BIO: Shane Froling was born in Melbourne (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Nunawading basketball program. Froling received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 1985. He spent three years year there and played for the program’s state league team (1985, 1986).

FAMILY: Shane is the father of both Sam Froling (152 NBL games) and Harry Froling (155 NBL games). Shane’s wife Jenny was a four-time champion in the WNBL. His daughters, Alicia and Keely, have also played together in the WNBL

NBL EXPERIENCE

Shane Froling made his NBL debut with the Eastside Melbourne Spectres at 19 years of age. He scored four points in his first game.

In 1987, Froling averaged 3.6 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 0.7 assists as the Spectres finished with a record of 13-13 and in eighth place during the regular season.

1988
After the Spectres chose not to re-sign Barry Barnes (who had been the Spectres head coach since they entered the NBL), former Melbourne Tigers player, Brian Goorjian, who had been coaching Ballarat in the Victorian State League was named as his successor. Goorjian’s arrival wasn’t exactly a warm one. With some team members feeling that Barnes’ assistant coach Colin Cadee should have been given the job, a number of players signed a petition to prevent Goorjian from getting the role.

Once appointed as head coach Goorjian, import Bruce Bolden and Brendan Joyce left for rival club Westside Melbourne and Peter Blight headed to Hobart. Goorjian retained the younger players on the roster, Ron Lemons, Warren Pink, Steve Lunardon, Shane Froling and Darren Lucas and but decided not to re-sign the team’s leading scorer from last season, Vince Hinchen. Instead, he would look to find a import better suited to the new look roster.

Goorjian struggled to find the right US talent to balance out the team. His first import, Kevin Ross (14.0 points, 3.5 rebounds), lasted only two games before being sent back to the US, and his replacement Quentin Anderson (12.0 points, 9.5 rebounds), wasn’t much better and was also given the axe after two games. Goorjian had also signed Harvard University’s leading scorer Arne Duncan to pair with the aforementioned Ross and Anderson. Duncan (24.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists) was a totally different story. A blue-chip athlete who went on the lead the team in scoring and in fact, packed a suitcase and flew to Australia with just a week’s notice after narrowly missing out on a contract with the Boston Celtics.

Mid-season Goorjian then signed Rick Sharpe (19.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists), who had played for his father Ed Goorjian at the University of Loyola and formed a nice tandem with Dean Uthoff (18.3 points, 17.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists). 22-year-old Lucas would be given the green light in his second season. He saw his minutes almost double (25 per game to 38 per game) and, as a result, saw his numbers skyrocket from 8.8 points to 23.1 points per game while also adding 3.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.9 steals. This included his 45-point career-high against the Perth Wildcats.

Froling would average 2.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.3 assists. Eastside finished the season with 11 wins, 13 losses, and in the eleventh spot, leading Goorjian to describe the season as a ‘disaster’. Lucas would go on to be named the league’s Most Improved Player that year in one of the few positives of the Spectres season.

1989
After a import merry-go-round and lacklustre season in coach Brian Goorjian’s first year, he looked to create some stability within the franchise. He re-signed import Arne Duncan, last year’s leading scorer and paired him with import Ben Tower, a Michigan native who had been drafted by the Detroit Pistons five years earlier.

The Spectres retained the core group of last season’s roster, team captain Warren Pink, Dean Uthoff, the league’s leading rebounder and the league’s most improved player Darren Lucas. The rest of the roster was built around a bunch of young talent, with Shane Froling, Paul Hotchin and Steve Lunardon all returning with one more season of experienced, 17-year-old Spectres junior player Rupert Sapwell and 24-year-old Wayne Larkins from Westside Melbourne.

During the pre-season, Duncan suffered a injury that saw him miss the first half of the regular season.

The Spectres then signed Kent Lockhart, who had been playing in the state league for Sandringham, as an injury replacement for Duncan. Goorjian, who had been playing pickup basketball games against state league players during the offseason, was impressed by his ability to play both sides of the ball.

