The club-by-club DBL Championship season preview: Ins and outs, players to watch, coach comments
The best of the best in Darwin basketball will be going head-to-head as the 2023-24 campaign begins. Find out what is happening at club land ahead of the men’s and women’s championship seasons.
Local sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Darwin top flight men and women basketball competitions are set to be cracker campaigns with a number of big-name recruits occurring during the off-season.
With Lightning out of the men’s competition this year, a number of basketballers from the ceased team have spread across the league including star player Luca Tutty who has gone to Ansett. Darwin Salties gun Josh Spiers has also gone to Ansett.
Razzle/Cannons have made more moves than most under newly signed coach Dan East while some other rival clubs are sticking to similar lineups to last season.
Defending men’s champions Ellas Titans came from third last year to win the ultimate prize over the Eagles and Ansett who had only lost three games each heading into finals.
PaRBA United were the other team to make finals.
The women’s competition saw TV Jets take all the glory with a nine-point win over Lightning in the grand final.
The Jets had only lost one game all season and were proven to be the benchmark side.
It is all to play for in this DBL Men’s and Women’s Championship season with the action set to begin on Friday night with two grand final rematches.
Ellas Titans and Eagles will face off for the men’s grand final rematch while TV Jets and Lightning will go head-to-head.
See the complete breakdown of each team.
EAGLES
EAGLES MEN’S
Last season: Grand final, 19-0-4
Coach: Shane Harrison
Ins: Djuan Miller (US)
Outs: Lafonzo Smith (injured)
Player to watch: Brodie Lawton
“We had a guy come to us a couple of years ago and he suffered a few injuries and he is yet to make his league debut and he is looking like he might this year,” Harrison said.
“So Brodie Lawton, a fierce competitor, great on ball defender, I think it is going to take him a while to get his game-day pace back, maybe three or four games possibly
“But I am really looking forward to Brodie’s league debut.”
Coach comments ahead of the season:
“(Feeling) optimistic (about the season),” he said.
“It’s always nervous heading into the season, you always have a turnover of players.
“We have lost our big import from last year (Lafonzo Smith) and now we’re introducing a new import so you’re never quite sure about what you’ve got until about three or four games in.
“Quietly confident but still nervous about the what we have got.”
EAGLES WOMEN’S
Last season: Sixth, 1-0-14
Coach: Joseph Johnson
Captain: Tiayana Sing
Ins: Tyra-Lee Link (Queensland), Yooleelar Link (Queensland), Cobie Lee (Razzle)
Outs: Nil.
Player to watch: Alyssa Reid
“She is very versatile, she is long and athletic, she can shoot, she can finish, she can make plays for her teammates,” Johnson said.
Coach comments ahead of the season:
“(Pre-season has been) fantastic,” he said.
“We have picked up a couple of young talented players and it’s looking like it’s going to be a competitive season.”
TV JETS
Last season: Fifth, 10-1-9
Coach: TBC
Captain: Alexander Weetra
Ins: Jacob Long (Darwin Dingoes), Anthony Golden (Eagles)
Outs: Nil.
Player to watch: Jerron Jamerson
“Jerron just because of how we finished last season, he will have a little say this season I think,” Weetra said.
Captain comments ahead of the season:
“The pre-season has been a bit slow obviously with the Salties season finishing and then everyone getting back to the local comp,” he said.
“So it’s been little hard to get numbers at pre-season but it’s obviously grown as the season has gotten closer so we have had a few good numbers at training.
“We are looking to blood a couple of young kids this season so we have got a couple of under-18s we’re looking to give a taste of league this season.
“There’s a couple of juniors, Taj Murray and possibly Byron Ahmat.
“We have got Jerron who has been with us for a couple of years now so he is going around again and we possibly have another import in the works who will be arriving two or three games into the season.
“So we pretty much got the same local core from last season, we are just adding a couple of pieces.
“We got a guard from Dingoes, Jacob Long, he is coming along and having his first league season.
“We just got a good mix of a couple of imports and good local core pretty much.”
TV JETS WOMEN’S
Last season: Champions, 14-0-1
Coach: Danielle Toddanmond Desmond
Captain: Kylie Duggan
Ins: Nil.
Outs: Nil.
Player to watch: Tyla Cubillo
“Tyla Cubillo is one of those senior players who has also come back from the NBL1 season playing with the Brisbane Capitals side there,” Duggan said.
“So Tyla is obviously one that is firing and ready to go for us in our senior group.”
Captain comments ahead of the season:
“I think we are all feeling pretty good,” Duggan said, who is coming off a season with NBL1 outfit Darwin Salties.
