The McKinnon Division One Men’s Cougars have been lucky enough to secure the services of young-gun, fast-paced Point Guard, Tom O’Brien. O’Brien sported the maroon and gold for the first time in front of a packed Cougar Den on Sunday afternoon against the Hawthorn Magic. In his first outing for the Cougars after only one training session, O’Brien showed good leadership providing the team with strong direction from the Point.

Tom began playing basketball at the age of eight and admits to giving it up after a year due to being “horrible”! However, he persevered and managed to raise his game from a 6^th to 1^st team standard at the Sandringham Sabres. His basketball highlight however was captaining the Silver Medal Victorian Schools Team in 2011 and representing his country in the All Australian School Team that toured the USA in the same year.

When asked what its like playing alongside our very own NBL greats, Marcus Timmons and Axel Dench, O’Brien states “it’s sort of funny because when school finished in year 7 and 8 I would go to the Kingclub and get coached by Marcus. Similarly with Axel, when he was at the Tigers I use to rebound for him sometimes. So it’s sort of strange telling these guys where to go on offense!”

Tom had previously been coached by Cougars very own Director of Coaching and Big V Men’s Head Coach, Matt Brooks, in the Victorian School Boys Championship. O’Brien identifies this as the main reason for making the switch to the Cougars, stating that he “trusts Matt more than any other coach” he has played under and “thought it would be foolish not to team up with him again”. Brooks is also looking forward to working together again. “It is definitely a great pick up for the team to have a player of Tom’s ability and potential. Tom has a fantastic attitude and is an all round good guy, which has made his transition into our family orientated club a smooth one”.

Tom is looking forward to the season ahead with the main aim of winning the Div 1 Championship with the talented Cougars team. O’Brien is really pleased to be part of the MBA family saying “McKinnon is a unique club because it combines sporting aspects with a family friendly atmosphere”. So lets give number 4 a big Cougar cheer this Sunday at the Cougar Den at 2pm when O’Brien and fellow teammates take on the Warrnambool Seahawks.