Tara Murray
The Macedon Ranges Rockies have gone younger as they look to again be competitive in the Basketball Victoria Country Basketball League north-west.
After a final series in their first season, the Rockies have a very different looking line up this season.
Coach Michael Ryan said they were hoping the group would be able to stick around for a number of years.
“We have seven new faces out of the 16 players,” he said. “Half the team is different.
“Without Billy [Feben] and Jordan [Kirk] there’s opportunities for other players to step up.
“A lot of the guys are still under 20 and it’s a bit of a development team for now and the future.
“We’re really excited about what this team can put out and think we can be competitive this year and in the future.”
Jacob Poyser leads the young group of players, scoring 24 points in the season opener. Ryan said without Feben, Poyser, who is still a teenager, would get more opportunities.
Saxon Royale will get more opportunities this season, while Matthew Merrett and Josh Greetham are among the other young stars the Rockies are expecting to see a lot of.
“They are guys for the future.”
Others in the team include, Matt Quinn, Jason Christian, Shawn Bowden and Tate Barnes.
The Rockies started their season with a loss, losing to Maryborough 79-70. Ryan said they were fairly happy with the result.
“We only had nine players available,” he said. “Tom Scott, Matthew Merrett, Mark Colvin and Dylan Tunn were all missing, that’s two starters and two rotation players.
“We had a couple lapses of concentration at stages but we fought really hard and did not give up, which was good.”
The Rockies made it two from two, beating the Bacchus Marsh Lions, 62-59 on Sunday. The women’s side suffered a loss to the Lions.
Speaking before the match with Bacchus Marsh, Ryan said after a successful first season, they were hoping to back it up this year.
“We want to finish with a positive record,” he said. “There’s only nine games and we’re looking to win five games and play finals again.
“We think we will be good, but it’s relative to the competition. Melton will be hard to beat and we play them in a couple of weeks.
“It’ll be a good indication of where we are at.”
