Following a grand final loss a new looking Hume City Broncos is gearing up for another strong Big V state championship campaign.
Only two players, Jah Soloai and Cory Bellman have returned to the Broncos’ championship men’s roster with five players getting promoted from the club’s youth league team.
Among the departures are Troyce Manassa, Chris Elder, Chris Kaba, Corey Fiddes, Makuel Puondak), Max Vitale, Shaun Prendergast and MJ Foster.
“As with most years there’s a bit of a turnover, this year there was probably a bit more than typical,” coach Matt Foster said.
“It changes the dynamic of the preseason in the fact that we’ve got to add new pieces into the structure of the club and they’ve got to get to know each other and learn how to tell the plays and each other’s personalities and integrate in our systems.
“It’s probably been a bit different to the last couple of off seasons but it’s exciting as well.”
To help replenish the Broncos’ list is Keenan Gorski from the Wallan Panthers, Zach McKenzie from New Zealand National Basketball League team the Franklin Bulls and Carlo Camp from the Keilor Thunder in National Basketball League 1 South.
Trevon Clayton has re-joined the Broncos after playing at Hume in the 2017 and 2018 season, averaging 16 points and 12 rebounds per game.
Fellow imports Scottie Stone and Malik McKinney have arrived at the club.
Stone was last season’s scoring leader for the competition averaging 28.9 points per game.
“They’re both talented basketball players but also top quality characters as well so we’re happy to have them on board,” Foster said.
“I’m pretty excited to see if Scottie can replicate the season that he had last year, he’s a very gifted scorer but he also brings a lot of other elements including leadership to our group.
“Malik is fresh out of college and is a very talented player. The main thing for him is adapting to a different style of basketball.”
Foster said it might take some time for everyone to get to know each other both on and off the court, but he is hoping his side will be able to peak at the right time.
“As a new unit we won’t be at our best in round one but hopefully we’ll be prepared enough to get some early wins and improve throughout the year,” he said.
“We haven’t set any firm goal, obviously we want to achieve as much as we can as a unit.
“To reach the playoffs is probably the main goal at this stage… once we’re there hopefully we can peak at the right time and get some wins there as well.”
The Broncos season kicks off the weekend of April 16.