“We have had a few good lead up sessions, as much prep as we have been able to with players having other commitments in the team.
“So it’s been a steady sort of warm up to the season.
“We have had a few girls playing division 1 which has helped to continue that playing while we have had the off-season so that’s been good for the team.
“We will pretty much have the same team as we had last season.
“Not much has changed from our side really so we will just continue blooding those juniors through and developing those players.
“And we are all ready to go for Round 1.”
ELLAS TITANS
ELLAS TITANS MEN’S
Last season: Champions, 17-0-7
Coach: Erin Bollmann
Ins: Jp Davis (PaRBA), Xavier Brenton-Reed (footballer)
Outs: Clayton Jewell (College, US), Daniel Gabriel-Yak (interstate)
Player to watch: JP Davis
“We were actually lucky enough to get JP Davis over to our Titans team,” Bollmann said.
“He was initially playing for PaRBA.
“He is going to be a big powerhouse for us as well with his assists and scoring.
“So he is a silent killer that we have, new and apart of the team so that would be somebody to watch for sure.”
Coach comments ahead of the season:
“We are feeling really good,” she said.
“We have a lot of the same players from last year coming back to play this year so if that tells you anything about our culture, we have a bunch of the guys that want to be a part of it for the second year going into this league season.
“We have got Deba George, Nate Jawai, Elijah Sample, a bunch of power houses within the Titans team that I think can lead us into another championship two years running.”
ELLAS TITANS WOMEN’S
Last season: Preliminary final, 10-0-5
Coach: Emanuel Siriotis
Captain: Erin Bollmann
Ins: Dyana Naledawa (Razzle/Cannons), Heidi Mcconachy (Razzle Thunder junior)
Outs: Nil.
Player to watch: Abbey-Lee Wood
“Player to watch would be Abbey-Lee Wood,” Siriotis said.
“She is just coming off a Salties season and she is raring to have a really good positive season here locally.”
Coach comments ahead of the season:
“Yeah, we did (make it to the preliminary final),” he said.
“It was a great result for our inaugural season in the women’s league so we are very proud of that as a club.
“(We are feeling) very confident (going into this year).
“We’ve got a very big squad, a lot of juniors stepping up to play league as well.
“So we got a really good squad this season so I will be expecting big things.”
ANSETT
Last season: Preliminary final, 17-1-4
Coach: Kym McInerney
Captain: Matty Hunt
Ins: Josh Spiers (Salties), Luca Tutty (Lightning)
Outs: Josh Cherry (PaRBA)
Player to watch: Josh Spiers
“Fred Williams has done it for multiple years now and so I kind of expect him to back it up again this year,” Hunt said.
“But Spiers who has had a couple of injury riddled years with the Salties, and we probably haven’t seen the best of him in that time, will be massive for us.
“His leadership, his voice and his shooting ability from anywhere on the court is probably going to be unmatched in this league.
“He’s going to be a great asset to us in regards to just stretching the floor, hitting shots when we need it and talking defence.”
Captain comments ahead of the season:
“It’s going to be a completely new season with new faces around and hearing the kind of new lists going around which is really exciting for Darwin Basketball as a whole,“ he said.
“The depth sounds like it’s there a bit more this year, particularly with Lightning dropping out as well making the remaining squads a bit deeper meaning.
“It’s going to be one of the toughest league comps there’s been for quite a while.
“We’ve been competitive for a few years now, finishing top two last year and winning the year before so we’re pretty confident we’ll be around the mark again.
“We’ve added some talent from the last few years including Josh Spiers and Luca Tutty who I’m looking forward to seeing how they fit in.
“Other than that our squad is pretty much the same with us veterans including myself, Fred Williams and Henry Bui and our young core including Kane Toohey, Hayden Brauer and Lucas Duncan.”
ANSETT WOMEN’S
Last season: Fifth, 4-0-11
UNI REBELS
Last season: Sixth, 7-0-13
Coach: Malix Laurel
Ins: Michael Dupree (Seattle, US), Quayshun Hawkins (Seattle, US), William Abbasmoi (PaRBA)
Outs: Ayden Johnson (Razzle), Will Yarren (interstate)
Player to watch: Mixon Laurel
“Mixon Laurel, he has been our front runner for the past couple of years leading the team in scoring and other aspects,” Laurel said.
“He finished a stint in the under-20s nationals for NT last April.
“He is one of our up-and-coming stars, he is already averaging 20 points a game for the past two years.
“We are hoping to build with him and around him and with the addition of the new players, it will open up opportunities for him to score and contribute more away from the ball.”
Coach comments ahead of the season:
“Feeling optimistic (about the season),” he said.
