Tara Murray
Craigieburn Eagles’ coach Kemara Samuel is keen to build on this year’s Big V men’s division 2 season.
The season was Samuel’s first full season with the club, taking over the coaching role midway through the interrupted 2021 season.
He said he was looking forward to coaching the side again next year.
“I’ve been in basketball for a long time in New Zealand,” he said.
“I’ve been over here for the last six years after coming over when my son had a contract with the Whittlesea Pacers.
“A mate was the ex-coach of Craigieburn and when he had his second child he stepped away and said for them to give me a call.
“That was last year before COVID shut down the season.”
Samuel said the club had been going through some things at the time and they needed to take some steps backwards first to progress and build for the future.
“I jumped into a difficult situation,” he said. “I wanted to change the culture first and now get on with the basketball.
“The championship is the goal, but there’s still some more ground work to be done before we get that far.”
The Eagles finished this year in seventh spot.
On Monday, they announced their first signing for next season with Guy Dupuy.
Dupuy, aka the Frequent Flyer, is famous for his dunking skills and has a big following across the world.
The guard-forward started his professional basketball career touring Slam National and has travelled the world with his basketball.
His competitive killer instinct has dominated basketball tournaments and dunk competitions across the globe for over 17 consecutive years.
Samuel said Dupuy is the type of player that attracts fans to come and watch them.
“Guy brings a lot of baggage, good baggage,” he said.
“He has followers all over the world. I’ve seen him play a few times and we’re trying to fit him into a good system and get the best out of him.”
The Eagles were having the last of their trials last week. Samuel said there had been a good number of players attending.
He said the side would again be based around local players, while they were still looking for the final pieces of the puzzle.
“Craigieburn likes to keep the locals involved, especially when they’ve gone through all the grades,” he said.
“I’m for that as well as you’re involving the community. You don’t just go out and try and buy championships.”
For Samuel, there were good signs this year. Now he’s determined to build on that.
“We had a good flow last season, but didn’t come away with the championship,” he said.
“We came on leaps and bounds from where we were.
“We want to pick up the level and set up more.”
