Two American imports will lead Port Macquarie Dolphins into clear water when they start their men's 2023 Waratah State League basketball campaign next month.
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Andre McPhail and Andre Wolford have always harboured ambitions of playing basketball in Australia and the offer to sign with the Dolphins was too good to pass up.
But don't be fooled - they want to help Port Macquarie out of the cellar. They're not here on a holiday.
"The biggest goal is to win [because] everywhere you go you want to win games. You don't want to lose and we can boost the level here (in Port Macquarie) by winning," McPhail said.
"Our main focus is on winning and being able to give back to the community. We want to help the kids here to become winners, not just us on the state team."
McPhail's role with the team as a centre forward will arguably be the most important.
Most of the energy on the court will come from him, but he's not daunted about having the tag of American import alongside his name.
"There's no pressure because it's basketball and it's what we love to do," he said.
"Hopefully with our play, our consistency, our hard work, our energy and by giving back to the community we can create a better environment for these kids to embrace basketball just a little bit more.
"There's a lot of talent in Australia already so if we can boost that level, Port Macquarie could be a really great town for people to come and play from all over the place, not just here."
Wolford admitted it was a "no-brainer" when his agent informed him of the interest coming from the Mid North Coast of New South Wales.
"It's always been my dream to come out to Australia and play here," he said.
"My agent has a lot of connections throughout the world and one day he said there was a club at Port Macquarie who was interested in me.
"I didn't really know if it was going to happen or not, but sometimes it's how this game works.
"One minute you're at home working out and keeping yourself in shape and then something happens and you get to go and play in Australia."
McPhail previously experienced Australian basketball in 2020 when he played in Darwin.
Since then, he he has had stints in Uruguay and then Spain while he also spent time in the Maldives.
"I'm very excited to be here," he said.
"We've been doing a bit of exploring of our own and reaching out to the community and meeting a lot of different people."
Like his fellow import, the focus is on spreading the word and generating excitement and interest in the sport in Port Macquarie.
"We really just want to win games. We want to get the community to come out and support us and we do that by winning games."
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