Wolves score two top guns

The Albany Basketball Association men’s A-grade competition is set for a shake-up in the 2016-17 season with Wolves adding two of the league’s top young talents for the opening round tonight.

This season will have seven teams competing for the championship after Bearded Dragons and Denmark folded while Dugites have been promoted after winning the B1 league two years in a row.

After finishing sixth last year with six wins, Wolves will welcome last year’s grand final MVP Matt Leary and one of the league’s top scorers in John Murray.

Murray averaged nearly 18 points a game for the Bearded Dragons and 14 points for the Raiders’ under-18 development squad, leading Raiders to their maiden premiership last season.

Leary, an athletic guard, represented WA Country earlier in the year at the Under-18 Australian Junior Championships in Adelaide.

Both players are now ineligible to play for Raiders and should help Wolves move up the ranks this season despite the loss of last season’s back-court in Tom Powell and Jackson Pitman.

Wolves captain Matt Goodall said his side was hoping to play finals this season.

Wolves take on the freshly promoted Dugites, who have added big man Stewart Davies and Jake Welshman to their roster for the new season.

Dugites captain Adam Ditchburn was confident his team could cope with the move to A-grade

“I think we’ll give it a good crack, we certainly won’t be easy beats,” he said

“It’s realistic for us to be aiming for the finals, there are some really good players in A-grade but the standard isn’t too different to B1.”

Ambassadors have strengthened their back-court with the addition of Pitman, who has come across from the Wolves, and will be hoping to improve on their four wins last season.

Crabs have added some much-needed height to their squad with the inclusions of Bodhi Holmes and Rob Degenaar, who have both come across from the Denmark Basketball Association.

Last year’s grand finalists Barking Owls have made only one change, bringing in Powell, and will be looking to go one better after going down to Raiders in the grand final despite losing only two games in the regular season.

Tigers will roll out an unchanged line-up from last season after finishing third with 10 wins. Owls take on Ambassadors at 6pm, Crabs are up against Tigers at 7pm while Dugites will play Wolves at 8pm.