Brisbane: 'No Substitute for Effort'

Friday, January 6, 2023

A disappointing 107-81 home loss to the Cairns Taipans has left Brisbane Bullets coach Greg Vanderjagt questioning his club’s pure lack of effort.

The Bullets crashed in front of their home crowd on Thursday night with the 26-point loss, which saw leaders Nathan Sobey and Aron Baynes score just two points each.

A lack of energy was used to describe the Bullets’ performance by Vanderjagt, who expressed his disappointment in the playing group.

“The most disappointing thing is the lack of energy that we brought to the game,” Vanderjagt said.

“We just got outworked, they played harder than us.

“The most disappointing thing for me is the lack of energy, the lack of attention to scout detail, the lack of attention to how we wanted to try and control the game, we just played right into their hands.

“We played at their tempo and their pace, and allowed them to dictate terms.”

Even without MVP candidate Keanu Pinder, the Taipans embarrassed the Bullets.

“They (Cairns) have a lot of guys who give energy to the group, and we didn’t have that tonight,” Vanderjagt said.

Former Bullet Adam Gibson echoed Vanderjagt’s comments on NBL Today, suggesting Brisbane waved the white flag.

“They just gave in, it wasn’t because Cairns outshot them or made awesome moves, they got outhustled right from the jump,” Gibson said.

“It was disappointing and it’s going to be a tough end of their season no doubt.

“If they can’t get those little things that require no skill, it’s all effort, it’s going to be rough to finish the season.”

Hidden under the negatives was the performance of Kody Stattmann, who impressed Vanderjagt in his 7:30 minute stint, providing 10 points.

Vanderjagt issued regret for not playing the youngster more to help dig them out of a “rut”.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Young Kody Stattmann has checked in and is making his minutes ????? ?<br><br>2?? shots, 2?? threes!<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/8ps5Pp4Ry7">pic.twitter.com/8ps5Pp4Ry7</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1610947173398753280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“He has some real tools to be a very good pro for a long time in this league,” Vanderjagt said.

“I should’ve given him more opportunity earlier in the game, maybe he could’ve dug us out of a rut with some energy.”

Stattmann added, “us bench guys have got to be ready, we put the work in”.

“In my own mind I just wanted to go out and there and be aggressive and see what I could do. I did that and it turned out to do good things for me which was good.”

The Bullets are ninth with a 5-15 record. They play the Sydney Kings in round 15 on Wednesday at 7:30pm AEDT.