Basketball: Breakers eye pulling power of new Waitakere stadium

By PETER JESSUP

The Breakers look set to follow economic imperatives and shift their home base from the North Shore to Waitakere City's new stadium in Henderson.

The $28 million Waitakere Stadium will seat 1000 more fans than the North Shore Events Centre, and its corporate lounge could take up to 500 guests paying big money.

The North Shore centre has responded to a push by the Waitakere venture to attract the basketball franchise by reviewing its asking price.

But the bottom line looks likely to win when the Breakers board meets next week to consider the competing venues.

"You have to look seriously at the purpose-built stadium that will be the equal of or better than anything in Australia or New Zealand," said the franchise's general manager, Peter Chapman.

He said the board was disappointed at the level of support from North Shore residents, with crowd surveys showing lower than expected numbers of locals among the fans.

Waitakere residents were being polled to determine how many were likely to attend games, and that information would be included in the data put to the board.

Meanwhile, the Breakers continue to negotiate to sign players for next season. Australian centre Blake Truslove has re-signed for another year and accepted a job as a development officer on the North Shore. Rumours say he will turn out for the North Harbour Heat in the domestic league.

Two other Breakers have been offered contract extensions but Chapman would not name them. Other signings would fall into place once those signatures were secured and coach Frank Arsego determined the balance he wanted.

But the Breakers will go after a big-name import in the forward line. That probably spells the end for centre Iona Enosa, who was brought in as cover for Ben Melmeth, provided Melmeth accepts the team's offer.

They feel happy with the back court - a signal that Paul Henare and Lindsay Tait might be the two already up for renewal - but want more strikepower.

"If we had another import of the calibre of Mike Chappell we would certainly be a team that would capture the attention of every other side in the competition," Chapman said.

Arsego has the luxury now of watching five months of trials - the New Zealand domestic league.

"I intend to use it as an evaluation process," he said.

"I'm looking forward to seeing if our people can take what they've learned back into the domestic league and seeing the impact they make.

"I'm also looking for anyone else who puts their hand up."

Arsego's vision is to have a core group of players together by the end of this year who could push on to the top level for the club for consecutive seasons.

He envisages only minor changes to this year's roster after squad members picked up their act as the season progressed.


In the finals, the Tigers were to play Adelaide last night in Melbourne with the loser eliminated and the winner to meet Brisbane.

Cairns play the Sydney Razorbacks this weekend, with the top two teams, the Kings and the Hawks, sitting out the first round and enjoying home advantage for the teams that come through this weekend.