Veteran Raiders re-sign

VETERAN duo Mick Hill and Cam Rigby will again pull on the Knox Raiders navy and gold jersey for the upcoming 2011 SEABL season after re-signing recently.
Both men played for the Raiders in the early 2000s and both earned spots on the Canberra Cannons NBL team.
When the Cannons folded, Hill and Rigby found new teams in the NBL and represented a range of SEABL and Big-V teams over the NBL off-season period.
The Brisbane Bullets folded in 2008 after signing both players to a new NBL contract. Left without jobs, Hill and Rigby decided to move back home to Melbourne and re-join the Raiders and help them to the overall SEABL Championship in 2009.
For Hill, this season will mark his sixth with the club.
He has played 123 games in a Raiders uniform, posting 17.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game for his Knox career.
Head coach Graham Longstaff said both players would again be critical to his team’s success as the Raiders look forward to earning a fourth consecutive appearance in the conference grand final.
“I’m happy that both guys are going around again,” Longstaff said.
“Mick’s still got to improve his own game as well as adding to what the group does.
“I’m looking for Cam to give us some really consistent minutes at both ends of the floor and to take on that role of the second big, which he tends to handle pretty well, but he needs to be more consistent at both ends with us.”
Rigby joined the Raiders in 2001, one year after Hill, and has played a total of 78 games over three seasons, posting career averages at Knox of 12.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and two assists per contest.
With the Raiders’ first game of the season just over five weeks away, Longstaff wants his team to adopt a more defensive mindset this season and is focused on having his charges fit and healthy for another challenging SEABL season.
“As long as we improve and we play hard defensively, I think that may be a little bit of a difference to this year from last year,” he said.
“I think we’ve got to look after what we do and make sure the guys are fit and healthy.”
The Raiders will play their first game of the season at home as part of a big opening night double-header against arch-rival Kilsyth on 2 April.
Both clubs will battle it out for the Cystic Fibrosis Cup, which Kilsyth currently holds.