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With one game to go in the Repechage we are still alive, though needing a few things to fall our way.
So far we have split the Rep at one game each, going down in the season opener in a truly odd result to Belgium 98-122 before comfortably accounting for Egypt 116-86. With Belgium getting rolled by Uruguay early this morning it puts Uruguay on top at 2-0, with Belgium and ourselves on 1-1.
We play Uruguay this coming week. If we beat Uruguay by 5 points or more we will go above them on points difference, but then we need to get past Belgium, who have the relatively easier Egypt to come and an 15-point buffer on us, meaning we have to beat Uruguay by 10 points more than Belgium beats Egypt.
I'd say it's a less than 50-50 chance at this stage due to that truly odd round one result, but it's still a chance.

Dennis Omu has really stepped up his game this season, stepping into the starting spot as veteran big man McFlynn takes a back seat on the pine, while Gibbins and Dawes have been beasts in the C spot.
Game shape will be essential this week if we're to be any chance. Feel free to leave your thoughts here or in a direct message to me.

In team historical news, we had a player bring up a big milestone in the opening game, with Homer Dawes becoming the 17th player to go past 1000 career points. He is currently third on the active players list with 1014, behind Hongjing, who is 10 points off breaking into the top-10 on 1255 and McFlynn, who has overtaken legend Darby "Doug" Walters to move into third on 1548. Dawes is also closing in on becoming only the second player in Aussie history to have a better than 1000-point finish in Points Difference, currently sitting on 913 to be in third place overall behind Simon Thomas and Ryan McMillan.

The final game of the Repechage put another win in the column, getting over a resurgent Uruguay to win by 118-109 in a game where both sides turned up the tempo and tried to win a shootout.
With talented guard Duffield back being managed by an Australian based manager the game shape issues that have plagued him the last three seasons appear to be behind him and he's returning to form, increasing the pressure on holding down a guard spot in the line up while young big man John Biglands made a return to the roster for the first time in a couple of seasons and made the most of his minutes.
Duffield was a standout, but veteran big man Homer Dawes also deserves a nod for 9 boards, 7 assists and 10 points in a very consistent effort, while fellow veteran Hongjing continued his return to form and Grunter got it done as well. It was a solid way to end the Repechage stage however.....

At the end of the Repechage we have finished in second place in our pool after Belgium, Uruguay and ourselves all tied on 2 wins, with Belgium smashing Egypt in the final game to take a points diff advantage to finish first. The first up game where everyone reset game shape really hurt us in what can only be described as an odd outcome.

The upcoming Consolation Tournament is huge for us. We'll start 0-2 having come from the Second Chance tournament but with a decent squad if we get a good draw we are a good chance to fight our way back up into the elimination rounds. Ideally though we don't want to just scrape in but try and get inside the top 28 or so where the draw might open up a little for us.
Not one of the Asian teams made it through the Second Chance qualifiers, so there will be a good amount of Asian talent in the Consolation Cup, but to earn hosting rights to the Asian Cup in Season 55 we need to finish higher than all of them.
This is going to require some consistent game shape. National teams that win don't just come down to the manager, it's the community that gets it done and I'd love to see Australia hosting the Asian Cup next season.
Message me if you think there are players on the fringe who could push into the squad or if you'd like a hand with a training plan to manage minutes or maximise growth.

Hi, I could not understand why you went all in against us, I mean Uruguay, you did not stand a chance to enter to the world cup, instead you wasted precious enthusiasm for the consolation tournament...
It is your team, and you can do whatever you want with your NT, but i think that was not wise, not a great move from you...
I am not crying, just telling my point of view...

Regards and Best of lucks!

Last edited by bichindelaua at 07/21/2021 18:02:41

Hi mate,
Thanks for the feedback. A handful of managers and myself had a quick conversation about this prior to the game and there were two views on it, but in the end it was my call and I'm of the opinion that if there is hope why not chase it. Belgium slipped up against you guys after you put in extra enth against them so I backed that they might not completely blow out Egypt. If they hadn't and we nailed it against you guys we might have snuck in, but Belgium did go hard at Egypt and it put us out of contention.
Can I suggest that you also crunched in our game, though, and if we had chosen to lay down with a TIE it would effectively be deciding the outcome of the pool untruthfully. If all four sides play to win we get the most honest result - Belgium was the better team of the four of us, so they go through. It's not like I sucker punched you on this one, we both played the same enthusiasm. The missed GDP was probably the difference in the end, so I'm glad I picked you'd do that.
I know not everyone agrees with that thinking process, including some Aussie managers, but I try to be open with my community about what I'm thinking and I seek feedback from them and use that in decision making. I did that again in this game. I also play each game to give us the best chance of progressing the team further.
It didn't work out this time, but that's the nature of the game.

Best of luck in the Consol. From what I can tell we'll each go in with the same enth, so you're right, we'll both have our work cut out for us, but you've got a pretty nice draw so you should be a chance. I hope it goes well for you.

Id like a bit more information on why you CTing us was the right move for you, but because we did it, it was a poor decision. We were both in the same position and a good win would have pushed the strong winner in.

For what it's worth, the Belgium manager has been campaigning for getting rid of the qualifiers altogether because it creates situations like this where to get to the world cup you have to be willing to sacrifice your chances at the world cup itself. Not to mention whoever draws the African team first has a much easier time in the group. Personally I agree, it really should be a larger world cup instead.

True, there’d be merit in that. Why not 24 teams, 4 pools of 6, top three go through to make 2 pools of 6, that’s 10 games, top 4 go through to play 1v4, 2v3 etc, then a semi, then a final. 13 games total.

We got our Consolation Cup under way last night with a solid win over Belarus.
We had a really solid team performance to get the win, with Gibbins and Dawes producing double doubles, new big fella Biglands pulling down 14 boards and our bench really coming to the fore.
I think that's a real strength for us this season, our bench depth, but we'll need it in the coming weeks as we've got a tough draw, so game shape will help massively!

Finland! yikes!

Yikes indeed. That result certainly didn’t go to plan.

Well, Season 54 didn't pan out the way we would have liked so scouting will likely be starting a little earlier this season. There could likely be some changes ahead of the squad heading into season 55 with two big guys about to turn 35 and three other regular starters about to turn 34. Pending on skill drops in the new season all 5 may struggle to hold their spots, meaning there will be opportunities for guys to get a look in that have either been on the fringe or who have been doing the hard yards and developing in the wings.
If you think you have a guy who might be getting close for Season 55 make sure you put them on my radar, because I'll be doing some scouting in the coming weeks to try and get an idea for what options are around to move forward with. Particularly if you have a big guy who can hit the boards and defend the key - we'd love to see where he might fit in the squad.