Pair of two-way threats the reason for Meteors flying start in NBL1 North this season

Mackay coach Joel Khalu has identified the key reasons for the Meteors strong start to the NBL1 North season.

Harry Froling for the Mackay Meteors. Picture: Matthew Forrest

Experienced heads and a team mentality has led to the Meteors’ outstanding success this season.

Mackay notched up its fifth consecutive win for the season when it toppled South West Metro at the weekend, despite the Pirates recently recruiting Australian Boomer Mitch Creek.

Meteors coach Joel Khalu said he was pleased with how his side defended the NBL star.

“We knew on Thursday he was going to play, I think we were lucky they went to Rocky first and we had a chance to watch him play,” Khalu said.

“We talked about how we were going to guard him, I thought we did a really good job taking care of him across the board.”

Emmanuel Malou was primarily responsible for Creek and he held his own against the star, which pleased Khalu.

“I thought Manny showed his class and that he’s certainly an NBL-ready prospect,” he said.

“He was outstanding defensively, with two blocks and two steals, but he also had 25 points and played really well on the offensive end as well.”

Emmanuel Malou is averaging 21.83 points, 8.17 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal a game for Mackay in 2021. Picture: Aidan Cureton

Harry Froling played his second game for the Meteors following his move from Brisbane, with the big man dropping 19 points, 18 rebounds and five assists.

“Harry contributes to the game in so many ways, he moves the ball well, he gets guys involved and he can score himself,” Khalu said.

“He got banged up a bit on the inside and probably should’ve got more calls than he did, but to his credit he played through it.”

Khalu said it was pleasing to give some of the younger players extended minutes on the floor.

“I thought that the young guys deserved a chance to play some minutes,” he said.

“Our main eight guys got to play a decent clip of minutes, but we’re going to need good productivity off the bench especially heading into double and triple-headers over the next few weeks.

“We’ll have to rest players more and try to keep them fresh by playing the younger players more often.”

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Originally published as Pair of two-way threats the reason for Meteors flying start in NBL1 North this season