Lachie Olbrich has a vital role to play in the Illawarra Hawks’ march to the NBL championships, according to club great Mat Campbell. Photo: Illawarra Hawks.
Whenever Lachie Olbrich steps onto a basketball court, he doesn’t do so alone.
The young Illawarra Hawks star has a guardian angel sitting on his shoulder and, while you might not be able to see it, that angel is providing all the motivation he needs to be one of the best young basketballers in the country.
While not even 21 yet (he celebrates his 21st on 30 December), Lachlan Olbrich has established himself as one of the best big men in the National Basketball League in his second season with the Illawarra Hawks.
And to do so, he’s had to overcome incredible adversity.
As he wrapped his debut NBL season with the Hawks earlier this year, tragedy struck.
In March, while playing a social game of basketball, Lachie’s father suffered a fatal cardiac arrest.
Greg Olbrich was a revered figure in South Australian basketball, a former MVP of the state league and more importantly a coach and mentor to his son.
After his father’s passing, while many would have forgiven him for taking a break from the game, Lachie Olbrich decided to honour a commitment to play with the Canterbury Rams in the New Zealand NBL.
On debut for Canterbury against a talented opposition, Olbrich dropped 35 points and in the footage played like a young man possessed. His form would continue throughout the season, eventually winning the league’s MVP award.
“Mostly I think basketball is a great distraction from it all,” he reflects while speaking after a training session at The Snakepit.
“It helped me cope with a lot of the grief I was feeling initially.
“One of the pieces I wrote for my dad, which was announced to everyone in attendance at his service, was I will play my basketball in the thought of my dad for the rest of my life.
Olbrich lost his dad, Greg, earlier this year. He says the devastating loss is driving his game. Photo: Illawarra Hawks.
“So going into New Zealand, going back into the first game, dropping like 35 points … I was just thinking about dad the entire game, really. It motivates me.
“Obviously, it’s terrible. And I love him and miss him very much. But it’s just, I think, another thing that’s kind of helping me develop as a man, a basketball player as well … kind of like battling through the adversity.”
Greg Olbrich would be beaming with pride at the way his son handled himself and his son has now even earned his first national callup for the Boomers in the recent FIBA break.
Likewise, Hawks great and general manager of basketball Mat Campbell is proud of his young charge and acknowledges his importance to the Hawks’ success in NBL25.
“He is a pivotal part of us being able to win a championship,” Campbell said.
“If we’re realistic about winning the championship, then we need Lachie Olbrich to be playing in part up to his potential. His full potential will be outstanding.”
And what does Campbell think that full potential is?
“I think he’s up there with the best five men (centres) in the league right now, but he can play the four (forward) as well,” Campbell said.
“So developing him into a multi positional player is his potential. To be an Olympic four man is where I see his potential. The sky’s the limit for him.”
In a stacked Hawks line-up, Olbrich has increased all his statistical averages this season and taken his scoring average to almost double figures, but there has also been a recognisable byproduct of Olbrich’s development.
Both Campbell and Olbrich’s teammate and Hawks’ starting centre Sam Froling acknowledge the role Olbrich has played in helping Froling take his game to another level, himself only 24 years of age.
“He’s got a massive career ahead of him … he’s already so talented,” Froling said of Olbrich.
“He’s been really good for me, just I’ve got this young guy chomping at my heels. It’s like, ‘You better be good Sam, or you know, he’s gonna take your spot’, like I would be if there’s someone ahead of me.
“So I think just having that kind of guy around has been great. It’s going to be great for the group, great for him, and it’s also been great for me.”
Olbrich takes on Sam Froling during training. Froling says his teammate has a “massive career” ahead of him. Photo: Illawarra Hawks.
Or as Campbell describes it, “two very young bulls in the same paddock”.
“It’s been a really good environment, very competitive environment at practice,” Campbell said.
“There’s a mutual respect between the two, but there’s also a real competitive nature with both of them. That day-to-day at practice is a real slugfest, which has definitely helped Sam Froling. The way that Sam was able to compete last year against the bigger guys was on the back of Lachlan Olbrich pushing him every day at practice.”
On court, Olbrich is beginning to attract the interest of NBA clubs as a result of his development.
Off court he is endearing himself to the Illawarra community who sees him as an engaging, gregarious, humble and hard-working young man who is solely focused on his most immediate goal.
“JT (Hawks coach Justin Tatum) reckons I could talk to a brick wall,” Olbrich says with a laugh.
“Ultimately, the dream for me now would be to win a championship for the Illawarra. Whatever happens after that happens after that.”
Championship or not, Greg Olbrich and the Olbrich family have not only raised an extremely talented basketballer, but a champion young man.
The top-of-the-table Hawks play the fourth-placed Perth Wildcats in a blockbuster at the WEC on Sunday 22 December. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
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