Goulding was cleared of any serious injury after spraining his ankle in Melbourne’s final round loss to the Illawarra Hawks at Hisense Arena on Sunday and will spend the week rehabilitating his ankle.

While the Boomers medical staff and their United counterparts will work together to help Goulding and Australian coach Andrej Lemanis called Norton and asked him to stay in Melbourne after the Hawks win.

Lemanis said it would take a “minor miracle” for Goulding to play and it was best to allow his ankle to recover before Melbourne United’s finals campaign tips off on March 3.

The NBL based Boomers won both their opening round qualifiers in November and Lemanis established a broad squad of local players so he could interchange them when injuries or matchups demanded a change.

Norton played in the FIBA Asia Cup win last year but was overlooked for this window, still he immediately accepted the offer to rejoin the squad when called up.

“It just worked out he played in Melbourne and was at the hotel so it was an easy conversation,” Lemanis said.

“That for me is another great example of the tremendous attitude that makes this group so great to work with as Mitch missed the initial 12, then Chris goes down and I call him up and say “Chris might be in, he might not be but I want you to hang around”.

“Basically the response was “hell yes” which is again makes them such a great group to be around.”

Lemanis spoke with Goulding and both medical staffs on Monday he knew it was unlikely Goulding would take his place.

“We are not going to do anything that will put him at risk or his campaign with United into the playoffs,” Lemanis said.

The national team play both their Cup qualifiers at Margaret Court Arena facing an undefeated Philippines side on Thursday night then Chinese Taipei on Sunday night.

The Philippines beat Japan in the opening round and feature former NBA big man Andray Blatche plus a host of speedy, attacking guards.

When the Boomers hit the practice court on Tuesday their attentions will quickly turn to how they can slow “Gilas Pilipinas”.

“When we selected this team we were pretty well aware of the challenges they represent so we need to get numbers in front of the ball and control their transition,” Lemanis said.

“They are a good, skilled team who have played well together for a while but by the same token we have some things that can challenge them as well.”

The Boomers face the Philippines at Margaret Court Arena on Thursday at 7.30pm, with tip-off at 3pm for Sunday’s game against Chinese Taipei.