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Basketball club in Devonport, Tasmania, Australia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Devonport Warriors are an amateur basketball club located in Devonport, Tasmania, Australia, best known for their tenures in the professional National Basketball League between 1983–1984 and the semi-professional South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) between 1986–1994. As of 2024, the club facilitates both senior and junior men's and women's teams in the North West Basketball Union (NWBU),[5] and boasts over 1,000 members.[1]
| Devonport Warriors | |
|---|---|
| |
| Leagues | NWBU (1974–present) |
| Founded | 1949 |
| History | Devonport Warriors 1983–1984 (NBL) Devonport T.C.U. Warriors 1986–1994 (SEABL) |
| Arena | Devonport Recreation Centre |
| Location | Devonport, Tasmania |
| Team colors | Dark green, navy blue, white |
| Main sponsor | Jackson Ford |
| President | Craig Martin[1] |
| Head coach | Phil Thomas (1983)[2] Mark Leader (1984)[3] Glenn Simonds (1987)[4] |
| Championships | 0 |
| Website | https://devonportwarriors.com.au |
The club operates as a division of the Devonport Basketball Association, the primary basketball governing body in the city under Basketball Tasmania. The Warriors play their home games at the Devonport Recreation Centre. Since their establishment, the Warriors have actively sought to promote basketball and develop the city's basketball infrastructure, notably supporting the Devonport Youth Centre in 1956, the Devonport Sports Stadium in 1963, and the proposed $60 million, 2,000-seat court within the Devonport Sports Precinct in 2024.[5][6][7][8]
The Devonport Warriors were established in 1949 by George Russell, coinciding with the formation of the Devonport Basketball Association.[9][10] The club captured its first NWBU championship in the inaugural season of 1974.[11]
In 1974, the Warriors' under-14 boys team, coached by Glenn Simonds, became the first Tasmanian basketball team to claim a national title, defeating North Queensland.[12][13]
Nationally, the Warriors are best known for competing in the National Basketball League between 1983–1984.
Despite the club's short tenure, the Warriors produced several notable players. US import Mark Leader and Tasmanian native Marty Clarke would both go on to play for North Melbourne Giants during their 1989 NBL Championship season. Leader was the only remaining Giants player from 1989 to contribute to their 1994 NBL Championship win. Brad Pineau would go on to contribute six points to the highest-scoring game in NBL history, when in 1991 the Melbourne Tigers defeated the Wollongong Hawks 186–158, where a combined total of 344 points were scored, and Steve Lankton ranks ninth for the most individual steals in an NBL game, against the Canberra Cannons in 1983.
However, the Warriors also collected several dubious honours during their time in the NBL. The team set the record for the fewest points scored in a game, losing to the Hobart Devils 85–40 on 12 February 1983, and suffered one of the greatest margin losses in NBL history, losing 66–128 to the Brisbane Bullets on 3 June 1984. They recorded both one of the highest and lowest field goal percentages in league history, achieving 70% shooting against Geelong in 1983 and a dismal 30% against the Brisbane Bullets in 1984, ultimately leaving a conflated legacy.
The Warriors were forced to exit the NBL after the league announced it would be culled to 14 teams for the 1985 NBL season. The club never experienced financial hardship, and although the Warriors only won four games in the 1984 NBL season, ten of its losses were by ten points or less.[9]
| NBL champions | League champions | Runners-up | Finals berth |
| Season | Tier | League | Regular season | Post-season | Head coach | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Played | Wins | Losses | Win % | ||||||
| Devonport Warriors | ||||||||||
| 1983 | 1 | NBL | 8th | 22 | 2 | 20 | .091 | Did not qualify | Phil Thomas | |
| 1984 | 1 | NBL | 7th | 23 | 4 | 19 | .174 | Did not qualify | Mark Leader | |
| Regular season record | 45 | 6 | 39 | .133 | 0 regular season champions | |||||
| Finals record | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 NBL championships | |||||
As of the end of the 1984 season
*Note: In 1983 and 1984, the NBL was split into Eastern and Western divisions during the regular season.
Following their exit from the NBL, the Warriors transitioned to the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL), a semi-professional basketball league comprising both a men's and women's competition in 1986.[4][14][15] Amalgamating with clubs in surrounding North West Tasmania townships, the SEABL team would ultimately expand and diverge from the Warriors namesake. North-West Tasmania Thunder made their SEABL debut in 1995, and made the SEABL playoffs for the first time under former Warriors coach Phil Thomas.[16]
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