Mustangs skipper Terrell Turner has announced his retirement after Maitland's heartbreaking loss in the NBL1 East grand final against Canberra Gunners.
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However, the remainder of the team including star 2022 recruits former NBL big man James Hunter, Matt Gray and Will Cranston-Lown will be back with "flame burning" to go one better in 2023.
After leading by as much as 18 points midway through the third term, the Mustangs relinquished their lead with one minute 16 seconds on the clock.
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"We got caught trying to protect a lead rather than keep going on them," Mustangs coach Luke Boyle said.
"We are all bitterly disappointed that we couldn't deliver Terrell a championship win in his last game.
"He has been a tremendous leader of this club and a great team man on and off the court."
Boyle said the loss had left the Mustangs playing group with a fire in the belly to return next season and get the championship win.
"The flame's burning hard, they know this is one that got away," he said.
"We've got years left with this squad as they are so young and they love hanging out with each other.
"I had a chat with Jimmy (Hunter) and we're fairly confident we should get him back too. It just shows the strength of the culture in the club when you've got a guy who is committing so much from a travel point of view wanting to come back and play another season.
"He travels to training and games from Sydney and has a little son as well so it's a huge commitment.
"Will and Matt both had the opportunity to take development player positions in an NBL team, but they have both decided to stay here as they felt that is the better path for them.
"They want to stay here and work on their game. We will put a fair bit of effort into those guys over the course of the off-season as there are a few things we are thinking about in changing a positions of a few of the guys."
Boyle thanked the huge Maitland contingent who went down to grand final to support the team and members of the 2010 Mustangs grand final team who flew in from across Australia to get behind the 2022 boys.
