he would finish his one-year contract with the club should he return within a certain time. Upon his return to Australia, Bradtke stated his intention not to return to the 36ers with the Melbourne Tigers rumoured to be actively chasing him. After protracted negotiations with 36ers management that led to the club being prepared to buy out his remaining contract, the NBL stepped in and vetoed the buy out, effectively letting Bradtke leave for Melbourne without the 36ers receiving any compensation for the remainder of his contract with the club. For Bradtke personally, the move to Melbourne allowed him to be closer to his then girlfriend and later wife, internationally ranked tennis player Nicole Provis. Despite playing only 17 games in 1992 in what would prove to be his last season in Adelaide, Bradtke was second in total rebounds for the 36ers to Mark Davis and in his final game for the club against the Geelong Supercats at the Clipsal Powerhouse he scored a career high 43 points and grabbed 25 boards in a dominating performance. In all, Bradtke played 118 games for the Adelaide 36ers, including 9 finals games, averaging 15.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. Despite his less than harmonious split from the 36ers in 1992 which resulted in the Adelaide crowd regularly booing Bradtke for the rest of his career, in November 2015 Adelaide fans finally recognised his contribution not only to the 36ers but also the NBL when they voted him the best centre to ever play for the 36ers in an online poll conducted by Adelaide's daily newspaper The Advertiser. Bradtke received 35.71% of the votes to beat out former teammate Bill Jones (25.17%) and 36ers triple championship winning centre Paul Rees (23.81%). Melbourne Tigers After spending the NBL off-season with Spanish League team Juver Murcia, Bradtke started with the Tigers in 1993, and after a slow start came on strong from mid-season helping the team to their fifth NBL playoffs in a row and their second grand final series in succession. Melbourne won their first ever NBL Championship with a 2–1 series win over the Perth Wildcats which included their first ever win at the Perth Entertainment Centre in the third and deciding game. He averaged 17 points, 12.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in 33 games played in 1993. Combining with star players Andrew Gaze (a fellow Boomer) and