“We got a couple of new players coming in, two imports, one is Michael Dupree who just came in from a stint in NBL 1 West.
“I think he was the league leading scorer over there.
“Another one is Quayshun Hawkins, he play a couple of years ago at Tamworth, now he is having a run with us.
“And then we got a young core group at the moment, they are all pretty skilled, they just need to come together and play together.
“We have one injury at the moment, we are waiting for him to come back to training, our starting centre Eric Klenke.
“He had a knee injury so we are waiting for him to come to the fold to complete the team.
“Last time I talked to him he said about four weeks before he is back into the fold.”
UNI REBELS WOMEN’S
Last season: Semi-final, 5-0-10
Outs: Taneesa Hampton (Lightning)
PARBA UNITED MEN’S
Last season: Semi-final, 14-0-8
Coach: Lance Godwin
Captain: Tom Godwin
Ins: Josh Cherry (Ansett), Jarrod Molnar (Salties/RIP City), Nichula Liyanage
Outs: Jesse Bell (Work), William Abbasmoi (Rebels), JP Davis (Titans), Dan Salvador (Razzle)
Player to watch: Dan Babb
“Can’t really single one guy out, it takes a team to win in this league but Dan Babb will be back in,” Godwin said.
“He’s been a Saltie for the past two seasons and he’s coming back from injury after being awesome for us last season.
“We’re really excited to have Dan back in the side and are really excited to see what he can do in the team.”
Coach comments ahead of the season:
“The league is going to be really strong this season, it appears a lot of teams have recruited well so we’re anticipating the level to be quite high,” he said.
“We’re probably a bit of a different team this year with a fair bit of turnover in our players, but we’ve retained our core group and we’re excited by the players we have coming in.
“We’ve lost Jesse Bell who is obviously a stalwart of the league, but we also have a couple of guys back including Steven Sing who was our MVP two or three years ago.
“We’re a work in progress, it will take us a little while to gel as a side with a lot of new players but we think we will be competitive from the tip and we will go from there.”
RAZZLE/CANNONS MEN’S
Last season: Seventh, 3-0-18
Coach: Dan East
Ins: Dan Salvador (PaRBA), Fabian Johnson (Rebels and Southern Tigers NBL1 Central), Oliver Penman (Lightning), Sean Johnston (Eagles), Billy Kees (Lightning).
Outs: Danny Calcatera (US)
Player to watch: Kayden Malseed
“Kayden does a little bit of everything,” East said.
“He is lightning quick, gets to the rim really well, he sets up his teammates really well, defensively very strong.
“He plays much bigger than he is, he is just a great leader.
“He is going to be very important to our success.”
Coach comments ahead of the season:
“Pretty good (feeling about the season),” he said.
“Obviously new bunch of players, I’m signed on as coach this year now too so first season with the boys so it should be some fun.
“It’s going to be good.
“We have had a couple of guys come across from some other clubs.
“The trainings so far... the boys have gotten really around each other and they have just been working hard trying to do the right things.
“I think it’s going to be a fun season.”
LIGHTNING WOMEN’S
Last season: Grand final, 11-0-4
Coach: Jason Ivinson
Captain: Claire Maree O’Bryan Hunt
Ins: Chelsea Brook (Salties), Taneesa Hampton (Uni Rebels), Amy Smith (Ellas Titans)
Outs: Lauren Barnes (Work)
Player to watch: Chelsea Brook
“Chelsea will be the player to watch, she’s the standout in anything having played at the top level,” Ivinson said.
“She’s not playing women’s NBL this season and is instead staying to play in the DBL which is a great win for us.
“For us she’s a big signing because we don’t normally have someone of that talent become available, so to have her will really change up how we play.”
Coach comments ahead of the season:
“We’ve had good numbers, we’ve literally had 16 girls which is great and more than we had last season,” Ivinson said.
“Taneesa is a Lightning junior and a big in for us coming from Rebels where she had probably had to do everything and coming to us where she can find her role so she can get to the sta
“We’re looking to definitely challenge again this season and obviously get to the big dance as we did last year against whoever it is.
“But obviously as with all the sides we know there’s a small pool so you have to be ready to play but we want to put on another good season for our supporters.”
‘See some records broken’: First medals given out as ‘Games with Heart’ kicks off
One of the biggest weeks on the Red Centre sporting calendar is underway in full force, drawing thousands of competitors – some of whom have already taken out the top prize. SEE THE PICTURES.
REPLAY: Magpies impress in first outing of new campaign
Is this a changing of the guard moment in the NTFL women’s competition? A young Palmerston side has overcome a rebuilding Waratah to kick off their season in style. Check the REPLAY.