Supercats to Storm into CBL

FORMER Supercats Ash Cannan, Nathan Freind, Jess Watson and Bree Matthews will headline Bellarine Storm’s inaugural Country Basketball League teams.

Cannan and Freind, who both have SEABL experience with Geelong, will provide invaluable leadership and experience for the Storm, while Watson and Matthews return to their grassroots club as marquee signings for the Storm women.

“We’re really happy with it. We think we’ve got a really good mix of experience and youth — I think we’re over 80 per cent home grown players, so we didn’t really have to go out and buy players,” Storm operations manager Aaron Lothian said ahead of this weekend’s season-opener.

“I think we should be playing some really exciting basketball.

“Our goal is making finals; if we get both teams into finals, we’ve had a great year, I think.”

Cannan and Freind were lured to the Storm by coach Luke Beauglehall, who doubles as a SEABL Supercats’ assistant coach in the winter.

“Nathan played there this year and Ash last year, so it was really that connection that he brought them in,” Lothian said.

“A big part of our promotion of what we want to try and achieve in CBL is really to enjoy basketball.

“Nathan put in a lot with the Supercats from a training point of view, but doesn’t get a heap of court time, so it was mostly jump on court, enjoy your basketball, get some minutes under your belt for summer and get ready for winter season. It was a really easy sell for them.

“Bree’s obviously been heavily involved with Storm for years now, so it was just a great opportunity for her to come back and play seniors in the Storm uniform.

“Jess was also originally a Storm player — she played under-12s here — so she thought it was a great opportunity to come back and have another go in Storm colours as well.”

The season kicks off on Saturday, with the women and men hosting Warrnambool at 6pm and 8pm respectively in a double-header in Drysdale.