BIO: Toby Zaremba was born in Wollongong (NSW) before later moving to Queensland where he grew up in Mt Tamborine. Zaremba received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 1996. He spent one year there and played for the program’s state league team.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Toby Zaremba made his NBL debut with the Gold Coast Rollers at 17 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

BRISBANE BULLETS
1997
Following the previous season’s quarterfinal defeat to Melbourne, Brisbane moved on from Mike Mitchell (to North Melbourne), Andrew Goodwin (to North Melbourne), Luke Gribble, Ryan Stolberg and Shaun Guy, while captain Leroy Loggins, Steve Woodberry, Mike McKay, Rodger Smith, Mark Dalton, Robert Sibley and Aaron Honeyman returned under second-year head coach David Ingham. Leonard White (via Pau-Orthez), Andrew Ramsay (via Geelong), Toby Zaremba (via Gold Coast), John Szigeti (via Gold Coast) and rookie Ben Thompson (via AIS) were added, although Ramsay did not appear in an NBL game.

After spending 1996 at the Australian Institute of Sport, Zaremba (1 point across 7 games) returned to the NBL with Brisbane and was used sparingly, playing only 32 minutes across seven appearances. His first opportunity came against Wollongong on May 24, where he scored 2 points in 1:22.

Zaremba’s best game came against Sydney at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on July 12, where Zaremba (5 points) made both field-goal attempts and his only three-pointer in 3:43. Woodberry (25 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists) and Loggins (14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks) led Brisbane, while Melvin Thomas (28 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals) led Sydney to a 109-85 win.

White (16.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.7 steals across 3 games) began the season as one of Brisbane’s imports but was cut after the opening three games, with Dwayne McClain (via Gold Coast) brought in as his replacement. McClain (16.8 points, 8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.8 steals across 21 games) had played the final six games of Gold Coast’s 1996 season before the financially troubled Rollers folded and became one of Brisbane’s main scorers following his arrival. McClain (2 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists) suffered an injury against Townsville on September 13 after playing only 7:39, keeping him out of Brisbane’s final four regular-season games and both quarterfinals.

Woodberry (21.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2 steals across 32 games) narrowly led Brisbane in scoring and joined Loggins (21.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.9 steals across 32 games) on the All-NBL Second Team. McKay (18.6 points and 5 rebounds across 7 games), Smith (9.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.7 steals across 32 games), Dalton (8.2 points and 5.4 rebounds across 32 games) and Thompson (6.9 points across 29 games) provided the other major contributions.

Brisbane finished the regular season fifth with a 15-15 record, winning the head-to-head tie-breaker over Canberra and earning a quarterfinal series against fourth-placed Perth.

The quarterfinals opened at the Perth Entertainment Centre on October 4, where Loggins (32 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks) and Woodberry (23 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals) led Brisbane, while Grace (18 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, and 2 steals), Lichti (15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals) and Vlahov (14 points and 12 rebounds) led Perth to an 81-79 win. Zaremba was not used.

Game two moved to the Brisbane Convention Centre on October 7, where Woodberry (21 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 steals, and 1 block) and Dalton (16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 block) led Brisbane, while Grace (25 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 steals) and Vlahov (21 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 block) led Perth. Zaremba (0 points) played the final 1:16 in what became the last NBL game of his career as the Wildcats won 88-71 and completed the sweep.

Toby Zaremba played two seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Brisbane Bullets and the Gold Coast Rollers.