Adelaide 36ers need saving once again Adelaide 36ers coach Marty Clarke walks off after another disappointing loss earlier in the season. THE grand three-year plan to restore Adelaide 36ers as an NBL powerhouse drew to a close last night in Wollongong, with the Sixers exactly where they were in 2010. The fourth year of the Sixers' existence since the club was rescued by the Save Our Sixers consortium ended in Adelaide's third last-placed finish in those four seasons. Such a record for futility has only been done once before, by the defunct Bankstown Bruins, who were last in the league's first season, 1979, and again in 1980 and '82. First, rookie 36ers coach Scott Ninnis followed his debut season - Adelaide's last in the play-offs, albeit one in which it was immediately eliminated - with a 10-18 season in which the 36ers plummeted into the bomb shelter for the first time. Cut loose after two years of his three-year program, Ninnis had to wear a wry grin when his successor, another rookie coach in Marty Clarke, also finished eighth in 2011 and with one less win. But eighth in 2011 at least wasn't last, the NBL having expanded to nine teams. Ninth in Clarke's sophomore season was last though, as is this year's eighth placing out of eight. No amount of smiley faces or spin can hide the fact those fans who comprised SOS did a monumental job to step forward and save it. But saving a club is one thing. Running a club has proved way beyond the group's capabilities, the original eight "saviours" now down to three and only one still pumping in the dollars. While the "three-year plan" was obviously no plan at all - Daniel Johnson the only active player still in Sixers colours from Year One, though Tom Daly has stepped up as a development player and Mitch Creek out injured - it is clear buyers need to be found for Adelaide to go forward. Either that or expect another rookie coach, low-budget team and the end of an era in South Australian basketball.