Glover, Phoenix’s title hunger

Angus Glover is still only 25, and despite already having a pair of NBL titles to his name, he’s hungrier than ever to once again reach the pinnacle of the competition.

Glover has crossed to South East Melbourne ahead of NBL25 following a buyout of the final year of his contract with the Sydney Kings. Last season’s bottom-placed side has already begun its rebuild with the signing of Glover, Nathan Sobey and Jordan Hunter, and will continue searching for a maiden championship title.

The Kings failed in their quest to secure the competition’s first title three-peat in a decade, and Glover fell out of favour with now former head coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah.

He says the more titles you win, the hungrier you are for the next one.

“Obviously, it’s a new club for me but as an individual wherever you finish on the ladder and having the success I had in the past two years, I was extremely hungry last year,” Glover said on The Huddle.

“Now I’m hungrier having not even made the Championship Series last year. From that first [title] to the second year I was way hungrier and I know everyone else was. You get more and more hungry, it almost becomes an obsession.

“You do whatever you can to set yourself up for February and March, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

“I know ‘Creeky’ is ultra-competitive, I know Sobey is ultra-competitive. I’ve been with Jordi for the last four years and I know how competitive he is. We all know how Ben Ayre is, Foxy, all of them.

“Everyone just wants to win a championship, no one is caring about individual accolades and all of us want to bring the first championship to the heartland and tick that box.

“At the end of the day I think we’ve got a great core, now we just have to build around it and I’m just really, really excited to being a part of it.”

The buying out of the final year of a contract is a relatively new tool in the NBL, however this Free Agency has seen both Glover and Sobey arrive in South East Melbourne despite initially being contracted to other teams in NBL25.

Former Taipan Sam Mennenga used the same pathway to sign with New Zealand, while Jackson Makoi was offered a mutual release from the final year of his contract to sign from Sydney to Cairns.

Glover says despite the uncommon nature of how he arrived in South East Melbourne, there is nothing resembling ‘bad blood’ between himself and the Kings organisation.

“In Cairns in the Covid bubble I thought my career was over, they stuck it out with me and they helped me get back to playing some very good basketball,” he said of his former club.

“I’m obviously thankful to everyone there that kept me going because at the end of the day I was ready to be done, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity they gave me. 

“Now it’s time to start a new chapter in my basketball career.

“I think people seem to forget I’m only 25 since I’ve been around the league for so long now. I think I’m going into my eighth or ninth year now this year, so I’ve been around for a long time.

“I’m just excited to see the growth I have left in me still being so long. I’ve been through a lot but I’m very grateful I’ve made it out the other side.”