Basketball: Breakers feeling more confident

New Breakers captain Paul Henare has appealed for good home-crowd support. Picture / Brett Phibbs

The Breakers held their season launch yesterday with all bar one of the team present and some obvious comfort at that fact despite Brant Bailey's absence.

Bailey flies in from the United States today to complete their roster but after just a few trainings with their Tall Blacks back, everyone involved with the franchise is feeling more confident.

Paul Henare was yesterday named captain and, fully recovered from the injury that kept him out of the Tall Blacks campaign, he spoke confidently about their chances and appealed for good home-crowd support.

Centre Ben Pepper admitted to some nervous times as training proceeded with half-court numbers but said cohesion was already improving.

They open their campaign against the Cairns Taipans at Trusts Stadium on Sunday then the harsh realities of the pro league bite with three away games against the Hawks in Wollongong on Thursday, the Razorbacks in Sydney on Saturday then competition favourites the Brisbane Bullets the following Wednesday. Big question of the pre-season is how the Bullets have managed to secure so many top-line players under the salary cap.

The Breakers play four of their home games this season at the new Pacific Events Centre in Manukau, which promises to be a lively venue for the match-ups with the Kings, Wildcats, Tigers and Bullets.

There is a new reality about the place this year. Settled in to the Trusts Stadium as base, the training sessions have been intense and high-speed.

The game plan new coach Andrej Lemanis is looking for is up-beat and end-to-end. The two new Americans, Bailey and Melzer, can apparently fly to dunk or intercept and have good ball skills as well as some entertainment ability.

With John Dorge on board as an "inside" coach, the Breakers should be able to reap some points from an area that was often barren for them last season.

Nelson forward Mika Vukona has been impressing in pre-season as has Auckland guard Lindsay Tait. Both are expected to make a big step up this season.

Dorge has also been working with some of the young New Zealand representative tall talent so the product of his expertise will also be showing in the national teams in future.

Markovic sought

The West Sydney Razorbacks are hunting their guard Steven Markovic who has gone AWOL after being denied a release to play in Europe. He will not be able to join another side in a Fiba-recognised competition until he has a release.