Stability and Health: Ryan Broekhoff Re-Focuses Ahead of NBL22

Written for nbl.com.au by Tom Hersz

Ryan Broekhoff is ready to turn the corner.

After what can only be described as a tumultuous period in his life and career, he’s working to put some of the struggles of the past 18 months behind him and get back to being an elite wing player; get back to being Rowdy.

Looking back on his arrival in Melbourne earlier this year, Broekhoff was always going to be up against it to perform up to expectations. After being released by the Dallas Mavericks in February 2020, the season was then put on hold the following month. Broekhoff then signed with the Philadelphia 76ers ahead of the NBA bubble last year, but was unable to join the team in the end when his wife became sick with COVID-19. He explored some other NBA opportunities but by the time the Phoenix signed him in February, he hadn’t played in a competitive game of basketball in a year. 

Yet he was touted as the missing piece for the Phoenix. The player that was going to put them over the top to contend for a championship. Media and fans alike thought they were getting the player who shone for the Boomers in Rio in 2016. They were expecting an NBA wing who could come in and light up the NBL for 20-plus points a night. 

Understandably, Broekhoff felt pressure to perform right away.

“Yeah. I obviously felt pressure,” Broekhoff told NBL Media on Tuesday. 

“I was excited and nervous to come back and join the NBL. Coming back home was always something that I wanted to do at some point during my career and play in front of friends and family. 

“But [I] definitely felt some pressure from media outlets and internally – from myself just wanting to perform well and help the team straight away. I saw that the team had some really good pieces and hopefully I could be someone to complement them and lead the team to new heights.”

It was probably under-appreciated how significant that lay-off from professional basketball was. And after missing the 2019 FIBA World Cup, an Olympic campaign was extra motivation for Broekhoff to come to the Heartland and contribute right away. 

He knew it was going to take time to ramp up. He’d obviously been training that whole time, but that can never replicate competitive basketball; especially not at the level he wanted to be playing at. 

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">First touch. Nothing but NET ?<br><br>Welcome to the NBL, Rowdy.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLCup</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/K78hqk10Si">pic.twitter.com/K78hqk10Si</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1370295176745218049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

“Unfortunately, it had been the longest stretch that I hadn’t played, in forever,” he acknowledged. 

“A reason for the decision to come back to Australia is that I wanted to be back playing and enjoying playing basketball, and I had the Olympics as an aspiration as well. So, I wanted to make sure I was back playing before [then]. But the year off definitely takes its toll. 

“It took longer than I thought it would to come back and then when I did come back and started to feel like I was finding a rhythm and finding a groove, I had the groin injury and then the eye socket injury, and was carrying some stuff towards the end of the season as well. 

“I couldn’t quite get the body right without having a normal preseason or any lead-in games. It was: try to train as best as I could during that year off and then I had 14 days quarantine and then try to catch up and get used to playing with new teammates, while trying to get fit, while trying to balance how much workload we can put on. It was more challenging than I probably anticipated.”

Still, Broekhoff slowly worked his way into some form. In just his fifth game back, he erupted against Illawarra for 26 points in 21 minutes off the bench, hitting 7 for 11 from three-point range in a 95-63 win. 

His minutes were slowly increasing and he was being more aggressive offensively, but it was short-lived.  Just two games later, facing the Hawks again, Broekhoff tweaked his groin. It came just as he was starting to feel good again.

“Very frustrating,” Broekhoff said of the timing of that injury. 

“I knew there’d be some slow games to start with and we had some minute caps on how much I could play, so that was the balance in trying to manage minutes and make sure I don’t have any problems. 

“I started feeling really good and then just one sort of movement and I felt something tighten up during that Illawarra game. So, it was frustrating. I’d made a couple of shots early in that, started to feel good and the previous couple of games were getting better as well, so I was starting to feel more like myself and had a rhythm, and started to figure out where I fit in with the team on offence and on defence.” 

