BIO: Born in Gisborne, Victoria, Ryan attended Salesian College in Sunbury, Victoria. He later began playing basketball as a junior with the Dandenong basketball program. Ryan received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 1997. He spent two years year there and played for the program’s state league team (1997).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Damien Ryan made his NBL debut with the Canberra Cannons at 19 years of age. He scored 10 points in his first game.

In 1998/99, Ryan averaged 8.3 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists as the Cannons finished in first place with a record of 8-18.

1999/00
In 1999/00, Ryan averaged 10.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists, playing a key role in the Cannons rotation, helping the team finish reach a ninth place finish in the regular season with a 11-17 record.

BRISBANE BULLETS
2002/03
During the 2002/03 season, Ryan averaged 18.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists and was a part of the Bullets squad which finished in a first place with a record of 6-24.

PERTH WILDCATS
2006/07
In 2006, although they made the playoffs the Wildcats had failed to finish with a winning record, something that had occurred only seven times prior. With the team’s backcourt highlighted as a major cause of their problems, and import point guard David Bailey being fined ($5000) and reprimanded for testing positive to cannabis during in-season tests by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA), a roster rehaul was undertaken as a result with Coach Scott Fisher replacing 50% of the team. Shawn Redhage, Paul Rogers, Tony Ronaldson, Peter Crawford and Jeff Dowdell returned and young guards Damien Ryan, Adam Caporn and Brad Robbins were added to the roster.

The team signed import Darren Brooks to pair with Redhage and provide some additional offensive firepower while being a pesky defender in the backcourt.

This season, where the Wildcat’s celebrated their 25th anniversary Tony Ronaldson was replaced by Paul Rogers as captain and went on to record 23 wins, their highest number of wins in a single season (although historically they have recorded better win–loss ratios).

For a second year in a row Redhage (21.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.2 steals) led the team in scoring, Rogers (15.6 points and 10.5 rebounds) led rebounding, while Brooks (15.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 2.0 steals) led the league in steals and Ryan added 14.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists for the season.

Despite the regular season success and what would be coach Fishers most successful season as a coach, the Wildcats were eliminated in the Quarterfinals, which were a single game elimination format at the time, to the Cairns Taipans 78-82.

2010/11
After the Sydney Kings licence was revoked in 2008 after club sponsor Firepower collapsed and the Kings were unable to pay player salaries, new ownership relaunched the Sydney Kings for the 2010/11 NBL season, returning to the league after a two-year absence.

The ‘Resurrection Squad’, the name given to the Sydney Kings roster which had returned to the league for the first time in two years with the team’s first moves being the hiring former Kings player Ian Robilliard as head coach and convincing a number of European based aussies to return to play for the team’s latest reincarnation.

Julian Khazzouh (Israel), Luke Cooper (Latvia) and Damien Ryan (Italy) all signed deals for the 2010/11 season, as was college graduate Ben Madgen (Augusta State University). The Kings then filled the remaining roster with offcast NBL talent, Graeme Dann (via State League), Luke Martin (via Wollongong) and Ben Knight (via Melbourne), who had played for the previous iteration of the Kings, was added and named co-captain along with Khazzouh. Robilliard added imports Taj McCullough and Rod Grizzard for excitement and scoring punch to the roster and the team was ready to return to the NBL.

Grizzard, who had previously put up 19 points per game with Singapore and 13 points per game with Melbourne struggled to produce as a King. He produced a megre 8 points per game on a 36% field goal percentage, resulting in the import axe swinging quickly, as he was released five games into the season.

The axe then fell for fellow import McCullough who after being told his contract was on the line prior to a game against New Zealand he managed only ten points on a lowly 5 from 17 from the field in a 80-94 home loss. After eight games Taj McCullough (11.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game) would become the second import to be released by the Sydney Kings during the 2010/11 season.

Former NBA talent Trey Gilder (13.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.1 steals) replaced Taj McCullough then Patrick Sanders (13.3 points, 4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists) filled the shoes of Rod Grizzard as Robilliard looked to deliver a team capable of entertaining the valuable Sydney market while it was clear they would struggle to compete against other NBL team’s. The Kings limped home to a last place finish and a record of 8–20, the poor season likely costing Julian Khazzouh (17.4 points, 10 rebounds, and 1.7 assists, 1 steal, and 1.8 blocks per game) a MVP trophy as mid-season he was the hot favourite for the award but ended up finishing second in the voting behind Wollongong’s Gary Ervin.

Ryan (6.7 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.7 assists) would appear in only 15 games during the Kings comeback season where Sydney finished in last place (8–20).

Damien Ryan played seven seasons across four NBL teams. This included the Canberra Cannons, Brisbane Bullets, Perth Wildcats and Sydney Kings. He averaged 11.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 147 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (835 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.