Jock Landale at centre of horrible Boomers development ahead of World Cup

The Boomers hopes for the upcoming FIBA World Cup have taken a major hit, with starting center Jock Landale going down with a nasty ankle injury during a practice game against South Sundan. Fans will have to wait for scans to return to learn the full extent of any damage, with Landale having already been battling a lingering ankle complaint leading in to the tournament.

The Boomers won the third of their practice games on home soil, the 88-67 victory over South Sudan soothing fears after a shock loss to Brazil earlier in the week. Josh Giddey headlined their first practice match win over Venezuela, with Landale missing both of those due to the previous injury.

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It's unclear whether the injury is to the same ankle that had earlier troubled Landale, who signed a four year, $32 million deal with the Houston Rockets after making a splash in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns last season. Landale badly turned his ankle against South Sudan after landing on an opponent's foot while rising to block a shot.

The Boomers are due to travel to Japan for the World Cup on Friday, however head coach Brian Goorjian confirmed after the game Landale would not be with the team in order to have an MRI. Crucially, Goorjian suggested to reporters after the game that he was not optimistic about Landale's prospects of joining the team at a later point.

"Telling the truth here, he's not getting on the plane with us," Goorjian admitted after the game. "He's gonna have an MRI.

"It didn't look great, so they're gonna deal with that here; we're gonna travel with the 12 that we've got now. I'm on the mindset right now as if we don't have him."

Duop Reath, who stared in Landale's place and dropped a game-high 26 points in the first outing against Venezuela, looms as the starting option in lieu of the newly signed Houston star. He scored 15 against South Sudan, with Matisse Thybulle's 17 points leading the way in the 21-point win.

The Boomers have endured some rotten luck with their starting big men in recent years, with injuries and other misfortunes befalling the likes of Andrew Bogut and Aron Baynes leading up to major international tournaments in years past. The likes of the 206cm Nick Kay and 203cm Xavier Cooks, who earned an NBA breakthrough with he Washington Wizards late last season, are expected to shift up to fill Landale's likely vacant spot.

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It means Jack White, who loomed as the unlucky one out with the Boomers having to trim the 13-man roster used for the practice games down to 12 for the World Cup, will likely stay on - with Goorjian praising thanking his lucky stars for the depth of talent still on hand. He said White, a two-way player on the NBA champion Denver Nuggets last season, would be crucial as the Aussies look to switch more in the absence of crucial size.

“Jack White has been right on the cusp of this thing and is huge for us,” Goorjian said. “There is a quality piece there and I’m not comfortable with some of these guys that have not played at all.

"Thank goodness he is here, he’s played in all of this and we went down the road that we went on as he is a very helpful piece. He is multipurpose and if we are going to play that small ball and switch, he’s another important piece.”

Melbourne United captain Chris Goulding (knee) didn't play again and was joined on the sidelines by veteran Joe Ingles, who missed the South Sudan match with a knee niggle of his own, leaving Australia with multiple injury concerns heading into the World Cup, which starts on August 25. Following their surprise four-point loss to Brazil on Wednesday, the world No.3 Boomers again looked out-of-sync early, trailing 62nd-ranked South Sudan 11-4, before unleashing a withering 23-0 run amid an overall 30-2 burst either side of quarter time to blow the match apart.

With AAP

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