A tough-as-nails Brisbane fan who was clattered into by Bullet Nathan Sobey has reached out to thank South East Melbourne star Mitch Creek for ensuring she wasn’t seriously injured.
Sobey accidentally landed in the woman’s lap as he desperately leapt to save a ball that had spilt out of bounds under the hoop.
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She was helped up by Creek, who said he would keep his eye out for her when the Phoenix return to Nissan Arena on Saturday.
“Sobes crashed into the front row and she went down pretty hard,” Creek said.
“My first concern was to get Sobes off the ground but, when I looked up a little bit further, I realised the lady had taken a tumble as well and my first instinct was ‘is she OK? does she need help?’.”
The fan wasn’t injured, but showed she had a good sense of humour, wearing a hard hat to the next Bullets’ game against Sydney Kings.
Creek received a message from her on social media last week.
“She actually reached out and just said a massive thank you,” he said.
“It was great to hear she was OK and she was in one piece. Hopefully I’ll be able to see her again in Brissy and give her a jersey.”
Revenge won’t be on coach Simon Mitchell’s mind, despite the fact the Bullets hammered his weary Phoenix, who had come off a month-long lay-off as Covid protocols stung, in the January 15 clash.
His side scored just six points in the first quarter to the Bullets’ 31, effectively ending the game as a contest.
Mitchell has promised a better showing from his side in the rematch, after back-to-back wins over Tasmania and Cairns.
“I wouldn’t say revenge … it’s not a personal thing,” Mitchell said, when asked if his side owed the Bullets.
“Our defence has been really solid the last two games, our pressure on the ball’s been really good, we’ve been able to turn teams over and … actually get possession and push it at pace and get good looks out of it.
“I don’t think we had the energy levels (against Brisbane) to do that.
“We started to get down and then we’d try to get up the floor a little bit and we couldn’t because we’ve got no energy levels. We didn’t have our lungs.
“We’ve had success against the Bullets in the past and it seems to go to and fro both ways, so it might be our turn.”
