Mitchell Praises Young Players' Output

The troops are slowly beginning to return for South East Melbourne, who were once again forced to give big minutes to young players in the absence of stars Trey Kell, Gary Browne, Ryan Broekhoff and Zhou Qi.

The Phoenix suffered a 13-point loss to the Illawarra Hawks last night with young guard pair Junior Madut and Owen Foxwell both seeing extensive action. Madut in particular impressed with 21 points, seven rebounds and a massive block on Hawks import Tyler Harvey.

Head coach Simon Mitchell says he’s been impressed with the way his young players have stepped up in the absence of key personnel.

“I can’t fault our guys,” Mitchell said. “’Creeky’ (Mitch Creek) has had five training sessions for the year, we have four rookies and we’re missing the engine. We have to focus on the little things.

“We failed to get to the free throw line which we need to do. We’ve got too much firepower sitting in street clothes for us to not get to the free throw line – we need to make a concerted effort. I thought our attack on the rim was ok at times but it was also a little reckless as well and it wasn’t rewarded.

“We just need to be a little sturdier when we do get our feet in the paint and we’re a little more aggressive trying to get there.

“You’ve got to make sure when guys are down and your top line is down there are kids in place who can come in and do the job and they’ve had experience in that role, so from our standpoint right now I think this is a real positive for us.

“I’m loving the fact Junior is getting minutes and doing really well, Owen Foxwell – it’s like going to school every day when he comes into the gym there’s just so much for him to learn from."

After suffering a rib injury in a pre-season clash with the Tasmania JackJumpers, it looks like Kell will be the first of the injured contingent to make it back onto the floor, with Mitchell saying the guard could see some court time as soon as next week.

He says the returns of Browne and Broekhoff won’t be far behind, and Qi is set to land in Australia in the coming days.

“Trey Kell will either play on Saturday subject to a fitness test or we’ll hold him off until the next game – but he’ll certainly be right by the next game,” he said.

“Gary might be another week and ‘Rowdy’ (Broekhoff) will be the following week and then Zhou Qi will be here on the 9th of October so I think he plays on the 15^th.”

Madut, who is playing his first professional season after finishing his college career at Hawaii, has a long history with both the Phoenix and Mitchell. The young guard trained extensively with the club during the 2019 season.

He says while he can take great confidence from his own performance, the important thing is getting wins on the board.

I’m not too happy because we lost, but it’s good for me personally just building my confidence, and coach has confidence in me and my teammates always telling me to be confident," Madut said.

"It’s good to get rewarded for that but we’ve still got a lot of work to do."