On Saturday July 5th the Hawks will go to an away game of a different kind when they head to Albany to take on the Redbacks in the NBL1 West Indigenous Round.  The Hawks will be wearing their uniforms specially designed by Aaron ‘Jungari’ Sutton,  a proud Indigenous visual artist. Albany Basketball Association (ABA) has been looking to run an event like this for the past few years and started planning very early this year to organise this event with two teams with deep history into the competition, the Hawks and the Redbacks. The Hawks also have a tie to Albany with championship player Matt Leary hailing  from Albany where he played all his junior basketball as did newly signed rookie Billy McRae.

Keanu Weeden one of the key organisers from Albany Basketball Association is excited about the upcoming game. “Bringing back the culture and the modernised NBL1 West back into the Great Southern is hopefully a stepping stone into the right direction with the Great Southern reuniting with the competition soon. Basketball being one of the biggest sports in the city, having the ability to showcase what it could look like if something did exist, but showcasing high-level basketball back in the city since 2012 which was the last time Albany had a large scaled basketball event. Basketball in Albany is I believe the most popular sport, each year and have around 200+ teams play in the domestic comp, alongside our Albany Raiders teams filled out every year, this stepping stone, alongside potential vision of having our own team, could grasp more juniors into these programs and envision themselves on a stage/event like this one.”

Hawks sharpshooter Matt Leary will be taking the court in front of his home crowd and Weeden is looking forward to seeing him in action. “With having grown up and played with Matt through Juniors and now seeing the level of success he has hit, it’s great to see. Not only from my personal note, but having so many Albany locals know Matt personally and now finally being able to see him play back home in front of his entire family and friends her grew up with, is amazing to witness.”

Men’s Head Coach Damian Barr thinks it is fantastic for the sport. “I was genuinely excited when the club approached and asked if we would be willing to play an NBL1 game in Albany. Being able to take our game to regional WA, and especially to my former home town of Albany is fantastic. Our Men’s group did a preseason camping trip to Albany in January of this year and played a game against their local Raiders Men’s team, a team building weekend that the group thoroughly enjoyed. Not only do I have roots down there but Matt Leary and Billy McRae are both Albany local products as well, which means of all the locations to go and play, this one just worked on so many levels. Huge thanks to the Hawks, Darren Berry and the rest of his team at Albany Basketball, BWA and NBL1 for making this event possible”.

Women’s Head Coach Craig Mansfield is also on board and behind the regional game. “We are excited to head down to Albany and play the Redbacks, personally I love the area with Albany one of my favourite destinations in WA. It is great to have the opportunity to showcase the NBL1 and basketball in all areas of WA, our squad includes several players and coaches who grew up in regional areas so it is fun for us to promote the game more widely and hopefully inspire some potential athletes, coaches and clubs with our league. Our last game against Redbacks was highly competitive so it should be an entertaining match up for spectators, hopefully we can make a few adjustments and have improved enough as a group to come away with a win.”

Game Information

Game:  Saturday July 5th

Venue: Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre