'Cats launch NBL1 title defence v. Hawks

After a record breaking 2024, Basketball Victoria is excited to announce that NBL1 South is gearing up for a bigger and better season in 2025 with opening night tipping off on Saturday, March 29. 2025.

The 2025 season will feature the return of all 19 clubs from across Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, each with a men's and women's team.

They'll each compete in 22-games each in 15 rounds.

Eight different clubs have won an NBL1 South Championship across the four completed seasons since the introduction of the competition in 2019.

This means no club has won more than one championship title! Is there a competition that can match that.

Will the trend continue in 2025 with two new clubs taking out a championship title? There are eleven clubs, certainly hoping that will be the case.

The opening round features both the women's and men's champions (Waverley and Eltham) playing home games, so they can present their 2024 Championship rings to their players and unveil the Championship banner in front of their supporters and packed stadiums.

It isn't until Round 4 that we see the 2024 Men's Championship Final rematch between Eltham and Ballarat and Round 7 for Women's rematch between Waverley and Keilor, games which every year promises to be a spectacle.

Rivalry games ensure that Round 1 couldn't be bigger, opening with two of Australia's biggest basketball associations in Knox Raiders (the 2024 national NBL1 champions) hosting local rivals Kilsyth Cobras as the Raiders return to the redeveloped State Basketball Centre for the 2025 season.

Regardless of whether it is at junior or senior level, rivalries in country Victoria don't get much bigger than Ballarat and Bendigo and they will lock horns in Ballarat on the opening weekend, while a battle of the titans in the south-east of metropolitan Melbourne has Casey hosting Dandenong.

The oldest basketball association in the land, the Melbourne Tigers will host their nearby neighbours, the Sandringham Sabres at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. The Tasmanian Derby launches its season in Tasmania with Hobart travelling to the northern teams of the state of North-West Tasmania Thunder (Men) and Launceston Tornadoes (Women).

In what has become a recent tradition of the NBL1 South fixture, Frankston will host Dandenong in the Anzac eve clash for the last time at the Dreamstreet Lending Stadium as we know it, as they will be playing in a redeveloped venue in the coming year or two. Expanding the special occasion on Anzac eve, the Melbourne Tigers will host the Nunawading Spectres.

The action doesn't stop on the King's Birthday weekend in June. Before the National Junior Classic (a tournament for Australia's best junior teams) kicks off in Melbourne that weekend, NBL1 South will have three matchups on the Friday night. For the first time, bookending the National Junior Classic, a game will be played on the night of the public holiday when Waverley will host Diamond Valley; a game that will no doubt take centre stage as the sole NBL1 game around the nation.

Clubs across the competition saw an incredible response from their supporters for games during the school holidays, particularly the April holidays where we saw some of the biggest crowds for the season including a club record for Ringwood! 2025 will see the April holidays in particular become a major focal point. Whilst proving to be popular for supporters, it also ensures our clubs including their teams and game day staff spread their workload throughout the season. Within the 14 days from April 4th to Thursday April 17th, 60 matches across the men's and women's will take place! What a way to get the start of the NBL1 South season underway.

A highlight for the NBL1 South community is the annual feature rounds. The Anzac Round has always seen clubs connecting strongly with their local communities, the strength of which is demonstrated the partnership of NBL1 South with RSL Victoria which continues in 2025 after being established for the 2024 season. The First Nations and Mental Health Rounds again provide important opportunities for our clubs and league to engage within the community in different ways.

The Heritage Round though is a 'celebrate the past' opportunity for clubs and their supporters. Learning from the long-time success of clubs such as Kilsyth in running their own Heritage Round, Basketball Victoria introduced it league wide in 2024 with great success! The return of playing uniforms from the past as Nunawading did and the return of club legends to the stadiums was something to behold and brought some touching moments in 2024. What better way to celebrate Heritage Round than the return of some historic rivalries headlined by two of Australian basketballs greatest rivals with Kilsyth hosting Knox in a classic battle for the 'Ashes,' a trophy of which goes back more than two decades. Only 5 minutes separates Eltham and Diamond Valley geographically and from this stems a 50-year battle as the two clubs of northern Melbourne will do battle for the O'Connor — Cukier Cup, recognition of two legendary volunteer families of their associations.

The NBL1 South Championship Final is what they're all aiming to be in! Only the best will be there on Saturday August 16th as the NBL1 South Championship Final for both women men returns to the redeveloped State Basketball Centre.

— Republished with the permission of NBL1.com.au