Posted on 31 May, 2019
The NWBL Cobra Men make their 2019 home this weekend, taking on the Queensland Spinning Bullets in a trio of home games, while the VYC Men and Women are back in action on Hugh McMenamin Court when they play host to Diamond Valley and Ballarat, respectively, on Saturday night.
The VYC Women enter the weekend with a 10-4 record, placing them just a game behind Nunawading and Ringwood for first place in the Watson Conference standings. Facing Ballarat at home on Saturday (5.30pm) and then Dandenong on the road on Sunday, the Cobra Women have a chance to jump from third to first with a pair of victories in Round 11 action.
The VYC Men also enter the weekend sitting in third place, with back-to back losses seeing them slip out of top spot in the Watson Conference. Facing a Diamond Valley team at home on Saturday night (7.30pm) on the brink of playoff positioning before taking on conference leaders Eltham on the road on Sunday, the Cobras face a challenging Round 11 schedule, one which could climb into second place or drop to as low as fourth.
NWBL Men’s Preview via wheelchair.basketball.net.au
Kilsyth Cobras v Queensland Spinning Bullets- Friday 31st May @6pm
Kilsyth Cobras v Queensland Spinning Bullets- Saturday 1st June @3pm
Kilsyth Cobras v Queensland Spinning Bullets- Sunday 2nd June @11.30am
Based off a small sample size in Round 1, Kilsyth and Queensland look like they could be fighting it out for one of the final spots in the top four all season long.
The Cobras bookended their weekend with victories over Red Dust and West Adelaide but could not get past Wollongong and Perth while Queensland picked up their lone win over Red Dust while just falling to Sydney Metro and West Adelaide.
The past two seasons has seen Kilsyth impress during the regular season before stumbling in the playoffs and while they will be desperate to turn that form around, they may face a tougher fight to get to the post-season in 2019.
Banking up wins at home is the first step towards that success after they owned a 7-1 record at Kilsyth last year but Queensland will be aiming to recreate their efforts on the road from 2018 when they went 8-2 through the regular season to help them finish on top of the ladder.
A wealth of contributors helped them to that record and they showed their depth again a fortnight ago with Dylan Gawthorne and Kurt Thomson adding 11.8 points per game each while three others scored at least five points per contest.
The Cobras were able to match that number though, with Tristan Knowles (28.8 points per game) pacing them.
Fellow Roller Tom O’Neill-Thorne will make his 2019 debut for Queensland this weekend to help negate the influence of Knowles but Kilsyth have a couple of handy additions themselves with Jontee Brown and Shaun Groenewegen back in the line-up.
