NICKNAME/S: Kerley

BIO: Simon Kerle was born in Melbourne (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the St Kilda basketball program.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Simon Kerle made his NBL debut with the Brisbane Bullets at 17 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

The Bullets finished third during the regular season with a 18–6 record, but they couldn’t manage to reach their fifth grand final in a row after losing to Perth in the quarterfinals. Notable highlights for the Bullet’s 1988 season were 17-year-old Shane Heal (15 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 27 minutes per game), backing up starting point guard Darren Perry and winning the Rookie of the Year award and Leroy Loggins (24.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 2.4 steals) being selected to his seventh straight All NBL First team.

Kerle would play in only games and average 1.3 points, 0.5 rebounds, and 0.2 assists for the season.

WESTSIDE MELBOURNE
1990
Kerle was not re-signed by the Bullets after his first season in the league and spent 1989 playing in the state competition. In 1990, Kerle signed with Westside Melbourne and averaged 6.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.9 assists. The Saints finished the regular season with a dismal 3-23 record.

BRISBANE BULLETS
1991
During the 1991 season Kerle averaged 15.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists and helped the Saints finish with a record of 9-17.

1992
During the 1992 season, Kerle averaged 11.2 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists and was a part of the Bullets squad which finished in a seventh place with a record of 12-12.

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE MAGIC
1993
With the Magic coming off a NBL championship in their first year in the league, many pondered what they could do in their second. Coach Brian Goorjian was able to return with the majority of the roster intact. Even Darren Perry, who suffered a ACL injury that saw him miss nine months of action, made it back to the court. The only major additions to the roster being David Graham (via North Melbourne) and Kerle to cover the loss of Scott Ninnis (to Adelaide).

The Magic were led by Bruce Bolden (21.6 points, 12.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists), a breakout season from 21-year-old Tony Ronaldson (20.2 points and 6.3 rebounds) and the all-around brilliance of Robert Rose (18.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 8.5 assists, and 3.0 steals), who would lead the league in steals and win the league’s Most Valuable Player award.

The Magic would deliver another strong regular season performance, finishing in second place with a 20-6 record. Once into the playoffs, the South East Melbourne would eliminate the seventh-placed Adelaide 36ers in two games during the quarterfinals to set up a rematch of last year’s grand final, a semi-final showdown against the Melbourne Tigers.

South East Melbourne’s run was then halted by Australian Boomers star Mark Bradtke, who had shifted to Melbourne from Adelaide during the pre-season, dominated the series. Bradtke (21 points and 9 rebounds) was unstoppable in the Tigers victory in game one (108-106) and in game two, Bradtke (28 points and 15 rebounds) backed it up to deliver a Melbourne win (89-72) and end the Magic’s season in two games.

Kerle would see limited playing opportunities with the Magic, appearing in only 13 games, averaging 2.5 points, 0.1 rebounds, and 0.4 assists.

GEELONG SUPERCATS
1994
In 1994, Kerle averaged 11.4 points and 2.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists, as the Supercats finished with a 7-19 record.

1995
Kerle averaged 18.1 points and 3.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists during a lacklustre season where the Supercats delivered a lacklustre performance, finishing with a 9-17 record.

1996
In 1996, Kerle averaged 17 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 5.2 assists as the Supercats finished with a record of 6-20.

TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES
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. Kerle would average 16.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists for the season and the team finished in eighth place with a record of 14-16.

1998
The 1998 season saw Kerle average 18.4 points, 3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists and play a key role in helping the Crocodiles to a ninth place finish in the regular season with a 12-18 record.

1998/99
The 1998/99 season saw the NBL shift to summer, and with it, Townsville underwent a brand change, switching from the ‘Suns’ to the ‘Crocodiles’ after a dispute with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, who held the ‘Suns’ trademark in Australia. Faced with the prospect of paying Phoenix royalties on merchandise sales, the team changed its name to the Townsville Crocodiles.

The change to the Crocodiles was apt for many a reason. Besides being synonymous with the Queensland region, it was also the team name of Australia’s gold medal winning 22-and-under junior team in 1997, which featured coach Ian Stacker and Sam Mackinnon. At the time, it was viewed that the outgoing Stacker, a assistant to Brian Goorjian of the South East Melbourne Magic, had ‘stolen’ Mackinnon to headline his new squad, which gained national media attention.

