It's not because he's a thug, that's just the way the Australian football convert is hard-wired.

Not so long ago the 22-year-old turned his back on basketball, thriving instead as a shinboner in AFL Townsville for the Curra Swans. It is there, roving for the ball and learning the fine art of hip and shouldering his way around the paddock, that the fringe representative junior basketballer was reborn the hard-hearted Croc he is today.

"I didn't make some rep teams when I was younger, I was a bit of a late bloomer, and got a little disheartened," Tudehope said.

"I always wanted to be a basketballer and played non-stop until I was 14, when I started to get better at the AFL stuff. So when basketball slowed down, I really played a lot more footy."

It was a career-defining detour as the self confessed "slow and maybe not so skilled" basketballer discovered the competitive beast inside.

"I came back to basketball a better player, it really gave me the will to work harder," Tudehope said.

"I bulked up, got fitter, faster and tougher."

While he's never strayed to far from his second sporting love, now working part-time as a AFL Townsville development officer, Tudehope's basketball stocks continue to rise - revered by his Townsville Heat QBL teammates and feared by his rivals for his aggressive defensive stylings.

Crocs Import forward Gabe Freeman can attest to that, having squared off against Tudehope in training yesterday. A slam dunk by the American to start proceeding set a tone for the North Queensland-bred guard to follow.

"I'll give it to him (Freeman), he dunked on me, so I had to give him a few (knocks) to make up for it," Tudehope said.

"I said sorry a few times, we smacked heads and bumped elbows a few times.

"I like being physical, beating up my man. Against opposition I don't care, I'll take them out ... I pride myself on my defence."

And he's duly been rewarded by Crocodiles coach Trevor Gleeson who elevated Tudehope as the club's 12th man, having made his way on to the roster since breaking into the squad through the Sharp Start program as a teenager.

The 195cm guard might not have the star power of imports Will Blalock and Freeman or grab the plaudits like Ben Allen or Russell Hinder, but Gleeson says he embodies everything the Crocs stand for.

"He's what the Crocs are all about, hard working and does anything for the team," Gleeson said.

"Keegs is old-school. In this day and age of professional basketball when players want bigger contracts and endorsements, Keegs comes to work every day, gets little recognition but works his arse off."

Even then, it's a selfless act.

"I just want to help the team out as much as I can and if people go down injured I'll step in at training and hopefully push the guys so they can get better each day," Tudehope said. 

After nine days in the country the American gets his chance, suiting up for the Crocs' first pre-season game against arch northern rivals in Cairns tomorrow.

While he may not know every play in the book or boast a telepathic link to any of his new teammates, he has warned Cairns that he will be a force to be reckoned with.

"If I got in Monday and had to play Tuesday, I'd be ready," Freeman said.

"I might not know everything, but you know what? Just for me to go out there and work my a*** off and work hard will cover for everything I don't know.

"'I'm not going to be the best out there by any means, I'm just going to play hard. And you can't measure that, measure heart or willingness to go out there and dive for the loose ball.

"It'll be balls to the wall for 40 minutes."

The Crocs NBL class of 2010/11 might just have assembled, but Freeman is hell-bent on ingraining that winning feeling into the fabric of the largely new-look outfit.

"We gotta get out there and get that win and put a chip on our shoulder, which you gotta have when the season starts," Freeman said.

It's not just the Taipans who need to heed his words when they are locked in battle at Bendigo Bank Basketball Centre.

"For me, I don't give a damn if it is a pre-season game, scrimmage, a regular-season game or playoff, I want to win," Freeman stressed.

"I don't care if you've got five grandmothers out there playing, break their legs, break their hips, let's go."

Nothing has been held back in Freeman's first week of pre-season, much to coach Trevor Gleeson's pleasure.

Fittingly the 24-year-old's first order of business was last week's Police Academy boot camp at which his introduced himself to teammates.

"Gabe just threw himself into it," Gleeson said.

"He's had a good first week of practice, he's already shown that he can lift the guys around him just with his energy, he plays hard, gets down in defence and is a great teammate.

"Now all we need to do is get him in sync with the rest of the guys."

Already, Freeman says the Crocs are well on their way.

"I've only been here a week and feeling great and we still got eight months left to go," Freeman said.

"We can do nothing but go up and get better from here."

Tip-off is at 4pm tomorrow. 

They will take on Cairns on Thursday the 16^th of September at Murray Basketball Stadium at 7:30pm.

Come along and see how new American recruits Will Blalock and Gabe Freeman go or just to watch your favourites Russell Hinder and Michael Cedar wear the Crocs’ colours again.

Crocs’ fans won’t have to wait long for more on court action with the Crocs taking on the Gold Coast at the same venue and time on the 23^rd of September.

Don’t miss out on seeing the Crocs prepare for a prosperous 2010/11 season, only 45 days away.

General Admission child tickets are $10 while Adult General Admission tickets are from $15.

Family Passes are also available for $35 (2 Adult & 2 Child or 1 Adult & 3 Child).

To purchase tickets go to: http://www.nbl.com.au/crocodiles-home/events/pre-season/. 

Patrick Reidy’s passion for basketball came about when he was a teenager.

“My passion for basketball started when I was 13 or 14 when I really first picked it up at a local club. I had been playing AFL and cricket before that but once I discovered basketball there was no going back.”

During his career Reidy was inspired by players that had characteristics in common with himself.

“I’ve looked up to guys who rely a lot on their fundamental skills more so than any sort of athleticism because that’s what my game was about. Guys like Larry Bird in the NBA, John Stockton in the NBA and Larry Sengstock played that sort of way.”

Reidy’s career led him to great success, as a team at North Melbourne and individually at the Townsville Crocodiles.

The Crocodiles Hall of Famer played 178 games for Townsville from 2000-2005 and prior to that spent nine seasons at North Melbourne where he won a Championship in 1994.

Pat’s six season career with the Crocodiles netted him numerous mentions on the all-time club record board including finishing third for field goals made and third in defensive, offensive and total rebounds.

Reidy’s successful career also saw him play in the1996 Olympics but he had set his sights higher when establishing his career goals.

“I did achieve my goals to a large extent. When I went to the AIS [Australian Institute of Sport] in Canberra one of the first things they got us to do as a 16 or 17 year old was to write down our long term goals. That was the first time I’d really ever done that.

“One of those was to go to three Olympics. I only ended up going to one… I feel like that was an unattained goal but I was very happy to go to one.”

Reidy’s appointment as Assistant Coach was a result of good timing more than anything.

“It’s been a number of years since I was a player. I was retired for five years and really stepped away from basketball altogether and concentrated on my businesses.

“I went to every home game and last season I found myself judging what was happening on the court more so than any other season when I was just happy to sit and watch, he said.

“You could say that last season I started to get the itch again and then the job came up. For the job to be in my home town, for the team that I played for and at a time in my life when I was looking for a change it was very good timing.”                                                                                                      

Before taking on the job at the Crocs, Reidy’s interest in coaching had seen him spend time coaching in the ABA with the Townsville Heat and recently helped manage and coach winning team the ‘Rays’ in the inaugural High Stakes Hoops Championship Tournament.

Since he last played, Reidy had noticed changes in the game such as the introduction of new court markings in season 2010/11.

“In the five years I was retired the game has changed a little bit. I wouldn’t say a huge amount but there are some ways that things are done and terminologies that have come in, probably a lot from the American influence which is different from when I played.”

His biggest challenge is going to be handling the administration side of being an Assistant Coach, something he had never had to do before. 

“The administration side of things is something that I have never done before in a basketball sense so getting used to that once the season starts will be new for me.”

During the upcoming season, Reidy predicted the team would perform well and believed they could go all the way.

“I think we have put together a team that is capable of winning a Championship. We’ve got Championship winning experience and we’ve got a good mix of athleticism, rawness and experience to be able to get the job done.

“The club has been knocking on the Championship door for a few years now and hopefully this is the season we get to the top,” he said.

Individually, Reidy would have his own specific role in preparing the players for game days.

“I will be preparing the players offensively and defensively, making sure everyone is on the same page and working on individual skills so that when it comes to game time everyone is ready and confident. I will also be preparing the team with other team’s strengths and weaknesses and making sure we recognise those and take advantage of them.”

The team had open court training, held a free clinic for young hopeful players and had an autograph signing session at the local McDonalds.

Coach Trevor Gleeson was pleased with the turnout and that everyone had fun.

"It was a really good response. The kids had a lot of fun and I know the guys had a lot of fun taking them through the clinic.

"It’s a big football region so we were quite surprised at the numbers that showed up. A lot of the kids had fun out there doing ball handling and shooting drills," he said.

Coach Gleeson was hoping the trip would bring more fans from the town to the Swamp during the 2010/11 season.

"We have a lot of fans that travel to our games… we’re hoping to encourage Charters Towers fans to come and support us."

Overall, Gleeson enjoyed hitting the road and meeting the fans outside Townsville.

"There were a lot of kids with Crocodiles singlets on so it was good to reach out to the fans that are not immediately in our backyard."

The shirts are included with a gold pass courtside club membership, corporate memberships and also for Sponsors.

If you haven’t ordered yours come try one on or pop in to make sure your size is correct to the Offices at Wulguru.

The shirts come in sizes ranging from Small to 5XL.

Don’t miss out on showing your support for the Crocs with one of our trendy Member’s Shirt.

Standing at 216cm tall, Schenscher was born on the 31st of December 1982 in Adelaide, South Australia.

