Coaches Corner 15/01/2021

Head Coach Matt Newby give us a rundown of this weekends action with another instalment of Coaches Corner.

Dear Wolfpack,

Firstly I hope you your families are safe and well in the 3^rd lockdown and I also hope you enjoyed our last outing on Sky Sports.  This weekend we match up with the Cheshire Phoenix and the Bristol Flyers and understand these are two big fixtures in the grand scheme of things. It’s the first time we meet both franchises in championship play and should we win out this weekend we will move to a 4 – 4 record which will be a platform to push beyond the middle order of the league and with two games against the Leicester Riders in the near future we know we must go up a gear again.

The Friday night fixture against Cheshire will be tough, Coach Thomas has been critical of his teams output and efforts in recent weeks and will looking for a result to lift them out of the bottom four places.  Ben played for me at Leeds Carnegie and has a great basketball IQ and this has translated really well in to his role as a coach.

Coach Thomas will be looking for his high level interior Jimbo Lull, returnee Jalen Hayes and dynamic back court duo Kahon Ross and Mike Mcall to continue their good form.  The Phoenix offensively have a decent framework and on any given night can score in volume and therefore we need to be at our best to negate the individual outputs of key personnel and stay connected defensively to disrupt their scheme.  We also see former UOW student athlete and Worcester Wolves guard Disraeli Lufadeju in a Phoenix jersey this evening, I had the pleasure of coaching Dizzy at Leeds Force and his work ethic attitude and energy are first rate.  This is not an easy team to beat and they have already proved they can run with the best with very close games against London Lions and Newcastle Eagles respectively.

Looking to Sundays fixture down in Bristol I am excited to see how we respond to the test, Bristol by virtue of two unfortunate injuries have a new look and one that promises some exciting match ups in both the back court and the front court.  Firstly to Liam Davis and Zach Copeland of the Flyers I wish them a speedy recovery from their respective season injuries.  Looking at the revamped roster which includes duel signing of GB guards Teddy Okereafor and Ben Mockford for the remainder of the season and recent signature of Veteran forward Justin baker.  They have on paper a team that will do serious damage in the higher order if they connect.  Coach Kapoulas’ team sit on .500 record and have thus far had losses against Manchester, Sheffield and Leicester and collected scalps from Cheshire, Surrey and Glasgow.  As ever they will be well organised and incredibly physical, the matches with Bristol are some of the most enjoyable of the season and the rivalries between the teams coaches and players are some the strongest in the league.

In other news all levels of basketball outside of the elite tier were cancelled for the 2020 – 21 season which means thousands of people young and old won’t have the outlet of our sport.  In challenging times the national governing body had to make this tough and perhaps inevitable decision; if you are involved in the broader basketball community I wish your coaches players and programs all the best for the future.  Hopefully this extended absence from the game will bring basketball together, increase our motivation and capture the resilient mood of our fraternity and then when the time is right we will have the opportunity to drive the sport forward again.

Enjoy the fixtures tonight and across the league this weekend.

Stay Safe,

Coach.