Image credit: Vikki Edwards @vadele photography
A nasty hamstring injury wasn't how Rowan Mackenzie wanted to start his return to Lakeside Lightning but it's no coincidence they are now firing with him back and he's daring to dream their NBL1 West hopes aren’t dashed.
Mackenzie is a Lakeside junior and if he was playing basketball in Western Australia it would only be with the Lightning, but he's also spent plenty of time away over the past five years.
There were four years at college at Lubbock Christian College in Texas and then he even wanted to try his hand in the NBL1 South last year to try and enhance his chance of an NBL opportunity by playing at the Bendigo Braves.
It was time for the 25-year-old to return home in 2025 but his season back with Lakeside got off to the worst possible start with a serious hamstring tear in the opening quarter of the very first game against the Perry Lakes Hawks at Bendat Basketball Centre.
Now all of a sudden Mackenzie was back up and running over the weekend combining for 56 points and 13 assists in wins by a combined 47 points that keeps their feint finals hopes alive with just three matches to go over the last three rounds.
Still daring to dream
Considering Lakeside lot nine of their first 11 games of the season, they still face an uphill to make the finals but the signs are certainly encouraging even with them winning three of five prior to Mackenzie's return.
He was then back for the trip to Geraldton but on limited minutes only to be back to full power and into the point guard role last weekend to play a key role in the 28-point win over the East Perth Eagles and 19-point victory the next night over the Perry Lakes Hawks.
That has the Lightning now 7-12 on the season with games to go against the Eastern Suns, home to Rockingham and away to the Flames.
Lakeside will need to win all three of those games starting Thursday night away to Kalamunda but Mackenzie is still willing to dream while there's still hope.
"Obviously we have to do our job and win outright and then if it goes our way and things fall our way, then we could have a sneaky chance," Mackenzie told The Hoop Hour on 91.3 SportFM.
"But obviously I think even just finishing the season and showing and proving to ourselves what we're capable of with a full line-up and the right people doing the right things, and with the system in place, that's really important.
"It's such a great group of guys and they really do deserve a lot more wins so yeah, I do believe still 100 per cent. And if we can sneak in there, we'd be a fun and exciting team with a lot of scoring power right now."
Welcome return from injury
Mackenzie was understandably excited to be returning to Lakeside in 2025 after his season in the NBL1 South at Bendigo in 2024, but it couldn’t have possibly got off to a worse start with the hamstring tear just six minutes into the opening game.
However, Mackenzie left no stone unturned to return as soon as he could and was back within three months. After a rough first hit out in Geraldton, he was delighted with how things came together last weekend.
"It wasn’t an ideal way to start my campaign back at Lakeside, but I put the right pieces around me and had a lot of good people helping me," Mackenzie said.
"Obviously returning was a lot of fun and the first week was a bit rough, and I was doubting myself a bit, but I think my teammates did a good job of just letting me know that they're here for me and backed me in.
"I've also moved more back from the shooting guard position to the point guard and this weekend I was able to find my feet a little bit better, and the team's playing really well.
"I think people are fully of confidence and everyone on the team is playing awesome and it looked really good this weekend. It's just nice to win by around 20 points twice which we haven’t done in a long time."
Horror hamstring injury
Mackenzie has been quite durable throughout his entire career which did start at SBL level with Lakeside all the way back in 2017 when he was just a 17-year-old still.
That all changed in the opening game of the season when he went to one of patented moves and soon collapsed in a heap having seriously torn his hamstring.
Initially he thought his season was done, but once there was a glimmer of hope that he could get back this season, Mackenzie set his sights on making sure that happened.
"Huge shoutout to Bibra Lake Physio and Shane and Lorenzo there for getting me back," Mackenzie said.
"In that first game in the first six minutes, I went to do one of my step backs going left which I love doing, and have probably done a thousand times, but I slipped on a little bit of the decal and did a Grade 4-C tear of hamstring tendon.
"We thought it might need surgery, but because the tendon kinda holds the two hamstring muscles together, it was going to heal back naturally although being a slow process. Originally we said I'd be out for the year but then as we progressed we thought it would be around 12 weeks.
