Bullets sole focus for Norton on Perth return

He wouldn’t be human if Friday night's return to Perth for the first time didn’t stir the emotions for Mitch Norton, but you don’t earn a reputation as the NBL's ultimate team man by accident and all he's focused on is what's best for the Brisbane Bullets.

Norton is a born and bred Queenslander having grown up in Townsville where he dreamed playing with the Crocodiles starting out as a floor wiper and going on to play the first 116 games of his NBL career with his hometown team including being their youngest ever captain.

Circumstances meant he had to move interstate at the end of the last season for the Crocs in the NBL and he would go on to spend the next two seasons at the Illawarra Hawks, including helping them to a Grand Final series.

The next stop for the tenacious and inspirational point guard was heading to Perth where he wasted no time becoming vice-captain to Damian Martin and would be a key player in championship triumphs in 2019 and 2020.

He remained a key player at the Wildcats, but was after a fresh start after a challenging 2022/23 season. That has proven the benefit of the Bullets as he returns closer to home in NBL24 back in Queensland to play in Brisbane for the first time.

The moment was always going to come where Norton would have to play back in Perth for the first time as well after five seasons and 148 games with the Wildcats where he became one of their more popular and respected figures.

That occasion comes this Friday night with the Bullets taking on the 'Cats at RAC Arena but in typical fashion, the last thing Norton wants is any focus on himself or worrying about his return to play as an opposition player in front of the Red Army.

Norton has built his reputation throughout the NBL and Australian basketball as the most selfless of players and best of teammates. That's why this week all he is focused on is whatever he can to help the Bullets return to the winner's list.

He likely will get the start back on his old home floor too with Shannon Scott out injured and will spend plenty of time faced off with championship teammate Bryce Cotton, but all Norton cares about is helping the Bullets to the third win of the season.

"It is just another game of basketball at the end of the day, but I do have some fond memories there," Norton said.

"I'm in Brisbane now, I'm a Bullet, I'm loving being in Brisbane and being part of this culture we are building, and it's going to be cool to go back and playing against some former teammates, and see some people in the crowd.

"But other than that I've got a game of basketball to go and play, and that's what I'll be focused on."

The Bullets suffered a fourth straight loss this season going back to last Saturday night against the South East Melbourne Phoenix in what was a second successive match up played in Melbourne.

Brisbane does remain on the road this Friday night to play in Perth before returning to Nissan Arena on Sunday to host the Tasmania JackJumpers, but Norton remains confident that the Bullets can snap their losing slide.

Being without experienced quality starters Scott and Aron Baynes obviously won't help matters, but Norton has full confidence in his teammates who will be out there this weekend and coach Justin Schueller that they can pull together and avoid a fifth straight defeat.

"It's obviously a little frustrating and losing four on the trot isn’t a part of the plan, but we've got a group of guys that are tough, that are selfless and in that locker too there's a lot of questions," Norton said.

"It's not about who is going to get us out of it, it's about who is going to help this team get better. That's what I love about this group, I love the job that Justin's done with recruiting guys like that because in situations like this we actually grow stronger and will fight our way out of this.

"We've seen us do it at the end of games, but we do have a little lull during games and then we're chasing our tail. If we can shorten those periods of time we'll be right in the fight at the end. That's all we can ask for and that's what we expect."

The positive for the Bullets is that they had just the one game back in Round 4 even though it was on the road. They've now been able to have a full week of practice at home in Brisbane before leaving for Perth on Thursday.

No matter what sort of emotions playing in Perth might stir up personally, Norton is just focused on the Bullets putting together a full 40 minutes of their best basketball which should be enough to see them get back to winning.

"We've been able to rest up, get our bodies right and have a good week of training to get ready to go into The Jungle," Norton said.

"For us, there's no better task to get this thing humming and back on the right track than getting a road win. It's all about us really, we put ourselves in these holes and we have to be the ones to get ourselves out of it."