Basketball On The Internet.

IF Basketball Australia could break from its traditional indolence, south-east Queensland could have two national level elite clubs in action in 2015-16, that’s how far advanced South East Queensland Sting is for a WNBL spot.

While the WNBL’s Logan Thunder followed the NBL’s Gold Coast Blaze to oblivion under Scott Derwin’s watch as BA Chairman, so far The Sting have not heard anything official back from BA or The Derwinator since tabling their official expression of interest a couple of weeks ago.

Typical BA?

Sadly yes. New CEO Anthony Moore has a lot of work to do to change the casual indifference of our game’s controlling body. (That daily 10am “biscuit break” is going to take years of negotiation to undo.)

Last week NBL CEO Fraser Neill gave up the fight and while many of us remain disheartened and disappointed he chose that option, he stressed the Brisbane NBL club was still going ahead 100 per cent in 2015-16.

He said that with complete confidence, because the League is prepared to bankroll the new club out of the Queensland capital, if it comes to that.

But Neill says there IS a group the NBL is dealing with.

If that’s the case, you have to wonder why he chose the option to leave.

Yes, as it has been pointed out, having Perth Wildcats CEO Nick Marvin as the NBL Chairman screams “conflict of interest” – imagine the outcry if Collingwood president Eddie McGuire was also AFL Chairman … potential issues there? – and only the continued immaturity and naivety of our sport allows such anomalies to consistently happen.

But the fact is, on the subject of national league teams playing out of Brisbane – be they Bullets or Bullants – the NBL has been high on hype, dubious on detail.

In contrast, and unlike Shane Heal’s current behind-the-scenes working party, the South East Queensland Sting has been upfront and vocal.

Jason Chainey, who coached Logan and then was instrumental in saving it twice – even though BA didn’t count the second time and ditched the Thunder anyway – is one of the architects putting the bite in The Sting.

The question for those of us south of the border has to be why not revive the Thunder?

“We’ve got the right people involved now,” Chainey said.

“It’s really obvious a single association won’t work in south east Queensland.

“The people in south-east Queensland don’t tend to work together.”

The new blueprint is along the lines of Tasmania’s NBL bid where that club would play out of a number of venues across the state.

In The Sting’s case, Chainey said the Cairns Taipans NBL model had been adapted to put together a community program.

Logan City Council has been supportive of the plan which would see The Sting play games around Logan and in places such as Cornubia, Gold Coast and Toowoomba.

The submission has legs.

It would be nice if someone at BA could find the time to offer at least some formal acknowledgement of its receipt.

While the NBL stumbles around promising so much and rarely able to deliver without at least shooting itself in the foot a couple of times along the route, the Thunder has rolled on and the Sting again could be the catalyst for the resurgence of elite-level ball in the wider community of South East Queensland.

Fingers crossed (as usual).