DJ's Corner – Player Column Volume 1

Hey 36ers fans, 

Welcome to the first edition of DJ’s Corner. I’m looking forward to giving you all an insight into the daily lives of our team and to start with, a lot sure has happened since our last NBL season ended in February. 

We’ve seen a number of new faces join the club, with coaches, players and support staff and obviously a little thing called COVID-19 happened too. 

I arrived in Japan as soon as the season ended to play for the Mikawa Sea Horses. Unfortunately the season was postponed in my first few days of arriving and a month later with Australia asking residents to return home I was back on a plane having played only one game. Back in Australia my wife and I quarantined for the mandatory two weeks, lucky enough to avoid hotel quarantine. 

Our days were spent working out, painting every inch of our house, mowing the lawns frequently and watching everything Netflix had to offer. Disappointingly I had to cancel a holiday to Europe and a trip back to Perth to see my family. 

COVID-19 has affected everyone in different ways. For us as a team and a league it’s meant a delay of the season start date, but also potentially limited capacity crowds in some states. I think everyone who watched the grand final series last year with no fans was reminded how important fans are in creating an atmosphere and buzz around the game. Although the delay means no basketball for a bit longer, I think we can agree playing without fans just isn’t the same. The good news is it’s looking like we’ll be up and running again in January which we’re all excited about. 

I want to thank everyone for coming out to Cooper’s Game and also our first two pre-season games against Brisbane. For many of us it was the first games we’ve played for over six months. There were a lot of nerves and excitement from the boys going into those hit outs, but all in all we got a lot of positives out of it and it helped us to gel more as a group.

Unfortunately as has been the case with 2020 as soon as things were looking like they were getting back to normal an outbreak occurred in Adelaide and we had to go into lockdown for a few days. We got a very small taste of what Victoria has had to endure over the past six months and it makes you appreciate how good the people in Adelaide have been at following the COVID-19 protocols; fingers crossed it’s our last scare. It’s a really important time to make sure you’re checking in with loved ones and providing them with support. 

The coaches and strength staff have had us training and lifting weights at a really high level for a while now. We’re excited for the schedule to be released soon so we have a date to work towards. In the meantime we’re all very excited for Donald to arrive in Adelaide soon and take things to another level.

DJ.