April 7 2019

Today was Round 2 of the NBL1 season and the second home game for the Tigers.

Both the Men and Women were looking to get their first win of the season to get going before both teams play a stretch of games on the road.

The Women’s game was Frankston’s midway through the third quarter as they held an eleven point lead.

The Tigers turned it around in the quarter to narrow the gap and then played excellent basketball to win by 6 points.

The Men had a 11-2 start against Frankston and led at QT by 8 but it was Frankston was leading at Half Time by 3 points.

The Men found their first quarter form in the third quarter to lead by 12 at 3QT and the fourth quarter was almost a stalemate as Frankston was only able to narrow the gap by one point.

Both games were well attended as viewers could see the seating area filling as the Women’s game continued on and was almost full by the end of the Men’s game.

Both games had over 100 live viewers with a maximum of 125 viewers at one stage of the Men’s game.

So both Tigers teams are 1-1 heading into the series of away games, it is going to be a great season of action.

March 7 2019

We’re only a couple of weeks away from the start of the NBL1 season which starts on March 31 against the Bendigo Braves.

Who would of thought five years ago that the Melbourne Tigers would be associated in any way with anything that Larry Kestelman’s NBL touches?

In 2014, the Tigers spin off club was renamed United, retired jerseys were no longer retired and history seemed to have disappeared.

But while Tigers fans were originally brokenhearted, the original club was starting to go places as they went within six months from Big V to SEABL and slowly but surely as the years gone things were getting better.

The Tigers seniors went from the Men going from 3 wins to just missing out on the Finals by their third year.

The Tigers 1993 look was a hit in 2018 as it stood out against the rest of the league jersey offerings.

The Tigers women got a club in 2017 and they went from 7 wins to making the finals in their second season (2018) and they scored a win against Nunawading which was the first against a former NBL club.

SEABL is now gone but the challenge remains with NBL1, the Men have finals to chase and the women have a chance to make finals twice in a row.

The Supercats and Spectres are still playing too and maybe one day the NBL1 will see the Coburg Giants come in and make things more interesting, forget about SE Melbourne Phoenix in the NBL.

The good news about this season is that all games are going to be streamed, no more watching a scoreboard online or waiting for an away game for a broadcast.

So fellow Tigers fans it doesn’t matter where you live in Australia or overseas because if you can’t get to MSAC then sit back, relax and cheer on your Tigers from home and don’t forget your membership.

Go Tigers.

November 6 2018

It has been some time but I’ve really missed writing about the Melbourne Tigers.

SEABL is all but dead but the Tigers have a competition to participate in for 2019 which is good because Saturday nights without the Tigers in top competition would not be great fun.

It sucks that the Pioneers aren’t part of the new competition, they are a great side and the Tigers had some great games against them, we almost beat them in the final round for 2018.

Today is this site’s birthday at least according to the bill it is, it has been standing for four years and started back in the days Tigers fans were full of sadness after the NBL era was over but the club recovered and fans were rewarded with the Women making Finals and the Men made life difficult for their competition.

So it is a couple of months before we see some basketball action, hope time really goes by quickly.

August 4 2018

The Tigers Women are in the Semi Finals and tonight they take on the Nunawading Spectres.

Nunawading have had great success against the Tigers but the Tigers did beat them only a few weeks ago to make it an even battle at least in the eyes or machines of the bookies.

The Women’s success this year should build fan confidence in the Melbourne Tigers, people love success and this year the Tigers have been successful and have seen the club go from a club with a famous name to a club that can cause trouble to sides.

Isn’t it amazing that just four years ago we had no SEABL teams and our Tigers were playing in BigV largely unnoticed to the casual fan and our spin off NBL Tigers became Melbourne United.

It’s hard work at times convincing fellow Tigers fans that the Men and Women who play for the club in SEABL are worthy of the same level of support that fans gave the NBL club over 30 years of competition.

They are totally worth it and things can only go up from here, the Men were just a few points away from finals this year and if the Men and Women can retain their lists and perhaps add another player or two then 2019 could be a season of double success.

Regardless of the result tonight, our second taste of finals should be enjoyed because we have earned the right to be semi finalists.

July 6 2018

This weekend will be the Tigers most important weekend since rejoining SEABL in 2016.