"So we set our goals and dates, and Shane the physio did a really good job of keeping me in check. He gave me a bunch of checklists to hit during each week."
The rehab process
Going through a rehabilitation process isn’t something Mackenzie has had to do too much throughout his career, but he was thankful to Shane Troy and Lorenzo Bosio from Bibra Lake Physio for the work they put in to not only get him back, but to strengthen both his hamstrings.
"It was really funny actually, in the first couple of weeks of rehab we did a test on what I thought was my strong hamstring and I was in the bottom 20 percentile for hamstring strength," Mackenzie said.
"But by the end of it I managed to flip the switch on it and get to the top 20 per cent. Just the exercises and rehab to both hamstrings and stuff I felt was really impressive on the physio's behalf. They carried their load and passed on their knowledge which was super important.
"I did my rehab for 12 weeks and it was super frustrating and heart wrenching not being out there, but it's also a bit about perspective and being able to find the light there so I was still able to encourage the guys and step into more of a leadership, older guy role now that I'm getting a little bit old."
Learning from college experience
Lakeside will always be home for Mackenzie but he also wanted to have a college experience and couldn’t be happier with the home he found in Texas at Lubbock Christian College.
He studied social work while there and then on a basketball front, it was close to a professional environment with the training, coaching and time needed to be dedicated to it which he fully embraced.
"College was probably the best experience for me just as far as maturing goes and realising how important basketball is, and getting into a routine every day and finding what works for me," Mackenzie said.
"But then also finding out how hard you actually have to work to get good at different reads and stuff. College was really fun and they really held you accountable and kept you on your toes."
Spending a year at Bendigo
After finishing his college career, Mackenzie did return to Lakeside for the back end of the 2023 NBL1 West season but he was looking to try to do whatever he could to put his name in lights for a professional opportunity.
That's where going to the NBL1 South became an option and he was recruited by another West Australian native, Steve Black, to go to the Bendigo Braves and did enjoy the experience.
"Going to the South was awesome for me and the competition there is amazing, and all the bottom tier teams can compete against the top teams any given night," Mackenzie said.
"There's 19 teams so it's super hard to make that eight and that was also a big thing because you have to finish with at least a 55 or 60 per cent record so you can't drop too many.
"But going up against some extremely good defensive guards was really good for me and it's a super physical league over there, and it's a little bit differently reffed which was actually cool to experience.A
"Bendigo was awesome for me and I can't speak highly enough of that club, they looked after me and they were all great guys."
Wanting to return to Lakeside
While Mackenzie is open to other opportunities around the country or even overseas to chase his basketball dreams, if he's back home in WA there's no way he'd ever play anywhere but his local club, Lakeside.
Corey Shervill and Josh Davey are two other Lakeside products who have also had different experiences around the country or internationally too with their basketball, but there's always that pull to come back to the Lightning.
"Lakeside's super important to us just with the people here and the community makes it a big deal to be part of," Mackenzie said.
"It's kinda awesome how they wrap their hands around us and help us out, and even the cafeteria ladies, the ladies cooking for us, all the WABL kids and then you try to give back the best you can through the WABL system and camps like during the holidays at the moment.
"It's a really nice club and it's so nice to have Josh and Corey back here with me too. They are two really big assets for us that each gives different things.
"Josh is a supreme rebounder, he's insane, and then Shervs is ultra aggressive and super solid, and kinda at that mature age now too where you know what you're going to get from him."
Juggling a busy life
Now that Mackenzie is settled back at home, he's a busy young man juggling two jobs that couldn’t be more different while still dedicating as much time as he can to his basketball, and then looking into doing some more study.
"I studied a degree in social work in America so I finished that and now coming back, I work at a school called Southwell as a special needs assistant," Mackenzie said.
"Then I also work a warehouse job early mornings and then do some coaching too which helps me be able to fit in shooting during the day some days too, and do some workouts with different people.
"I'm going to look into doing my grad dip of education and hopefully become a teacher, and if not finish my master's with social work. It all still works well for me while I still chase basketball."