Phoenix Secure Vital Cover

The broken rub suffered by import signing Trey Kell has led the South East Melbourne Phoenix to sign Bendigo Braves import Malcolm Bernard as an injury replacement player.

Kell, who reported discomfort in his ribs after a pre-season clash with the JackJumpers, will be unable to commence the season, with Phoenix head coach Simon Mitchell stating the star guard will be missing until “roughly around the second or third week of the season".

Bernard comes onto the roster off of a strong NBL1 South season with the Braves, where he averaged 18 points per game this past season.

The 198-centimetre guard/forward also boasts playing experience in Russia, the NBA G-League and QBL side Rockhampton.

He will remain with the side until Kell recovers from his rib injury.

“We felt in the short term we needed to add a player to our roster,” South East Melbourne CEO Tommy Greer said.

“Having Ryan (Broekhoff) and Trey unable to play, we wanted to find a versatile player to help us commence the season with the strongest line-up possible.

“Malcolm had a great season in NBL1 and we’re looking forward to having him join the team.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">MALCOLM BERNARD SENDS IT TO OT! <a href="https://twitter.com/Bendigo_Braves?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Bendigo_Braves</a> - 94<a href="https://twitter.com/Knox_Basketball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Knox_Basketball</a> - 94<br><br>Watch this <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL1Finals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL1Finals</a> OT action live and free on <a href="https://t.co/NEk1I7BLMG">https://t.co/NEk1I7BLMG</a> and the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL1?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL1</a> App ??? <a href="https://t.co/w4Vt6H8qRt">pic.twitter.com/w4Vt6H8qRt</a></p>&mdash; NBL1 (@NBL1) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL1/status/1560943385074024449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>