The basketball faction has announced the signing of Matt Andronicos alongside the recommitment of hometown hero Matt Bartlett, signalling a serious push in next year’s Big V tilt.
While locals will be familiar with Bartlett’s credentials, Andronicos is a relative unknown.
But he won’t be for long.
Standing at a towering 208cm, ‘Droid’ is impossible to miss.
The centre has come across from NBL1 outfit Bendigo and has spent time in the top tier with Cairns Taipans, bringing much needed height to the Gators as mentioned by coach Josh Waight.
“To have Droid on board is fantastic, he adds some size to our group and will help us get those few cheap little points we haven’t been able to get before,” Waight said.
“To have someone of his calibre with us is going to be great for the group.
“With his size he’ll be able to protect the rim so I feel as though theat will be really beneficial for the group.”
Andronicos knows what to expect at the Gators camp, having trained with Shepparton in 2020.
He’ll hope to lift a side which sidled up in seventh (8-9) at the competition’s premature end into finals contention, and assumes the Gators’ ‘big man’ archetype last filled by Atem Atem during the 2019 season.
“I’ve been playing for the Bendigo Braves for the last five seasons now and hopefully I can bring my leadership skills to the Gators as well as my size and direction on court; there are not too many big guys in Shepp,” Andronicos said.
“I trained a little bit with them last year when I was injured - it’s not really a new environment for me and the squad is pretty good squad this year so I’m looking forward to it.”
While Andronicos’ announcement will have Gators’ faithful salivating, the news Bartlett is back on board provides an equal buzz at the Swamp.
Bartlett averaged 18.82 this season and was ranked fourth overall among the competition’s best scorers.
He also led the assists in Big V division one, and is over the moon to be back in the navy and white for yet another charge.
“I’ve been clocking the seasons up at the Gators which is a good thing; I’m here to stay,” he said.
“With the group and the young kids coming through from the under-18s – the Whitlock’s, Boston Dowling, Jordan Munro, we need to make sure there is a solid senior team around them as they are going to be great players for us going forward.
“It’s great to have a few more veterans and guys who have played some really good basketball; I’ve played with Matt (Andronicos) before and will be able to link up with him quite well.”
With both Andronicos and Bartlett committed, Waight couldn’t wait to see how hard – and how far – his charges will go next season.
“Having those two locked in now is really exciting, hopefully we’ll sign a few more in the coming weeks,” Waight said.
“We have a lot of locals recommitting and feel as though we have a really good group assembled so we’re really looking forward to getting started – we ’ve been able to train for a little bit so far.”
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