'I broke down': Why Newley called time

Few players achieve their dreams of becoming a professional athlete, and even fewer spend 20 years gracing some of the world’s biggest stages in their chosen sports.

That’s exactly what retiring Melbourne United and Australian basketball legend Brad Newley achieved. The almost 39-year-old forward has announced he will call time on his professional career at the end of this season – and one final shot at an NBL championship.

Newley’s season has been spent largely in a support role for Melbourne, out of United’s 25 games this season he’s appeared in just 16 of them, and for a notoriously competitive player like him, that’s been difficult.

Speaking on a special edition of NBL Now, Newley discussed when he realised it was time for him to give the professional game away.

“It's a thing I’ve battled with most of the year is accepting that and I’m actually really proud of myself for the steps I’ve taken and being at ease with it all. There was a stage probably just before Christmas where we had a few injuries, I was thinking it looked like I might get a bit of a run and it didn’t quite work out that way,” Newley reflected.

“That week at practice I think a bit of the old ‘Newls’ was coming out, trying to get one up on a few people and probably overstepping my mark a little bit, and it actually took Chris (Goulding) to pull me aside and I actually broke down. That was probably the moment when I knew this is coming to an end, and I don’t want to go out as a grizzly old bastard at the end on the bench, I don’t want to be that guy because it’s not fun for others and people to be around.

“That moment was the one that gave me the real kick in the backside to say your days are running out and let’s enjoy it while you can, and I’ve ridden that right through to the end now. I treat practice like my games now, I get to lead some of the young fellas in the third squad and have some fun with those boys. Every now and then a bit of old magic might pop out,vjust to remind them all I can still get it done to a degree.

“Being a competitor, I guess that’s why I lasted 20 years, I stayed in it, and I always looked after myself. If that can rub off on some of our young players and some of our senior players then I’ve done my job.”

For such a storied career both in Australia and abroad, Newley’s retirement could somehow come without an NBL title to his name.

He came close with the Sydney Kings in 2020 before Covid prevented the continuation of their series against the Wildcats, and again in NBL22 where Melbourne was surprisingly knocked out by newcomers Tasmania in the semi-finals. 

Newley says a title this season would be the perfect way to finish off what’s been a long and eventful career.

“I love sport, I love footy, I love champions, I love seeing people win things, and I’d love to have that moment where you get to raise it up and have that feeling I really haven’t had since my junior World Cup,” he said.

“We won a couple of Comm Games and an Asia Cup but domestically, the guys you go to work with every day, you talk about winning a championship with every day, championship habits and all these sorts of things, it would be nice to crown that with the raising of the trophy at the end of the season.

“For me, that would be a great way to go out and move into a ‘normal’ life.”

Melbourne’s season continues when United takes on Cairns on Friday night at 7:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo.