First Nations design sparks Darryl Jr's NBL1 return

Featured image: P2DK Photography - @p2dk_photography

Darryl McDowell-White Jr's return to basketball all started when asked to design the South West Metro Pirates' First Nations uniform he will now wear on Friday night as he embraces playing again and now coaching in NBL1 North.

If the McDowell-White name sounds familiar in the NBL1 North that's because not only is Darryl Jr playing and coaching with the Pirates in 2026, but his sisters Hayley and Jess are starring at the Southern Districts Spartans as is younger brother Kobe with the Cairns Marlins.

Then there is Will who has been playing in France and younger siblings Zac, Samuel-Louis and Skylar coming through too, and it's quite the remarkable family legacy parents Darryl and Bianca will rightfully be proud of.

While Darryl Jr is now fully throwing himself into the role as player-coach at the Pirates and was buoyed by the four-game winning streak with Adelaide 36ers star Flynn Cameron in the line-up, it was the last thing on his mind little over six months ago.

Not only did Darryl Jr not think that coaching was quite on the horizon yet, he expected to continue playing in the QAFL in 2026 where he had been playing with Redland-Victoria Point since his time on the Brisbane Lions AFL list where his dad was a three-time premiership winning legend.

>> NORTH WRAP | MEN'S ROUND 11

>> NORTH WRAP | WOMEN'S ROUND 11

>> NORTH SPOTLIGHT | MCDOWELL-WHITE SISTERS STAR IN BIG WIN

>> NORTH SPOTLIGHT | KOBE ENSURES MARLINS STAY UNDEFEATED

>> NORTH SPOTLIGHT | PIRATES SHOCK THUNDER WITH REMARKABLE FINISH

The initial discussions all started with Darryl Jr asked to again design South West Metro's First Nations uniform that he will proudly be wearing this Friday night against Logan Thunder.

But he was then wooed back into playing in the NBL1 again for the first time since 2021 with the Red City Roar. Soon it made sense for him to be the man to replace Patrick Ewing Jr as coach too.

"Even late last year I was planning on being a footy player once again this year and then the connections at the club reached out probably for the first time in about October or November to design the First Nations uniform," Darryl Jr said.

"How it all started was that I could be the designer and they asked if they could put the artwork together, and obviously I said yes to that.

"But at that time I was happy staying being a footy player and didn’t think any more of it, but then as the weeks went on the calls started shifted to not only me designing the uniform, but could I now wear it too and play.

"So that did get me interested but then I started talking to them about what the team was going to look like and they were looking to rebuild and that's when they asked if I could coach and play.

"That shocked me at first but it all just kinda progressed like that week by week and once I found myself two feet in, I reached out to everyone who was part of the club the season before to get their two cents worth on how things were going.

"Pat (Patrick Ewing Jr) got to link up a couple of years earlier when I designed the uniform in 2024 so I have a good relationship with him, and he laid it all out for me and helped me along the way too," Darryl Jr said.

"It wasn’t like he just left and left it all up to me to pick up, he helped me through the early stages of it and I'm very thankful to him for that.

"There are lots of other people in the front office who helped us get things going straight away as soon as I came on board, and it was pretty impressive that we got everything all together in the four or five weeks we had early this year to get a team together."

What brothers and sisters are doing

With five members of their family now either playing NBL1 or professionally overseas, it's quite the legacy that the McDowell-Whites are creating.

While Jess and Hayley are playing together with the Spartans currently, Kobe is in Cairns, Will has been playing in France most recently following his time in the NBL, and Darryl Jr is with South West Metro.

And when you sit back and reflect it's special to think of what the kids are all doing after both their parents had their own standout sporting careers, but really Darryl Jr just sees it as them all doing what they love and it just now being on a bigger platform.

"It's one of those things that is hard to put into words and the only way you can really translate it is to say that we were doing this at home as kids in the backyard, and now it's just on the stage for everyone else to see," Darryl Jr said.

"For us it's new in a sense that we're all on different teams at different clubs, but we're always still there for each other and a bunch of my brothers and sisters have been in the locker room to celebrate after we've won some games.

"So even though we wear different colours on the weekend, we all still support each other and like any family, nothing's ever perfect and you always fight each other growing up and everything, and go through all sorts of things, but for us right here right now, this is something we've always had in the backyard.

