The Just Better Care Wollongong Roller Hawks have claimed three more wins in their race to the NWBL Finals, accounting for the Southern Districts Titans over the weekend.
The Roller Hawks didn’t have it all their own way despite the comfortable margins that saw them win 74-32 on Friday night, 85-49 on Saturday and 85-24 on Sunday.
Head coach Brett Stibners made sure all his players saw meaningful court time ahead of two much sterner tests in the coming weeks against Finals contenders Perth and Red Dust.
Luke Pople says he’s adjusted to his new role coming off the bench easily and has no problems doing whatever is required.
“I mean, we're so deep, anyone can start. And I guess when I am coming off the bench, it's very similar to the Davo Hickey role coming off the bench for the Hawks, just bring the energy, keep the intensity up and kind of keep going off the level that the other guys have really set. So, I mean, if I start, if I come off the bench, I don’t really mind,” said Pople.
Pople is still seeing over 27 minutes of court time per game and on the weekend averaged 13.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 6 assists per game.
Part of Stibners’ spread of minutes was in preparation for Round 6 when the Roller Hawks head west to take on Perth without Pople, Tomas Klein and Hannah Dodd who will be representing Australia at the 3x3 World Cup in South Africa.
“We're going to be down a few players, so it's just about getting through different rotations and trying new combinations. I mean, they (Titans) played a different style today. They kind of packed the paint a bit, so pretty similar to the other Queensland team. We had to adjust to that and make a few changes, but I think we did pretty well in the end.”
The Roller Hawks will return home for their final regular season round against the Red Dust Heelers at home from the 8-10th August.
The first ever 3X3 World Championships will take place from 1-3 August in Sun City, South Africa.
The tournament will welcome 22 teams from around the world across the men’s and women’s competitions. In the men’s, 14 teams will be divided into two groups of five and one group of four. Each team will compete in round-robin group play, with the top teams advancing to the knockout rounds.
Pople and Klein go into the tournament with no expectations.
“The only big tournament we've had for three on three is the Comm Games and that was next level. So, I mean, if it matches that, it'd be awesome. But, you know, we're just looking forward to getting over and playing and checking out South Africa,” said Pople.
Also in the men’s team are Pople’s Commonwealth Gold medal-winning teammates Lachie Dalton and Jake Kavanagh. The new face is Tomas Klein whose only experience in 3X3 was last month’s Asia Oceania Cup.
“This World Cup is very interesting because it's the first time they're doing it. So it's an open World Cup. Any team can come. So there's going to be a lot of teams I've never played against before. You never know which players teams are going to send. So it'll be exciting to see. I think it's going to be fun, it's a fun format, and it will be a fun tournament. It's fast paced, it's exciting.
The tournament adds to an ever increasing domestic and international schedule which sees the WBA run the national league in a small window during the Australian winter to avoid clashes with northern hemisphere leagues and major tournaments like the Paralympics and World Championships.
While missing key players for a round is not ideal, Pople says the benefits for the sport long term are immense.
“It's awesome. And it gives guys more and more opportunities just to play, whether it be national league, whether it be different tournaments for the Aussie team, if they come up and we can go and we're available, there's no point in us backing down from that. So the more we can be on court and play, the better it's going to help our national team and then the Wollongong Roller Hawks.”
Full NWBL & WNWBL Fixture: https://wba.net.au/fixtures/
Full Fixtures Can be found here: https://rollerhawks.com.au/draw.html
Follow the competition via wba.net.au including stats and live stream coverage.