Phoenix rising: Sobey cleared for Throwdown

On the eve of Throwdown 33, the South East Melbourne Phoenix have received a huge boost, with captain Nathan Sobey cleared to make his season debut.

A back injury kept Sobey in Melbourne while his team went 1-1 on their road trip to Perth and Tasmania.

But the Hungry Jack's NBL26 All-NBL First Team member was confirmed on Wednesday to return to the lineup.

"[I'm] feeling better, which is good," Sobey said during the club's media availability.

"I'm ready to go [Thursday] night.

"I feel like from the high performance team and myself, it was more beneficial not to go on that long road trip to start the season with how my back was feeling.

"[It's] definitely something that if we didn't have such quick turnarounds that maybe we could look at it a different way.

"But I definitely wanted to set myself up to be able to get going for the rest of the season.

"Obviously it's not fun watching, but at the same time it's probably better to watch it alone.

"It's definitely not something that I love doing, but it was good to see the boys come out of the road trip with a win and we'll just continue to build on that."

Both the Phoenix and Melbourne United head into Thursday's Round 2 fixture at John Cain Arena on the back of a loss, highlighting the magnitude of the clash for both sides.

"It's a great [clash] to have for our first home game, we're all super pumped and stoked for it," Sobey added.

"We're looking forward to another good battle [with United]."

Throwdown 33 tips off at 7.30pm AEST, live on ESPN.