Melbourne United have tipped off their pre-season against Chinese Taipei behind closed doors once again this season. The final result was 136 – 85 to Melbourne United. Simon Mitchell took on head coaching responsibilities whilst Dean Vickerman watched from the sidelines. With the SEABL finals and NZNBL finals still ongoing the side was missing some of the depth but it appears those who played impressed.

Mitch McCarron made is official debut with Melbourne United. He comes in after being in Slovenia and playing at the point and a excellent season with Cairns Taipans as one of the stand out Aussies in the league. From the coaches comments it appears they have been trialling playing Mitch at the point as Melbourne are currently without an import point guard. The early signs are that is going well.

Mitch has been vocal in the past about wanting too play the point and has shared ball handling duties for Cairns on many occasions. He is a versatile player but it remains to be seen if he can play the point at the level of imports such as Jerome Randle and Bryce Cotton.

The current goal may remain to secure the services of Casper Ware or a similar calibre import to play the point. However it appears the club would like to remind everyone of the quality in the squad regardless of the imports.

Daniel Trist also made his first Melbourne United performance. Simon Mitchel commented Daniel’s playing style is not to dissimilar to Tai Wesley, physical and putting the work in down low. If he lives up to this description he will be a fan favourite down in Hisense Arena very quickly.

Simon also commented on the performance of Craig Moller. Craig has been showing his skills in the SEABL this season with the Hobart Chargers who have made the preliminary finals. Simon commented that they wanted Craig to work on using his length and getting into the defence. Sam McDaniel was praised  also. His energy and work rate were both praised and it might not be long before news is heard if he will be joining United in some capacity this season.

Simon said “It feels like a long time ago since we won the championship” and was quick to point out their is a lot of new faces and it feels like a different team. Players will not have the luxury of being complacent as the new faces will be looking to make their mark on this new look Melbourne United.

Early signs are Melbourne are not resting on their laurels and looking to improve and push onto make it back to back.

In August some of the squad could be adding silverware in the SEABL and NZNBL including Tohi Smith Milner, Alex Pledger and Craig Moller. Melbourne United also have college games against St Mary’s and LMU and then a match in Ballarat against Bogut and the Kings. August is a big month for Melbourne United’s title defence preparation.

See the full interview with the Assistant Coach, Simon Mitchell, at the Melbourne United website here.