BIO: Ryan Broekhoff was born in Frankston (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Frankston basketball program. Broekhoff received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 2008. He spent two years year there and played for the program’s state league team (2008, 2009).

FAMILY: Ryan Broekhoff is the son of Wim Broekhoff who played 1 games in the NBL. Has a son Ezekiel born in 2023.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Ryan Broekhoff made his NBL debut with the South East Melbourne Phoenix at 30 years of age. He scored seven points in his first game.

South East Melbourne looked to improve on their debut season, with coach Simon Mitchell providing franchise player Mitch Creek with some additional talent. Cam Gliddon and Reuben Te Rangi (both via Brisbane) were added to help spread the floor, providing more room for Creek to operate inside, and rookie Kiwi duo Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa and Mike Karena came on as development players.

Phoenix fans celebrated when Yanni Wetzell, who was on a number of NBA radars after a standout career at the University of San Diego State, only to see him exercise his European out clause and signed with German team Riesen Ludwigsburg. Imports Ben Moore and Keifer Sykes were then added to finalise the roster.

Due to COVID-19, the NBL was forced to postpone its season and start in January 2021, with the majority of players also asked to reduce their salaries due to the financial pressure caused by the pandemic. The impacts of Covid also created passport complications for Wetzell, who spun 180 and returned to play for the Phoenix after all.

Wetzell (11.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) quickly established himself as one of the best young bigs in the competition, and together with Creek (18.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists), who led the team in scoring, and rebounds, provided a powerful one-two punch for the Phoenix.

South East Melbourne evolved into the highest-scoring team in the NBL, getting high-level production from Keifer Sykes (14.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 5.0 assists), Kyle Adnam (12.0 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists), Cameron Gliddon (10.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.5 steals) and Moore (10.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.1 assists), who would all top score for the team in different games.

Mid-season, the Phoenix had the opportunity to add Australian Boomers forward Ryan Broekhoff to the roster, who had spent the season sitting on the sidelines, rehabbing a fractured leg and hoping to sign another NBA deal. Broekhoff (7.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 0.8 steals) played out the last 19 games for the Phoenix, signing as an injury replacement player for Dane Pineau, his arrival also pushing development player Mike Karena out of the rotation.

South East Melbourne (19-17) finished in fourth place and reached the NBL playoffs for the first time in their second NBL season. They would go on to face Melbourne (28-8) in a semifinal series, played in empty arenas in Sydney, with both team’s unable to play in Melbourne due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The team split the first two games of the series playing at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena, with Creek (26 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists) leading the team in scoring in game two before returning home to play the decider at home. Leading United by as much as 15 points in the second quarter of the final game of the semi-final series (32-15), they gave away a turnaround of almost 30 points to finish 10-point losers (84-74). The Phoenix’s rebounding deficiencies (second last in the league for rebounds) were a major reason for the loss, combined with a season-high scoring effort from United’s big man Jock Landale (27 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks), who shot 11-13 from the floor and a perfect 3/3 from beyond, didn’t make things any easier.

Creek (19 points) and Reuben Te Rangi, who delivered a season high scoring night (22 points), were the key contributors for South East Melbourne in their final game of the season.

2021/22
After making their maiden Finals appearance the year prior, South East Melbourne looked to go one step further. The Phoenix’s first move was re-signing coach Simon Mitchell (one year deal), who then went about retaining the majority of the team’s local core, locking in Kyle Adnam, Ryan Broekhoff, Izayah Le’Afa and Mitch Creek re-signing.

Although both Keifer Sykes (to NBA) and Yanni Wetzell (to New Zealand) would exit the club, they would be replaced by Tohi Smith-Milner (via Melbourne), Zhou Qi, a member of the Chinese national team and imports Zach Hankins and Xavier Munford.

South East Melbourne started the season on fire, winning three of its first four games, with Qi (11.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks) making it extremely difficult for opposing team’s to score inside and Munford (16.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.3 steals) proving to be a more than adequate replacement for Sykes.

The combination of a short-term injury to Qi and Hankins yet to play a game due to a knee cartilage injury resulted in coach Simon Mitchell bringing in import Brandon Ashley (8.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 0.7 assists) as a replacement for Hankins.

The Phoenix had no problems scoring this year, with Mitch Creek (20.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.1 steals) leading the team in scoring and South East Melbourne finishing in the top three highest-scoring team’s in the league (87.7 points per game).

