The Wollongong Roller Hawks will be hungry to continue their winning ways as they make a long-awaited return to the Australian stage in 2024.
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The first National Wheelchair Basketball League in two years has been confirmed to get under way this June, and the competition will be back in blazing fashion.
This year will mark the first time that a full NWBL home and away season has got the green light since 2019, after the 2020, 2021 and 2022 campaigns were severely impacted by COVID.
The news comes as several Illawarra stars prepare to represent Australia at this year's Paris Paralympics.
Wollongong are the NWBL's reigning champions and have dominated the competition's recent history. They were also crowned winners in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022.
"It's unreal (to see a full competition). There will be seven teams representing all throughout Australia like it used to be," Roller Hawks assistant coach Brett Stibners told the Mercury.
"The good thing for the competition is, going into it, you can't say that one team is going to win it. There's probably at least three that could win - us, Darwin and Perth. But, of the other teams, Manly and Brisbane will be pretty good too.
"Adelaide and Red Dust (Victoria) will probably struggle because they're a bit younger, but they need to get in and play."
The NWBL expansion announcement is exciting for the Roller Hawks, who have now began pre-season training in preparation for the expanded season.
This includes a crop of their star talents who recently tasted success in Europe with the Aussie Rollers.
Stibners - who captained the side - Tristan Knowles, Shawn Russell and Luke Pople were all part of the Rollers set-up which claimed the silverware at the International Easter Tournament in Belgium. The Australians remained unbeaten through the prestigious competition.
"It was a really good trip for us," Stibners said.
"Tristan played the bulk of the minutes, he was a starter and had some really good shooting games. And the other two (Russell and Pople) came on when asked and did a really good job.
"The head coach Brad Ness was really happy with all three of them."
Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
