The Townsville Heat have secured the biggest name on the QBL free-agent market with the retention of 2017 grand final MVP Josh Wilcher for a further year. Wilcher will return to the Heat for a third season on the back of helping the Heat secure their first title in 17 years and taking out the teams MVP honours.

Currently plying his trade in ProB in Germany, Wilcher is leading the Itzehoe Eagles in scoring (20.9ppg) and assists (5.8apg) he is also amongst the league leaders in both categories, second in scoring and fourth in assists. His stellar play for the Eagles comes on the back of an outstanding QBL season with the Heat where he lead the team in scoring, assists, 3 point field goal percentage & free throw percentage.

Townsville Basketball General Manager Greg Vanderjagt was delighted to secure Wilcher for third consecutive season.

“Josh is one of the elite point guards in the QBL, bringing him back to defend the title was one of our highest priorities going into this off-season. Having him commit to us for another year gives us a great base to build upon with our recruiting & putting the key pieces around Josh to continue to contend for QBL Championships”.

“Wilch showed through the last 6 weeks of the regular season and throughout the playoffs that he is one of the best point guards in the league and a nightmare for opposition teams to guard in the pick & roll, not only is he great on the dribble he is an elite shooter and makes everyone around him better”.

“The aspect we love about Wilch is his commitment to the community, the amount of hours he has spent over the past two years working with junior players is incredible. Josh is the kind of player & person we want in our program and hopefully we can continue to bring him back to Townsville in years to come”. 

The Heat will now work on securing the remaining roster pieces and hope to announce more signings in the New Year.