The Australia Post Boomers will see some fresh faces when they take on New Zealand in the opening game of the 2008 Ramsay Shield in Auckland on Thursday night.
While six players have returned from the 2007 Tall Blacks team, including Captain Pero Cameron and centre Craig Bradshaw, the team’s other half consists of young guns being blooded on the international stage as Basketball New Zealand undergoes a rebuilding process.
Sharp shooter Kirk Penney will join the Tall Blacks when they tour Europe ahead of the pre-Olympic qualification tournament for men in Athens in July, but will not be available for the series against Australia.
The Boomers, without their two biggest stars Andrew Bogut and David Andersen, defeated FIBA Asia Champions Iran 3-0 in their international series last week by margins of 19, 44 and 23 points.
Despite the new additions to the Tall Blacks team, Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian is keenly focused on his own squad as they continue on the road to Beijing.
“We’re looking at the continual growth and development of our team.” Goorjian said.
“Specifically, we can hone in on some things after the last series, where we did a pretty good job of mixing up our defences and I thought we played with a lot of effort, but we were poor in the execution of our half-court sets.
“Our focus is with our own team. Right now it’s all about the Boomers.
“I’m going into this series specifically to look again at the last couple of cuts, which are going to be tough, and to hone in on some offences that we executed poorly in the Iran series.
“The guys are all aware of that and I’m sure they’ll be playing with some desperation because it would be a real disappointment to get this far and not get over the line to Beijing.
“I know the guys will be really committed in this series.”
Australia’s squad currently stands at 16 players, with the Olympic twelve provided to the AOC by July 2nd.
Still in contention for Beijing but not contesting the 2008 Ramsay Shield are Andrew Bogut (Milwaukee Bucks, USA), David Andersen (CSKA Moscow, Russia), Matthew Nielsen (Lietuvos Rytas, Lithuania) and Nathan Jawai (Cairns Taipans).
The Boomers will touch down in Auckland this afternoon and are scheduled to undergo two training sessions tomorrow ahead of Thursday’s game.
Tip off on Thursday 26 June at the North Shore Events Centre will be at 7:05pm (5:05pm AET) while game two will tip off on Saturday 28 June at the State Netball Hockey Centre in Melbourne at 5:05pm.
Both games will be broadcast LIVE on FOX Sports 1.
TEAMS FOR THE 2008 RAMSAY SHIELD:
AUSTRALIA:
(name, position, height, last club played with)
Chris ANSTEY
Centre / 213cm / Melbourne Tigers
David BARLOW
Guard/205cm/Melbourne Tigers
CJ BRUTON
Guard / 188cm / Brisbane Bullets
Wade HELLIWELL
Centre / 213cm / Nuova Sebastiani (Ita.)
Joe INGLES
Guard / 203cm / South Dragons
Luke KENDALL
Guard / 193cm / Sydney Kings
Patrick MILLS
Guard / 181cm / St. Mary’s College Gaels (USA)
Brad NEWLEY
Guard / 198cm / Panionios (Greece)
Andrew OGILVY
Centre / 210cm / Vanderbilt U Commodores (USA)
Shawn REDHAGE
Forward / 203cm / Perth Wildcats
Glen SAVILLE
Guard / 197cm / Sydney Kings
Mark WORTHINGTON
Forward / 202cm / Sydney
Head Coach: Brian GOORJIAN
NEW ZEALAND:
(name, position, height, last club played with)
Lindsay TAIT
Guard / 194cm / Wellington Saints
Mike FITCHETT
Guard / 183cm / Nelson Giants
Mika VUKONA
Forward / 198cm / Harbour Heat
Jeremy KENCH
Guard / 186cm / Canterbury Rams
Paora WINITANA
Guard / 195cm / Bay Hawks
Corey WEBSTER
Guard / 189cm / NZ Breakers (Australia)
Pero CAMERON
Forward / 198cm / Waikato Pistons
Alex PLEDGER
Centre / 213cm / University of Missouri KC (USA)
Casey FRANK
Forward / 203cm / Auckland Stars
Craig BRADSHAW
Centre / 207cm / Efes Pilsen (Turkey)
Ben HILL
Forward / 196cm / Waikato Pistons
Nick HORVATH
Centre / 208cm / Wellington Saints
Head Coach: Nenad VUCINIC
For more information please contact:
Bill Baxter
Basketball Australia
T: 02 9469 7218
M: 0423 378 644
E: bill.baxter@basketball.net.au
