowles alongside Brett Stibners and Shawn Russell.

 Knowles at AOZ 2022 1

(Photo Credit: IWBF)

"The luxury of a team to be able to play two completely different styles I think is worth a hell of a lot over the course of the season. The fact that Brendan Dowler has those two completely different styles in the tool box he can rely on at any stage, we can play the three bigs and run that power game or we can go a bit smaller and really focus on shooting the lights out,” says Knowles.

 

Knowles returned to the Roller Hawks last season while still living in Melbourne. While always intending to return to the Illawarra permanently, it was a move that only happened in April of this year. Captain Brett Stibners says having Knowles back training full time has re-invigorated practice.

 

“He trains super hard, guys like me and Nick don’t train much at all these days so he’ll be bringing us up,” says Stibners.

 

“I think we’re all getting a little bit older,” laughs Knowles, “But I’m really, really excited to just get back and play with a bunch of mates that 20 years ago we started playing together. It’s quite incredible still to this day that we’re all still in good shape and the motivation is still there.”

 

Also fresh off international success is Hannah Dodd. The Queensland based player helped the Gliders to gold in Thailand as well, and she will once again play with the Roller Hawks.

 

"We had a great tournament and I think we really surprised ourselves. After the disappointment in Tokyo, to come out and have a dominating performance was satisfying. Watching our four rookies get their confidence as the games went on was great as well," says Dodd.

 

In addition to her commitments with the Roller Hawks, she'll also suit up for the Sydney Uni Flames in the Womens National Wheelchair Basketball League. 

 Dodd at AOZ 2022 3

Photo Credit (IWBF) 


"Being able to defend higher point players has been a focus over the last few months so it was great to put that into practice."

 

Alongside Dodd in the low pointer position are Nick Scott, Tim Markcrow, Tim Rushby-Smith, Darren Hayes and Roller Hawks newcomers Jarrod Emeny and Matt Caruana. Both recently represented New South Wales at the Kevin Coombs Cup with Emeny forced to wait two years to play for the Roller Hawks after COVID cancelled the 2020 season and 2021 saw him play for the Australian Under 23s team in the national league.

 

Rounding out the squad are the steady hands of Luke Pople and Nick Taylor with the side again to be coached by Brendan Dowler.

 

Round 1 @ Bendat Basketball Stadium (All times WST)

Round

Date

Day

Time

Home

Vs

Away

Venue

1

3 June

FRI

6:00pm

Perth Wheelcats

Vs

Wollongong Roller Hawks

BBC

1

3 June

FRI

8.00pm

Queensland Spinning Bullets

Vs

Darwin Salties

BBC

1

4 June

SAT

5.00pm

Perth Wheelcats

Vs

Darwin Salties

BBC

1

4 June

SAT

7:00pm

Wollongong Roller Hawks

Vs

Queensland Spinning Bullets

BBC

1

5 June

SUN

9:00am

Darwin Salties

Vs

Wollongong Roller Hawks

BBC

1

5 June

SUN

11:00am

Queensland Spinning Bullets

Vs

Perth Wheelcats

BBC