Fired up for fraternal fight

Brothers Daniel and Tom Powell will face off when Barking Owls clash with Ambassadors in the highly anticipated opening round of the new Albany Basketball Association men’s A-grade season tomorrow night.

Ambassadors enter the season with a point to prove after being bundled out of the finals race in straight sets last season, despite finishing the regular season as minor premiers.

The Powells, who are not foreign to playing each other in big games, said they were both looking forward to tip-off and expected the heated rivalry between the teams to continue.

Tom, runner-up Most Valuable Player last season and the league’s second-highest point scorer, will wear an Ambassadors guernsey and expects his older brother to again pay close attention to him.

“He usually shuts me down pretty well,” Tom said.

“It’s usually pretty friendly beforehand, but it all depends on who wins.”

Daniel said his side Owls would be strengthened with Tristan McKenzie and Kelvin Santia returning full-time, the latter missing nine games last season with a knee injury.

He predicted the even contests between the two sides to continue and confirmed he would renew the sibling rivalry and aim to keep his younger brother in check.

Ambassadors coach Greg Cowie said he was pleased to be able to gain Craig Jordan and Jake Byrne, a small forward from the B-grade competition.

Cowie expects the Owls to come out firing after losing last season’s grand final to Tigers.

“That’ll be a good test first up. Whatever team the Owls puts in is always strong so it will certainly be an interesting start,” he said.

“We’re going to be a little bit more mobile this year and we’ll be looking to stretch a few sides being a lot faster up and down the court.”

The Raiders under-18 development squad face a tough task in reigning premiers Tigers, with fourth-year coach Haydn Kirkwood predicting his young charges will be more competitive this season with five players in their second season playing in A-grade.

New team the Stirling Rangers take on Bullets in the earlier game tomorrow night.