Healthy Pineau On Target To Get Back To Where He Was

Written for nbl.com.au by Chris Pike

The December start for the 2021/22 NBL season has proven a blessing in disguise for South East Melbourne Phoenix centre Dane Pineau who can't wait to begin to get back to where he was two seasons ago starting at the Blitz.

To say the last three years has been a rollercoaster ride for Pineau would be quite the understatement.

If you go back to the 2018/19 season when he was at the Sydney Kings, he became better known for the stunt at the NBL Awards night when he accepted on behalf of teammate Andrew Bogut than unfortunately anything he did in his limited opportunities on the court.

However, the centre was working tirelessly to be ready for an opportunity to show what he can do on the NBL floor, he banged down the door to get that chance and it came at the Phoenix in the 2019/20 campaign.

Not only did Pineau earn his minutes and starting role for the Phoenix, but he genuinely emerged as one of the best big men in the competition averaging 8.1 points and 8.7 rebounds a game including ranking in 39 boards across consecutive matches against the Illawarra Hawks and New Zealand Breakers.

Pineau was riding high coming into the 2020/21 season but back and knee injuries meant he never really got going and he was left riding the sidelines back in Melbourne while the Phoenix underwent a stirring playoff run pushing Melbourne United to three games in the semi finals.

While the extra time leading up to the December start to the #NBL22 season has meant more time at pre-season training, the blessing for Pineau is that it means he won't miss any action.

He is feeling good and ready to go starting this Saturday when the Phoenix's Blitz campaign begins against the Sydney Kings, and he's certainly on track for Round 1 against the Breakers on Saturday December 4.

"I wouldn’t have been able to play when the season was meant to start and until about now so it has been a blessing in a way for me," Pineau said.

"I'm back getting involved in full-court workouts now and have been building that up more and more to take part in games every day. The body is feeling as good as it's felt in a long time and now I can start thinking about playing games, and putting those injuries behind me. 

"The back and knee are feeling good so hopefully my mind can be free not worrying about those and I can just worry about playing basketball again, and getting that side of back to where I want it. My body is feeling really good right now."

Looking back to last season and Pineau would like to put it behind him. It ended up being an 18-month journey for him to now get to the point where he now feels 100 per cent healthy and ready and able to get back to the form he showed two seasons ago.

Then with the Phoenix being based out of Melbourne for long periods including the semi-final series with United that was played in Sydney meant it was hard to feel truly part of the team still.

However, he was grateful to see South East Melbourne playing so well so he didn’t feel quite as guilty for not being able to get out on the floor alongside them.

"Last season was a nightmare to be honest. It's so hard to really feel like you are part of it especially with the team being away for so long. They did the best they could to make me feel included, but it is very challenging mentally when you have something that you love taken away from you," Pineau said.

"It's been 18 months now where I really haven’t been able to do what I love doing with only a brief taste of it there when I came back mid-season. It was just frustrating to not be able to go out there and do what I want to do which is play basketball so it was tough to get through. 

"Actually though, it probably helped that the team was at least playing really well. I would have felt more guilty to not be out there if they were struggling and I thought they could help, but at least I felt a little bit less guilty because the team was doing really well. 

"It didn’t really look like they needed me out there which actually helped me deal with it. Yanni Wetzell played so well in that five spot where I would have been helping to contribute and that was great to see. 

"So it wasn’t like there was a gaping hole there with the five man spot in the team which was good. I wish I could have been part of it obviously but it was great to see too how well they did."

It's hard to imagine a bigger contrast across three seasons than what Pineau has experienced. He went from fighting for any minutes at the Kings to becoming a big-minute, key player at the Phoenix and then stuck in the rehab room.

Having worked so hard to get the opportunities he received in the 2019/20 and grabbing those chances so successfully with the way he played, that made being stuck not being able to play tough to take last season for Pineau, but he was grateful for the support he had.

"It was hard to deal with especially after how well I was able to do the season before. The hardest part was dealing with it mentally even though physically it was frustrating, but you just go about your rehab," Pineau said.

"But mentally, you have to deal with a lot of time by yourself and feeling like there's almost a never-ending road before you can get back. I did struggle a lot as positive as you do try to remain that it will be worth it in the end, but I had a lot of time to think about the season before where I really was getting the chance to contributed how I wanted and that I got the opportunity I had been working for. 

"Now I feel like I have the opportunity with my body to get back to where I was and that's exciting because there's been times over the last 18 months where you do lose motivation when you suffer setback after setback, and are stuck doing rehab. It was really tough being on the sidelines so much but I worked with a lot of people and had a lot of support from the club, and I couldn’t have got through it without them. 

"They helped to keep my motivation up and reminding me why I play basketball and what I will still be capable of. It's been a really challenging time but I've been lucky to have a lot of support to get through it."

Now that all that is behind him and the pre-season is done with the Blitz starting this weekend, Pineau can't hide his excitement over how he's feeling to be out there with his Phoenix teammates again.

"It's definitely really exciting. It feels like it has been a long time waiting for it and obviously with the season being delayed and everything, I'm so excited it's finally here," Pineau said.

"It's good to have the end of pre-season too because pre-season training can get to be a bit of a drag, and be very tiring at times. So for me, I'm so excited to get back to playing games and to be in the position where I'm able to play as well. I can't wait for it to start this weekend and I'll be suiting up and trying to contribute a little bit."

Having new teammate Zhou Qi block his shot with his forearm hasn’t quite been the initiation to returning to court Pineau was hoping for, but in the bigger picture, he sees no reason why they can't be genuine championship contenders in #NBL22.

"We have a lot of confidence in our group. We have a good core group of guys back and have added pieces that fit in well, and we're really hungry for more," Pineau said.

"We think we are primed to have a really good season and we definitely should be in the top four and we have our sights on more than just that.

"We see ourselves as being able to take the next step and getting to that Grand Final match up to compete for the championship. We really believe we can do it and we feel like we have the guys to do it, and hopefully we can improve on what we built last season."