April 1 is not a joke this year as the Melbourne Tigers start playing in NBL1 South competition for the first time in 2023.
It is true that there hasn’t been a whole lot to say in the last couple of years, life sometimes gets too busy to sit down and write down the joys and the frustrations that a season brings and last year was one of frustration.
Regardless of the results, life always feels good when the Melbourne Tigers are part of Basketball, it is one of those constants in life that is always needed.
It is good that YouTube can be turned on and see how things are going, it is not traditional TV, but it does the job as you can watch it on a TV and the quality is pretty good and the commentators are informative.
It is hard to know if the Tigers will do well this year, the Womens team have brought in experience this year after having a largely youthful team last year which wasn’t a bad idea, you got to get the kilometres into players and giving youth players a run in the NBL1 competition gives the Big V competition that extra bit of oomph and moves development along.
The Men could do well this year, when they get going, they are a great team but when their shooting goes cold the opposition makes the Tigers pay every time hence why last year a frustrating year (thanks Channel Ten) of basketball.
They say Saturday nights all right for fighting well Saturday night will be all right for basketball.
Melbourne Tigers
Thoughts on Tigers possibly used for Heritage Week/Round
January 10 2018
Today we were given a clue on what Melbourne United will wear for Heritage Round (Month).
It is from 2007/08 and that narrows it down to the Tigers and Dragons, a further clue is that five teams including United will wear a jersey design that was used in a championship year and the Tigers won a title in 2007/8.
So what is this Tigers fan’s thoughts on the matter?
I wish there was a way we could turn the situation if it happens to our (Tigers) advantage.
We need more ex NBL Tigers fans to support the current Melbourne Tigers, while it is true that SEABL is not the NBL and it does put people off, it is still a league that is fiercely contested and has quality.
We have a lot going for us coming into the 2018 SEABL season, our Women’s team has Monique Conti who not only features on the SEABL fixture guide but is used in Melbourne Boomers promotions in the WNBL as well.
Louella Tomlinson will be in for the full season too and her introduction halfway through last season brought a change in form for the Tigers too, Louella has also been doing her bit for the Melbourne Boomers too.
Daryl Corletto will be a full season player in the Men’s team and so we’ll have a season that is not disjointed as we had struggled with have a consistent lineup in the past two seasons.
We have a new set of coaches and assistants, they are highly qualified and the teams are backed by the deep depths of talent the YCM and YCW teams have.
We’re playing our games in Oakleigh and we’ve had our successes there, we get better attendance there and there’s a better crowd atmosphere too.
Fans may be upset that we have moved from MSAC but it is a matter of survival, we were MSAC’s guests, we paid to setup there and pack it up, our fan base in 2016 and 2017 was just too small to make a profit.
Personally, the original idea of Melbourne United is dying, an introduction of another Melbourne team will kill their stated mission to be for all Victorians so they can wear the Tigers colours but the tribute would be just a symbol or token at best, they have our four championships (technically they have just two), they have our retired jersey numbers but they don’t keep the numbers off the court and they celebrate their birthday in May and say they’re almost four and almost 34.
For a brief moment it will be fantastic to see the Tigers colours on an NBL court but then the reality will pop up that it isn’t us out there and will just shrug and think of the day the SEABL season starts or the monumental task of getting back into the NBL which won’t be easy thanks to Larry Kestelman co-owning the rights of United and Tigers (the hushed up conflict of interest).
They’re not us and we’re not them but we have survived and we’ll get bigger over time, it just takes time, money, fan support and dedication.
In just under three months time the city will be ours again for a couple of months Basketball wise, lets enjoy it.
Tigers Roundup (8/11/17)
November 8 2017
Good news, we’re more than a week into November.
Bad news, it is still 2017 so its a long way to SEABL ’18.
There’s been some Tigers changes in the last month, the coach lineup has changed, we’re starting to see players being signed, re-signed, released or signed up by other teams.
So far there are three player re-signings, two player departures, two coach departures and the signing of their replacements.
The Tigers SEABL Men’s team are having tryouts on the 19th of November in Oakleigh and no doubt we’ll find out who the 2018 additions will be soon after that.
Signings and Departures
SEABL Men Re-signings
Jimmy Todd
Ben Dixon
Ryan Oirbans
SEABL Women Out
Hanna Zavecz (Nunawading)
SEABL Men Out
Dane Pineau (Kilsyth)
SEABL Coaches In
Nick Abdicevic (SEABL Men)
Mark Alabakov (SEABL Women)
SEABL Coaches Out
Andrew Gaze (Co-coach of the Tigers YCM team)
Zoe Carr (Diamond Valley SEABL Women’s Team)
The treasured articles
Aussie Hoopla published a story on the Melbourne Tigers (read the story here) and it is exactly what the Tigers needed.
