By Marcus Uhe
A brutal start to the season may prove beneficial to the Casey Cavaliers in the long run, according to head coach David Peters.
The Cavs opened the season with three heavy defeats – 27 points to Dandenong, 17 to Mount Gambier and 19 to Sandringham – all while ingratiating three starters into the squad at very late notice, in Hunter Marks, Sidy Djitte and Jack Perry.
Not executing to the standard they wanted to or expected, prompted some difficult conversations with one-another about where they were at, and helped them identify the path forward.
“We definitely used (the heavy losses) as a teaching point; we had to sit down and really break down, what do we want on offence, what did we want on defence, what are our team goals here, is what we applied in our first three games in-line with our team goals, and if it’s not, why?,” Peters said.
“It allowed us to ask the players some hard-hitting questions and I have no doubt that the response from some of our team meetings and individual player meetings we had after that three-game period was as a result of the way we played against both Bendigo and Geelong in those two-home wins.
“We’re such a young team and it’s so important for us to learn from those games to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
As a result of the meetings, Peters said each player is clearer on what is expected from one-another in order to play at their best.
“The outcomes were about ensuring everyone understood and valued their role and was willing to put 100 per cent into that role every single time,“ he said.
“We wanted to make sure we didn’t have a team that was okay with other people getting it done constantly, we want 12 players that are going to contribute and if that means one player is going to play five minutes, then he’s got to be the best player in that five minute stretch.
“The second thing to that was making sure we had multiple people who were willing to score the ball and be a threat.
“That doesn’t mean you’re always going to shoot a high percentage or be a threat, but it takes the pressure off some of our better scorers.”
Much of the responsibility for running the offence has fallen to star forward and captain Preston Bungei, who leads the team in points and assists per game, and only trails Sidy Djitte for rebounds and blocks.
Despite his excellence and high level of play, their wins against Geelong and Bendigo highlighted the effectiveness of involving more players in the offence and having threats all over the floor.
Against Geelong, Jack Perry had the hot hand, making six of his seven shots from the three point line, as six players scored in double figures.
Against Bendigo, there were four major scorers, while in their losses it has been primarily Malcolm Bernard and Sidy Djitte providing a hand on offence, as the only other two average more than 10 points per game.
“The last thing we want is every team to just focus on Preston or one of the other players and take them out of the game, then we’ll really struggle to get points on the scoreboard,” Peters said.
“Definitely having some of those guys not only in the starting five but off the bench, providing a little bit more help is something that we’ve spoken a lot about and had some individual chats with players about, how can we take some of the load off of some of our starters so they don’t have to score 20-25 points every time.
“We don’t mind if they do, but we’d rather spread it out so that we’re a lot tougher to guard and we’re a lot tougher to scout.
“Where we’re at is where we are at right now, and we just need to take time and understand the fact that it will take time to build.”
