Brisbane Bullets head coach Justin Schueller is upbeat his team will be back to winning ways soon. Despite the double defeat in the round 3 fixtures, Justin hinted that he would use the unfortunate fixture outcomes as a learning experience, while his group and his team continue to progressively adapt to a new system. 

It should not be lost to us that the Bullets hit the ground running from the NBL 2023-24 season onset, but it seems their momentum is uninspiring and screeching to a halt after suffering 3 successive defeats, two of which came from Melbourne United and Sydney Kings in round 3. 

Ironically, the Bullets suffered an 11-points defeat to Schueller’s former team, Melbourne on Sunday.  The experienced coach, however, dispelled fears of further flips and flops arguing that his performance against Melbourne United is an ideal barometer he can use to assess the Bullet’s progress. 

Reacting during the post-game interview Schueller said, 

“Having been on that other side, that sustained pressure is what we are trying to do right now.”

He continued

“To be a team there might be a mini run but we come right back at you and find a way to sustain pressure. It’s a good learning curve for us, this weekend’s been a great learning experience.”

The coach reiterated that they had already played two of the better teams in the campaign and they are already taking great lessons. 

“Getting in big holes like that, I should have gone to pressure defense a little bit earlier, but we’ve just got to find a way to keep consistency, and I think that’s what we’ll learn out of this one.”

This reaction followed two defeats; the first against Sydney Kings (102-113) on 13th October and the second against Melbourne United (89-78) on 15th at John Cain Arena, Melbourne. 

However, despite the results not going his way, Schueller is still full of praise for his players arguing that there’s talent all over the floor and that they are capable of beating any team in the league. 

Describing the whole competition as a journey as opposed to a sprint, Schueller stressed that he loves his team’s spirit and that they won’t hang their heads from a defeat, but rather they’ll learn from it as this has proved fruitful from previous experiences. 

On a brighter note though, during both legs, Bullets were missing the crucial impact of Josh Bannan, the highly talked of emerging star who, unfortunately, is yet to make his debut for the club after suffering a lower leg injury during pre-season. 

He took part in the extended pre-game warm-up but still remained on the sidelines. With the 4th round fixtures kicking off on 19th October, Schueller and home fans are brimming with anticipation of Bannan’s return. 

Josh Bannan in a past Bullets match

Bryce Cotton Calls For Patience After Flopping Against Sydney Kings 

As Bullets were facing blows from Melbourne United and Kings, Perth Wildcats equally had a rough weekend of round 3 games.

In a fixture that took place on Sunday 15 th October at the renowned Sydney SuperDome, Sydney, Perths lost narrowly 86-99 against Sydney Kings who probably leveraged the home turf advantage to pull the round surprise win so far. 

Earlier in the season, the Wildcats enjoyed a streak of promising stats after an easy cruise over Tasmania. 

However, lately, the tides are shifting and a dark cloud is hanging over them following back-to-back defeats in Melbourne and Sydney which have increasingly cast aspersions on their once bright path to glory. 

It should be known that the only other win Perth has registered so far this season was against Adelaide 36ers where they registered a 7-point lead. 

While speaking at the unfortunate turn of events at the conclusion of round 3 fixtures, Perth star Bryce Cotton called for patience. Responding to the media questions, he said that it’s going to be a process where on some nights it looks like they have it all together, and then there’ll be nights like this where it looks a little bit patchy. 

Despite the result, he was optimistic that this is part of the long-haul process and that they’ll find ways of getting out of the turbulent times sooner than anticipated. 

“That’s the way you have to approach it. We have played four or five games so far and there is no sense in losing the confidence in the team at this point”

Pundits have heard their opinion regarding Perth’s surprising decline in form. The Basketball News Australia experts concur with the notion that one of the most detrimental missteps by Perth in the previous season was their inability to consistently compete on the glass. 

Looking into the 2023/24 season, the same problem seems to haunt them despite the recruitment of the much-touted beast, Keanu Pinder. 

Commenting on their loss to Sydney Kings, Perth head coach John Rillie said that they have consistently found it a tough night whenever they don’t rebound. 

During the match, Sydney outrebounded Wildcat Perth by 19 boards leading to their commanding 25 second chance scores against Perth’s dismal 13. 

About Melbourne’s victory, Rillie posited that although they didn’t stage their usual winning gusto against the opponents, at least they competed with them on the backboard, unlike in the Kings fixture, in which he praised the latter for showcasing a great job on the glass. 

With just a single fixture in Round 4, Perth travels to Adelaide to take on the 36ers on Saturday Night and the traveling fans are keeping their fingers crossed hoping Bryce Cotton will rise to the occasion to cool the rising tides that are seemingly proving strong to the team at the early stages of the 2023/24 NBL campaign.