Reigning champs: Echuca Pirates will be gunning for back-to-back CBL premierships when the new season gets started on Saturday. Photo: Steve Huntley
The Echuca Pirates will begin their quest for basketball treasure when the Country Basketball League season tips off this weekend.
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The Pirates will hit the road to take on the Melton Thoroughbreds on Saturday night in the season opener, with the men’s and women’s sides both in action.
After strong campaigns last season, both teams will be hoping for more success on the court.
The Pirates have been the dominant side in the men’s competition in recent years, winning three of the last four CBL titles, including a grand final win over the Bendigo Braves last season.
Dylan Payne and Staci Richardson will be steering the ship as the Pirates’ co-coaches this season, with the pair taking over the role from Leo Tenace.
The duo both played in Echuca’s grand final wins last season, and Payne said the team was in good shape with their quest for back-to-back premierships set to begin.
“We are looking dangerous, I think. We have a few really good kids that are coming through and they will replace some of the players who have departed us this season,” Payne said.
“I think we are all just keen to get the party started and head into a good season again, especially after coming off a grand final win last season.
“We would love to be able to go back-to-back.
“Leo has laid a really good foundation for Stacey and I to take over, and we are excited to see how these young guys can go.”
Melton is a new team to the CBL after a rezoning in the off-season, and Saturday will be the first time the Pirates and Thoroughbreds have faced off.
Payne said it would be tough to know what they will come up against in an unfamiliar opponent, but there were certain things he wanted to see from his side.
“We want to see some confidence from our blokes,” he said.
“We are the reigning premiers, so we still want to play like that and we don’t want to let up.
“We want to make sure we have lots of energy and hopefully get a win in week one.
“It will be an interesting one, I am not too sure what to expect from Melton.
“I know the Thoroughbreds are a former Big V side, so no doubt they will be a strong contender. It’s hard to know what to expect from that group, hopefully we can get a good game.”
Eyes up: Georgie Eishold contests for the ball in Echuca's clash with Bendigo last season. Photo: Steve Huntley
Meanwhile, Echuca’s women’s team will be hoping to sail into the top four this season after narrowly missing out last season.
The Pirates came agonisingly close to reaching the finals, missing out on a top-four spot by percentage.
They needed a win in their last game of the home-and-away season to climb inside the top four, but they suffered a narrow three-point defeat to the Mildura Heat.
Women’s coach Georgie Eishold said a finals finish was definitely the goal.
“The goal is always to put your best foot forward and play the best basketball you can,” Eishold said.
“To win as many games as possible is a huge goal, and I think to make finals is every team’s goal at the start of the season.
“We’ll do the hard work and we’ll go for it, work together as a team and chip away at it one week at a time.”
Eishold was one of Echuca’s co-coaches last season as well, and she said the team was looking ship-shape heading into the opening round against Melton.
“We are a great bunch of girls, we have a fair few girls onboard this year, which is awesome,” she said.
“Most of us have played together for a number of years, so it is always exciting when the CBL season does roll around.
“We have some juniors that finished up last year so have come up to senior competition this season, which is really exciting.
“It will be interesting to see how our first game in Melton goes.
“We have no idea what to expect, what we’ll see is what we are going to get. We’ll just do what we do and prepare to play our game and focus on ourselves.
“It’s our first hit-out of the season so there will be plenty to take away from it, there will be many positives to come out of it,” Eishold said.
The women’s game at Cobblebank Stadium in Melton will tip off at 6pm on Saturday, October 1, with the men’s game to start at 8pm.
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