Adelaide Lightning standout Chelsea Brook is bringing her talents to the McDonald’s Mackay Meteorettes this NBL1 season. Picture: John Krüger – The Barossa Mag
MACKAY, QUEENSLAND – The McDonald’s Mackay Meteorettes have confirmed their second major signing for the 2021 NBL1 North season, with South Australian native Chelsea Brook joining the club on a one-year deal.
Brook joins the Meteorettes on the back of an outstanding 2020 WNBL season with the Adelaide Lightning, where the 188cm forward averaged 9.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per contest.
Astonishingly, Brook has already played five seasons in Australia’s premier women’s basketball competition at just age 22.
Outside of her WNBL achievements, Brook was voted the 2018 Most Valuable Player of South Australia’s Premier League competition, where she averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds per game. In addition to this, Brook also earned the Halls Medal, the state’s highest individual honour for a female basketballer – amazingly as a teenager.
Internationally, Brook has also gone on to wear the green and gold, representing Australia with the ‘Emerging Opals’ at the 2017 World University Games in Taiwan and Japan where she won a gold medal.
McDonald’s Mackay Meteorettes Head Coach Scott McKenzie was elated to have Brook on his roster.
“After watching Chelsea perform for Adelaide throughout the WNBL hub in Mackay last year, I knew that she would be a great fit for our group and the style of play we want to adopt,” McKenzie said.
“We had some initial conversations towards the end of the WNBL season and during that time Chelsea mentioned that she had a desire to stay and play in Queensland for the NBL1.”
“Fortunately for us she chose Mackay over a number of other clubs in the state, and we can’t wait for her to arrive in town soon and get things rolling.”
McKenzie also touched on the formidable frontcourt he has at his disposal with Brook joining the other Meteorettes WNBL signing, Cayla George.
“With Chelsea playing alongside Cayla, that’s certainly a very tough pairing at both ends of the floor and I think the skill-set of each will complement the other well.”
“Chelsea is dynamic, making her a legitimate inside-outside offensive threat and is also a tremendous defender and rebounder. I can’t wait to see her in action for us.”
Brook was also eager to hit the Crater court at McDonald’s Mackay Multi-Sports Stadium.
“With the WNBL finishing back in December, it has been more of an extended offseason than normal, however I’ve been working hard on fine tuning many areas of my game and I’m really looking forward to getting to Mackay and meeting my new teammates.”
“I really enjoyed my time in the city during the WNBL hub, both on and off the court. It was easy to see that the community are extremely passionate about basketball and it’s going to be a lot of fun getting on court and playing in front of the Mackay home crowd.”
“Our goal is to win a NBL1 championship and I’m going to be working as hard as I can to help make that happen.”
Brook will arrive in Mackay in April, a month before Mackay’s round one clash with Townsville and Cairns.