The Frankston Blues have made a major move for 2023, signing Olympian, 300 NBL game veteran and Melbourne United role player Brad Newley to the roster.
It all started at the Coles Express NBL1 National Finals, where Newley was watching his sister (Mia Murray), playing with the Townsville Flames.
He was approached by Frankson men’s coach Andrew Harms about playing with the team next season.
While an Adelaide product and playing for the Forestville Eagles as a junior, Newley wants to stay in Melbourne to extend his NBL career. He believes the NBL1 will give him the best chance of that.
“It’s a bit hard with a young family, they’ve started school in Melbourne,” he said.
“It’s a good opportunity to make my NBL1 debut in Melbourne, but going back to Forestville would always be a dream. I’d like to play another year in the NBL… Frankston approached me, they have a good program and people speak highly of the club. I live in the bayside area and I’m looking to expand my game, we’ll see what happens there.”
Olympian and Commonwealth Games representative Brad Newley will suit up for game 300 today against the Hawks ?
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Newley will be a veteran once again for a United player with the Blues as their superstar, Lachlan Barker will be suiting up alongside him. He says he’s excited to help him progress at the NBL1 level and see him become “Superman” once again.
“Lachie’s been great for us at United, but I know when he plays for Frankston he pulls on a Superman suit,” Newley joked.
“I’m looking forward to running alongside him, I’ve had messages from some of the guys down there like Lucas (Barker), (Daniel) Trist and Iggy (Igor Hadziomerovic). I crossed pathways with Iggy when he was around 18 at a Boomers camp, so it will be nice to play with these guys.
“It was funny, Adam Jackson the assistant coach said the senior players are excited to have you on board, I asked ‘who’s more senior than me?’, I’m looking forward to getting down there.”
The multiple-time medallists, NBL Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year and Gaze Medal winner is still hunting for a championship. With Frankston only losing by nine points in the Coles Express NBL1 National Finals Championship Game, Newley says he could be in the right spot.
“I probably won’t get to do it with my home club Forestville, I want to win a title at this level here with Frankston.”
There’s one game in particular that NBL1 and Melbourne United fans should mark down for Round 1 ahead of the NBL1 South season, as even Chris Goulding is on board for this showdown.
The Sandringham Sabres’ NBL1 South MVP and Defensive Player of the Year Shea Ili, Player/Coach David Barlow and David Okwera will play against Frankston’s Barker and Newley in the battle of Melbourne United stars on Thursday, April 6 at 8:00pm AEDT in Sandringham.
WATCH THE GAME LIVE AT NBL1.COM.AU OR THE NBL1 APP HERE
“CG (Chris Goulding) is already gassing it up a little bit, he’s pretty keen for it,” Newley said.
“It should be a good match-up with the Melbourne connection, I’m sure there will be plenty of crap spoken in the lead-up to it.
The first game of the double-header will feature the likes of the Sabres’ Funda Nakkasolgu and Brittany Smart against Frankston’s latest signing, current Perth Lynx star Chloe Bibby, tipping off at 6:00pm AEDT here.
Stay up-to-date with the NBL1 via the Roster Tracker here.
