Who better qualified to talk about this week’s grand opening of the new Eagle Stadium at Werribee than basketballer Tristan Kewish?
The 18-year-old has played at “the Rec” since under-8 and his 400th game coincided with last night’s final night of matches at the old stadium.
Kewish has some great memories of playing there for Hoppers Crossing in the Werribee Basketball Association as it was a huge part of his childhood.
Kewish admits it was time for the stadium to get up to modern standards and the next generation of players will benefit greatly from the redevelopment.
“It will draw more people from other areas of Melbourne to play,” he told Star Weekly. “I’m pretty excited to play in the new stadium, even though I’ve played in the Rec for 12 years.”
Kewish first stepped onto a court at Werribee in 2004 playing alongside Aden McKay and Jarryd Langdon, who are still teammates.
Kewish is equal third on Hoppers’ all-time games-played list, level with Mitchell Gabriel and behind Ryan Bell (460) and Jonathan Sonda (428).
“It’s 12 years of basketball,” Kewish said. “I tell mates and they’re like, ‘whoa, 400 games’.”
Kewish has played at point guard in five premierships for Hoppers, but one sticks out.
In his last year of U16, Hoppers made it all the way to the grand final and played out a thrilling season decider.
The result came down to a game-winning three-pointer by Brody Farrugia, one of Kewish’s best mates.
“I think I’ve won all of my premierships with him,” Kewish said. “We were down most of the game and Brody hit the winning three-pointer and we all went crazy.”
Hoppers have made a solid 4-1 start to this season in the WBA 18-20s league and have their eyes on the ultimate prize. “I think we’re good enough to play finals,” Kewish said.