That injury put him out a few weeks. He did his best to rehab and recover to get back, only to then suffer another setback when an inadvertent elbow from Nathan Sobey sent Broekhoff to the hospital. He was suffering blurred vision and was diagnosed with a damaged eye socket.

“The eye socket one was the one that threw me,” said Broekhoff. 

“Especially mentally having to deal with seeing specialists and their concerns or bringing up the fact that if you get hit again there could be permanent damage and eyesight loss. You know, more serious things than a muscle strain. So that was a hard one. 

“Then trying to come back and play with goggles, it just never felt right and I don’t think I was comfortable 100% during that period until I got the all clear from the doctors. 

“Nothing ever seemed to fall in line or fall into place and then I’d put more pressure on myself to think I should be performing better and things like that. Unfortunately, it just snowballed and it didn’t have the desired outcome.”

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It&#39;s rowdy in Auckland and Rowdy&#39;s in Auckland ?<a href="https://twitter.com/RBroekhoff45?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RBroekhoff45</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/xS2kqWzRoF">pic.twitter.com/xS2kqWzRoF</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1401081534447185920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

When all was said and done, Broekhoff managed to play in 16 games, plus the three Finals games against Melbourne United. He averaged 7.6 points per game in the regular season, hitting 40% from deep and 42% overall. He scored in double-digits in just three of those games. In the Finals, Broekhoff scored a total of 12 points, failing to make a field goal in the final two games of the series.

It was not how he saw his homecoming playing out and with the Tokyo Olympics just around the corner and Broekhoff named to the squad, questions were being asked about his form and his health. Those questions were not just being asked by those in the media or by fans; Broekhoff was asking them of himself.

Was he physically where he needed to be? Was he mentally ready for what was going to be a very demanding Boomers campaign with massive expectations to finally get on the podium?

Broekhoff ultimately determined that the answer to both of those questions was no and made the difficult decision to prioritise his physical and mental health, putting his hand up to admit he wasn’t where he needed to be and withdrawing from selection.

“It was a very difficult decision,” he admitted. 

“But, at the same time, even looking back now, even seeing the success the Boomers had with winning the medal and thinking ‘I could have been a part of that’; even with all that I still think it was the right decision and the smart decision for me to make. 

“Just with the turbulent last 18 months with getting released by Dallas and then COVID hitting and then almost going to the bubble and then my wife getting sick with COVID, the back and forth with NBA teams and trying with Philly again, and then not. All the moving and shaking, it put a lot on my wife and my young son. 

“He started getting affected by it all, he wasn’t sleeping at night and he kept climbing out of his bed; just things that were never really a problem when we were stable and settled. Even coming back here with basketball not lining up how I’d have liked or being able to get a good run of things, or physically be where I wanted to be. 

“It was the right decision for me not to put my hand up [for selection] and to sort of say look I need some time to go get some help, to help deal with some of these mental issues that I’ve been dealing with, that have been exacerbated over the last 18 months. And also just giving myself a chance to physically get back to where I need to be and be able to prepare for a full season. 

“And the last thing I wanted to do was to go over to the Boomers and not be able to perform or be a distraction, or have something from a personal standpoint come up and be a distraction that way. 

“So, there were just so many things that I didn’t want to drag into an Olympic campaign with so much on the line and so many high expectations. It would have really been extremely tough to do that and take away from the team, and not allow the success that they had because I was selfish and wanted to do something because I didn’t want to miss out.”

In the end, for fear of being selfish, Broekhoff made possibly the most unselfish decision of his career. He embraced everything that the Boomers culture stands for and put the success of the team before any personal goals or accolades.

And while he obviously would have loved to have been in Tokyo as part of the group that made history and finally stood on that podium, Broekhoff was just happy for his mates. Like all of us, he got emotional but he was also proud. Proud of his friends and proud to be part of that Boomers group who helped get the team to this point.

“Just pure joy to be honest,” he described of his emotions afterwards. 

