A long-time Wagga Heat in the NSW Waratah League, Maloney assumed a player-coach role this season and has now been given the chance to expand that role.

"I'll be working closely with a lot of coaches around Basketball Wagga, just from local competition coaches to rep coaches," he said.

"For me it's about trying to more interest in people coaching in the sport. They looked at a couple of areas in the association they could improve on, and coaching and refereeing were two big areas they highlighted."

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Maloney aims to reduce the initial 'fear factor' in taking up coaching, and also ensure there's more consistency in messaging to make the transition through the junior ranks to senior basketball easier.

It can be a daunting thing to put your hand up and learn how to be a coach. This position hopefully takes that away, there's support provided for people who want to get involved and are still learning what to do," he said.

"Taking on the Heat coaching role this year, I had a lot of juniors come up into senior ranks and it's surprising we've all been coached differently through the rep ranks.

"It means each time you step up you're trying to learn a different coach's play style or playbook. Hopefully we'll get the rep teams working together and having the same concepts.

"By the time an under-12 player gets up to seniors it should be an easy transition."

Maloney said coaches would be given some to go about their business the way they prefer, but hopes to ensure the philosophies and concepts stay consistent.

If coaches want to try their own things we'll give freedoms for that, but for the most part all the concepts and lingos will be down pat," he said.

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