Brad Newley: Underrated trailblazer

Brad Newley’s stellar professional basketball career is set to come to a close at the end of NBL24, and although his Melbourne United side is currently in the driver’s seat for the ultimate glory come season’s end – the fact one of the nation’s most celebrated players could end his career without an NBL title seems, well, almost criminal.

Newley burst onto the scene with the Townsville Crocodiles 20 years ago. Such has been his longevity that his first season in the NBL was the final campaign of the legendary Andrew Gaze. Newley has been a player who has overlapped generations of talent, he opened his career by testing himself against the golden era stars of the 1990s, and has closed it out by helping mentor one of the most exciting generations of local talent we've ever seen.

For a player who has been so celebrated in Australia for two incredible decades, Newley is something of an enigma to an entire generation of Australian basketball fans. Those remarkable first three seasons in Townsville were followed by a decade traipsing through some of Europe's most competitive basketball leagues, in a time where so many leagues weren't universally accessible, and the world wasn't quite so small.

Between those green shoots of a generational career we saw at Townsville to the return of a veteran star with Sydney, there was a decade where Newley's ability was seen by the basketball public in fits and spurts of Boomers basketball.

Chris Goulding has been a superstar of Australian basketball in his own right, however unlike Newley he's been raised fully in the NBL. His stardom has been a known commodity to the local audience since he established himself as a superstar of the league with the Melbourne Tigers, and he paid homage to the pathway players like Newley helped build.

“I think in some sense he (Newley) was a little bit of a trailblazer for that next generation. Guys like him, Dave Andersen, (Aleks) Maric, Joe Ingles in the early stage of his career, those guys set off overseas and tried to make a go of it that way,” Goulding told NBL Media at the NBL24 Finals launch.

Brad Newley and Chris Goulding before a clash between Sydney and Melbourne in 2016.

“I know for myself as a young fella coming up I thought that was the pathway you need to take. Now it’s a little different and the NBL has done a fantastic job in recent years of pivoting and really making themselves one of the places to play in the world and a great pathway for these young guys to get to the NBA.

“I definitely think – and I don’t want to say ‘back in his era’ – but 10, 15 years ago or whatever it was, he was a real trailblazer of young Australian stars making their way in the world of basketball.”

From Newley’s junior career at the Australian Institute of Sport all the way through the now, a near constant on his journey has been Perth Wildcats legend and six-time NBL champion Damian Martin.

Martin and Newley progressed through the AIS, into the NBL and onto Boomers glory together, and Martin believes his former teammate is not only one of the best players to have ever come out of the Australian talent pathway, but he’s underrated by the domestic basketball public.

“In my mind he’s one of the greatest players to have come out of Australia, yet his best basketball was played overseas at a time where not a lot of the games were covered or could be seen as an Australian basketball lover,” Martin reflected.

“The numbers he was dropping in the NBL as a rookie, I don’t think we’ve seen a rookie like that before or since. Had he stayed in the NBL he would have been a prolific scorer and an all-time great, I have no doubt he would have won multiple MVP awards and he would be seen in a different light by Australian viewers of our national league.

Brad Newley and Marc Gasol share a moment at the 2012 London Olympics.

"Because we only got to see snippets of him when he was playing for the Boomers and didn’t get to see him properly until he was towards the back end of his career when he came back to Australia, whilst he’s still been very, very good in the NBL, his best basketball was played abroad.

“That would have translated to him being a multiple All-NBL First Team player and multiple MVP award winner. He’s been an incredible player, we didn’t get to see him as much with our own eyes at home as much as I wish we did, but the memories he’s made abroad and the incredible experiences he’s had means I don’t think he’d regret any decision he made, and he’s deserving of all that success he’s had abroad.”

Newley has been open and honest about his experiences playing in Melbourne over the course of the past three seasons, and he has himself has declared these three seasons with United are three added seasons to his career he wasn't necessarily expecting.

Upon the announcement of his retirement, Newley said he saw NBL23 as his final ‘playing’ season, whereas this season he’s involved with the playing group for as many reasons off the court as on it.

He revealed a moment earlier this season where he broke down upon the realisation that it was time to put a full stop on one of the most storied careers Australian basketball has seen in a generation, but confidant and teammate Goulding says he’s been thoroughly impressed with how Newley has approached the challenge of leading United’s next generation of talent.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“I broke down.”<br><br>Dual Olympian Brad Newley shared the moment he realised it was time for him to say a fond farewell to the NBL ?<br><br>Read more: <a href="https://t.co/boh34EDLX3">https://t.co/boh34EDLX3</a> <a href="https://t.co/CqqBMn2N0r">pic.twitter.com/CqqBMn2N0r</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1758254044756488301?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“It’s been a transition for him and I would imagine he would say that as well. He’s someone that for a large part of his career has never really come off the bench, he wasn’t a development player, he’s been almost a star from as soon as he came into the league,” Goulding said.

“Transitioning to the bench and then that third unit has been a different experience for him, but of late he’s really flourished in leading them teaching them how to get through their offence, and then competing at a high level when it’s time to compete as well. I think just leading by example and showing the guys how to go about it, he’s really come into his own.”

Now then, it’s time for the elephant in the room. For all the individual accolades, top teams represented and precocious talent, there is that distinct possibility that somehow, in some way, this titan of Australian basketball could leave the professional game without a domestic title to his name.

Newley has experienced winning at the top level, of course. He was a member of Australia’s first ever FIBA Asia Cup win in 2017 and has two Commonwealth Games gold medals to his name.

Goulding way typically coy in his thought and downplayed any motivation desire to send Newley out as a champion may bring, but admitted it has crossed his thought process as the season has progressed.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The perfect start ?<br><br>Brad Newley scores the first bucket for <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@melbunited</a> in his final regular season game ?<br><br>Watch live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies | 10 Peach &amp; 10 Play ? <a href="https://t.co/BKAFpJHbzw">pic.twitter.com/BKAFpJHbzw</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1759053388954628389?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“You can’t get too caught up in the individual, of course it’s a small driving point of what we want to do but I think for the most part we’re all driven to win at the base line, and in turn when you get to this part of the season you’re driven to win a Championship,” he said.

“There’s lots of narratives at play and ‘Newls’ is one of them. Of course we want to send him off in the right way, but that’s not the be all and end all driving force behind what we want to do as a club. We’ve won it before, we missed the Playoffs last year, and there’s a big sense of getting back to where we think we want to be and that’s winning a championship.

“We’re hoping to send him off in the right way.”

Martin – who won a record six NBL titles with the Perth Wildcats – believes that final, crowing achievement would be the perfect way to cap off Newley's career.

“I do hope Brad gets to go out with a Championship to his name, because he was a hell of a talent,” Martin said.

“He’s had an incredible career both overseas and back home, but it’s probably the one piece of the puzzle that’s missing from an incredible resume.

“If he had started his professional career 10 or 15 years later, I have no doubt he’d have been in the NBA with how much more international it is now.

“I think those who have only seen him at the back end of his career – whilst he’s been great for Sydney and Melbourne – didn’t see what he could truly do on the basketball floor.”