Every Game is a Fight for Phoenix

The NBL season is at the halfway mark and the South East Melbourne Phoenix find themselves in second place with a 9 win, 5 loss record.

Phoenix Head Coach, Simon Mitchell joined 3AW’s Sportsday Wednesday night to talk about the season and how he sees the Phoenix.

Having just playing six games in the last 15 days, Phoenix now face a tough few games as they face Perth, Illawarra and United.

“The last few weeks have been very important, it continues, it’s a close league and every game is a fight,” commented Mitchell.

(Phoenix finally have a full line-up after covid and gastro disruptions.)

The fatigue from the quick turnarounds and multiple games in a week hit the Phoenix hard in Throwdown XIV, where Mitchell thought his side was far from their best.

“I think the fatigue started to kick in during that game to be honest and we saw it again in the Brisbane game. Just from a defensive standpoint we’re incapable of sort of sticking to the task with our scouts, you could see it in the guy’s faces, they just looked a little jaded at times,” Mitchell said. 

With the schedule returning to some sort of normality the team have had a full week in the lead up to Saturday night's Starlight game against the Wildcats. Mitchell has been happy with the team even taking into account with the obstacles of Covid and gastro hitting the group.

“We’re just happy to get through this sort of busy period and bat 500 and come out, and we had to deal with covid issues as well, so we have come out with an equal record, now it sets us up for the rest of the year.

“It’s gone through the group with the old gastro, on top of covid we’ve had a bit of that as well, so we kind of not had a lot of luck but we’re starting to point in the right direction.”

(Simon Mitchell is in his third season with Phoenix.)

Mitchell is in his third year as head coach at Phoenix and being the inaugural coach, he was asked what mark he was leaving at the club.

“I think the most important thing was not just gather the greatest talent that was available but get the right people that would come in and build the culture and could sustain the team into the future, for multiple years.

“I think being able to sign a player like Mitch (Creek) to begin with, it certainly set us up from a leadership standpoint but we were also able recruit other great leaders in Kyle Adnam and first year we had Ben Madgen and Tai Wesley,” he answered.

Phoenix face Perth Wildcats this Saturday night for their annual Starlight game. 

Fans can show their support for Starlight by pledging a donation for every 3-pointer the Phoenix players score during the game. CLICK HERE to make your pledge.

Tickets are still available for the game – CLICK HERE to secure your seat.

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Phoenix Media (24/2/22)