Adelaide 36ers told to put team first in post-training meeting that has sparked mid-season revival
A team meeting after training two weeks ago has helped save Adelaide’s season. So what exactly was said, and why did two players reference it after Sunday’s win over the Perth Wildcats? We take a look.
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It was a team meeting behind closed doors after training two weeks ago at the Port Adelaide Rec Centre when the Adelaide 36ers drew a line in the sand.
Frustrated by a string of narrow losses and concerned at a lack of team unity, coach Joey Wright challenged his players to start caring less about themselves and more about each other.
If they were to go anywhere this season, it would be a non-negotiable, he told them.
“Everyone wants to play 30 minutes … of course they do,” guard Jack McVeigh told The Advertiser on Tuesday.
“But that’s not winning games of basketball.
“When we use the word ‘bench’ it’s not the guys who don’t start, it’s whoever is sitting on there at the time, one through to 11.
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“It starts at practice by challenging each other, but it means slapping each other on the butt and supporting your teammates when it might not be your day.
“Basketball is a game of mistakes and as long as you know your teammate has your back that’s all that matters.
“After training we sat down as a team and said ‘what’s going on?’ ‘why are we losing close games?’
“Because we were playing three quarters of good basketball and one quarter of bad ball.
“So, we addressed that and decided we needed to get around each other more, be happy for everyone - even if that means you might have to sacrifice your own game on a particular night.
“And so far it’s not perfect, but our bench has been super active the past few games.”
Adelaide had a light training session and video review on Tuesday after the biggest win of its season on Sunday, when the Sixers toppled reigning champions Perth on the road.
It took Adelaide’s record to 6-6 and puts it one game outside the top four ahead of another road trip to Melbourne this weekend.
But coach Joey Wright saw positive signs a week earlier when they beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix also on the road.
“I think it (team-first attitude) clicked after we saw the success of it against the Phoenix,” Wright said.
“It’s going to be different guys on different nights and they’ve got to be supporting each other.
“That’s where we’re at and the last few weeks the guys have done a really good job of it.
“It’s about putting layers of resilience in place so when something happens in a game situation we don’t panic.
“But you’ve got to go through some s*** first because you can’t manufacture resilience.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au