New Zealand Breakers centre Ben Melmeth is excitedly eyeing a return to Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) action in Auckland on Saturday.
Melmeth had his first training session in over a month yesterday after returning from a frustrating thigh injury.
While he knows there is plenty of fitness work ahead, he wants
to play as big a part as possible when the Breakers host the West Sydney Razorbacks at North Shore Events Centre.
"It was a bit of a crash course given how long I'd been away so I had to take it fairly easy," Melmeth said of his efforts at training yesterday.
"But the body felt good afterwards and we're tapering my training to build back into it.
"It'll take at least a couple of weeks to get back to where I was before in terms of game fitness.
"But I plan on playing a lot of minutes on Saturday."
Melmeth has been out of action since October 11, when he was a late withdrawal from the Breakers side to face the Wollongong Hawks in Wollongong.
Melmeth, who has played over 60 internationals for the Australian national team, was the outstanding performer for the Breakers in their opening two ANBL matches.
He averaged 22.5 points, placing him third among the NBL averages, with a game-high 29 on the opening night of the season in a memorable 111-110 win over the Adelaide 36ers.
Melmeth said he was desperate to help his side, who have just two wins from nine matches, chase a playoff spot on his return.
"It's all about getting wins on the board now.
"The guys played real hard last week against Brisbane and could have picked up the victory with a bit of luck.
"We only need to pick up a couple of wins to climb into the top eight and with three home games within a week coming up, I really want to be able to contribute."
- NZPA
