It’s a whole new ball game

No more Division 1 Supercats teams after basketball restructure

BASKETBALL in Geelong will embark on a new era, with the Supercats no longer fielding Division 1 men and women teams next season after a competition restructure.

Plans are under way to replace the SEABL with a largely Victorian-based competition, run by Basketball Victoria, that would act as the state’s premier competition above the Big V.

As part of the changes, Basketball Geelong’s exemption to field three teams of each gender has been revoked, now brought back to two.

Keen to retain their standing as an elite program, the Supercats will maintain their topflight teams, which currently play in the SEABL, as well as their Big V youth league teams.

The casualty would be their Big V Division 1 men’s and women’s teams.

In a further twist, Corio Bay Stingrays look set to survive in Big V State Championship men, despite finishing last this season, given a number of the competition’s top teams will move up to the top tier.

Bellarine Storm has applied to field Division 1 men’s and women’s teams to maintain a complete pathway in Geelong.

Frank Morrissy, a former Basketball Geelong president who ran the Big V program for many years, said there was a lot of sentiment surrounding Geelong losing the teams.

“That Division 1 (Supercats) team, the men’s program in 1994 was effectively when it started in its current format and we’ve won three championships since then,” he said.

“Jason Reardon, for example — one of the most decorated players in Geelong — he won a championship at Big V level (in 2011).

“A lot of the elite players from Geelong have come through that program, so it is a bit disappointing we can no longer field that team as well.

“In the women’s program, it started about 1999 in that format and it’s won two championships and been a great breeding ground for the talent that have gone through to the SEABL program.”

Storm operations manager Aaron Lothian said acquiring Big V Division 1 teams would be a natural progression for his club after dipping their toes in senior Country Basketball League basketball for the first time this summer.

“It’s definitely the next step to completing our elite pathway, so it’s the next step above CBL and we’re certainly trying to strengthen our senior program as well,” he said.