He wouldn't technically be a current Gael nor is he Australian. As an SMC fan I hope that is the case though!! I know Joe played out last season on a bung knee and has had some surgery since losing to Arizona in NCAA's. He would be a great get for any NBL side. A poor man's Delly (which isn't a knock on Joe by any means)

They are the 2 logical potentials. I think Hunter showed enough late in the year to gain some interest as a backup backup 5 man in the NBL at a young age. The recent recruiting by SMC and Kreb's development in the latter stages of the season could give Clarke reason to think he may not get many minutes in the upcoming season. Those two however would have invested serious minutes into earning their degree's and staying to complete the education would have some validity with basketball aside.

Neal could be a great acquisition and Ford should see an increase in minutes. If Hunter can show progression to replace Dane's minutes somewhat, they should be in a pretty good spot. I can see Kreb's starting at the 2 spot and Ford coming in off the bench along with Neal as the 2 backup guards. Bennet isn't scared of playing the lead guard with heavy minutes so I wouldn't expect Naar to see much pine.

Christ, I hope we don't end up with Barlow. That would be a disaster. Still, it would fit with Fearne's model of getting experienced veterans with only a year or two left in the tank, and with the capacity to play 3 or 4. At least he's a decent shooter.

I really like the look of Jordan Hunter; he's got some moves and a good sense of the basketball court. I don't see where he'd fit in the Taipans rotation, though, because he's not a starting 4. Unless Fearne plans to start Egwu at 4 and Jawai at 5, backing them up with Hunter and Loughton, which I just hate the thought of. He could be an interesting pick up as 11th man if they don't sign Heuir.

Snakes need starters at 1, 3 and 4.

It could be Naar. It would be a huge risk to start him, he's only a junior at college level now, and it would be point guard by committee, if Fearne were to start with Weeks:

Weeks/Naar
Gliddon/McCarron
Import 1/Weigh
Import 2/Loughton
Jawai/Egwu
Heuir as 11th man

I would imagine he'd be looking to Gliddon to run the point a bit more, like he did in his first year.

It kind of makes more sense, with Jawai going to miss the start of the season, for them to go with greater depth at the big positions, but I've always thought Stevie should play more 4, especially as he's not as quick as he progresses in age.

I hope Fearne has someone really good up his sleeve.

Maybe it's Jock Landale.

Had wondered if fearne was trying to turn weeks into a straight-up point guard by the way he was using him last week. What you laid out above almost makes sense. Madness if you ask me, every Nbl team in Australia lives and dies by its import pg these days..

Naar, Neal and Ford to an extent can play 1 or 2, Krebs will be a 2/3 I imagine. I can't see Zoricks getting much court time. Typically (Delly and Patty aside) RB doesn't give freshman G's big minutes. He usually plays a shallow bench but there is some good depth on that line-up. Especially at the 4/5. With BYU big Eric Mika signing with an agent and staying in the draft, Karnowski graduating and Collins going pro, Landale should have his way with the WCC this coming season (more so than he did last season if that's possible).