THE Kennedy’s Tours Shoalhaven Tigers youth league men are ready to prove they belong in the Waratah League division one competition, when their 2019 campaign tips-off this Saturday.
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After bringing home a historic banner to the Tigers Den last year, Scott Balsar's side have been promoted into division one, which sees them travel to Newcastle to take on the Hunters, a semi-finalist last season, in round one.
"The boys are in week 21 of preparation, as we started back in November," he said.
"During that time, we have managed to get a pre-season camp in at Batemans Bay, as well as hosting a pre-season quad-series at the Den two weeks ago, against division one rivals Illawarra, Bankstown and Penrith.
"The latter was a huge success, with us coming away with two victories from our three matches."
This season presents a huge challenge for the Cubs, as they will play 22 games between now and August, including numerous double header weekends.
On top of that, Balsar has lost the services of banner winners Bruce Ozolins, Lachlan Crowe, Tim Balzer and Brendan Sampson.
To combat that, he has added Illawarra Hawks development player Gavin Costain to the squad, as well as Batemans Bay products Lachlan Armstrong and Jonah Armstrong - who join fellow Breakers juniors Riley O'Shannessy and Jeremy Harding in the black and gold this season.
As well as retaining the services of O'Shannessy, fresh off a nationals bronze medal with the NSW under 20s team, and Harding, Balsar still has explosive guards Brayden Morris and Luke Smith and sharpshooter Kyle Leslie at his disposal.
Other additions to the squad in 2019 include Tigers juniors Trent Hilaire and Josh Styles while Josh Watts and US import Olu Sowunmi will join the team in April after completing their college season with Castleton University in Vermont, US.
“It's exciting times ahead for the Tigers," Balsar said.
"Each week is going to be tough but these boys are up for it we are well prepared and ready to go.
"Newcastle are going to be a hard team to guard, as is every team in this competition - we just have to focus on our stuff each week.
"We will need to be disruptive and up the floor on defense, to take the bigger and more talented teams out of their rhythm.
"As well as that, offensive rebounding will be a focus of ours the entire season.
"These aspects, as well as communicating on both ends of the floor, are the key ingredients to winning games especially on the road."
Tip-off for the match is at 3pm at Newcastle's Broadmeadows Stadium.