HAVING started the season with one win and two losses, the Melbourne Tigers are still finding their feet, and head coach Kaleb Sclater says its all about building chemistry as the season rolls on.

The Tigers opened their account with a five-point loss at the hands of the Sandringham Sabres, but backed it up with a win over the Kilsyth Cobras the following week to break even from the first fortnight. A midweek clash against the Diamond Valley Eagles saw Melbourne fall nine points short after a short turnaround between games.

Speaking to Rookie Me Central, Sclater says that the team is optimistic about what they have shown throughout the first patch of games, and will look to build on their solid work as each game passes.

“For us, its a whole new group,” he said. “Its about building that continuity and putting some things together at the moment. That’s what we’re trying to work with. We had some people not come back this year, but we got some new pieces in, Sara Blicavs is back from her injury. We’re just trying to get used to playing with each other.”

Blicavs overcame a serious spinal surgery (post spinal fusion and disc replacement to be exact) to join the Tigers for their 2025 campaign, and has not missed a beat since pulling on the Melbourne uniform, averaging 22 points and eight rebounds over the first two games of the season, having missed the third due to international duties.

“I’ve known Sara for a long time so I knew she would help us immediately both on and off the court, and now she’s our vice captain,” Sclater said. “But just to see her come back from her spinal fusion, I think she is the first basketballer to do that.

“To have her come back, and to have our group help with her confidence has worked both ways. She’s come in to help us on the court, but she’s had a supportive group of teammates help her, and make sure she doesn’t feel like she has to go and do everything, and she can just slot in and be herself.”

The Melbourne Tigers have the most highly regarded junior program in the country, taking pride in developing their athletes from as early as under-12’s and seeing the players grow through their system and eventually reach NBL1 level, a process that Sclater says is extremely rewarding.

“Tylah Hooper is the perfect example of that, she has played under-12’s all the way through, and she is now having a real impact at NBL1 level.” he said. “Leila Davis is another one who has come through as a development player, and she is probably where Tylah was two years ago. We’ve also got Josie Agnew who is in the same boat, young kid coming from under-12’s and is about to go to college.”

“Its exciting. It shows that our pathway from Under-12’s all the way through to NBL1 is there. I think we have the ability to push those juniors all the way through the system now, and get them to play and train with the likes of Isobel Borlase and Sara Blicavs. To put those players around the young kids helps them transition. We are still holding onto our high level juniors when they come back to the club as well.”

Agnew is one of the most exciting young players in the NBL1, having shone at junior level both for her club and Victoria in representative level. The five-foot-eight point guard has an extremely tight handle, is creative with her passes and a talented scorer in her own right, and Sclater says she has impressed over the past few months.

“Josie’s a development player this season, and coming out of under-18’s, its like grade six into grade seven,” he said. “She’s gone from being one of the best players in the team last year in the junior competition to coming into the seniors.

“Its just about learning that style and the fact that there’s now more scouting involved, more process-driven thinking involved. Its a whole different ball game when you get to seniors. She’s exciting, fast, super eager and she wants to learn. I think she’s going to be a great player for a long time, she learns from these older players she’s with, and she’ll go to college and take that with her as well.”

Although the team has not quite snatched a winning record just yet, the Tigers look extremely exciting for large portions of the match, always looking a chance to put a winning score on the board. Both of their losses have been by single digits, with Melbourne in every game until the final minutes, and Sclater says there is a lot of cause for optimism.

“Offensively I’m really happy so far,” he said. “We want to play a with a bit of faster pace, and we want to play throughout our post a lot more. We’ve stuck to our structure a lot more, and we put up 90 points the other night. Although we had a poor shooting night, we still put up 70 points in the first round, which is still a positive. Defensively, it takes a little bit longer with a new group so we’re not there yet, but we’ve got a foundation.”

The Tigers’ season continues on Sunday afternoon, when they take on the Dandenong Rangers at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.