After just two weeks of the Bartercard NBL we have seen some very one sided scores. It seems that over the next few weeks we could see the league start to take shape as a case of those who have and those who don't. Certainly Harbour and Waikato have both shown they will be very strong. Interestingly both have a solid core of Breakers players as both teams are situated in close proximity to Auckland where the Breakers play. Both teams are also coached by Breakers assistant coaches. I guess the question is "Would both teams be as strong if there was no Breakers team?" The answer could quite possibly be yes but it is a moot point really.
I certainly believe as teams such as Nelson, Hawks Bay, Christchurch and Wellington settle down and have their rosters together they will all improve quite substantially. The dark horses will be Southland and Taranaki who have both assembled some strong players but depth may be their Achilles heel. They will certainly push hard for a lot of wins and in time the teams will only get better. At this very early stage it certainly appears that Otago and Palmerston will struggle with both teams losing heavily in the first couple of rounds.
I do believe however that Harbour and Waikato are the two stand outs at this stage although I am sure that plenty of players and coaches around the league will disagree as teams scramble to compete against the two power houses. While it is a great feeling to dominate the league, is it healthy for the sport, that is the question I am posing. As I stated it is a moot point as to why both Harbour and Waikato have built very impressive rosters and good on them. My point is how do we get parity in the league. I know this, if I was a young player I would be moving to Auckland to try and play for Harbour or Waikato so I could be seen by the assistants of the Breakers to hopefully increase my chances of making it into the Breakers team. I did exactly that when I was a young player. I moved to Newcastle to take up an opportunity to train with the then Newcastle Falcons who where part of the Australian NBL. I could of gone else where but I preferred to go to a place where an NBL team was. Is this going to happen in NZ as well. I don't blame the young players and I also don't blame the Breakers. That is life.
Our league is not professional enough to have salary caps etc. I know at the Hawks it has become an extremely expensive exercise in recruiting players. Fortunately we are a financial enough club to do this but it certainly is frustrating and difficult on the team and club. For other clubs it is getting increasingly harder as costs start to climb and it seems that the rich will get richer and others may go poor trying to compete. This has certainly been the case in the Australian NBL with a number of teams ending in financial ruin trying to keep up.
One way of enforcing parity is to reduce the number of teams so that the talent is not so thinly spread but is this good for our younger players trying to make it. At the end of the day we are not a development league though. Another is to impose a limit of Australian NBL (Breakers) players to each team similar to what the SEABL (2nd division) has done in Australia where if you average a certain amount of minutes in the ANBL you then count as a restricted player (count as an import). This has stopped teams from loading up with the best players and made the league a lot more even. There are probably many more solutions that could bring parity to the Bartercard NBL but is it fair?
Why should a person be penalised for being good enough to play for the Breakers only to be forced to pack up and move to play in the Bartercard NBL. There are plenty of answers and debatable topics on this subject that is for sure. The NBL in NZ is constantly improving and is becoming a very competitive league. I for one am looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead this year. For a couple of the younger Hawks players there would be nothing better than do well against the best. They have goals of playing at a higher level and you can only move forward by playing the best and beating them. In fact this may help our league become a touch more professional which can only be a good thing - can't it?
With energy
Shawn Dennis