It talks about the possibility of the Tigers making it back to the NBL but the most important part of the piece was that it talked about the Tigers efforts in SEABL which is good for the Tigers because a reader who doesn’t know about the SEABL team might now become very interested.
Getting newspapers interested in the Melbourne Tigers doesn’t seem to be easy, most if not all SEABL teams get their news reported on by newspapers that are not capital city based but the Tigers being in Melbourne have to get their sports news printed by the big two The Herald Sun and The Age.
Many would think being in the city is an advantage, city papers are read by hundreds of thousands more people than what a local newspaper gets but it is of no advantage if they rarely write about you.
The Tigers do have their own website and club news is printed often particularly previews and recaps of SEABL, YCM and YCW matches and they are usually read 100+ times per piece.
The Tigers are also on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and are steadily growing in popularity by the week.
Back to the Aussie Hoopla piece, The journey to the NBL will be complicated, the IP issue has to be dealt with and then you got the complication that the head honcho of the NBL is the same guy who took the Tigers away from the NBL three years ago.
In all seriousness, the future of the Melbourne Tigers is in so many hands, fans have to watch games at MSAC, have to comment on stories and tweet thoughts as many times a week as possible, the team has to provide results on the court and the media has to be really interested in the club.
So at the end of the day, the story published in Aussie Hoopla is something that is treasured and hopefully other publications will make their own pieces of treasure for the club and the road to the NBL gets easier.
Three years on
Three years ago today the news went out that the Tigers NBL team was going to be no more and become Melbourne United.
Despite the sadness that lingers at the loss of our history making NBL club, the original and current Melbourne Tigers are getting better by the year just look at all the Tigers teams below.
Men’s SEABL team
Women’s SEABL team
YCM team
YCW team
Junior teams
Memberships come with goodies and they are nicely priced and so is merchandise plus most Tigers home games at MSAC (and the ones at Oakleigh too) are double headers or more so fans get to see plenty of Basketball at a very low price
There is entertainment between the breaks and you may even see a legend or two watching the game with you too.
The club’s Facebook page is 31 likes away from 1,500 likes and the club has Twitter and Instagram accounts too to keep fans updated on all the action.
So if any fellow Tigers fans out there who are reading this message and haven’t joined the club, come on home to the Tigers.
Thoughts after four games
The Mens SEABL team is 2-2 thanks to the 1 point win over NW Tasmania last night, this result is a wonderful beginning and the 2-2 start will no doubt have fans interested in turning up for the next home game which is against the Geelong Supercats.
Ari Stewart’s hot start against NW Tasmania kept the Tigers in the game when NW Tasmania could of easily ran away with it.
Tigers fans will be hoping will keep Tom Wilson plying his trade with the Tigers for the rest of the season because he has been a revelation for the Tigers and is popular with the fans.
Sam Sykes struggled in the Tigers first two games which led fans to wonder why he was selected in the team but he found his way to the basket in both Tasmanian games and this could be the start of him showing something special from the bench.
Nate Tomlinson has been considered either a great addition to the team in the eyes of fans or a very bad one mostly because he wore #6 in the team that is the Tigers rebellious son and the fact he played for them and was also considered to be a lower rung choice for that side.
Nate’s value has already been demonstrated as he scored 12 points in last night’s win but he also had 9 assists, five more than the next player on either team (Tom Wilson had 4).
Jimmy Todd currently averages a handy 7 points per game as well as 4.5 rebounds and 2 assists.
Xinkai Wang has been a good addition to the team as he picked up six points and two assists last night and eight points and two rebounds the previous night.
The biggest problem for the team is that they are being out rebounded by the opposition, this was also a problem last season and fans are hoping this issue is fixed in the near future.
Women’s SEABL Team
Round 2 (our Round 1) could be easily attributed to nerves though the Tigers shown against Dandenong that they could hold the line when trouble strikes.
Friday and Saturday night shown the Tigers can be a very competitive team and will be winning soon as they made their opposition fight all the way for the win.
The opposition were lucky that they had one ex-Tiger each that were their match winners, the way they got those Tigers is controversial but it is what it is.
The signing of Hannah Zavecz as a replacement for one of the Bass Straiters was a good move as she can score lots of points and bring the rest of the team into the game which is only good news for the Tigers.
