Kelly excited about evenly spread roster

Thursday, September 14, 2023

"We have a bunch of guys that are going to come on and do their thing, and do their job well with this group."

The South East Melbourne Phoenix roster is an even-spread of equally impactful members, with head coach Mike Kelly eager to show off the new-look squad.

Hinting the Phoenix may not necessarily have several household superstars, a clear point of difference for the South East Melbourne side is the amount of skill that’s spread across the group as a whole.

“The guys that are going to be difference makers – I don’t know if we’re going to have anybody that’s our star guys – but having guys like Reuben Te Rangi, Matt Kenyon, Rhys Vague, we’ve got a bunch of guys,” Kelly said on SEN.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As part of <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SEMelbPhoenix</a> Membership Day coach Mike Kelly joined the boys<a href="https://t.co/ACQjR5gTgB">https://t.co/ACQjR5gTgB</a></p>— Andy & Gazey (@TheRunHomeSEN) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRunHomeSEN/status/1701139390385561679?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Phoenix had their annual SEN Membership Day this week, with a record-breaking 400 new members signing on.

Kelly has stepped into the Heartland this offseason and transformed the South East Melbourne line-up, including the returning Craig Moller, who brings an immense amount of length into the squad.

“He just brings it everyday, as far as a real professional, working guy. He’s like 6’9 and has great length, plays hard all the time,” Kelly said.

“He brings a lot every time he’s out there, but having longer athletic guys that allow us to switch and play length and rebound, he’s one of those guys. So we’re stoked to have him here.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It was a record-breaking event for our <a href="https://twitter.com/1116sen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@1116sen</a> Membership Day yesterday with over 400 new members signing on! ?<br><br>Read More ??</p>— South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1701472169086333280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Kelly urged the squad’s skills as a collective would be the recipe for winning games this season.

“We have a bunch of guys that are going to come on and do their thing, and do their job well with this group. They may not be the guys that average 20 a game, but I think they’re going to win some games for us that way,” Kelly said.

“I like our group as a group, if everybody is in it for the right reasons which so far so good – I think they’ll be ready to help this group win by just being good at what they do.”

The Hungry Jack’s NBL Blitz starts this Saturday, September 16, when the Phoenix take on the Tasmania JackJumpers at 5:00pm AEST.

“Get some minutes into everybody, we haven’t had a whole lot of roster here, or at least not the whole roster,” Kelly said of the Blitz.

Watch all Blitz action live and free via Kayo Freebies.