“Watching through the whole Olympics and just how well they were playing and how well the team jelled, to finally get over that hurdle that had been there; to see the monkey come off the back and to see guys like Patty and Joe and Baynesy and those sort of guys who’ve been such a big part of the program for such a long period of time. To finally see that success was amazing from a personal friendship standpoint. 

“I was watching the game and then watching Gazey afterwards; I think he summed it up. To feel like we’ve been a very small part of the Boomers success and culture and even though we weren’t there physically, we still felt part of it when they won. It was hard to keep the eyes from swelling up watching Gazey go through all the emotions while trying to talk with Andy Maher. He’s a big piece of the Boomers culture and tradition, just to see what it means to him, really resonated with me as well.”

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Once a Boomer, Always a Boomer ?<br><br>The current crop of Rose Gold Boomers paid tribute to some absolute legends who have worn the Green &amp; Gold over the years in Brisbane on the weekend. <br><br>? Australian Boomers <a href="https://t.co/vfcSp1jdMy">pic.twitter.com/vfcSp1jdMy</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1432208562499907584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Now that some of the Boomers have returned with their medals and have begun to share that with past Boomers up in Queensland over the past week, including extending that pride in Boomers culture to as many as possible by presenting each of them with their personally numbered Boomers Akubra, Broekhoff can’t wait until he’s able to share in the celebrations. 

“There’s no better feeling for me or greater accomplishment than being part of the National team,” Broekhoff admitted. 

“Representing Australia at an Olympic Games and a World Cup – that means more to me than the personal accomplishments of where I’d played. I’m kind of jealous that I’m not able to go celebrate and be part of that with all the guys and congratulate them in person and soak up some of their joy and happiness from being part of it. 

“But seeing it on social media, it’s great to see that the past and the present are able to get together in a limited capacity and really celebrate what’s been an amazingly long journey and a tough journey. And all the great players that have come before us, getting the validation that they haven’t been forgotten or that what they did didn’t mean anything when clearly it paved the way for what just happened in Tokyo.”

Broekhoff spoke with a few of the guys after they won that Bronze medal, reaching out to Matthew Dellavedova first as they go back the furthest together. He also spoke with Patty Mills and Joe Ingles and checked in on Aron Baynes to see how he’s doing. 

He kept it brief, passing on his congratulations, his happiness and his relief. He just wanted to let them enjoy it and looks forward to catching up with some of the boys for a coffee down the road and having a good chat about it all.

Amazingly, it’s been just two and a half months since South East Melbourne were eliminated in the Semi-Finals of the NBL21 season. Initially, Broekhoff took some time out to reset both mentally and physically, but has since resumed working towards getting ready for NBL22.

“Physically feeling really good,” he said. 

“Some time off was good and having this offseason to work on things, parts of the body that were giving me grief last year and work out a plan to rectify them and hopefully mitigate any further occurrence of them. 

“So that’s been something that I really haven’t had time to do in offseason’s past. It’s been jumping from one thing to the next, so I’ve been able to rest and get the body right and be able to work on things that I don’t usually get to. It will hopefully add a few more years onto the old legs.

“Mentally, it’s coming along. I’ve been able to find some help and start that process. It’s been an interesting process and a difficult process, but one that I’m starting to feel the benefits from. 

“Being able to really open up and work through things and a lot of things not just in the previous 18 months, but from childhood and onwards that obviously I hadn’t dealt with properly that are still lingering around. That’s been a real journey in itself, but definitely feeling the positive effects of that and will continue to do that. 

“Now just looking forward to the season starting in late November.”

In the midst of that, Broekhoff signed on for two more years with the Phoenix. He’s committed to staying in the NBL and to hopefully finding success in the Heartland.