"It's just that now it's on a bigger stage and hopefully we can all keep growing up and maximising what we're doing. For Kobe to go up to Cairns that was obviously the best decision for him but it would be nice to have all of us to be in Brisbane and mucking around at whatever club we're at.

"Who knows, we're all still young enough where the younger ones still coming up might join some of us on teams in the years to come too. For us, it's not really a surprise what we're doing, it's just one of those ones where we've been doing it for so long and it's nice to do it on a stage where we're getting recognised the way we are.

"I also think it's just the beginning for our family with Zac being on his way through, Zahn is on his way up and if I can hang in there long enough, I might get to play with them and who knows, I might even get to play with my own boys one day and I can do a LeBron.

"It's always a beautiful thing to see one or two or three or four of us have a good weekend, and the family group chat is never boring I can tell you that."

Going against Kobe/recruiting him

Darryl Jr's dream is for as many of the siblings to play together one day as possible and he'll be doing all he can to recruit Kobe and Will to any team he's coaching.

Then there's younger siblings Zac, Samuel-Louis and Skylar who will carve their own path, and he isn’t even ruling out playing with his own sons Zaiya and Swayde one day at least at some level.

"There's never a day that goes by where I don't try to recruit any of my siblings and I'd be lying if I said I wasn’t trying to get us all to the one club wherever that may be one day," Darryl Jr said.

"Being a player-coach at the club I'm at, if they're willing to join the door will always be open and we've always enjoyed playing together whenever we've got to do it like at the Spartans when Will and I got to do I, and Kobe, Will and I did at Red City.

"We're eager now for that next chance and if it is next year, I'll never say no to Kobe coming back down here and who knows, Will might even be able to come and have a stint like Flynn just did if it all works out for him and some time opens up in his schedule."

Had coaching even been on the radar

As for himself, Darryl Jr had been enjoying his time playing Aussie Rules including the two years he spent at the Brisbane Lions even if he couldn’t quite follow on his dad's path to make an AFL debut.

But the last couple of years he has continued playing in the QAFL state league competition and imagined he would continue in 2026 until everything started to unfold at the Pirates.

He did always have coaching aspirations and similar to his playing journey where he has mixed passion for both sports, it's the same with coaching but at the same time, being offered a head coaching role might not come around too often.

So he jumped at the chance to now start his coaching journey at South West Metro having not even turned 30 yet.

"Definitely further down the track I did want to segway into coaching in some way whichever sport that ended up being," Darryl Jr said.

"I always describe it to people that I love footy that little bit more but I'm almost addicted to basketball that little bit extra so it's of those where I feel free in footy and love that atmosphere on and off the field.

"But when it comes to basketball, it's like I'm addicted to it and I get a high from it, and get all the way involved.

"I'm so passionate that I can never take a backward step so for me I was always going to move into coaching at some point and when this door opened, I felt like there was no better way to start than now because off the court I have a young family and you never know how many days you have left as an athlete.

"So for me this was the start to set up myself up for the future and it wasn’t a bad thing to while I'm that little bit young in some people's eyes – or some other people might think I'm right on time or a little bit late to the party. For me I think it was just perfect timing on all fronts."

Natural coach as a point guard already

Working in favour of Darryl Jr being able to not only come straight back to basketball after four years largely away from the sport and not only play but also coach is that he's always been a natural leader out on the floor.

A point guard always has to run the team anyway so he has felt like a natural coach out on the court anyway. He figured if he was going to be out there making sure the team followed the coaching directions, they might as well be coming from him.

"Even though Will and I kinda flipped roles in our latter teen years and he became more in the PG slot and I spent more time in the off ball slot, I have been a PG most of my career and in that position you're taught to be the coach on the floor," Darryl Jr said.

"You're taught to orchestrate things and lead the team not only by voice and verbal instruction, but also by actions. So when it came to how can I manage this on my own with both roles, I knew at least I could tick the box as the verbal leader and also be the physical leader by example.

"I just know that if I play with my heart on my sleeve the other four out there will follow and the guys on the bench will see that example first hand.

