NBL22 Debrief - Brad Newley

It’s never easy to move from one rival team to another, but apparently no one told that to Brad Newley.

After playing the previous five seasons with the Sydney Kings, Newley made the move to Melbourne United heading into the NBL22 season, helping bolster one of the most experienced playing groups in the league.

Embracing a new role, Newls said the transition was an easy one thanks to his teammates and the club’s strong culture.

“I’ve loved every minute since coming down from Sydney.

“It’s a great club, everything’s really professional, I love my teammates, we had a pretty good crack at it and just fell a little bit short.

“It wasn’t really that difficult because the club has its SHARE principals ready to roll… if you’re a new one you’ve just got to buy into that and it’s up to the character of the person to get into that. I think we chose the right characters.”

While United fell short of their ultimate goal of a second consecutive NBL Championship, Newley said the group has to take major positives away from the year that was.

“We can’t hang out heads too much, we’ve got to take the positives out of the year, the improvement of JLA (Jo Lual-Acuil Jr), Shili (Shea Ili) having a great year, we welcomed Delly back to the NBL, Chris being Chris and the emergence of Ariel (Hukporti), there were a lot of great stories within the team.”

On the floor, the forward has shown he remains a dangerous contributor, making his presence felt at every end of the court.

After facing critics who posited how effective the now 37-year-old could be across NBL22, Newley worked hard to get in tremendous shape and prove any doubters wrong in his pursuit of team success.

“I loved being able to contribute, if you’d have told me 12 months ago that I’d be playing in the playoffs again, I’d have been pretty happy with that.

“The big thing was coming in in the right shape… I think doing that really made the decisions easy for our staff.

After signing a one-year contract extension in the offseason, the forward is already champing at the bit for another opportunity to compete for that elusive NBL Championship.

“We’ve got to stay hungry.

“(The pursuit of a championship), that’s huge for me, that drives a lot of guys. I’ll be doing all I can to stay ready and stay healthy and contribute once again on a good team.”

To lock in your spot to see Brad Newley fly up and down the court in a Melbourne United uniform once again, secure your NBL23 membership today!

Offering can’t-miss access and experiences within the club from as little as $105, standing United with Melbourne is the best way to support your side!