West Adelaide Bearcat Fraser Roxburgh is preparing to use his NBL1 Central title charge as fuel for the 36ers' pre-season.
Following his solitary appearance for the Adelaide 36ers in NBL23, 17-year-old young gun Fraser Roxburgh will potentially lift the first title of his professional career this weekend, and he’s hoping it will launch him to new heights ahead of his second season with the 36ers.
Roxburgh has teamed up with fellow 36er Mitch McCarron, former Adelaide teammate Anthony Drmic and Illawarra centre Lachlan Olbrich at NBL1 Central side West Adelaide, and the Bearcats are preparing to take on the Malith Machar-led Forestville Eagles in the Grand Final on Saturday night.
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The young wing’s potential has been on full show this season in NBL1, and it’s obviously why the 36ers handed him his first development player contract while he was still in school – and in another state.
He’s averaged 13.2 points per game and shot over 40 per cent from the three-point line, while largely operating as his side’s sparkplug off the bench, behind Drmic.
Roxburgh believes an NBL1 title victory would provide incredible momentum heading into the new season with the 36ers.
“This is my first year playing NBL1 properly in Central, and it’d be huge to go into pre-season off a big win and accomplishment like winning the title,” Roxburgh told NBL Media.
“I think it will really fuel me and really get me pumped and going for NBL pre-season. It would be a great achievement.
“When I moved over to West Adelaide I felt like I could talk to them (McCarron and Drmic) a little bit more, because in the NBL there are a lot more guys on the team, and I suppose I was a little bit timid since I had never been exposed to the professional environment.
“This has really helped me get to know the guys, and I’ve been asking a lot more questions and learning a lot more from them, and now I have a really good relationship with them both which has been really good.”
It’s that added exposure to seasoned pros like McCarron and Drmic through NBL1 – and the season dipping his toes into the professional landscape – that Roxburgh believes will help him thrive not only in this weekend’s final, but also in his second campaign with Adelaide.
He’s the only development player who has remained a DP from last year, following the departures of Cameron Thew and Fiston Ipassou, and the elevation of Nick Marshall to the main roster.
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Each of he, fellow school-age recruit Harvey White, and Akech Aliir were signed from the club’s development player trials, to take their roster places alongside former collegiate talent Keanu Rasmussen.
The trials were limited to players born in South Australia or playing in NBL1 Central – and it was through his association with the Bearcats that Roxburgh met the criteria.
He says his position on the NBL24 roster was always likely safe, and now knows what he needs to do to thrive in a professional environment.
“I knew what the club was doing well before the tryouts and the way they were going about promoting the DP trials,” he said.
“I was always going to be a DP, but I went in there wanting to do my best, compete, and just show the others what I can do. My mindset going into those trials was to compete like I was any of the others to win that spot.
“I’ve been watching Nick (Marshall) from the start when I joined the team last year to now, and his improvement is just insane. You can see all the work he puts in and the work behind the scenes, and that’s what it comes down to.
“Now I know what work needs to be put in and what needs to be done, that’s what I’m expecting so I just have to knuckle down. Pre-season, I can’t wait. I just want to put the work in until the season starts and then it will unfold from there which will be good.”
For the entirety of his time as a 36er, Roxburgh has taken on the unenviable task of juggling life as a professional athlete, with completing high school.
His final exams will fall smack bang in the middle of Adelaide’s pre-season campaign, at a school he joined following his completion of distance education for much of his first season on the roster.
Roxburgh says communication has been key in allowing him the best of both worlds, as he looks to make his NBL mark.
“Last year I had to finish my school remotely because I had just moved over from Victoria which was pretty difficult since there wasn’t as much support there as I was used to,” he added.
“Now going to school normally while pre-season is on, it’s still pretty difficult but it’s easier because I’m in the classroom with others, I’m learning with the teacher right in front of me.
“It has been pretty difficult to adjust to that change, sorting out my timetable of when I go to school after training, working around catchups with my teachers. It was a difficult obstacle to start with, but it all comes down to communication really.
“I just need to make sure I’m constantly talking with my coaches and my teachers – which we’ve done – to work around it and we’ve all got it sorted out and it’s all going to work fine.”
Roxburgh and his West Adelaide Bearcats are taking on the Forestville Eagles in the NBL1 Central Grand Final on Saturday, 8pm ACST. The game will be shown Live and Free via Kayo Freebies.