Monique Conti averages 16.33 ppg, Briana Babic averages 10.33 ppg, Peri Kalka averages 8 ppg and Elyse Penaluna averages 6 points per game.
With four Tigers averaging over 10 ppg (Kate Gaze, Monique Conti, Briana Babic and Hannah Zavecz) and others averaging 5 or more, the side is more than capable of putting up a winning score.
The team goes to Ballarat after Easter in which promises to be an interesting game in terms of team development.
It’s been tough
The Tigers have had a tough season in SEABL this year but fans are still hopeful that every game they play next is the one when there is a win at the end of the game.
It is easy for a fan to feel despair after watching loss after loss either live, streamed or by reading stats but we the fans have to stick around and give the SEABL boys the best possible support no matter the result.
When the season is over, the Tigers will have gone through an entire SEABL season for the first time since 1983 and the club will then know what they need to do for 2017, SEABL is no small fries competition where dominance is established instantly by a Johnny come lately club and the Tigers knew that right from the start and so the team will improve over time.
The Tigers have Dandenong this coming Sunday afternoon on Dandenong’s turf and they are known for being a good club, Tigers fans around Dandenong should go and check out the game because watching a SEABL game is a great experience and the boys will appreciate the time taken to go see them play.
Even better news for fans is that Dandenong stream their matches and that makes it great for Tigers fans to tune in and watch the game.
Go Tigers!
Giddey coaches team to success
Warrick Giddey has coached his Melbourne Tigers 12.1 team to victory in their section of the Southern Peninsular Tournament.
The 12.1’s went on a scoring spree with the side defeating Diamond Valley
73 to 30.
The 14.2’s also won their tournament section against Bulleen Two 25 to 19 and the 14.4’s finished runner up to Korumburra 1 in theirs making it a successful tournament on court for the Tigers.
Away from the results, the tournament was a success for the team as it’s sides bonded over the weekend ensuring the VJBL season will be a good one for the Tigers regardless of the results.
WANMU congratulates the Tigers teams on their successful tournament adventure.
For further coverage on the Tournament, visit the official Tigers Facebook page by clicking here
Which title is the best?
1993 or 1997?
2005/06 or 2007/08?
As most Tigers fans know the Tigers after going through the 1980’s empty handed won two titles each in the 1990’s and 2000’s and contested an additional two Grand Final series each in both decades.
Each title win is memorable for their own reasons, 1993 was won over in Perth where the Tigers had to win over there for the first time to win the title and 1997 was a year that started horribly before the incredible winning streak that (Melbourne United needs another six to match) propelled the Tigers to the title against the Magic which avenged the narrow losses in 1992 and 1996.
Then came 2005/06 when Brian Goorjian and his Kings were dominating the league and the Tigers dispatched them with relative ease and then the 2007/08 series was a series of thrills as it went down to the wire with the Tigers winning the decider in Sydney to take the title 3-2.
Each title won brought a great level of satisfaction, beating the Wildcats in Perth to the dismay of their fans in 1993 was something to behold, beating the Magic was always something special and beating Brian Goorjian twice more was something to be pleased with as the Tigers finally won more series than lost against him (Brian struck back with the South Dragons in 2008/09 making it 3-3).
So which is the best win of them all? Is there a definitive answer or perhaps the answer just simply is………
All of them.
Petition update – November 11 2015
The petition is doing well at this time, there is currently 131 signatures and with the surge of interest in the Melbourne Tigers it is hoped that the amount of signatures will rise to challenge the 150 signature mark real soon.
For those not in the know, the petition is calling on the owners of Melbourne United to give up the Melbourne Tigers name, colours and history so the original Melbourne Tigers who is the mother/father of the club going around as Melbourne United can participate in competitions higher than the BigV as well as be allowed to do other things to expand the team’s income.
As it stands right now, the Tigers cannot compete in the NBL, SEABL and CLB which are either semi-professional or professional and this is why getting those rights is important because those three competitions are well known and fans want the team to be part of the action.
It is hoped that we, the fans of the Melbourne Tigers can unite in this petition to show the rights owners that we truly believe in our Tigers and a separation of the Tigers and United is good for Basketball particularly in the future as there is no doubt the two teams will meet on court.
To visit/sign the petition please visit the site below.
https://www.change.org/p/larry-kestelman-vince-crivelli-michael-slepoy-larry-kestelman-release-the-tigers-intellectual-property
Go Tigers
We Are Melbourne Tigers Fans 