Why Stoddart can follow Macdonald to Jackies stardom

Majok Deng and Milton Doyle were the heroes against Adelaide, but a young gun showed he can follow Sean Macdonald by being the Jackies’ next big thing. Get the fallout from Friday’s crucial overtime win here.

Majok Deng was on fire in the Jackies’ big win over Adelaide on Friday. (Photo by Simon Sturzaker/Getty Images)

Losing Sean Macdonald for the season is a “huge blow”, but it could open the door for another raw talent in Nick Stoddart to follow a similar path to the big time.

The 24-year-old has dominated NBL1 at Ballarat, but showed why he’s been giving his teammates grief at practice with three first quarter three pointers in Friday’s one-point overtime home win over Adelaide.

He hit all three of his attempts from long range after he was given a starting spot after Macdonald was ruled out for the season with a foot injury.

Also blessed with lightning speed, Stoddart would have played more than 15 minutes had he not got into foul trouble.

Majok Deng, who continued his terrific recent form with 26 points off the bench, could only shake his head and mutter “for sure” when Jackies coach Scott Roth described how difficult Stoddart has been to contain at scrimmages.

“He’s a really talented kid. When he first came to us, I think he was taken aback by the work that was taking place (at training),” Roth said.

“Credit to him and (assistant coaches) Jack Fleming and Mark Radford and Jarrad Weeks, (because) he was probably in the Seany Mac kind of theme when we got him.

“He just started to work, and get into the system. The last four to six weeks in practice he’s been a handful to guard and for anyone to play one on one with him.

“I told him (before the game) I need the aggressive Nick Stoddart, I don’t need a passive one who’s going to defer to people.

“I wish he didn’t get into foul trouble because he would have played more minutes. He has a really good skill set and he deserves it because he’s put in the work.”

On the other end of the NBL experience scale, 31-year-old forward Deng has been enormous in helping the JackJumpers recover from a slow start to the season.

Nick Stoddart takes a shot. (Photo by Simon Sturzaker/Getty Images)

He also delivered eight rebounds, two assists and two assists against the 36ers, which helped the Jackies snap a two-game losing run and improve to 12-10 before Sunday’s home clash with Perth.

While it was guard Milton Doyle (22 points, nine assists, six rebounds) who supplied the crucial offensive board and tip in to ice the win, Deng was best on court.

After scoring off an alley-oop to get his side within three points late in regulation, Deng nailed a three-pointer off an errant Adelaide pass to send the game to overtime.

His inside presence in the absence of Will Magnay has been essential to the Jackies staying afloat in the finals race.

“A shout out to (former teammate) Jack McVeigh, I hit a big shot,” Deng said.

“I trust my shot. I’ve been working for that for a long time and credit to coach, he told me at halftime I was a little bit hesitant and told me to shoot the ball.

“It might look like a great game for me, but I did a lot of not great things, the things we stand by.

“But shout out to the team that stands by me and pushes me through. That’s what we do we play for one another.

“When you miss a guy like Will Magnay, he’s the best centre in the league and we all have to chip in.

“As you saw you got a game winner (rebound) from a guard, that shows the grit and grind. “To win the rebound count (49-42) against that team is a huge credit to everyone on the team.”

Roth was even more passionate than usual after the match, celebrating exuberantly with fans walking off court.

“These guys continue to show up and fight and scrap. It’s probably one of the greatest games I’ve been a part of, to be quite honest with you, and without question the best home game ever in this building.

“Proud would be an understatement of our guys and their fight. I know the character of this group and we’re just not going to go away.

“Credit to Majok and the group, and the tenacity to just gothrough things. Seany was a big blow to us, he’s a huge factor in how we planned the season.

“Then we have these two games right away, someone else steps up and we got great contributions across the board.”

Jackies skipper Clint Steindl will play his 350th game against his former team the Wildcats, not long after teammate Reuben Te Rangi celebrated the same milestone.

“When I was lucky enough to get this job at this franchise, a big thing for me was to bring Clint on this journey and he’s been remarkabe.

“He’s a true pro these guys get to see, Nick Stoddart gets to see how he shows up. His leadership is incredible.”