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Speaker 1: A few weeks ago we had a bit of a

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Speaker 1: discussion about the inaugural men's and women's NBL one teams

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Speaker 1: and us entering the NBL one competition, Darwin entering the

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Speaker 1: competition after well, we've never had we've never had this

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Speaker 1: situation before, but there was a lot of discussion about

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Speaker 1: what the teams should be called. And joining me in

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Speaker 1: the studio right now is John Mitchell. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: John, Good morning Katie. How are you.

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Speaker 1: I'm very well now, John. I know that you've chosen

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Speaker 1: a fierce name. I reckon it's a fantastic one. The

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Speaker 1: Darwin Salties.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, the Darwin Solties, and how proud we were when

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Speaker 2: Minister Warden unveiled the name of the team a couple

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Speaker 2: of months ago. So we're very very proud of it

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Speaker 2: and really looking forward to the future of NB or

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Speaker 2: one in Darwin.

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Speaker 1: Now. I know some people are saying, oh, well, there's

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Speaker 1: the crocodiles in towns. Well, it's different.

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Speaker 2: It is different, and there's been and there's a crocs

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Speaker 2: with some of this, the AFO, the crocs procodiles have

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Speaker 2: been done before. But the Salties, well, we went out

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Speaker 2: to the public, as you know, and we asked all

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Speaker 2: the questions and there was the Stingers, and there was

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Speaker 2: all sorts of other things, both donners. Yeah yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: maybe not the goners, but no, the salties and we're

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Speaker 2: very pleased with it and we think that our uniforms

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Speaker 2: will just look absolutely fantastic. And of course we're looking

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Speaker 2: at the merchandise right now and looking at attracting as

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Speaker 2: many corporate partners as we possibly can, So if anyone

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Speaker 2: is interested, they can call me Katie. And as you know,

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Speaker 2: these things very very expensive to run, but we've got

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Speaker 2: great support from the Northern Territory government and also Darwin

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Speaker 2: Basketball Association Basketball Northern Territory in partnership. They're investing heavily

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Speaker 2: in this project and we're really looking forward to it.

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Speaker 1: John, How are things progressing when it comes to this

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Speaker 1: means of women's side? And I understand that you've named

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Speaker 1: the coaches, now, have you got a few players lined

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Speaker 1: up and locked in?

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Speaker 2: Oh? We have and the coaches Matt Flynn, who we're

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Speaker 2: very very happy to have on board. He's obviously an

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Speaker 2: NBYL experience coach and brings a wealth of experience and

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Speaker 2: knowledge about the game and a great network and our

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Speaker 2: own Rod Tremlet of course, the women's coach who has

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Speaker 2: coached in Darwin for many many years successfully and has

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Speaker 2: done the state teams and high performance. So these guys

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Speaker 2: are working very very hard to put together their rosters.

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Speaker 2: There's fifteen on a roster and we will commence with

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Speaker 2: our local talent in January. We will have local trials

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Speaker 2: for anyone interested, and we've got some great local talent

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Speaker 2: as well, and we've actually a couple of Kylie Dugan

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Speaker 2: and Maddie Hunt to local elite basketball players. They're our

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Speaker 2: ambassadors for the program. Their their local players that will

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Speaker 2: obviously join the rosters, and we're looking for, you know,

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Speaker 2: the youth, up and coming youth. We've got a young lad,

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Speaker 2: Joel de Barros, who is a fantastic player and we

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Speaker 2: think that he'll be slotted right into the NBI one team.

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Speaker 2: So there will be local there will be recruiting done

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Speaker 2: across Australia and outside of Australia for that matter. Off,

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Speaker 2: you know, there's a possibility now and uh, you know,

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Speaker 2: obviously with COVID it prevents a fair bit of that

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Speaker 2: sort of thing. But yeah, we're looking forward to hopefully

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Speaker 2: overcoming any of those obstacles.

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Speaker 1: Do you reckon there's going to be any challenges in

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Speaker 1: terms of, you know, matching up against some of those

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Speaker 1: teams that have been quite well established and potentially have

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Speaker 1: quite large budgets. Being able to recruit some players from

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Speaker 1: interstate and overseas.

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Speaker 2: Always a challenge, absolutely, and we've we've set our our

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Speaker 2: budgets for both the women's roster and the men's roster

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Speaker 2: and it's identical, there is no difference between. We're very

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Speaker 2: proud of that as well. So you know, we will

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Speaker 2: be looking at attracting interstate players to make sure that

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Speaker 2: we're very competitive. But it's always a challenge and there

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Speaker 2: are there are some sides. Last year McKay won the

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Speaker 2: won the championships, so we're looking to actually recruit a

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Speaker 2: couple of their players, so you know that that happens

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Speaker 2: and it goes on. So we think that we will

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Speaker 2: be very very competitive.

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Speaker 1: One of the first games.

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Speaker 2: Thirtieth of April will be the first game Katie. So

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Speaker 2: we've actually got ten home games and one of those

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Speaker 2: home games is actually going to be the Indigenous Round,

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Speaker 2: which you know, we're very proud of that. There's also

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Speaker 2: four away trips that the teams will make so we're

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Speaker 2: going to have three double headers and there will be

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Speaker 2: a triple header as well, so I only have to

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Speaker 2: travel four times, which is really really good. As you know,

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Speaker 2: whenever you away with thirty on the team, it's expensive

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Speaker 2: and there's accommodation. So we've been able to organize and

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Speaker 2: manage that. And of course Kerry Savage, the executive officer

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Speaker 2: of the DBA and Mike Co general manager of this

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Speaker 2: NBL team, we're both involved in that, but carried very

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Speaker 2: very experienced in this area and having come from Queensland

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Speaker 2: and been involved in NBILL one before, knows the sorts

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Speaker 2: of logistics very very well.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's a very exciting time I think for basketball

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory and you know, right from the

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Speaker 1: juniors all the way up to the seniors, just presenting

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Speaker 1: such opportunity for so many people. It's an exciting and

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Speaker 1: it's a really exciting thing to say.

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Speaker 2: It is very very exciting, and I'm very proud to

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Speaker 2: be on board with this history making a sport at

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Speaker 2: this very time. So we're very very pleased with how

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Speaker 2: it's going. We've got a lot of work to do.

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Speaker 2: We've got four months to get this off the ground.

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Speaker 2: People next year, think about purchasing your season tickets. We'd

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Speaker 2: like you to purchase early and they'll be available hopefully

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Speaker 2: late January.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, a lot to do, well, John, Look, I'm

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Speaker 1: not a very good basketballer at all, but I do

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Speaker 1: see that you're still looking to fill some key roles

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Speaker 1: like the mascot suit wearer.

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Speaker 2: You would be perfect direct you. I think we might

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Speaker 2: need a bigger salty. Maybe I might jump into that suit.

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Speaker 1: I know you're coming for a chat with Sarah and

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Speaker 1: Andrew tomorrow. I reckon make Andrew wear us.

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Speaker 2: I reckon, we will.

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Speaker 1: He's got a bit of height there.

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Speaker 2: I'll talk to Andrew about that. So yeah, he's got

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Speaker 2: a job already. Well he's getting me up very early

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Speaker 2: tomorrow morning, so we you might just get that role.

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Speaker 1: My good stuffle, John Mitchell, the chief executive officer of

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Speaker 1: basketball here in the Northern Territory. We always appreciate your time, Bate.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for very.

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Speaker 2: Much, Katie and all the best for Christmas.

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Speaker 1: Thank you you too. Have a lovely Christmas.

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Speaker 2: And Hea