The "Dark Cloud" Hanging Over Brisbane

The Brisbane Bullets are a team in flux. With Sam Mackinnon stepping down from the interim head coaching role yesterday afternoon Greg Vanderjagt looms as the team’s third head coach in this season alone.

The Bullets released a statement on Tuesday afternoon stating Mackinnon had stepped down from the interim coaching job to focus on his role as General Manager of Basketball at the club. Vanderjagt – who has been an assistant coach at the club since 2020 – has since taken the reigns.

With the club preparing the announce a new full-time head coach in the near future, NBL analyst Liam Santamaria is puzzled at the recent turn of events.

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“There’s this sort of dark cloud hanging around the club at the moment about what’s going on, who’s calling the shots and who’s running the team,” Santamaria said on NBL Today.

“It was Sam Mackinnon a few days ago, now it’s going to be Greg Vanderjagt tonight and it’s going to be a new coach in the next few days or week or so, really difficult for the playing group to get their heads around.

“The reporting from ESPN last night made for some pretty grim reading and painted a pretty grim picture of what’s been going on there with Brisbane and the whole process of these moving parts and how it’s all playing out.”

A major reason for the continued coaching changes this season has been the on-court results of the side. After entering the season as fancies for the championship the Bullets have fallen to a 4-9 record to sit second-bottom on the ladder.

“This is a really tough situation to be dealing with mid-season,” Santamaria said. “You don’t ever want this happening to your club, but mid-season when the schedule is super hectic, you’ve got a losing record and you’re trying to get things done makes things really, really tough.

“There was a reported 8am meeting between [where] Sam Mackinnon let the players know, and then a heated meeting between the players and the CEO. Words were exchanged.

“I get the sense (CEO) Peter McLennan is the key guy making these decisions hand in hand with the ownership group, but it’s really hard to say.”