A string of losses caused by fading out in the last five minutes of a game have sent the Men’s team from being comfortable in the Top 8 to now being on the outside looking in.

Last Saturday’s loss against the Supercats was devastating particularly after opening up a 10 point lead with five minutes to go, the loss was so upsetting it still hurts.

The Men seeming have four weaknesses, the last minute of each quarter, the last five minutes of the last quarter, turnovers and securing rebounds.

The team does have a wide range of scorers but if one players goes cold in scoring and nobody takes his place in keeping the scoreboard ticking over, it is all over.

Turnovers have been deadly for the Tigers, the Tigers can play fast but if the timing is slightly off the ball will end up in the hands of the opposition.

Rebounding is important, despite having Deng on the team, the team is still struggling to get the rebounds needed especially on offence.

Snagging more rebounds could offset some of the turnovers and keep the scoring going for the Tigers (or preventing the opposition from scoring more).

The Men have to win this weekends games to stay in the hunt for Finals, now that fans have the taste of success they want more and this year has to be the year.

The Women’s team have been in erratic form but early performances have kept them in the Top 8.

They got the Tornadoes and then the Rangers, Dandenong should be weakened thanks to an Opals camp picking players from most of the opposition to come.

The Tigers have three main scoring options in Rebecca Cole, Monique Conti and Louella Tomlinson and when they on a roll they can score 20 points or more each but they need the others to score too especially if the opposition halts one of the three.

A clean sweep weekend can give the side a little space before trying to beat Nunawading for the first time, meet Dandenong again and finish against the Sparks.

July 20 could be a very tense night for Tigers fans, both teams will be playing in two different locations and both games are overlapping so expect the possibility of some very nervous Tigers fans.

But wins this weekend and perhaps the next two weekends can prevent such a tightrope from happening, time will tell and everything is in the Tigers hands.

April 23 2018

Saturday was a mixed bag of results for the Tigers.

The Tigers Women’s SEABL team were expected to at least in the bookies eyes lose to their Kilsyth opponents, the bookies were offering $10.50 odds and this writer happily put his betting account’s last $2.60 on the Tigers to win.

Tigers fans who either went out to Kilsyth and there were some judging by the cheers got to see the Tigers at their very best.

The team had plenty of contributors and the game was all but secure at half time with the Tigers keeping pace with Kilsyth in the second half to ensure victory.

Those who watched the live stream were amused when Courtney Gaze and Peri Kalka were repeatedly called the other persons name in the online broadcast, it is believed that their similar hairstyles caused the confusion.

Overall the Tigers are now rolling after dropping their first game to Nunawading with it now certain that only poor shooting and foul trouble could dent the sides chances of success throughout the rest of the season.

The Men came onto the court next and to be honest it was horrible to watch as the Tigers fell apart after quarter time and were even held to just two points in the third quarter.

In total honesty, the Tigers were up against it as they were playing against a team filled with NBL experience with six players either in the NBL, had been in the NBL or are going to the NBL in 2018/19.

Tom Wilson couldn’t get space and efforts to break through meant he lost control of the ball a half dozen times and you could see how frustrated he was during the game.

Kilsyth managed to get their players into long range space with the side managing to get 12 out of 24 three point attempts in, the Tigers could only manage 3 from 21.

Deng Acouth had more blocks than the entire Kilsyth team and had more rebounds than any other player so his height has proven to be great value, the bad part was that he could only score from 14% of his attempts.

Lack of accuracy killed the Tigers,  Patrick Bines had 16%, Tom Wilson 20%, Ben Dixon 25%, Maxwell Viitalla had 22% whilst Billy Hughes and Jack Bines had 0% from their combined total of four shots.

The best for the Tigers was Dejan Kostur who had 50% success from his four shots and Jimmy Todd had 42% from his seven shots including two of the three 3 pointers the Tigers had.

There was some good news in that the Tigers got 15 out of 17 Free Throw attempts through the hoop for an 88% success rate.

In the end it was a 55 point loss but while it was horrible to watch there is the good news that this week is a new week and there is a new opponent and they are Diamond Valley.

It looks like there is a chance the games will be streamed as Diamond Valley streamed their home games on Sunday.

March 24 2018

There are 15 days to go until the Tigers tip off their 2018 SEABL season, anticipation is building as both Tigers sides have new coaches and new players and are determined to better their 7 win 2017 campaign.