It was a decision that was made for reasons bigger than just him. And while he’s always going to have an eye on returning to the NBA, being home in Melbourne feels right for Broekhoff at this moment.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ROWDY RANGE ?<br><br>Still shooting like he&#39;s in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/yOLSNcOvBy">pic.twitter.com/yOLSNcOvBy</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1378582111498596352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

“A lot of it is the family and mental side,” he explained. 

“The stability of life we just hadn’t had for such a long time. So just knowing that we can be settled and be in one place; I think in the last year we’d moved five or six different times. It was not healthy and not sustainable. 

“Obviously, Melbourne’s home for me with friends and family around, but just somewhere we can set down some roots and be more stable in our lives, but still be able to play basketball at a high level, do what I love and give my wife some opportunities as well to be able to pursue some stuff that she enjoys. 

“We haven’t closed the door on everything just yet, but the main thing for me is I need to do what’s best for my wife and my son and hopefully at some point add another little one running around; things that are bigger than basketball that sometimes don’t get thought about when you’re a basketball player chasing jobs and trying to reach the heights that you want to reach. 

“But we’re at a stage now where we understand where I’m at and really looking for the work-life balance that eluded us for a long time.”

With some certainty in hand over his immediate future for the first time in a few years, and with a plan already well progressed to get his body and his mind right between now and November, what can we expect from Rowdy in NBL22?

“Hopefully just get back to myself and the level that I can play at,” he said. 

“I guess forget a little bit about last season and the struggles, and see me out there playing freely and having fun and enjoying basketball again.” 

There’s a lot to look about where South East Melbourne are at right now. Just one win away from making a Grand Final in only their second season in the league, Tommy Greer and Simon Mitchell have done a really nice job of building something sustainable.

The core of the Phoenix roster is back with Mitch Creek, Cam Gliddon, Kyle Adnam, Izayah Le’Afa, Reuben Te Rangi, Broekhoff and now a healthy Dane Pineau. Tohi Smith-Milner comes in to provide depth in the front court with Yanni Wetzell gone, and yesterday they announced the signing of Xavier Munford to be their starting point guard.

Zach Hankins will be replaced by an import big man and they have another import spot up their sleeve too. This team has a lot of offensive firepower, but Broekhoff knows there is improvement in them from last year in other areas.

“Dane’s gonna be big for us,” Broekhoff explained. 

“I think in [some] games we struggled rebounding and lacked some size. Dane rebounds well, he screens well, he defends really well.

“Defensively I think we can be a lot better than we were. Reubs and Gliddon are great defenders in their own right and I think some more time with myself being able to play with them and work around them, we’ll be able to do some more things defensively and be a little bit more aggressive defensively as well. 

“The offence is going to be there. We’ve got guys who can put the ball in the whole in a variety of different ways. Imports are going to be important and I know the front office and coaching staff are sweeping the globe looking for the right players to bring in and mesh really well with what we’ve already got. 

“It’s an exciting time and another season together with the core group and that chemistry that we started to build will only improve.”

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">R?WDYYY<a href="https://twitter.com/RBroekhoff45?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RBroekhoff45</a> up to 5?? triples! <a href="https://t.co/GblMeaTj2L">pic.twitter.com/GblMeaTj2L</a></p>&mdash; South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1377556960975839236?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

So can this team go further than last season? Can they improve on that Semi-Finals loss and get to the Grand Final for a shot at a championship? Broekhoff and his teammates believe they can do just that.

“We’re excited,” he confessed. 

“It was such a strange season last season. For me personally coming in halfway and then obviously all the changes with COVID. Unfortunately, we didn’t have Cam Gliddon at the end of the season and the start of the Finals. He’s such an important piece of the team that not having him at full strength was difficult to cover with his shooting, his defence and his general basketball IQ. 

“There’s lots there that, all injuries and stuff considered, I think we still have a great team and a great roster, and great chemistry together. 

“We showed last season that we can compete and beat anybody. That’s how we’re going to go into this next season. Confident but still hungry because we haven’t really had any success yet and that’s what we want to do.”

 

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