Norris to Knowles: Anything you can do, I can do better

Victoria’s Tristan Knowles rolled off the court on Friday night against the Rollerhawks with 45 points next to his name. No doubt he got plenty of help from his teammates, but it was a completely dominant offensive performance that included 4 from 4 from behind the arc.

The performance helped set up Victoria to take the points in both games over the weekend and see them sit in outright second place after round 2.

As though Knowles’s 45 point game was a challenge, Perth’s Shaun Norris hit the court on Sunday intent on eclipsing the 45 point mark.

Perth went on to beat the Spinning Bullets 57-79 to keep their unbeaten season alive, Norris finishing the game with 48 points.

 

Red Dust Rising

League new comers the Red Dust Heelers may have dropped both games over the weekend but have the look of a team on the up.

With players based in different states it was always going to take some time for them to gel and despite losing the game, put in arguably their best performance of the season to date in their 74-67 loss to Victoria.

The thing the Heelers have in their favour is depth in every position.

Brad Ness continues to lead from the front while one of the NWBL’s form players Tony Wade, as a 2.0 player, gives the Heelers plenty of variety in combinations.

 

Spinning Bullets Factory

A lot has been made of the development work up in QLD and we got to see another fine example of that in round 2.

The Bullets roster on the weekend consisted of five rookies and perhaps the most impressive of the lot is a young man by the name of Tom Holland-Roach.

Holland-Roach has been in the QLD system for a number of years and was one of the big reasons QLD were able to take home the Kevin Coombs Cup earlier this year.

Tom made his senior debut on Friday night against the Sydney Uni Wheelkings and expect that as he continues to develop and work on his game, we’ll be seeing much more of him in Spinning Bullets colours.

 

Mid-Town getting it done for Rollerhawks

Michael Auprince and Adam Deans were perhaps two of the biggest moves when they made their way to the Rollerhawks in the offseason. Not just because of their physical size, but the predicted difference they were going to make to the Rollerhawks was a game changer.

Both boys have been solid in the opening rounds, but the Pople-Taylor midpoint combination got it done over the weekend. Nick Taylor averaged 23 points per game over the weekend while his partner in crime Luke Pople averaged 18.

The Rollerhawks sit in third place after two rounds but the ability to switch between quality combinations with highs and mids is a massive weapon. The more time the Rollerhawks spend on court together the better they will continue to get.

 

Remember the name Andy Parker

Troy Sachs has taken the reigns of the Sydney Uni Wheelkings in 2014 and is no doubt looking to build the foundations for future success.

Anderson Parker is one of the Wheelkings developing players and a name we should etch into our memories. Not just because he won the world’s largest block of chocolate during the Cluster round, but the young man is a competitor.

Matched up against Perth and QLD over the weekend, Parker pulled down a total of 20 rebounds in his two games and averaged 6.5 points per game. He’s still got plenty of learning ahead of him but has all the attributes to be a future super star.