After a slow start to the season, Melton Thoroughbreds are hitting their straps in Big V men’s division 1.
Last year’s premiers had a 3-5 record after the first eight matches and have won their past six games to sit nicely in the top eight going into the Queen’s Birthday bye weekend.
Despite the winning streak, the Thoroughbreds have had to deal with some off-court drama with the club parting ways with coach Grant Spencer.
Julie McCallum, last year’s championship coach, is back in the head role and will coach the team for the remainder of the year.
McCallum said the association had made the decision that Spencer and the club were heading in different directions.
“It’s been an easy transition,” McCallum said of returning to her old role. “It’s the same group of guys, and they know how I coach and I know how they play.”
She said the biggest turnaround in recent weeks was that the team’s
belief in itself had returned.
“There’s a positive vibe,” she said. “After a couple of losses, some negativity had come into the group.
“They’ve always backed themselves. But a few changes [were] brought in [that]didn’t go as seamlessly as we would have liked.”
McCallum said the squad had lifted across the board, and been boosted by the return of big man Cameron McCallum (McCallum’s son).
The club has also added former Sunbury Jets’ player Billy Feben to the list. He was in the starting five last week, in just his third game for the club.
McCallum said the Thoroughbreds were a strong team and would not be hindered by the loss of star recruit and NBL player Chris Patton.
Patton played in the opening round of the season before heading overseas on holidays and hasn’t played with the Thoroughbreds since returning.
“We’ve still got the team to win” McCallum said. “We go nine players deep, and don’t really rely on one player.
“There’s a good mix of players and, with Cam back, we’ll have a player to fill the big man role on the court.”
McCallum said the league-wide Queen’s Birthday bye had come at a perfect time for the Thoroughbreds.
“We have a couple of niggling injuries,” she said.
“We played five games in three weeks, so the break is good for us.”
McCallum didn’t have the weekend off though, heading to Shepparton for the Big V All-star series as coach of the women’s country side.
The series includes dunking competitions and men’s and women’s city versus country games.
The country side lost 82-69.
