Kaine Anderson’s Echuca Pirates are ready to bring the fight to the Country Basketball League 2025 season, with a tough double header in store this weekend.

The Pirates will host both Wallan Panthers and Seymour Blasters this weekend to open the new campaign, with the sides finishing in first and second on the 2024 ladder, respectively.

“I think we can go toe-to-toe with both Seymour and Wallan,” Anderson said.

“Last year, Seymour really caught us out, they had some big bodies, and we took a little while to adjust to their strength and ability to beat us on the board.

“So, we’ve gone to work on that, and we’ve adjusted a few things to really push Seymour this year.

“Wallan will be tougher because they’ll play a bit similar to us, they’ll be fast-paced, and they’ve got some quality youth in there as well.

“So, that’ll be a really good test for us when we come up against them.”

Anderson knows it will be a challenging start to the new season, particularly as the absences of regular centre Dylan Hoare and the dynamic Ben Dri will force the team to play small ball.

However, the club has recruited well this season, injecting youth and pace into an already established side, with the development of young big man Oscar Jones and Mitch Markby’s ascension set to light up the league.

“Oscar Jones is our big man, he was strong last year, but I think this year he will take another big step and be quite the dominant big man of the competition, so I’ve got really high hopes for him,” he said.

“The other one, Mitch Markby, has been around for a while, but his preseason has been exceptional.

“He’s a nice basketballer, but I think he will take the next step this year and become a dominant player also.”

Looking ahead to the season, Anderson is happy with the way the team is balanced on court, with a nice blend of athleticism and experience.

“To be honest, we're feeling pretty positive,” Anderson said.

“The preseason’s been really, really strong. We’ve added a fair bit of youth to the team this year that have brought a little bit more basketball IQ, speed and enthusiasm, which is always nice to inject into a team.

“We’ve also got a good group of core boys that have come back again who have been a part of the team for a while now, so, that just shores things up and gives us that little bit of experience to go along with the youth, so it’s been great.”

Anderson highlighted the positive atmosphere around the team in the lead-up to the season opener and how the club had been able to get experience into younger players with the help of training partners.

“The vibe’s been fantastic at training, everyone is up and about, they’re all getting along really well,” he said.

“We’ve got 17 players including training partners in the squad, so we’ve added a few more this year to kind of develop a bit more young talent for future seasons.

“We’ve got quite a lot of numbers down at training, which has made the atmosphere fantastic.”

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Saturday, 5th June 2027

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