Warrnambool Seahawks welcome Josh Dean back for 2019 Big V season-opener

The point guard is ready to reclaim his mantle as Warrnambool Seahawks' go-to point guard after returning to basketball for the 2019 Big V season.

Dean will suit up for the Tim Gainey-coached Seahawks in their season-opening away fixture against Keysborough Cougars on Saturday night.

"My goal this year is to try and play as a many minutes as I can," he said.

"I've slotted back in all right but there's a couple of things I want to work on but a lot of it has come back pretty quickly which is handy."

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Dean took a hiatus from basketball last year and played football for Hampden league club Warrnambool.

But hamstring injuries hindered his output.

He travelled overseas for six weeks during pre-season and felt swapping the footy oval for the hard court was the best decision.

"With footy I tore both hamstrings during the year, so that stopped a bit of progress with that," he said.

"Footy is a different kind of running that I probably wasn't as prepared for just from playing basketball and not having pre-season I was not going to risk it again.

"Basketball suited me a bit better because I ended up going overseas for six and a half weeks and I would've missed all of the footy pre-season.

"Plus I just missed basketball a bit."

The 2016 Big V division one championship player said he was pleased with the roster Gainey had assembled for the upcoming season.

American import Aaron Harrison and former Chelsea and Maccabi player Nick Alexandrou, who has also returned after a stint playing football, have added to the Seahawks' strengths.

"I went and had a look at a few games last year and we've definitely bolstered the height this year," Dean said.

"I think that makes us a bit more dangerous both offensively and defensively because we can guard all spots.

"There's always going to be a mis-match. Our first seven or eight players are all pretty big so it should definitely help a lot, just in terms of getting up and down the floor in transition it'll be pretty handy."

Dean said Harrison, who has played in the US, Argentina, Luxembourg and Germany, had settled in well after arriving earlier this month.

"He is very vocal which is good, it's what you want out of a leader," he said.

"He's got a lot of experience playing around the world and he's still pretty young too, he's only 25.

"He'll be able to use the year for a bit of growth for him personally and hopefully growth for the team."

Warrnambool is coming off an elimination final finish in 2018.

Dean believes playing Keysborough in hostile territory is the ideal start.

"It is tough for me to say, having not been around it for a year and a bit, but from what I can tell Keysborough are supposed to be up there as a contender again this year," he said.

"I think they probably match-up well against us as well. From what I can tell, they have some pretty big guys as well.

"I think it will be a really good test to see where we're at initially, because we're probably coming up against a top-four side, so if we can match it with them then we know we're going to be in good stead for the rest of the year."

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