In the first edition of a three-part series, I chat to Owen Tomlinson, the owner of the club, David Claxton, who founded the club, players Scott MacGregor, Anthony Petrie and James Harvey all agreed to take a look back.

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THE BEGINNING

Owen Tomlinson: Tom Tate, Dave Claxton, Mick Ellison (Mano’s owner) and I had discussions for about a year looking at the possibilities. A year later, Dave Claxton said an opportunity was there and myself and Tom put some money in to get started. Ultimately, my family took on all the ownership. I have been a basketball tragic since day one and we were so excited to make basketball huge on the Gold Coast … unfortunately the day we announced the team, Ian Thorpe retired and took all the headlines from us.

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The first year we did well, probably overachieved, our imports were solid. We had great support from the community, lots of sponsorship as well. Making the playoffs was a huge effort in our first year. Then in 2008, the GFC hit, and it was extremely hard to get sponsorship. We had some great talent and the community embraced the team.

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David Claxton: The Singapore Slingers had lost their NBL licence and we also had discussions with Newcastle who had lost their licence as well. The politicking behind the scenes took a few years for the license to come to fruition.

The GC Convention Centre took a while to negotiate about being the home venue, this was while the centre was still being built. It was crucial for us to have a home floor. We were able to get an NCAA quality floor, which took months to arrive. It cost a lot of money, and we also had to get hoops for the court of the quality required. Adrienne Readings and her team at the Convention centre were a great help.

Gold Coast City Council was instrumental in supporting all these endeavours, Ron Clarke, mayor at the time, was extremely helpful at the time.

Anthony Petrie: I sent an email to the GC Blaze before I had made the NBL, after two seasons in the league Joey Wright had reached out to me while he was at Brisbane, so then he approached me to come the team. I was really excited to join the group, especially playing with James Harvey. Being close to my family was a real benefit moving to the Gold Coast.

Scott Macgregor: It was a real honour to be the first ever player signed, Brendon Joyce spoke to my agent and got the deal done. I was impressed with the professional attitude of the group. It was a great privilege to be co-captain with James Harvey.

James Harvey: I had two years in West Sydney that were quite tough, and I was coming off a shoulder surgery. Brendon Joyce and I had been involved with the Australian squad and when he was announced as coach, he talked me through his system and told me what he expected of me. I also thought that coming from Perth, Gold Coast was a similar style city that I would enjoy.