By Sam McClure
The “who’s who” of the sporting world were at John Cain Arena on Tuesday night as the Boomers, Australia’s men’s basketball team, overcame a sluggish start to defeat China in one of their final hitouts before heading to Paris.
North Melbourne stars Jy Simpkin and Harry Sheezel found themselves behind the players’ benches, almost low enough to be called floor seats. Further south, Hawthorn legend turned list guru Jarryd Roughead was sitting alongside brother, player agent Cam.
A week earlier, Roughead, former teammate and now Hawks coach Sam Mitchell, and vice captain Dylan Moore were preparing to fly to Sydney to meet Greater Western Sydney free agent Harry Perryman.
Sitting with their (oversized) feet actually on the court, as they were so many times both in the NBA and for Australia, Andrew Bogut was there alongside David Andersen.
Standing out in the crowd: Yao Ming looks on at Tuesday night’s game.Credit: Getty Images
But there’s no one bigger, literally, than Yao Ming, who was hiding in a roped-off area in the lower levels.
The eight-time NBA All-Star flew in with the Chinese team as the chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association.
Yao was flanked by heavy security for the duration of the game, as expected when every second person wanted to get a photo alongside a guy who is 229 centimetres tall(that’s 7ft 6 in the old measure).
In fact, the only two people allowed near him were Andersen(the two were briefly teammates at the Houston Rockets) and former Nine television boss Matt Scriven.
Scriven is now the chief executive of Basketball Australia, but not even he could convince Yao to speak to host broadcaster Fox.
This columnist decided to try his luck, and didn’t get past security.
Collingwood big man reaches out to Petracca
Not quite as tall, but much more media-friendly, is Collingwood ruckman Mason Cox, who also had floor seats to the game alongside fellow injured Pie Dan McStay.
In fact, it turns out Cox is more than just media friendly – he’s friendly in general. A club insider confirmed the American had this week reached out to injured Melbourne star Christian Petracca, who is recovering from his horrific spleen injury.
Cox was the most recent AFL player to injure his spleen before Petracca, albeit Petracca’s tear was reported to be far more serious than that suffered by Cox, who was able to return to the field after seven weeks of rest.
Cox offered his support to Petracca, who has ruled himself out for the season, and even offered to connect him with his doctor.
Christian Petracca was in immediate pain after the collision in the King’s Birthday clash.Credit: AFL Photos
And while Cox is confident of returning from a knee injury in the next few weeks, it’s McStay’s prognosis that will equally delight Pies fans.
The former Lion, who ruptured his ACL in the preliminary final win over GWS, rendering him unable to play in the premiership, is on track for a miraculous return this season. An all the more remarkable recovery when you consider he reinjured his knee at the start of December.
The Magpies had privately put a line through his name for the entire season. But luckily, the line was drawn in pencil, and they are getting ready to pull out the eraser.
McStay has been in full-contact training for several weeks now and completed full match simulation on Wednesday. All things going well, those in the know at Collingwood say the aim is to have him return to senior football for the round 20 clash with Richmond.
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