By ADEM SARICAOGLU
THE Altona Gators have been cruelled by injuries in the first month of the Division One Men’s Big V Basketball season.
The Gators are 1-3 and sixth in the Terrill Division but will have a full fortnight to regroup after what has been a disastrous beginning to their 2014 campaign under new coach, Des Radoslovic.
“Daniel Borbajo broke his wrist before a game a couple weeks ago,” Radoslovic explained.
“We had Daniel Nichols injure his knee and he’s getting scans this week just to confirm what could be an ACL injury, we’ve had Randy Shanklin who hasn’t been able to take the court because of a hip injury and Joey Mausar hasn’t been able to train.
“He’s been playing games and limping through with an injured Achilles and calf and Daniel Ellul, our captain, has re-strained his Achilles and he’ll have a couple of weeks’ rest now as well.”
Despite that lengthy list of current outs, Radoslovic remained positive about his side’s start to the year.
“We’ve done fairly well considering the challenges,” he said.
“I suppose it could be a bit of a blessing in disguise in the end because it shows you everything you’ve got and 1-3 is good to start given we’ve had three games on the road as well. So if we get onto a bit of a streak later in the year when we’re fully fit, we should be right.
“The boys definitely need to step up their intensity on defence and their rebounding, but we could have a couple of inclusions coming into the team over the break as well which could help our problem on the boards.”
Promising big man Wilson Arob has come on board after a stint in the US playing junior college ball, while Altona stalwart James Guljas is coming back after spending 2013 away from the court.
Radoslovic hopes Altona’s upcoming two-week spell from competitive action will give him a chance to push the restart button with his two new big guns now in the fold.
“They’re both big five-men, so it gives us more time to adapt with them on board,” Radoslovic said.
“It’s been a weakness for us so far. We’re shooting the ball quite well but we’re just lacking on the defensive end.
“But there’ll be no major wholesale changes, just a few little tweaks that we’ll work out over the next couple of weeks.”
