It’ll be a more fast-paced Melton Thoroughbreds this season in Big V men’s division 1.
Under new coach John Allison, the Thoroughbreds have adopted a new game plan, looking to improve on a preliminary final berth last season.
“It’s good at the moment,” Allison said. “We’re getting up and down the court really quickly.
“The boys are finding the offences a little more free-flowing. It’s not as stop and start.
“We’re trying to get up the court and play basketball and, basically, not restrict our game too much.”
Their game style though will still revolve around multiple scorers, which has been their strength the past couple of years.
“I’d like to have everybody score. If I’ve got 10 players, I’d like to have everyone score 10 points, and that’s 100 points … that’s hard to beat,” Allison said.
“People like Ivan Harris get his 15-20 points … as long as I get points from everyone else, we’ll be fine,” he said, adding that the new game plan is also flowing into the youth league side, giving some of the younger players opportunities during the season.
Allison said the club has put a big emphasis on youth and keeping young players, instead of them going elsewhere to develop.
“It’s a big problem in Melton,” he said.
“We’ve made it clear, if one of the senior guys is out, we’re going to get a youth guy and put them in there.
“They’re probably not going to sit on the bench. We’re going to try and develop them,” he said.
“We’re still going out there to win.”
Allison said his son, Liam Allison, is one younger player who wants more opportunities.
The younger Allison has just been named in the Vic Country under-18 team for the national championships later this year.
It will be a slightly different Thoroughbreds line-up this season, with Cameron McCallum, Blake Allison and Jeff Crowe all departing.
McCallum has joined the South East Australia Basketball League, while Allison will play state championship division with Werribee Devils.
Crowe has signed with fellow division 1 side Keilor.
To help fill the holes left by Allison and McCallum, the Thoroughbreds have brought in 20-year-old Mangar Manyang from Werribee’s youth league side.
Allison said Manyang was taking everything that was being thrown at him.
He said internal expectations were again high for the side that won the division 1 title in 2015.
“The guys we’ve got out there don’t like losing … they are very determined and passionate about Melton basketball.”
