Robert Sibley

Gladstone born Robert Sibley commenced playing basketball in 1979 at the Inala Police Club. In 1980 Robert joined the Lang Park Basketball Club at the Under 16 level where he was coached by Vince Hickey, Bob Young and Peter Pendle.

Robert was a regular Junior State Representative for Queensland at Australian championships. He was a member of the Queensland Under 18 Boys team in 1982 and 1983, and in 1984 he was a member of the Queensland team at the Australian Under 20 Championships.

His outstanding performances at the Australian Under 20 Championships led to Robert’s selection in the Australian Under 20 team which toured the Philippines in 1984.

In 1984 Robert joined the Brisbane Bullets in the National Basketball League as the team’s youngest player, the start of a long NBL career. Robert’s NBL career extended from his first year with the Bullets as an 18 year old, across two decades until his final year in the league, also with the Bullets, in 2003.

During his NBL career, Robert was part of three championship-winning teams: the Brisbane Bullets in 1985 and 1987 and the Melbourne Tigers in 1993. During his extensive and successful NBL career, Robert played a total of 371 games and scored 3124 points.

In 1987 Robert was a member of the Australia Senior Men’s team which toured Europe and was a member of the Australian Senior Men’s team which competed at the 1988 Olympic Games played in Seoul. The team finished fourth, Australia’s equal best performance at an Olympic game in men’s basketball.

In 1989 Robert was the recipient of the Bullets Vince Hickey Award for his services to the community.Robert Sibley is an exceptional playing servant of our game and is a most fitting inductee of the Queensland Basketball Hall of Fame in the Class of 2021.