The Men’s team have gone from 3 wins to 7 wins and so the upward trend is expected to continue.

The Women now have several players with no less than one season of SEABL experience plus at least four of them have WNBL experience, a 10-10 season or better is not out of the question.

Memberships are now available, make sure you get yours and enjoy some SEABL and Big V games at Oakleigh Recreation Centre or spend $50 to become a regular member and enjoy a nice hat and other goodies.

Meanwhile the Tigers estranged son, Melbourne United is heading towards their first championship as Melbourne United and it will be interesting to see what happens.

For years we have told people that Larry Kestelman owning Melbourne United and the NBL is a conflict of interest and it is, the CEO and majority owner of the league should not be personally owning a chunk of a Basketball club.

Melbourne United’s victory (unless they collapse) will be tainted, there will always be questions from people wondering if the NBL paved their path to glory in terms of finances and refereeing decisions as their co-owner is the boss of the NBL.

Did Larry Kestelman save the NBL? Yes, his millions gave sponsors the confidence that their investment money was safe, the NBL needed financial stability and for over a decade it didn’t have it and now they do.

Basketball’s popularity was never in doubt but the media and business world didn’t have much confidence in it to report on it or fund it and so the game declined to the point in 2014 it was in major trouble and needed deep pockets to get it out of trouble.

Does Larry Kestelman need to co-own Melbourne United? Absolutely not.

Will the media ever talk about the conflict of interest? Probably not and that is because why would you want to dare speak out of turn as everybody is in that winning feeling?

Don’t forget that Joey Wright alluded to the conflict of interest and he was fined $5000, the comment went over 90% of fans heads but the NBL knew he was talking about Melbourne United and the NBL being under the one roof.

Melbourne United would not be hurt by Larry Kestelman leaving Melbourne United, he could do a Donald Trump and turn his share over to his family, there will still be suspicion that he’d be helping family out but at least there is no chance his hand will be in the till.

Some readers may say that this is hypocritical because if United stayed as the Tigers, then this writer be in the position United fans are in, the truth is that it would of been impossible to follow a club when ethics are being broken by the co-owner of the club.

The NBL must be a competition that is free from any high ranking official having a personal stake in any of the clubs

Anyway there are 15 days to go and this Tigers fan is excited because it is going to be a great SEABL season.

Go Tigers!

September 27 2017

Aussie Hoopla mentioned the Tigers in a story about NBL expansion and while it was brief, the statement was true.

It said the Melbourne Tigers are still a long way from trying to get back into the NBL, it is true because the team has to build itself up to have the fan base, corporate and financial support needed to be in the expensive NBL.

But lets look at the positives of the Tigers efforts so far

A look at the 2017 SEABL season would show the Mens team had 7 wins, while that number is considered poor it was an improvement on 2016 which pleases the fans especially as the Men did the majority of their winning in the latter part of the season.

In Big V competition, the Tigers YCM team made the finals after winning the competition the previous season.

Tigers teams also won titles in junior basketball and so as the juniors do well it allows the senior teams to be supplied with players and as success builds so will interest.

Being fans, we must do what we can to help the Tigers out, we must attend games at MSAC and Oakleigh, we must buy memberships and we must buy merchandise when they are available.

Here is a tip for fans, sign up for Tigers updates because time to time there are special details that will enhance the game experience.

Wear your hats and shirts wherever possible during this off season, let the world know the Tigers do exist, that they are open for business and the club is very welcoming.

2018 will be better than 2016 and 2017, we can make it happen and things will continue to improve to the point we are considered worthy of throwing our hat in the ring when it comes to NBL applications.

September 9 2017

Off season is very boring, it seems the more years we experience off season, the worse it gets.

It is true that over the next few months the front and back yards will get worked on and looking all pretty but Saturday nights and the occasional Sunday afternoon are a little empty.

Yep definitely missing the nights and afternoons watching the stats and hoping the Tigers will win, it was such a good feeling when the Tigers started sweeping the night or afternoon.

So out comes the Nintendo Switch and hours spent playing NBA Playgrounds to pass the time, its not a bad game it is like NBA Jam but you can mix players and legends if you get their cards.

Oh why can’t 2018 come along any faster?