Adam Doyle never made a state team or junior development squad, and faced serious doubt that he’d ever play basketball beyond junior level. Fast-forward to a breakout 2012 season, and the young Forestville point guard has quickly become one of the stars of the CABL competition.

Doyle admits to almost giving away the game after being told by a number of coaches he was too small to play at a high level.  

Instead, he worked hard. Really hard.

Standing 5’10” in a really thick pair of socks, the Eagles floor general doesn’t physically resemble the big, strong prototypical point guards favoured by modern coaches at elite levels of competition.

Instead, Doyle relies on don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it quickness, an outstanding basketball IQ, and perhaps his most valuable and feared trait- his relentless defensive pressure.

“He has the ability to change a game with his defensive work,” says Eagles coach Andy Simons. “His offensive game has definitely improved, but his defence is what sets him apart. He’s just a really tough kid.”

But the accolades didn’t always come so readily. Doyle spent a large portion of his junior years playing division 2 behind 2012 Woollacott medallist Tom Daly at Sturt, and was told “countless times” he was too short to play.

“It definitely puts you down,” says the lightning-fast guard. “But at the same time it motivated me to want to work harder… my parents really helped me through it. I just thought ‘screw it’, I’m gonna show you.”

And show them he did.

After making the transition to Forestville in his last year of juniors, Doyle turned some heads with an outstanding season in the under 18’s, catching Simon’s eye and earning himself a spot on the senior team’s bench. However despite the unexpectedness of the accomplishment, Doyle quickly realised he was going to need something to make up for his lack of height if he wanted to compete at CABL level.

“The only reason I made the CABL team in my first year was because Andy loved my defence,” says Doyle.

“I didn’t really expect to make the team or get any minutes, but my job was just to get up the floor, pressure their guards, and get off again. That was it.”  

However after a tumultuous off-season that saw the departure of starter Matt Sutton and back-up guard Harri Harvey, Doyle found himself suddenly thrust into the starting role of a veteran team looking to make another tilt at a championship, an opportunity he admits came on sooner than expected.

“I probably wasn’t quite ready at the time… my offensive game just wasn’t quite there yet. We had scoring threats everywhere that year so we went okay, but guys were helping off me pretty easily and I just wasn’t able to make them pay like I wanted to.”

Despite a solid second season, Doyle’s confidence was rocked when he was dropped from the starting line-up for the finals, Simons electing to hand over the backcourt duties to the some of the Eagles more experienced guards.

The relegation, whilst disappointing, was what Doyle claims sparked his determination to train even harder over the summer. That off-season Doyle went down to Wayville and made 350 baskets “everyday”, turning his shot, until then a liability, into a strength.

“Most of the time I was by myself, I had to rebound for myself, and it was boring,” says Doyle matter-of-factly. “But you have to do it to get to where you want to go.”

The hard work gradually began to pay dividends over the next two seasons, his offensive numbers rising from 4.8ppg and 1.9apg up to 13.3ppg and 4.5apg by the end of the 2012 regular season.

But it was his impact in last year’s finals that announced his arrival as one of the premier players in the league, Doyle displaying the full extent of his new offensive capabilities during the post-season.

Bumping his scoring average up to 19.3ppg whilst shouldering heavy minutes for the Eagles, Doyle stepped up in the grand final with an MVP performance to lead the Eagles to their second straight title, netting a game-high 23 points in the match, earning himself a 36ers development contract for his feats.

“It was an amazing feeling after putting in all the hard work to see it pay off. I was just happy to win the back-to-back titles, the MVP award just made it even better.”

Asked if there was any advice that he would give to players of similar stature who had aspirations to play at a high level, Doyle’s response was simple.

“Don’t let people say you can’t do anything. They don’t know you or how you go about what you do, ” he says.

“Don’t try to focus on everything right away. Work at something you know you can be better at than anyone else, that’s what gets you noticed. The rest will come.”

At least if you work at it like Doyle did.


By Lachlan Sellar