By Oliver Lees
John White has landed his first marquee signing as the new head coach of the Sunbury Jets in the Big V men’s championship division.
The club will welcome back prolific scorer Ish Sanders for the 2022 season, who last played at the Jets in 2019.
Sanders had agreed to play on with the Jets in 2020 but was unable to get back on the court due to the season’s cancellation.
White said Sanders was at the top of his recruitment wishlist when he took over from Ryan Addison in August.
“It was one of the first conversations I had with the players when we were looking at recruiting,” White said.
“He has been staying fit and working out over there, and when we spoke I knew he was committed to coming back. I guess he feels like he has some unfinished business.”
Originally from Tennessee in the United States, Sanders first joined the Sunbury program in 2016. At six foot two inches tall, he made a lasting impact for the Jets as a scoring guard.
In 2019 Sanders averaged nearly 27 points, five rebounds and three and half assists a game as he guided the Jets to the division 1 title, their first in 10 years.
Sanders swept the pool of awards that year, taking home the division 1 Most Valuable Player award as well the Most Valuable Player of the grand final series against the Warrandyte Venom.
White said based on the handful of games he saw Sanders play in 2019, it was a “no-brainer” to try and lure him back to Sunbury.
“He really stood out, both his leadership as well as his ability on court,” White said.
“I think he has very high expectations of himself, which definitely translates to his expectations of the team. He’s constantly driving people to be better, which I think fits in nicely with my coaching mentality.”
The addition of Sanders comes at a good time for Sunbury, who will be without their top scorer Jayce Beasley next season.
Beasley finished the season as the Jets’ biggest offensive threat, averaging 14.2 points per game on 43 per cent shooting. He was also named as the side’s most valuable player for the season.
Shooting guard Corey Bellman has also moved on from the Jets after contributing 7.5 points per game last season.
White said the club had confirmed other signings but were not yet in a position to make an announcement.
After a hot start to the season where they collected five wins from six games, the Jets’ men’s side finished the shortened 2021 season in seventh place with six wins and eight losses.
White said he’d seen promising signs from the training sessions he’d had with the team this year.
“We’ve had eight sessions now, it feels like things have gotten really strong,” he said.
“It’s a great position to be in as a coach, you recruit the players based on skill then you get to know them.”
The Big V season will kick off in March.
