Orange’s Kobe Mansell is “confident” his NSW Country side can push for a gold medal at this month’s Basketball Australia Under-18 Championships at Geelong, but he’s well aware the outfit will have one massive obstacle in its path.
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Victoria Metro.
The Vics are the two-time defending champions and have claimed four of the last five men’s titles, the only blemish on their record in the last half-decade was when NSW Country bested them in the 2015 decider.
Mansell and his side – which also included Blayney's Zac Simons before he was forced to withdraw – will have an early chance to halt the Victoria Metro juggernaut too.
Not only have the two sides been pooled together, they’ll face-off in tournament’s opening round.
“Victoria Metro is (the biggest challenge), definitely. Victoria Country too, really,” Mansell said.
“The gold medal would be (the ideal result) but it’ll be tough. We’re a pretty small team, not too tall, so there’ll need to be a lot of effort, a lot of hustle.
“Training’s been good though, we’ve been working really together. We have to travel a lot so it can be hard to train together as much (as the metro sides), but we’re coming together. It should be good.”
The 17-year-old Orange High School gun will have a big influence on NSW Country’s performance too, he’ll run the point in Geelong having won a spot in the side after an open trial last year, which welcomed more than 100 potentials.
“I’ve played (for NSW Country’s) under 16s before, so having that knowledge of a national championship before will help,” he said.
Having knowledge of a national championship before will help.
- NSW Country's Kobe Mansell
“It’s a different side though and we are pretty young, I think we’ve got four top-agers and then the rest are bottom-age players.
“(My role is) just to get everyone open really, find the open man and get some shots up.”
Mansell has every reason to be confident in his own form at the very least, he’s played an integral role in helping his Bathurst Goldminers sides absolutely dominate this season.
His Goldminers Waratah Youth League side has only lost one game so far while in the Western Junior League, they’ve gone through undefeated and haven’t even been seriously tested yet.
In the latter the West Wyalong Wildcats have come the closest to knocking the Goldminers off, but even then, the Bathurst side still won that game 85-72.
“We’re going really well there, we’re coming into finals now too,” Mansell said.
Mansell and his NSW Country side will also face ACT, Northern Territory, Queensland South, South Australia Country and Western Australia Metro in the pool stage, before the finals kick-off on day six of the carnival.
The Basketball Australia Under-18 Championships and Kevin Coombs Cup, the only opportunity for junior wheelchair basketballers to represent their state at a national championship, kick-off on Saturday, April 21 at Geelong.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
