For the Redbacks SBL team, the motto for the 2012 pre-season might as well be "Back to School". With the usual influx of club juniors attending open SBL sessions, the early going has seen a large focus on teaching, with many of the young players rising to the challenge of playing at an "adult" level.

Each year the Redback Men's team has a focus on graduating players from our junior program and incorporating them into the senior squad. Early sessions in 2012 have been no different with a host of new faces looking to make the jump into the senior ranks.

Young players like Ben Ellis, Brad Hall, Charlie Corr, Domenic Romeo, Latrell Matthews, Girodano Monteleone, and Luke Fletcher have very quickly realised the need to adjust not only to a more physical style of basketball but one that requires a lot more attention to detail. For each of these young players school is already back in, but with mentors like Joel Wagner, Jarrad Prior and Michael Vigor who have all tasted basketball at the NBL level after coming through the club's junior program there is a clear path laid out for each of them.

In 2012, returning veterans Ryan Neill and Adrian Majstrovich will again be joined by former Sydney King Joel Wagner. While each of these players was a key part of the nucleus of last years team, it is the return of Jarrad Prior (a multiple winner of the club's best defensive player award) and the improvement of Perth Wildcat's squad member Michael Vigor that has the group excited to be back on the court.

Despite the loss of important reserves Jarrad Jackson and Ashley Stephens, and squad members Geordie Murray and Sheldon Godfrey to U.S. College basketball, the focus on junior development sees players like Jake Burston and Jamieson Lewis ready to step in and contribute, while long time squad members Tim Rendulic and Jared Feint are increasingly keen to prove themselves.

Sweating it out in the summer heat, the group has continued to exhibit it's lunch-pail mentality from previous years, and with a focus on teaching and hard work during the sessions to date there is little doubt that the boys will continue to represent the values of the club this SBL season.

Article by Perth Redbacks
Photo by Mark Murray