How to watch & talking points: Brisbane v New Zealand

22 Dec 2025

brisbane bullets

new zealand beakers

Two desperate sides, the Brisbane Bullets and New Zealand Bullets, clash on Monday to try and keep their finals hopes alive.

Brisbane Bullets v New Zealand Breakers
Monday, December 22, 7.30pm AEDT
Brisbane Entertainment Centre

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Talking points

Next man up
The Bullets look to be without another two key pieces, further adding to their lengthy injury list.

While the team go by now’s to search for a win, interim head coach Darryl McDonald is calling on the players that are healthy to step up.

They say absence creates opportunity and that’s exactly what some of the young Bullets players have here until they get some layers back.

Time to respond
In recent weeks the New Zealand breakers have been one of the hottest teams in the league, as they look to push for a top six spot following a slow start to the season.

Unfortunately, the Breakers traveled to Cairns and fell short to a red-hot Jack McVeigh-led Taipans team and now need to respond.

If they want a real chance to play in the post-season, they’re going to have to take care of business tonight.

What they're saying

Bullets interim head coach Darryl McDonald on the approach his team need to play with:
“It's about just putting it all out there, man, just putting it all out there on the floor.

"You have to play every possession like it's your last and it's easy for me to say that, but we need bodies to play the way we want to play and it's hard to play now going into this next game where we might have seven or eight guys, because guys are getting injured.

"But the main thing is play every possession like it's your last and put yourself in a position that when the opportunity comes, take advantage of it.

Breakers coach Petteri Koponen on facing the Bullets:
"It's always dangerous after that kind of news [coaching change].

"The players also know it's never only one person's fault. After this kind of thing, the team [generally] responds, especially the first few games as they want to come and showcase themselves.

"It's a dangerous game, against a team that is struggling but they have plenty of firepower, so we need to be ready to defend. If we do that, the rest of our game will go from there."