03 Sep Darwin Dominate in NWBL Decider
The dominant force of NWBL 2025 has been crowned champions with the Darwin Salties winning back-to-back National Wheelchair Basketball League titles.
The Salties went into the Grand Final as heavy favourites, accumulating a 17-1 record in the regular season and putting their opponents Wollongong to the sword in Friday night’s semi-final 83-64, and while the two sides were neck and neck at half time, the second half was a completely different story.
Darwin ramped up their aggression to start the third quarter and it immediately paid dividends, with the Salties going on a 13-2 run. It was a crucial blow as Darwin went on to outpace the Roller Hawks 26-12 for the quarter and completely put the result beyond doubt with a 18-0 run to begin the fourth to secure an 81-50 win.
Tom O’Neill-Thorne backed up his regular season MVP award with a Finals MVP thanks to 34 points on 13 of 19 shooting including 5 from 10 from three-point range to go with 9 assists and 5 rebounds.
“We knew Wollongong were going to come out and play exceptional, it’s a final you always know it’s going to be close games, but I think the way we’ve played all season putting so much pressure on the opposition, we knew they were going to crack at some stage and it happened in that third quarter and we sort of took off,” said Tom O’Neill-Thorne.
Jaylen Brown finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds while Luis Edwardo Jasso had 11 points on an efficient 5/7 shooting.
The moment felt extra special for CJ McCarthy-Grogan who missed the 2024 decider due to a leg infection.
“Quite emotional. To be here for this one just means everything and that’s why I was crying a fair bit after the game. A really emotional game,” said CJ McCarthy-Grogan.
“It makes it that much sweeter that Tom and I have done it together. We’re both Darwin lads, we’ve both had our own journeys, the fact that we’re able to help establish a Darwin team has just been phenomenal with the community behind us.”
In the inaugural 3X3 division the Manly Wheel Eagles secured their first piece of national league silverware with a win over the Wollongong Roller Hawks 15-6.
WBA Finals Results
NWBL Gold Medal Match: Darwin Salties 81 def. Wollongong Roller Hawks 50
NWBL Third Place Play-off: Perth Wheelcats 75 def. Southern Districts Spartans 47
Men’s 3X3 Final: Manly Wheel Eagles 15 def. Wollongong Roller Hawks 6