Stacker was also quick to grab outgoing Canberra import Robert Rose and revamped the rest of the team with only Simon Kerle, Brad Davidson, David Pennisi and Jason Cameron returning from last season’s roster.

Prior to the 1998/99 season, the aforementioned Magic also underwent a brand change when they merged with the North Melbourne Giants, resulting in a number of players being without a team. Import James Harper (via South Florida University) and Andrew Goodwin (via North Melbourne), coming off two of his best NBL seasons, filled the remaining spots in the Crocodiles’ starting line-up..

The team was led in most categories by the 33-year-old Rose (21.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 1.3 steals) leading the team in points, assists and collecting the second highest rebounds and steals while leading the team in minutes played (47.2 minutes per game). 22-year-old Mackinnon (16.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks) led the team in rebounds and steals after seeing a boost in minutes, as they jumped from 39 to 44 per game after moving to Townsville.

Kerle added 13.4 points, 2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists Over the course of the season, as the team showed flashes of brilliance, especially at home, where they compiled a 9-4 record. The team struggled to win on the road, however, with a ‘paper thin’ roster that relied on eight players every night. In their first year as the Crocodile’s, the team finished with a 12-14 record and in seventh place, missing the playoffs.

BRISBANE BULLETS
1998/99
The team were unable to retain imports Chuck Kornegay (Spain) and Steve Woodberry (Sydney), who both left for high-paying deals, and by the 1999/00 season, Leroy Loggins (16.0 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal per game) was finally showing signs of slowing down. By now, his numbers had dropped to career lows across the board, and the Bullets began to plan for life after Leroy.

Head coach Brian Kerle signed his son Simon Kerle and Jason Cameron (both via Townsville) as well as Brendan Mann (via Canberra) to build a local core to build around, adding them to existing young talent, Phil Doherty and Mark Nash. Rod Johnson (via Newcastle) was also added for some veteran leadership, and import signings Kelvin Price and Sheldon Quarles rounded out the roster.

Amazingly, Loggins (15.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.0 steals) was still a vital cog in the Bullets’ offence and continued to clock 29 minutes of playing time each game despite being 42 years old. Kerle (14.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 3.8 assists) did what he could, while Price (12.8 points, 11.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists) and Quarles (11.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 0.9 assists) underperformed, to say the least. The Bullets didn’t quite have the talent they did the previous year and finished 7-21, causing Loggins to miss the playoffs for only the third time in his 20 seasons in the NBL.

2000/01
The 2000/01 season was especially disappointing for the Bullets, as they managed to win only four games new coach Richard Orlick. The team relying offensively on Simon Kerle (24.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists), Randy Rutherford (19.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.1 steals) and a 43-year-old Leroy Loggins (16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 2.0 steals) which didn’t have what it took to compete against the league’s best team’s.

After the Bullets last game, Loggins would retire after 21 seasons but even during his final run, he was still starting and averaging 36 minutes per game for the Bullets. a indication of both his greatness and the weakness of the Bullets roster at the time.

Brisbane finished the season second last (4-24), one game above the Canberra Cannons (3-25).

Simon Kerle thought he had sent it to OT. but CJ single handedly dismantled the D and hit the game winner!! @NBL @nblhistory pic.twitter.com/bavjukBB4s

— RANDOM HOOPS (@HoopsRandom) March 18, 2023

2001/02
In 2001/02, Kerle averaged 15.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists as the Bullets finished in seventh place with a record of 14-16.

2002/03
In 2002/03, Kerle averaged 9.9 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists as the Bullets finished in first place with a record of 6-24.

2004/05
After a year spent out of the league, Kerle returned to the Bullets roster in 2004. Kerle averaged 12.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists as the Bullets finished in fifth place finish with a 17-15 record.

Simon Kerle played sixteen seasons in the NBL. He averaged 14 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 381 NBL games.

CAREER RANKINGS:
– 40th in total points
– 28th in total assists

Dan Boyce (817 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.