Coach adds spice to boiling rivalry

Round 1 of the Hungry Jack's NBL27 Season may not even have tipped off yet, but the mind games between teams certainly have.

Earlier this week, new Adelaide Head Coach Trevor Gleeson, who was also in the mix for the Melbourne United job, compared the two clubs' recruitment processes, which ultimately saw the five-time champion sign with the Sixers.

"I felt Adelaide wanted me and I didn't feel like that with Melbourne," Gleeson told CODE Sports.

"I had to put a resume in [at Melbourne], and then I had to go and interview, whereas Adelaide were on the phone trying to recruit me.

"In the space of 24 hours I got a call from Matt Weston [GM Basketball Operations], then Grant Kelley [owner] and then Bryce [Cotton] called."

As fate would have it, those two sides will lock horns on Saturday, during the 2026-27 season-opener at John Cain Arena.

During Thursday's episode of NBL Now, presented by CODE Sports, 2019-20 Sixth Man of the Year Jason Cadee said he believes Gleeson's comments were planned to add spice to the blockbuster.

"Trev doesn't [just] say things," Cadee said.

"He's been around long enough to know what he's saying and when to say it.

"Maybe he wanted to add some spice [to the game] or maybe he genuinely just feels that way.

"Matt Weston backed it up, and I'm actually a big believer in if you know who you want, why would you have an interview process?

"Adelaide basically said we've lost Mike Wells; Trevor Gleeson's our guy. They haven't hid from that."

As much as Adelaide will want to win this fixture for Gleeson in his return to the NBL, Cadee believes his opponents on Saturday will be using this as fuel.

"Jacob Chance is a young guy, knows Trev really well," he said.

"[But] if I'm Jacob Chance, I'm also using that in my locker room speech before and trying to find creative ways to fire the group up with that."

Melbourne and Adelaide face off on Saturday night at John Cain Arena from 7:30pm AEST, live on ESPN, 9Go! and 9Now.