Geelong United import Kaelen Malone to miss up to two months with fractured wrist

United has bounced back hard from a nightmare start to the NBL1 South season, but it will miss its new point guard for up to two months after suffering an injury in Tasmania.

Kaelen Malone is expected to miss up to two months with a fractured wrist. Picture: Sumqayit BK.

Geelong United has got its NBL1 South season back on track with a two-win trip to the Apple Isle, but it came at a heavy cost.

Having lost its previous two encounters, the 1-3 United travelled to Tasmania to find some form and that they did, downing the Hobart Chargers on Saturday night, 78-73, and Northwest Tasmania on Anzac Day, 86-82, to finish the weekend in 11th place.

On both occasions, United had trailed by three points at the final break, before they outscored the home team 23-15 and 27-20 respectively.

However, US import and point guard Kaelen Malone fractured his wrist early in the second term on the Friday night and is expected to miss up to two months.

Malone had been averaging six assists a game, with nine against Ballarat and eight against Mt Gambier — a 50-point, opening round smashing which gave coach Grant Wallace’s men pause for thought.

Kaelen Malone will be out for up to two months with a fractured wrist. Picture: Geelong United.

“For us to stay the course and stick to what the team rules were, and to come away with a win there was phenomenal,” Wallace said of United’s efforts on Friday night in Launceston.

“We’ll find out more this week (about Malone), he had to have a bit of minor surgery in Launceston.

“It’s going to really test us.”

Wallace said Malone and Demarcus Gatlin had been exceptional with their leadership.

“It’s all the extra stuff (Malone) does, just his leadership and organisation on the floor, defensively and offensively,” he said.

Meanwhile, he hoped to get George Blagojevic back in a week or two (“He’s a big component of what we do, we miss him”) who is recovering from minor knee surgery.

Despite the loss of Malone early on Anzac Day, Tristan Forsyth put in a monster display with 31 points and 13 boards, plus back-to-back dunks in the final quarter.

George Blagojevic is still one to two weeks away following knee surgery. Picture: Jacqui Neill.

Then, on Saturday night, Liam Herbert would score seven points in the final 25 seconds to give the visitors the lead, finishing with 24 points and six assists for the match.

“He was on a bit of a tear, he wasn’t having a great night shooting-wise, he was getting looks but we weren’t getting any threes,” Wallace said of Herbert.

“We just stayed the course, and we got down by 14 early against Hobart and just kept fighting our way back.”

While any road trip is a challenge, Wallace embraces the grind.

“In some ways it’s a great thing because you’re able to galvanise yourself as a group,” he said.

“I actually like it on the road myself, because I’m a little bit more in control.

“We can control a certain element of what they do in preparation for games.”

Wallace said United had shown grit and character to bounce back from Mt Gambier’s mauling, as Geelong’s premier women have started the season in spectacular style, now 6-0.

“There wasn’t a hell of a lot of sleep being had that week,” he said of that Round 1 hammering.

“It may well be the better kicking we needed to say: ‘Hey, you guys aren’t as good as you think you are, you’re going to have to work on this’.

“It’s helped us out a lot, it’s kept us grounded.”

United's Demarcus Gatlin was best on court against the Hobart Chargers. Picture: Geelong United.

“Following that game, it might have been one of the better things to happen to us because we had to reflect a little bit more about where we were at.

“We got beaten by Bendigo on the buzzer, we should have won that game, we shot terribly from the three ... and we left 15 points on the foul line (against Waverley).

“The reality is we could easily be 5-1 right now.

“Just those little errors, and the league is so good that you can’t afford to not be making those foul shots, having a poor shooting night.”

However, Wallace has been proud of the efforts of some local players, in Ethan Blythe and Marach Marach.

“That’s the mantra of what I’ve been employed to do, is develop all the Geelong kids.” he said.

“If we can get (Marach’s) consistency level to where it needs to be, his good is really good and his bad is really bad.

“He can play against anybody in this league, he’s so athletic, we’ve just got to get that maturity into him.”

Originally published as Geelong United import Kaelen Malone to miss up to two months with fractured wrist