MARVELLOUS METEORS: Mackay takes out NBL1 North championship
Meteors master Joel Khalu reveals the four key players who delivered his team a championship as he casts his eye forward to the next big challenge. See the best pictures in our gallery.
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The Mackay Meteors are kings of the NBL1 North conference after defeating the Brisbane Capitals on back-to-back nights to secure the trophy.
Mackay had been the team to beat all season as they finished top of the ladder with a 15-2 record, and they showed why on both Friday and Saturday evenings with a pair of convincing performances.
“There’s some excitement and some relief, but mostly it’s just happiness for this group and for everyone involved with the club,” Meteors coach Joel Khalu said.
“To be able to win a championship at home is really special, so it was a pretty phenomenal feeling.”
The Meteors got off to a red-hot start in the first quarter of game one, breaking away to a 30-19 lead before the Capitals struck back with a second-quarter run which closed the gap back to three points.
“We got an unreal start in game one, I thought the boys ran out with the right energy, there weren’t a lot of nerves,” Khalu said.
“We were able to have the game on our terms and dictate the tempo for a lot of it, but we knew Brisbane were never going to go away.
“They’re a great team ands they’re really well coached with some high-level talent, and they just kept on coming at us.
“But I thought defensively our second half was a whole lot better, we made some adjustments around how we wanted to defend them which worked really well and set up the win for us.
“We also showed a lot of resilience when Brisbane made that run, particularly in the third quarter where they slowed down the game and got it on their terms a bit.
“We weren’t necessarily great offensively, but defensively we just kept chipping away.”
Game two saw them put on an even more dominant display as they won 102-80, despite what Khalu admitted was a slow start.
“We didn’t start game two great, we missed a couple of early shots, whether that was nerves or pressure I’m not quite sure,” he said.
“But once we were able to get into the rhythm of it again, we were fantastic, especially on the defensive end.
“I was just so proud of our group, to keep a side like Brisbane at or under 80 points across two grand finals games is an enormous effort.”
Khalu revealed the four key players who helped his side secure the championship, including one unlikely player off the bench.
Todd Blanchfield
Where else to start but Mackay’s very own Todd Blanchfield, who took out Grand Final MVP honours thanks to a pair of exceptional performances across the series.
He showcased his all-round abilities in both matches, starting things off in game one with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists to go along with a massive five steals on the defensive end.
He was arguably even better in game two, with a stat line of 27-7-4, but once again it was is defence which coach Khalu wanted to highlight.
“We switched ‘Toddy’ on to (NBL1 North MVP) Sam McDaniel in the second half of game one... McDaniel had 21 points at half time and only finished with 29 for the game,” Khalu said.
“He did a phenomenal job, and it was even more clear in game two when McDaniel only had 15 points, it was a great performance from him.”
Isaac White
The Meteors’ superstar guard Isaac White was once again at his damaging best with ball in hand across both games, as he put up 30 points (including 4-6 from three-point range) in game one, before following it up with another 22 points to go along with nine rebounds and six assists.
“He was phenomenal, he’s our offensive barometer, when he’s aggressive and playing at pace we just look so much better,” Khalu said.
“That was another one of our focuses as a group, we wanted to run the ‘Caps’ off the floor and get up the court early.
“Isaac is relentless, his play style really suits how I want to coach a team on the offensive side of the ball... we saw it not just across the weekend but across the entire season, he’s a top three player in this league.”
Emmett Naar
The Meteors’ veteran floor general in Emmett Naar proved to be a critical piece to the puzzle across the season, but when the lights got the brightest he rose to another level.
He registered double-digit assists in both games, and was just two rebounds away from a grand final triple-double in game two.
He stepped his own scoring up a notch as well, scoring 19 points in game two - including nailing all three of his long-range attempts.
“We challenged Emmett during the week to come out and be aggressive in this series and the second night he really did that... to be just two rebounds shy of a triple-double is unbelievable,” Khalu said.
“His ability to create the right shot for his teammates with his passing is next-level, he’s so unselfish and that’s what we all love about him and it’s the reason we brought him in to be our floor general.”
Amarco Doyle
A perhaps unlikely source of inspiration in game two came by way of 19-year-old Amarco Doyle, who saw his first in-game action since the final round of the regular season back on July 13.
But he was able to reward his coach’s faith in his ability in his 15 minutes of action, putting up 10 points and four rebounds including one shot from long-range.
“We knew the whole time that he had the ability to make an impact, it was just about finding the right time to inject him into the game, but we found that in the second quarter of game two,” Khalu said.
“This ability to stretch the floor is super valuable, he’s one of our best shooters and when they were packing the paint we knew we needed that option that he provided for us.
“But at the same time, he’s athletic enough to guard multiple positions or go and get a rebound.
“I’m just really proud of him as a 19-year-old kid being able to come in and have an impact in a big game like that and help his side to a championship.”
What’s next?
With this win, the Meteors have booked themselves a place in the NBL1 National Finals series, where they’ll take on the champions from the other four divisions of the NBL1 (South, East, West and Central) along with last year’s national champions Knox Raiders.
As an added bonus, the finals are set to be held relatively close to home for Mackay this year, with teams to travel to the Sunshine Coast for the competition.
“We spoke collectively as a group early in the season, and for us it wasn’t just about winning the North, it was about being the best team in the country,” Khalu said.
“It’s certainly not going to be easy, but we’re going to be in our home state of Queensland with hopefully some local support behind us, I think it’s going to be huge.”
The National Finals will be held at the University of Sunshine Coast and Caloundra Indoor Stadium from August 16-18.
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