Hawk talks club aspirations
Big man AJ Ogilvy rolls into town for opener
FAR North basketball fans should be looking forward to watching Illawarra star AJ Ogilvy in the green and gold next year in Cairns.
With the Australian Boomers to base themselves in Cairns for the opening rounds of the Commonwealth Games next April, Ogilvy, a threetime All-NBL First-Teamer should be one of the first selected with the Aussie NBA players unavailable.
He almost certainly will not be though.
Ogilvy is likely to be on holidays, like he was this winter as the Boomers sent an NBLbased squad to the FIBA Asian Cup, that he was bizarrely not selected in, despite being the dominant big man in the league.
Some even felt the Hawks centre had claims to be selected for the Rio Olympics extended squad with the NBA stars but again he was overlooked.
Instead of taking Ogilvy, who was fresh off another AllNBL First Team selection, the Boomers took his teammate Nick Kay and youngsters Angus Brandt and Matt Hodgson to the recent Asia Cup.
Cairns Post basketball columnist Cameron Tragardh this week referred to Ogilvy as the “most polished centre in the league”.
But, as a recent Australian Boomer put it last week, “they just do not like him”, when asked about Ogilvy’s continuous snubs from the national team over the years.
The 29-year-old, who will lead the Hawks in their Round 1 battle with the Snakes tonight, puts all his attention into his club duties and aims to not worry about his lack of Australian team call-ups.
“I try not to focus on that type of stuff to be honest,” Ogilvy said.
“I just go out and do what I can for my club team and if that leads to something else, it does, but if it does not, I am moving on. I can’t let other people’s opinions of me drag me down.
“Andrej Lemanis (Australian Boomers and Brisbane Bullets coach) obviously thinks there are better players that fit his system than I would. “That is his call as a coach. “I just want to make the Hawks a championship team and worry about that.”
The Hawks present this season with basically the same roster as last campaign with the exception of adding new import pairing, Demitrius Conger and Delvon Johnson.
The duo showed flashes of brilliance against Brisbane recently and at the NBL Blitz and Ogilvy is looking forward to them unleashing on the league.
“They are both really athletic,” Ogilvy said. “DJ will be an upgrade on (Michael Holyfield) from last year, he is a bit more skilled and versatile in what he can do.
“Demitrius is going to be good in the open court, he showed a lot of that ability in the preseason down in Melbourne.
“He is going to be a bit of a handful in that sense.
“They are bigger, longer and more athletic than the two guys we had last year.”
Ogilvy, as well as the NBL, earlier this year came out in support of same-sex marriage.
“The only thing we can do is send a loud and clear message that as Australians we demand equality,” he said.