Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman defends under-fire star Chris Goulding over ‘flop’ gibes

As rival club owners, coaches and fans pile on Chris Goulding over ‘flop’ accusations, Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman has defended his star and called on the United faithful to come out in force for their club legend.

Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman has launched a passionate defence of under-fire captain Chris Goulding, adamant his star doesn’t need to change the way he plays despite opposing teams’ accusations he exaggerates contact.

In the wake of Thursday night’s high drama in Wollongong, where United toppled Illawarra, Vickerman was roiled by suggestions from Hawks’ owner Jared Novelly and coach Justin Tatum, Goulding had “flopped” and he flew the flag for the 36-year-old.

Justin Tatum: “I’m intimidating. I guess my voice is too deep, I’m too tall, my skin colour’s different… I hear the same coaches say similar or the same things or complain about the same stuff, and their leash is a little bit longer. I guess I have to be made an example out of.” pic.twitter.com/qaCgAvvUHD

— Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) October 24, 2024

“Yeah, I’m going to defend him,” a defiant Vickerman told Code Sports.

“He’s doing what we want him to do for the club, and that’s all that matters to me.

“But it doesn’t matter what I say.

“Have the league given him flopping technicals that I need to go talk to him about?

“No.

“So there’s nothing for us to talk about in this space.”

Vickerman said the criticism of Goulding, who shrugged off SEM Phoenix owner Romie Chaudhari’s ‘weak s**t’ barb and incessant booing from the Illawarra crowd to dominate the Hawks with 25 points, was unfair and he deserved praise for his “captain’s knock” without injured stars Matthew Dellavedova and Shea Ili.

Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman has defended his star captain Chris Goulding.

Goulding was accused of embellishing contact when he fell to the court, clutching his ankle with 2.21 left in the game, the crowd chanting ‘flop’, NBL fans storming social media to pile-on and Tatum sarcastically saying “We’re just happy that Chris Goulding didn’t hurt himself flopping in front of us”.

“I don’t need him to change anything in the way that he plays,” Vickerman said.

“Two point guards out and he comes and drops 25 — that should be the narrative.”

The evening culminated in a blistering post-game press conference that has made Tatum the subject of a Basketball Australia integrity unit probe after he called the league’s referees “incompetent”.

Vickerman addressed the mix-up with the number of time-outs he had, which had some punters calling for a technical foul, but the NBL clarified, under FIBA rules, a technical foul was not automatically assessed for calling a time-out when a team’s quota had been reached.

“The problem was, at the start of the fourth quarter, up on the scoreboard they had me (listed) for still three time-outs,” Vickerman said.

“I was planning on using the three, the board was saying the wrong information.”

Crazy scenes last night. I’m my 20 years going to the game I never recall something like this #nbl25pic.twitter.com/1jMszLPfpO

— ashley (@ashboyle_) October 25, 2024

Vickerman put out a call to arms to the United faithful as his squad prepared to back up Sunday at John Cain Arena against bogey side Cairns, which has one six of the past seven meetings between the two clubs — hopefully with the return of Dellavedova from niggling knee and ankle issues.

“I hope our home fans totally get behind him (Goulding),” Vickerman said.

“My focus is on making sure we go in with a great game plan, seeing what personnel we have ready to go and really rewarding our fans, who have been amazing, and we want to give them a great performance.”

Originally published as Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman defends under-fire star Chris Goulding over ‘flop’ gibes