Vickerman: 'Goulding played injured'

Dean Vickerman has praised the desire of Melbourne United captain Chris Goulding, after he revealed the 35-year-old sharpshooter played the final two games of the NBL24 Championship Series while injured.

Vickerman did not go as far to reveal the nature of Goulding’s injury, but the Melbourne captain looked hobbled throughout both the Game 4 and Game 5 contests, and was often seen to be limping throughout the games.

Although United eventually fell by two points in the decisive fixture, Goulding added 13 points from almost 28 minutes of action, including a heavily contested three to give Melbourne a five-point lead during the third quarter.

“CG playing injured over these last two games, it was amazing what he did,” Vickerman said post-game.

“I won’t talk about his injury too much, but he obviously wasn’t 100 per cent and the commitment he showed to get around those two games – especially the one down there – was absolutely amazing.

“It was touch and go in Tasmania whether he would play or not play, but once he got out there and ran around a little bit he felt like he could get though, so it’s a credit to him. He’s a tough kid.”

Melbourne attacked its NBL24 roster build differently than how most clubs traditionally pull together competitive squads, and that was with the desire to only have one import throughout the entirety of the season.

Former Sydney King and Adelaide 36er Ian Clark was named the competition’s Best Sixth Man, as United elected to run with a fully local starting five when everyone was fit over the course of the campaign.

Three of those five were not part of the club in NBL23. Luke Travers crossed over from Perth, while Jo Lual-Acuil Jr and Matthew Dellavedova returned to the NBL from China and the NBA respectively.

Vickerman says the NBL will only keep improving as long as star local talents can be tempted back to our domestic league from around the globe.

“We went a different route this year just going with one import, and having elite local talent,” he said.

“There’s a really good balance of experienced imports and young imports that have a chance to climb the ladder.

“Again, we want to continue to drag as much of the high-level Australian and New Zealand talent back here as well, so Asia markets and European markets are going to have their influence on those guys, but the more we can get back here the more this league will continue to grow.”

As far as that roster build for NBL25 is concerned, Vickerman says the experience of being on a losing side in a Championship Series should help motivate emerging stars like Flynn Cameron and Kyle Bowen.

“We’ll see what squad we put together next year. We have a number of guys signed, but we also have a number of guys who have the ability to go to a higher level,” Vickerman said.

“We’ll see where that plays out and how we can restock those guys. The guys we know are coming back – the Flynn Camerons, Kyle Bowens – these guys who were in their first year with the club, I think it’s massive for a rookie to go through a Finals series, and to miss out, the hunger those guys should have to say ‘I want to be part of that rotation in a Championship Series’ is a great mountain for those guys to be able to climb in the off-season and get to that level.

“We talk about those guys, and we’ll sort out the rest of the roster from there.”