Hooley most recently played for the Plymouth Raiders in the British Basketball League and averaged six points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game under playing coach Darryl Corletto before asking to return home to Australia for personal reasons.

Before playing in the BBL, Hooley attended University of Albany where he averaged 12.4 points, three assists and three-and-a-half rebounds per game across four playing seasons.

Ballarat Miners head coach Eric Hayes is excited by the latest signing.

“We are really looking forward to having Peter in the program as he is just the type of person and player we have been looking for to complete our team,” he said.

“As a player, Peter is very versatile so he will be able to play many positions and many roles on the offense and defense, which will be great for us.”

Miners elite teams chair Simon Walshe said it has been an exhaustive search to fill the last roster position.

“Despite taking longer than we anticipated to fill this last spot, we wanted to make sure we had the right person on and off the floor as this has been our focus with all our recruiting. Peter fits this mould perfectly,” Walshe said.

Hooley is expected to arrive in Ballarat next week and will then begin training with the Miners.

The team’s first practice game is scheduled for Sunday, March 5 against Big V power house Ringwood.