Lockhart (28.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists) led the team in scoring, and made such a impact on the team that when Duncan returned from injury, the team released Ben Tower and signed Lockhart to the full-time roster. With Duncan putting up big numbers again (28.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.6 assists), Dean Uthoff (18.6 points, 17.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists) leading the league in rebounding for a second consecutive year and Froling averaging 8.3 points, 4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game, the Specres finished the year on a four-game winning streak. Lockhart, who posted a incredible 47 points against the Newcastle Falcons in Round 18, was named to the All-NBL First Team, and with Eastside Melbourne improved from a 11-13 to 14-12 record, leaving Spectres’ fans very optimistic for next season.

1990
Eastside had been slowly improving each season since Brian Goorjian was appointed head coach in 1988, and by 1990 many of the core group that had been a part of the roster when Goorjian took over had developed from junior talent to highly productive NBL players.

The only changes to the local roster were the exits of veterans Paul Hotchins and Warren Pink, who were then replaced with Darren Perry (Brisbane) and Nunawading junior Tony Ronaldson, who had just completed a year at the Australian Institute of Sport. The departure of import Arne Duncan then made room for the return of former Spectre Bruce Bolden.

To kick off the season, Eastside was tipped to be the big improvers of 1990 after finishing ‘best of the rest’ the year prior. The team started off by winning its first three games on the schedule, but over the course of the season, the team never seemed to be able to beat the league’s best. While they knocked off the majority of the league, losses they couldn’t see to deliver wins against elite team’s like Perth, Brisbane and North Melbourne. In Round 21, Eastside turned things around with a win over crosstown rivals North Melbourne (118-111), but then followed that up with a 3-2 run home.

Despite this, Eastside still managed to finish second on the ladder thanks to a impressive 10-3 home record. Lockhart (27.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.3 steals) returned a better player in his second year in the league, leading the team in scoring and being selected to the All-NBL Second Team. Bolden (26.4 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.2 blocks) filled the stat sheet most games and Uthoff (17.9 points and 13.6 rebounds) led the team in rebounding once again. Perry (10.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 5.6 assists) running the point guard spot was a big part of the Spectres improvement from 14-10 last season, to 16-8 in 1990. Froling also contributed 8.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game.

Due to finishing in second place, Eastside received a first-round bye then met Brisbane, who eliminated Sydney in the elimination finals, in the semi final. This was the first time a Goorjian coached team had reached the semi finals but they were eliminated by the Bullets amidst little fanfare in two straight games.

HOBART DEVILS
1991
During the 1991 season, Froling averaged 9.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists and was a part of the Devils squad which finished with a record of 8-18.

1992
In 1992, Froling averaged 8.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists as the Devils finished with a record of 9-15 and in tenth place during the regular season.

BRISBANE BULLETS
1993
In 1993, former Coach of the Year (1988) and 1989 championship winner Bruce Palmer was named the new Bullets coach, and the team made it as far as the semi finals.

Smith averaged 7.6 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists for the season.

In 1993, Brisbane replaced long time coach Brian Kerle with former Coach of the Year (1988) and 1989 championship winning coach Bruce Palmer. Under Palmers tutelage the Bullets finished the season winning 50% of their games (same as the previous year under Kerle) and made it to the semi finals before being eliminated in two straight games by Dwayne McClain and the Sydney Kings.

Froling averaged 7.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists for the season.

1994
In 1994, Froling averaged 6.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 0.6 assists as the Bullets finished with a record of 18-8 and in fourth place during the regular season.

TOWNSVILLE SUNS
1995
In 1995, Froling averaged 7.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists as the Suns finished with a record of 9-17 and in tenth place during the regular season.

1996
In 1996, Froling averaged 7.2 points, 3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists, playing a key role in the Suns rotation, helping the team finish reach a first place finish in the regular season with a 9-17 record.

1997
Townsville had not reached the playoffs during its first six seasons in the league but In 1997, the team came ‘oh so close’ to removing the monkey from their back. Needing only one win from their final six games to ensure a historic playoff appearance, the Suns went 0–6 after centre Clarence Tyson suffered a season-ending knee injury in Canberra. Froling would average 4.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.5 assists in what would be his final NBL season as Townsville finished in eighth place with a record of 14-16.

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Shane Froling played eleven seasons across four NBL teams. This included the Eastside Melbourne Spectres, Hobart Devils, Brisbane Bullets and Townsville Suns. He averaged 6.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1 assists in 271 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.