Melbourne confident on Shea Ili

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Melbourne United has put a detailed recovery plan in place for Shea Ili, ensuring he completes a basketball conditioning block and is ready to take the court in Round 1 of the Hungry Jack's NBL26 Season.

Melbourne United is confident Shea Ili will be available for the first round of the Hungry Jack’s NBL26 Season, despite suffering minor concussion symptoms from an off season incident.

Ili will miss the CODE Sports NBL Blitz as he continues to work back to playing.

“The club decided with Shea to go through an independent concussion review process after multiple minor concussion symptoms in recent seasons,” Melbourne United’s High Performance Manager Steve McAdam told the club’s website.

“This process involved seeking multiple experts in their field to test and provide recommendations for both current and future prognosis.

“The results of these were extremely encouraging for Shea returning to play now and for the rest of his career. We are planning a basketball conditioning block that will involve our final practice game and have him available for the start of the NBL season.”

United is expecting Chris Goulding to return for the team’s second game on Saturday, as they take on the Brisbane Bullets.