Inspirational warrior reaches 400 NBL games

There's precious few more universally respected and admired NBL competitors than Mitch Norton with the Brisbane Bullets captain about to reach 400 games and being able to do it as a father might be what tops the whole journey off.

Norton grew up in Townsville and all he wanted to do was play for his hometown Crocodiles and he got to live out that dream for the first five seasons of his NBL career before that was pulled out from underneath him.

His journey from there took him to the Illawarra Hawks where he was part of a stirring run to the Grand Final before he joined the Perth Wildcats and cemented his legacy as one of the NBL's great warriors and was a significant contributor on two championship winning teams.

The 33-year-old is now in his fourth season back in Queensland at the Bullets, remains captain in NBL26 and will celebrate his 400-game milestone this Thursday night at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

While everything Norton has done on a basketball court will be a source of pride with him for the rest of his life, building a family now with fiancé Sascha is what makes it all the more special.

The couple went through quite the journey to become parents, but now share two-and-a-half-year-old son George together and being able to go through everything as a trio as a family is what makes everything worth it for Norton.

"I’ve been with my fiancée from day one of playing in NBL, as we actually met at Schoolies," Norton said.

"We’ve been along the journey together and coming into the league as an 18-year-old, you get to see your teammates have kids and experience games with them. We went through a really difficult period where we kind of thought that may not ever happen for us.

"Infertility was a big part of our time during Perth, which was a really difficult time on the court too, with everything I was going through. It was tough to go through the IVF route, which is never an easy situation.

"We’ve actually had three miscarriages. All that stuff factors into your day-to-day life, and no one sees that. Everyone sees the basketballer. They rock up, they play 40 minutes and try to get the win.

"But we’re just like everyone else in the world; we have challenges as well. That was probably the biggest one, but now we’re lucky enough we’ve got our son George who’s two and a half.

"He gets to come to games, and it’s really cool that I get to share those moments with him, as so many of my teammates have."

Norton will now become the 55th player in NBL history to reach 400 games, and he gets to the mark just a week before Reuben Te Rangi celebrates the same milestone at the New Zealand Breakers next Sunday.

It is a great source of pride for Norton to have done what he has since his debut at the Crocodiles back in NBL12 as an 18-year-old.

"I wasn't sure how many there was and that's pretty crazy, it's kinda taking me back to when I was a boy growing up and watching," Norton said.

"When I was growing up in Townsville, all I wanted to do was play for the Crocs in the NBL. The NBA was never even in the question, the NBL was the biggest thing in Townsville and that's all I wanted to do so I'm really taken aback that I'm now going to be one of just 54 people that have done it."

As for what has allowed Norton to get to 400 games as a 33-year-old and only have had a few minor injury setbacks along the way, despite the physical and sacrificial way he plays, part of it is just genetics and having that natural toughness to push through a lot of things.

"I think it's just about how you approach it and to me it's the best job in the world so it comes down to what you want to do to either extend your career to play one game, a season or a whole career," Norton said.

"So for me it's just being able to look after my body the best I can and I will say I'm probably not the biggest guy in terms of stretching and doing all those types of things, but I've been pretty lucky in terms of how my body's been prepared. Maybe growing up playing rugby league helped a little bit too."

Norton grew up in Townsville, was a regular at Crocs games and even ended up being a floor wiper during some of their more famous times with the likes of Corey 'Homicide' Williams, John Rillie, Rosell Ellis and company representing them and while coached by Trevor Gleeson.

All Norton wanted to do when he grew up was play for the Crocodiles and represent his hometown on the national stage and he got to do that starting as an 18-year-old.

He ended up playing 116 games with the Crocs, became the club's youngest-ever captain, and helped build something under NBL Coach of the Year Shawn Dennis, with Norton and Nick Kay at the forefront.

The pair then found out together that the Crocs would be no more by the end of the 2015/16 season and they would need to find a new home.

"After 400 games, there's a lot of teammates and coaches that I've had, but every situation I've been to I've benefitted greatly from," Norton said.

"Growing up in Townsville it was a dream come true to get to play for your home town team and from there you go to Illawarra after the Crocs folded, which was a devastating phone call even though the writing was on the wall for a couple of years there.

"To actually find out we're done was heartbreaking for a number of reasons and I was sitting on the couch with Nick Kay and he'd just signed a new deal and he was coming back to Townsville. We had this core little group that we were really excited about, but then that goes out the window."

Norton was already living a dream in Townsville having racked up more than 100 games and captaining the team that he grew up idolising, but then suddenly that was whipped away from under him.

The Crocodiles no longer existed, and Norton was on the lookout for a new home, and there was nowhere better for both him and good friend and Crocs teammate Nick Kay to land than to play under Rob Beveridge at the Hawks.

They made a Grand Final too only to be undone by Bryce Cotton's heroics in his first NBL season before Norton made the move west, and would go on to win two championships at the Wildcats and become one of the most respected leaders, competitors and point guards across the league.

"Then I got to go to Illawarra to play under Rob Beveridge and got to play in my first Grand Final even though we lost and Bryce Cotton had 45 in that Game 1," Norton said.

"It was still a really good experience. Then I moved onto Perth where I had some great years there and met some lifelong friends along the way, and got to learn from three of the best leaders in NBL history, Damian Martin, Jesse Wagstaff and Greg Hire.

"A lot of those guys influenced me a lot on and off court, and now I've come back to Queensland here in Brisbane."

Norton has now been in Brisbane with the Bullets since the 2023/24 season and remains the natural captain of the team following on the from the leadership role he had behind Damian Martin on those championship teams in Perth.

It hasn’t been a smooth ride so far with the Bullets, but Norton is embracing the challenge to build something for the city of Brisbane at the club and has full faith that will now happen with Will Weaver on board.

"We've had a bit of a rough trot but I want to be part of change and turning the club around, and that's what excites me about this stop here," Norton said.

"Will comes in and instantly has a presence about him, and you have no choice but to be on board and I love that.

"We've got a lot of guys in this locker room who have chips on their shoulder and we all want to be part of change, and we've seen some clubs at their best and worst.

"Everyone is coming from a different situation so what I've loved is that everyone has bought into what we are trying to build and wants to be part of creating change here at Brisbane."

While Thursday night will be a big night personally for Norton with his 400-game milestone, as always his focus is on the team and how they can get a victory against the Phoenix on their home floor.

Being without Lithuanian point guard Arnas Velička and his replacement Raul Neto not yet available will mean Norton has to take on more responsibility too, but he's looking forward to the chance for the Bullets to avoid a fourth straight defeat.

"They’re a physical, up-and-in defensive team that shoots a lot of threes. Defending the three-point line is a big key for us and offensively, just sticking to who we are," Norton said.

"Obviously we’re without Arnas for a little bit now, so it’s not one person that’s going to fill his shoes. We need to do it collectively until Raul Neto can get in town."