Then, due to COVID interruptions, several of their games had to be postponed, forcing the team into a 28 day hiatus where they were unable to play a single game, leaving them a little bit rusty, to say the least, and they were blown out by Brisbane (84-100) in their first game back.

It wouldn’t take long for South East Melbourne to return to their previous form however, winning eight of their next eleven games to sit second on the ladder (11-5) around the halfway mark of the season.

South East Melbourne saw their season backflip from here on, going on a four-game losing streak, losing to the Hawks twice, the Kings and United. The downfall of South East Melbourne coincided with the season-ending shoulder injury of Ryan Broekhoff (11.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.6 steals), but even with a favourable schedule across the last month of the season, the Phoenix still struggled to get wins, suffering defeats by Adelaide, Cairns, and Melbourne which ended South East Melbourne’s chances of reaching the playoffs.

It was a disappointing second half of the season for the Phoenix, as they managed to win only six out of their last 14 games, the only high point being a overtime win over Perth (102-100) that ended the Wildcat’s 35-year playoff streak.

2022/23
The Phoenix entered NBL23 hoping to put the memories of an injury-plagued season behind them. The team’s core group of Ryan Broekhoff, Izaya Mauriohooho-Le’Afa, Cameron Gliddon, Reuben Te Rangi, and co-Captains Mitch Creek and Kyle Adnam all returned, imports Trey Kell III and Gary Browne were added to bolster the backcourt, and big man Alan Williams signed to replace Zhou Qi.

Qi, who was initially thought to be returning to China before a last-minute change, saw him re-sign and creating a ‘twin towers’ situation with Williams that many wondered how it would work.

The Phoenix’s opening game saw them take the court without Broekhoff, Kell and Browne, all unavailable due to pre-season injuries, and Qi’s arrival still two weeks away. As a result, Adnam was inserted into the Phoenix’s starting five and had a career-high scoring night against Tasmania. The efforts of Adnam (30 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists), Mitch Creek (23 points and 6 rebounds) and Alan Williams (12 points and 7 rebounds) saw South East Melbourne defeat Tasmania (84-79) and had fans excited about the season to come.

In the games where South East Melbourne fielded all five of their starters, they were one of the most well-balanced, impressive units in the competition. The problem is that it rarely happened, with Qi (6.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 0.2 assists) playing just nine games before returning home for family reasons, Kell (12.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.8 assists) missing five games due to broken ribs, and Broekhoff (10.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.9 assists) missing a third of the season due to a persistent hamstring issue.

Mitch Creek (23.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.9 assists), who was the only starter to appear in every game, reached a new level as he attempted to cover the numerous gaps across the team, becoming an MVP candidate in the process.

Qi’s early exit from the season led to increased burn for the likes of first-year players Grant Anticevich (2.1 points and 1.6 rebounds) and Anzac Rissetto (1.2 points and 0.4 rebounds), whilst perimeter players Broekhoff, Kell and Browne (12.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and 1.5 steals) all playing just 61 of a possible 84 regular season games opened the door for Adnam (8.4 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists) and Te Rangi (5.1 points and 3.0 rebounds) to step into the starting line-up.

The glut of injuries also saw big minutes for relative unknowns Junior Madut (4.0 points and 2.3 rebounds) and Owen Foxwell (3.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.2 steals), who both delivered big games when called upon.

South East Melbourne was able to reach the second spot on the ladder after a shaky start, but almost as soon as they arrived, they saw injuries derail the team, falling to fifth place (15-13) and having to face Perth in the Play-In Tournament.

Although the Phoenix were without sharpshooter Broekhoff, they entered their Play-In Qualifier against the Wildcats as favourites. Explosive games from Perth import duo Bryce Cotton (26 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals) and Brady Manek (24 points) halted South East Melbourne’s playoff run (106-99) and left Phoenix fans lamenting yet another ‘almost’ season.

Broekhoff (21 points and 7 rebounds) delivered his best performance this season in a 39 point win over Illawarra, the largest win by any club during the 2023/24 season (111-72).

At the end of the season, ‘Rowdy’ decided to step away from basketball and shift focus towards his family. Across his three seasons with the Phoenix, the sniper-like shooting guard played 57 games, averaging 9.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.3 blocks, and 1.0 steals per game.

Ryan Broekhoff played three seasons the South East Melbourne Phoenix. He averaged 9.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 57 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (815 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.