"When you grow up as that point guard you're always the extension of the coach in some ways and have to implement their ideas, so being in that position has definitely helped to me a player-coach because now I can do both and just implement by own plans and instructions.

"That's made this whole transition a heck of a lot easier."

Four games, four wins with Flynn Cameron

When Darryl Jr was in discussions with South West Metro about coming on board and taking over as coach in 2026, there was always the understanding that it was a building year in a lot of ways for Pirates.

Even with losing their first eight matches, he was seeing some encouraging signs including competitive showings to the high-powered Brisbane Capitals and Ipswich Force.

That's when it all changed with Flynn Cameron coming into the line-up for four games on the back of helping the Adelaide 36ers to the NBL26 Championship Series, and before heading to NBA Summer League.

The Pirates won all four games with Cameron in the line-up and Darryl Jr now hopes they can finish the season strongly with the confidence they gained from him being there.

"Because everything was all a bit rushed with how things came together for us, we were playing catch up early in the season but we were so close to winning in those last three games before Flynn came," Darryl Jr said.

"There were endings of the games where we just weren’t seizing the chance and sometimes you have to lose some tight ones to end up winning tight ones, and then having Flynn come in and the calibre of player he is isn’t any secret.

"Having that extra punch in the team gave us that confidence that we can actually win games and having him there was definitely that bonus not just with his production, but mentally and emotionally too," Darryl Jr said.

"We just knew that we had another steady head out there and another experienced player who wasn’t going to take any backward steps.

"There was no secret why those four games played out the way he did and he played an amazing role for him. I also think our style of play suited him and vice versa his style of play suited us so it was almost like a match made in heaven for four weeks."

That feeling of making winning plays

Cameron might have had a phenomenal impact for South West Metro in his four-game stint, Darryl wasn't bad either and got to live out a dream late in the stunning come from behind win over the Logan Thunder.

With a team featuring Cal Dalton, Zac Triplett and Hunter Marks, it was Shaun Bruce who Darryl Jr found himself matched up against with the three-time NBL champion winding down the clock for Logan to take the last shot.

Darryl Jr had other ideas to pick his pocket and then go up for the layup from that in what was the game winning play. It was a dream come true moment in a lot of ways.

"He (Bruce) is a great player and just by chance we get to face them against this Friday and it's just one of those moments as a kid you always practice that last shot, and if you miss that you rebound and put it back in," Darryl Jr said.

"You always dream of that offensive side but for me growing up I had a few of those experiences where you get the rebound to win the game or things like that, but I never really had the one to pick someone's pocket at the end of the game.

"The scene was set and he was there at halfway and I heard some instructions he was getting and that gave me my chance.

"I had my own clock I was counting down in my head and waited for a few things to eventuate, and it didn’t feel like it went that quick to me and time sort of slowed down.

"I had what I wanted to do planned to the millisecond and not too many people do that to a player like that.

"I'm very grateful and lucky that it played out the way it did, but at the same time you do create your own luck and it worked out with perfect time and the perfect timing to get us over the edge in the finish for that win."

Thankful to fiance's support

While Darryl is glad to be now chasing his coaching and playing basketball dreams having already had the chance to give playing his two sporting loves the best crack, he knows none of it would be possible without finance Chelsea.

The couple share two sons together as well, four-year-old Zaiya, and 10-month-old Swayde, and while Darryl Jr cherishes all the time he gets to spend with the three of them, he knows that it's Chelsea that keeps the family running.

"It means everything having her support and coming back home to South West, part of that was giving our sons the opportunity to grow up in this environment that I grew up in," Darryl Jr said.

"It's kinda like coming home to all of that and my fiancé, Chelsea, she has been the cornerstone for all of it and without her, I wouldn’t be able to get through any of it.

"There's long nights when you're just a player or just a coach, but having to do both roles, means she has to do a lot of the heavy lifting in the rest of our life and she's been incredible.

"It's been awesome having the three of them along for the journey and they come along to all our practices and all the games, and every home game you see me run out with both or one of my boys.

"Zaiya is the oldest and it's the highlight of his week when we play at home and I have been able to carry Swayde out too.

"I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without Chelsea and she's been the rock for all of us because I couldn’t do what I'm doing with the freedom I am and with the passion I am without having her. None of it would be possible without her."