Phoenix rise to become NBL1 North contenders

• Both Sunshine Coast Phoenix teams will feature in the NBL1 North finals for the first time in club history
• The Phoenix men finished third with a 9-5 record and will host Rockhampton
• Sunshine Coast women finished fifth with a 7-7 record and will travel to take on the Mackay Meteorettes

Sunshine Coast Phoenix general manager Sean Page has revealed how a meeting between himself and the local stars of the club has inspired a history-making run for both their men's and women's teams to the NBL1 North finals.

The Phoenix, which is a merger between three clubs on the Sunshine Coast (Noosa, Maroochydore and Caloundra), was formed in 2015 with the Clippers previously the representative in the Queensland state league competitions for decades before a drastic change a decade ago.

Under the Phoenix banner, the men's program had never made a state league playoffs, while the Clippers men had not featured in the postseason since 2008. The women had played in finals twice as the Sunshine Coast Basketball Association in 2017 and 2022 but Page, who also is the head coach of the men's team, said he struggled to remember a time when both programs had made the semi-finals in the coast's history.

That streak was broken after the final round of the 2025 NBL1 North competition, when the Phoenix men finished third following the regular season and earned a home elimination final against Rockhampton on Saturday, while the women qualified in fifth place and will travel to Mackay for their do-or-die contest, also on Saturday.

Both the men's and women's team have one big thing in common — they feature locals who have been through the lows of either missing out on finals or languishing at the bottom of the ladder in recent years. Stalwarts in Jamaal and Darnell Robateau as well as Nelson Kahler for the men and Amy Browne for the women have been through everything with, previously the Clippers and now the Phoenix.

Page recalled meeting with this core during the offseason and expressing how much he wanted to see them play in meaningful games for the club they had bled for before they eventually hung up the boots as a massive motivation for this season's turnaround.

"We kind of all met, the core group, Jamaal, Darnell and Nelly and I said to them, I want you guys to have the opportunity to play in the playoffs and that was kind of what we kind of set about to try to do is to get a couple of pieces that we thought might be able to complement those guys, bring something a little bit different, and then give them an opportunity to take that next step, because we just felt like we were like one guy away," he said.

"It's been a hard road for those guys over the last few years. They haven't made playoffs in a while, well, since 2008, so none of them have had this. A few years ago, they were actually tied for the final playoffs spot, back then there was 14 teams and eight teams in the playoffs and then missed out on a countback or whatever.

"I think the same thing had happened the year before, then last year, my first year, we were kind of in the playoffs picture all the way to the last kind of week or so, and then lost a couple late and sort of dropped out of it.

"Those guys had been so close in recent years, so it's really cool for those guys to have the opportunity to play in playoffs.

"I had the same conversation with Amy Browne. I've known Amy since she was born, and she came to me actually, we were at one of the junior presentations, and she was handing out trophies and we had this conversation and I said, I just want you to have the opportunity to play in playoffs."

Following those meetings, Page went to work on finding those key additions for both teams to take the next step. Enter Erik Kafritsas, Earnest Ross and Deshawn Ross-Paiwan for the men, and last year's NBL1 North Defensive Player of the Year and MVP contender Erin Bollman as well as big Shannon Ryan for the women.

"We were able to go out and sign Erin. I did that even before we had a coach," Page said.

"That was obviously a massive signing, because on the women's side,  she might be the best player in the league, she's probably the Defensive Player of the Year, she's definitely an All-Star Five and I would not be surprised if she was in the hunt for the MVP. She's made a massive difference.

"We locked her in for two years, which has been really good and then Jamie (Glover) who was appointed as our new women's coach, was able to go out and get Shannon and a couple of other people.

"As far as Erik, he's come up here because he's a young bloke, he's only just turned 23 and he's still looking to get a crack, I know he spent some time with the Bullets since he's been up here and hopefully that all pans out for him because he's been amazing. He's super talented, defensively really good as well as offensively but just a great dude, you know, fit right in.

"Deshaun, if we had a Sixth Man of the Year award, which I don't think they do, he'd probably win it. He's been really, really good for us off the bench, and there's been nights when he's sparked us or he's really lifted us and carried us in segments of games.

"Ernest has lived on the Sunshine Coast since 2019, he almost played for us a few years ago but he was playing in Japan, but this year the opportunity came up. He's just really good player. He does some things when you need him to do some things, he's that kind of player, and it's not coaching, it's just the dude doing it, it makes you as a coach look like a really good coach, but it's nothing to do with you.

"He's been that real x-factor and really helped us. We've been pretty lucky this year."

Also add in college returnees in Sunshine Coast products Liam Switzer and Elias Cato and depth has proven to be a major strength for the Phoenix men, who went within a whisker of claiming top spot to finish the regular season before being upset by the Southern Districts Spartans in Round 13.

Page said creating a real pathway for their locals, where they dream of playing NBL1 has played a significant role in the elevation of Phoenix's senior programs.

"The priority of our program is to provide a pathway for our junior players, and then put a team on the court that represents our association in a really sort of positive manner," he said.

"For us, it's about, yes we want to be competitive, and we'd love to win championships and all those kind of things, but it's about doing it in a financially responsible way and making sure we're utilising local talent as much as we can.

"The other part that we've done in the last couple of years is really started to incorporate our QSL and our youth league programs into the NBL1 program. Both our men's and women's NBL1 teams train one night a week with our QSL team as a combined training... we're actually demonstrating the pathway and putting kids in it. We've had kids that have played Youth League, QSL and NBL1 on the one weekend, and I think that's a productive and healthy model.

"I think the actual NBL1 moniker, the title and the branding has also really changed the way that that league perceived it. I was overseas for 21 years and came back and the difference to me being involved, when I was playing and when I was coaching in it until around 2001 when I left, kids didn't want to play state league, It wasn't a thing to say that I want to grow up and play state league.

"Now, you look around now, and kids at a really high level of junior players, they're saying they want to play NBL1, like, that's their goal... it has legitimacy now."

Turning those positive signs into championships is a dream for Page and that journey will tip-off this weekend when the men host the Rockhampton Rockets at the Suncoast Clippers Stadium on Saturday night while the women travel to Mackay to take on Unique Thompson, Monique Bobongie and the Meteorettes.

Page said hype around the Sunshine Coast was at an all-time high with the men's home elimination final already close to a sell-out after tickets went on sale Tuesday morning.

"It's a big occasion for Sunshine Coast Basketball. We're super proud of what the teams have achieved during the course of the regular season, and looking forward to seeing how they compete in the playoffs," he said.