Cooks, Green in? Broekhoff calls for Boomers change

Former Boomers representative Ryan Broekhoff has suggest a change to Australia’s starting five, as an attempt to mitigate the slow starts that have plagued the side this tournament.

Australia bounced back from a four-point quarter-time deficit to take a 26-point against Finland, before conceding the first eight points of the game against Germany.

Only some heroics from Patty Mills helped pull the side back into the game.

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The Germans also opened the fourth quarter on a decisive 10-0 run.

“The starts are killing us at the moment,” Broekhoff said. “If it wasn’t for Patty going God-mode and dropping 13 straight points to keep us in it, it could have been a much rougher night for us.

“There’s this amazing defensive lineup, but to start games our defence seems to be slowest off the mark … some simple things, the games are so close and so tight you really have to execute at all levels. There’s plenty to think back and improve on.

“Maybe they look at making a change to the starting lineup – maybe bring Josh Green in or start Xavier Cooks or whatever it is, it’s probably not panic stations to do that just yet.

“You’re liking what those guys are bringing off the bench to change games against second units, it’s so tough. There are only a few games to get everything right.

“It’s just being able to fix these errors and the inconsistency we’ve seen over the first two games.”

With one game to go in the initial group phase, it’s likely Australia will now finish behind Germany in second place – pending a huge upset win for Finland. 

That has vastly increased the chances of Australia crossing over with powerhouses Canada and the USA earlier than expected in the tournament.

Broekhoff says the early errors that have plagued the Boomers in their first two games can’t be made, if they cross paths with either of the North American sides. 

“Those two teams and how good they are offensively, you can’t give them 10-12 points to start the game. Germany are very strong, solid team but they don’t have that same firepower,” he said.

“Look to the leaders, look to Patty, look to Joe (Ingles), Nick Kay’s been there a few times, Bubbles (Chris Goulding), guys that have been there before and been through the ups and downs and know the tournament structure.

“You can’t fixate on what happened last night, you’ve got to focus on the game in two days’ time, you need to make sure you stay focused and you look to those leaders to guide the team and get everyone’s mindset and motivation where it needs to be.

“We can’t stuff that one up.”

The Boomer take on Japan on Tuesday night at 9:10pm AEST.