Gangurrus know complacency could cost them gold

After three straight wins on day one at the Commonwealth Games, the Australian Gangurrus' confidence is sky high.

Jesse Wagstaff was part of the silver-medal winning squad in 2022, and would love nothing more than to help Australia go one better.

But that task won't be an easy one.

"Our games yesterday kind of showed the talent of this Comm Games, and that's only one pool," Wagstaff told NBL Media.

"Our three games yesterday were incredibly physical, incredibly tough.

"The nature of 3x3 is it can change so quickly and anyone can kind of win.

"Obviously gold's the goal, right, at the end of the day, but it's going to be exceptionally tough with the calibre of teams here, the calibre of player and the calibre of coaches.

"The competition as a whole is really, really strong."

The Gangurrus men claimed wins over New Zealand, Nigeria and Scotland to start the tournament in Glasgow, with Guyana and Cayman Islands matchups coming up on Sunday evening.

"Obviously we're confident ... we just take it one game at a time and don't want to look too far ahead," Sam McDaniel said.

The Brisbane Bullets star was arguably the standout for the Gangurrus in their opening games, posting 22 points, 15 rebounds and five key assists across the three wins.

"We've got two really important games tomorrow, which we want to take care of first, and then whatever happens after that, we'll take one game at a time as well," he said.

"Fordey's (Adam Forde) done a great job of preparing us from game to game, and we just continue to do that. Prepare as well as we can and then get out there and give it a crack."

"The nature of 3x3 is it's so unpredictable," Wagstaff continued.

"The instant you take any game lightly or back off on the physicality or anything like that, you can be done for, right?

"It's only a 10 minute game and someone gets hot, and all of a sudden you blink and the game's over.

"So, treat it like any other ... two really important games to put us in really good stead for the next phase of the tournament."

The Gangurrus are confident they have the perfect mix to go all the way to gold.

"I think the squad that we've got at this Comm Games is elite, because we've got guys who play a specific role and they play it really well," McDaniel added.

"I think that's been a big contributor to our success so far, that we've got unselfish guys."

McDaniel and Wagstaff are complemented by the talents of Jonah Antonio and Jarred Bairstow, both with extensive NBL experience.

"We've got guys who just want to contribute to winning, whatever that looks like. Whoever has got the hot hand or is doing well that game, that's where we're going to continue to go," McDaniel said.

"So far, so good."

The schedule

All times AEST. All teams compete in Pool A.

Australia v New Zealand – Friday, July 24 - 7:00pm
Australia v Nigeria – Saturday, July 25 - 2:25am
Australia v Scotland – Saturday, July 25 - 5:40am
Australia v Guyana – Sunday, July 26 - 11:50pm
Australia v Cayman Islands – Monday, July 27 - 5:20am