Basketball: Scott McGann to return to Thunderbolts as State League men's team announced

The Tamworth Basketball Association is confident that it will have a men's state league team ready in time for the 2023 season, in which McGann will play a key role.

The 23-year-old's last game for the Thunderbolts was their unsuccessful grand final bid against the Canberra Gunners Academy in 2019 - a match he has relived on multiple occasions.

"I'm really looking forward to getting back into Tamworth blue and playing in front of friends and family," McGann said.

"[2019] was the last time we had a state league team in Tamworth. We got to the grand final that year and lost to Canberra, which is a bit unfortunate.

"I've rewatched that grand final five, six, seven times since then. It's one of those things that still eats at me, that we haven't won a flag."

After the TBA's senior teams folded due to the onset of the COVID-19 lockdowns, McGann opted to play for the Maitland Mustangs in 2021.

This, he said, was driven in equal parts by his desire to scratch the basketball itch and to test himself in one of the toughest competitions in Australia.

"It was actually a blessing that we didn't have a team that year, because it allowed me to go and play the second-highest level of basketball in Australia," McGann said.

His time with the Mustangs improved both McGann's skills and understanding of the game.

Still a young man, he knows he will likely be a part of the leadership group within the Thunderbolts squad, and he hopes to pass the lessons he learned while playing for Maitland on to the next crop of young players likely to step into the state league fold, like Bailey Keech, Izack Fuller, and Chris Pearson.

Those three in particular played "big roles" in the 2022 youth league side, and McGann believes they are ready to step into the senior competition next year.

"By all the things that they've told me, they seem to be looking to make that jump to state league next year, and they're all capable of doing it," he said.

McGann's impending return to the Thunderbolts was a factor in the association's push for a state league team next year, president Scott Ward said.

While TBA's goal was always to re-enter to the state league men's competition, doing so just a year after the inception of the youth league side was quicker than Ward had expected.

"I was hoping that we would get the senior team back up and running sooner rather than later," Ward said.

"I wasn't sure we were going to get there straight away, but obviously Scott coming back and being able to bring in an import, and some of the guys from the past who are talking about coming back [have made it possible]."

The TBA president also said the Thunderbolts were still looking for sponsors to support what they hoped would be an increase in the number of senior representative teams in 2023.

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