Only living here for a few months, Schenscher was enjoying the weather and the attractions within and around Townsville.

"It’s been great. I love the winter weather. It’s freezing back in Adelaide at the moment.

"I love the outdoors. I go up Castle Hill a lot, have been out to Crystal Creek and have just gotten my diving certificate… I’m having a great time enjoying the area."

Basketball was not always Schenscher’s first sport. He played a number of them before deciding to stick with the one he now plays as a career.

"I played all sports growing up. My favourite was AFL. I also played soccer, cricket and basketball. I got asked to play for a basketball team in Adelaide and ever since then I’ve just concentrated on basketball and went from there."

Not so much looking to a certain player for inspiration, Schenscher simply appreciated how one player played in particular.

"Growing up I always loved to watch Shaq [Shaquille O'Neal] play. He just dominated the centre and all his antics were fun to watch."

Schenscher’s main career goal was simple.

"I want to become as good as I can be."

Schenscher has high hopes for the upcoming season believing the Crocs have what it takes to take out the Championship.

"I think after the couple of weeks of pre season it looks like we’ve got a really good team together. Obviously everyone’s goal in this league is to win a Championship and with a little luck and a lot of hard work hopefully we can get there."

Schenscher had past experience winning Championships only last season with the Perth Wildcats. He also has previous NBL experience playing for the Adelaide 36ers and even 31 games of NBA experience.

Come down to Strand Park from 1 – 3pm and show the Crocs your support for the upcoming 2010/11 season.

The new team will be introduced with the whole Crocs playing roster in attendance.

Fans will also have the chance to hold a real Croc with the Billabong Sanctuary bringing along some of its reptiles.

There will be rides for the kids including a Jumping castle, Gladiator Challenge and Bungee Rope Challenge and there will also be a chance to dunk your favourite player.

If you want to show off your own skills you can fight it out in the three on three competition on the Strand Half Court.

There will also be a BBQ, DJ Rod will be rocking out some tunes and 4TO FM will be broadcasting live.

So bring down your friends and family to the Strand and enjoy the afternoon with the Townsville Crocodiles.

Three major changes are being introduced to the court this season:

- The shape of the keyway will adopt the new standard FIBA rectangular shape;

- The distance from the three-point line to the basket will be increased from 6.25 metres to 6.75 metres;

- A "no-charge" zone marked by a semi-circle will be instituted directly under the basket, in which defensive players cannot take a charge;

There has also been an adjustment to what used to be known as the Young Australian Player rule.

This new rule will see all teams being required to have one Australian or New Zealand player under the age of 24 as one of their 10 contracted players (for the 2010/11 season they must have been born after 1 April 1987).

Coach Trevor Gleeson believed after all their pre season preparation the players would be used to the new markings and rules.

"It’s just a little bit for the guys to get familiar with, especially with the line coming back.

"Obviously it will change the way you defend certain things. That’s one of the reasons why we’re playing so many games in the pre season so the guys can get used to those markings and get used to the spacing out there.

"It will be a little bit of an adjustment," he said.

Coach Gleeson believed the NBL was evolving and the players with NBA experience would be able to grasp the changes faster than the others.

"Its straight after the World Championships and everybody is changing. It is more in line with the USA. The imports won’t have a problem with it, it’s more our local guys."

Having NBA and NBL experience, Centre Luke Schenscher had experience with a number of different court markings.

"I think it’s good. It opens up the floor a little and its good from the inside, it spreads things out."

Schenscher wasn’t worried about getting used to the markings.

"I don’t think it’s made too much of a difference. We’ve had the off season to work on it. We’ve had the markings and been able to practice with it."

The Crocs will have their first pre season game to play with the markings this weekend against Cairns.

For more details about the game go to http://www.nbl.com.au/crocodiles-home/events/pre-season/

A beach run, obstacle course and various other activities were included in the day as the full team came together with the arrival of Gabe Freeman last Friday.

Coach Trevor Gleeson thought the day was a useful pre season event.

"It was a very positive day. It was really fast tracking our team bonding. It put the guys under the pump in a different environment. It was very beneficial.

"The coaches lagged behind as normal," he joked.

Gleeson believed though challenging the activities were well worth it.

"It was pretty hard at certain points but it was well and truly worth the while."

Gleeson was glad that the players would be able to use some of the skills learnt from the activity day on the court.

"The biggest thing was to work on teamwork. There were a number of things that we picked up that we can translate onto the court like having your partners back and not questioning, just doing what needed to be done."

Gleeson was especially pleased with Gabe Freeman’s effort considering he had only been in the country about 24 hours.

"Gabe just jumped off the plane not even 24 hours ago and he was into it. He rolled up his sleeves and got busy."

Overall, Coach Gleeson was happy with the work the players put in.

"All the guys put in which was pleasing."