South West Slammers

The South West Slammers (formerly the Bunbury Slammers) are a basketball club from Bunbury, Western Australia competing in the semi-professional State Basketball League (SBL), Women's State Basketball League (WSBL) and Junior Western Australian Basketball League (WABL). The Slammers were originally based in the City of Bunbury at the Bunbury Sports Centre but relocated north to the suburb of Eaton in 2009 and are currently based at the Eaton Recreation Centre. They are one of 14 clubs in the SBL and are one of four teams that are not based in the Perth metropolitan area (the others are Geraldton Buccaneers, Goldfields Giants and Mandurah Magic).^[1] The Slammers have produced two current NBL players in Mark Worthington and Cameron Gliddon.^[2]

History

Men's team

For the first 11 years of the State Basketball League, the Slammers were a dominant force winning championships in 1995, 1996, 1998 and 1999 while also making grand finals in 1991 and 1992. That gave the Slammers six grand final appearances and four championships in 11 years, but things then went decidedly south. After ending up fifth in 2001, the Slammers had a disastrous 11-year stretch without a playoff appearance and an overall 46–225 record which included two winless seasons, and two years where they had just the one win.^[3]

Following the 2012 season, the Slammers knew they had to do something different to become a force again and that's where the appointment of Ty Harrelson as playing-coach came to fruition. After two good seasons in the SBL as a player with the Cockburn Cougars and Goldfields Giants, Harrelson made the move to Bunbury and outlined a three-year plan that he hoped would set up the Slammers for long-term success. The Slammers became a good team, making the playoffs all three years with Harrelson, building to a third place regular season finish and a Grand Final appearance in 2015 with a team that consisted of Harrelson, Clive Weeden, Tre Nichols, Brian Voelkel and Trent Worthington.^[4][5]

Women's team

With the Slammers men entering the SBL for the league's inaugural season in 1989, a women's team followed suit and entered in 1992. However, the Slammers women left the SBL prior to the 1995 season but did return in 2000. The women's team failed to make the playoffs in their first 15 seasons before 2012 garnered a third-place finish and a 15–7 win/loss record.^[6] Not only did the women make their first playoff appearance in 2012, they went all the way and won the Grand Final over fellow grand final first timers, the Rockingham Flames.^[7][8]

Current roster

South West Slammers men's roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. 1.5 !G 5 AUS ! Phillips, Patrick 7000179000000000000♠1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) 1.5 !G 7 AUS ! Hitchcock, Wade 7000183000000000000♠1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 1.5 !G 9 AUS ! Weir, Josh 7000188000000000000♠1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 1.5 !G 11 USA ! Nichols, Tre (I) 7000180000000000000♠1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 2.5 !G/F 12 AUS ! Edwards, Aaron 7000195000000000000♠1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 4.5 !F/C 22 AUS ! Worthington, Trent 7000206000000000000♠2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 4.5 !F/C 42 AUS ! Weeden, Clive 7000206000000000000♠2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 3.5 !F USA ! Crouch, Royal (I) 7000193000000000000♠1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 4.5 !F/C USA ! Easley, Corey 7000206000000000000♠2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	Head coach Michael Van Lit Assistant coach(es) Scott Harrelson Paul Craig Team manager Sharon Van Bavel Legend (C) Team captain (IN) Inactive (I) Import player Injured Roster Updated: 16 January 2016

References

External links

• Basketball South West website
• Official SW Slammers Facebook page
• Team profile at Eurobasket.com