Preview | R1 Home v NZ Breakers

There's a new coach, plenty of new and exciting faces in the squad, and there's plenty to be excited about as the Brisbane Bullets open their NBL27 campaign on Tuesday night against the New Zealand Breakers at Pat Rafter Arena.

It will be an historic occasion on Tuesday night too for the Bullets with NBL basketball being played at Pat Rafter Arena for the first time. Not only that but it's going to be played with the roof open marking a first for basketball in Queensland.

Then on the court, there's plenty of reasons for Bullets fans to be excited coming into the new season with Will Weaver having taken over as not only head coach, but the President of Basketball Operations.

There are key players returning including captain Mitch Norton, imposing centre Tyrell Harrison, the energetic Jacob Holt, the versatile Sam McDaniel and emerging Taine Murray.

But it's with the new faces where the excitement brims led by Lithuanian import point guard Arnas Velička, the dynamic Nate Hinton and versatile Jaylin Williams.

The Bullets have also added Max Mackinnon, Lat Mayen and Harry Rouhliadeff along with development players Josh Duach, Rio Bruton, Billy McRae, and nominated replacement player Archie Woodhill.

The first task for Brisbane is hosting the Breakers on Tuesday night with New Zealand already having started their season back on Sunday when they scored an impressive 14-point home win in Auckland against the Illawarra Hawks.

There was a lot to like for the Breakers in that win including Parker Jackson-Cartwright finishing with 23 points and 13 assists with Sam Mennenga contributing 27 points and eight rebounds, and DJ Vasiljevic 24 points with 6/10 three-point shooting.

That leaves some big jobs to do for the Bullets. It sets the stage for a particularly enthralling point guard battle between Velička and Jackson-Cartwright, and then the big men battle between New Zealand Tall Blacks teammates Harrison and Mennenga.

New coach Weaver's philosophy is simple for the approach the Bullets are taking coming into the new season and that's to only worry about what is being said inside their own four walls.

Weaver doesn't want anyone at the Bullets to worry about what anyone else is saying about them, good or bad, and doesn’t want to worry about how they are perceived provided they are holding themselves accountable and sticking to their principles.

That's the way he feels a winning culture is built and wants it to be stuck with at every moment.

"Success is divided up into tiny little pieces and we have focused on how we have committed to our defensive principles, how we respond, how we recover and how we do our media and community appearances," Weaver said.

"So to me, the expectation is that we are on an upward trajectory across every single one of those, and the real truth of it is one part we've got to be great at is appreciating that media members have a job to do.

"And as far as we're concerned, any praise is poison and any criticism is poison so we're going to show up and be friendly, and we love collaborating with folks who are helping expose the league and telling great stories about all the incredible things there are to be excited about in the NBL.

"But we're just not going to pay attention to any of it. What's central to my job is helping everyone and modelling behaviour that everyone needs to see which is doing the stuff of taking care of what needs to get taken care of as opposed to caring how many impressions some TikTok got. That's up for other folks to worry about.

"I have no idea how the season's going to go, I have no clue what the first game is going to present and that's the fun of sport.

"I'm very confident you're going to see a Brisbane Bullets side that is physical, tenacious, and competitive despite any challenge that comes to pass."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs New Zealand Breakers

Tip off: 7:30pm (AEST), Tuesday 22 September, 2026

Where: Pat Rafter Arena

Tickets: Available Here

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel, Kayo and Disney+