Image credit: Arctic Moon Photography
The Geraldton Buccaneers didn’t necessarily know other NBL1 West teams were looking to turn up the speed as they have in 2025, but Dayle Joseph knew he wanted the Buccs playing faster and why not when he has a weapon like Johny Narkle and brought in Verle Williams.
It has been a focus ever since Joseph returned as Buccaneers coach in 2019 to play at faster pace in general, but to have a varied playbook to go to in different situations and depending on who was out on the floor.
That instantly worked with the 2019 championship triumph and they won another banner in 2023, and looked to be heading towards making it back-to-back throughout 2024 before a heartbreaking preliminary final loss to Willetton on their home floor.
Reflecting on that, Joseph wanted the Buccaneers to play at an even faster pace and attempt to put more points on the board in 2025 with the recruitment of point guard Verle Williams to help with that cause.
As a result, the Buccs are averaging 102.7 points this season but it's skyrocketed to 109.1 over the past seven games of which they have won six with the road loss to the Tigers in overtime the only blip.
Joseph is happy with the style Geraldton are playing with but what he might not have quite expected was for top two teams Rockingham Flames and Warwick Senators to have turned up the pace too to be averaging 107.3 and 107.1 points respectively.
Playing a faster tempo style
It has been an on-going philosophy for Joseph with the Buccaneers to have them playing at a faster pace. Now the three-time Coach of the Year and two-time championship winner has his team averaging over 100 points a game for the first time.
Some of that is personnel with the dynamic Johny Narkle delivering 24.7 points a game along with two genuine point guard Verle Williams and Nik DeSantis along with natural athletes Akeem Springs and Joshua Keyes.
But it's also the way Joseph has them wanting to play and considering they are sitting at 11-4, have scored over 100 points in their last six wins and averaging over 109 in the past seven matches, he is happy with how things are coming together.
"We first started to really try to be more conscious of thinking we need to score more two years ago after seeing how the game was changing with what other teams were doing," Joseph said.
"We figured we needed to be a little bit more up tempo and it has changed some of our key metrics that we try to achieve by the end of the game.
"So some of those target turnover numbers and things like that have changed with the higher scoring and faster pace just because it's more of a risky style, and there's more possessions in the game.
"It was just more about being able to play a bit faster and this year, Verle helps with that and then we've Nik, Johny and Joshua Keyes who can all play that really up speed stuff.
"Then sometimes we have to play a little bit slower to get through our sets for shots for Ralphy, Liam and when Mat comes in although he's probably as fit as he's ever been. So it's playing a bit of everything actually I think."
When the change first started
When Joseph first took back over as coach at Geraldton for a second stint in charge in 2019, the first thing he did was try to find ways to improve the Buccaneers and it was a conversation with Andrew Cooper that lit off a light bulb.
Ironically it is Cooper that now has his Senators team going at a lightning pace with 107.1 points a game to be just ahead of the Buccs in the standings, but what Joseph wanted to do was to have his team become more dangerous and less predictable.
"I still remember when I first took over in 2019, one of the first people I spoke to was Andrew Cooper who was assistant coach at Rockingham at the time," Joseph said.
"They'd rolled us up here in 2018 and my first question to him was what we were missing, and he just said we seemed to be slow and predictable.
"So the first thing we wanted to do in 2019 was try and speed things up a little bit, and add some versatility to our game and not look the same every time we come out.
"That obviously made a difference in 2019 and then I've tried to keep doing that ever since along the way with that in the back of my mind."
Unfinished business in 2025
It would be easy to think that the Buccaneers looking to make up for a great missed opportunity last year when they finished the regular season four games clear in top spot, won their first final against the eventual champion Mandurah Magic, and played host to Willetton in the preliminary final.
However, the Tigers delivered a spectacular first half performance and ended up causing the stunning upset to deny the Buccs the chance at trying to win back-to-back championships for the first time, and to play in the historic first ever grand final at RAC Arena.
But rather than Joseph having his team on a redemption mission in 2025, it's more about giving themselves another opportunity to be in a similar position again.
"It was definitely a missed opportunity but I wouldn’t say it's added motivation for this year. I think it was unfinished business so I think we're just continuing on to get to that goal," Joseph said.
"I don't think it's fuelling us as such, I think we've put that behind us but the fuel is there and the fire is there to think that we can actually still win it.
"It's not something comes easy and you have to put yourself in good positions and that's pretty much what we're concentrating on now to finish the best position we can, and see if we can have another good crack at something we missed out on last year.
"That's pretty much been the mindset and to be honest we've never sat down and gone through that game, and I've never watched the replay and don't plan on it.
"The visual memory I have is enough to put up with so that's pretty much behind us and it was an opportunity missed, but there's still one ahead of us."
Seeing Ralph break three-point record
While the championship is the ultimate goal for the Buccaneers once again in 2025, there's also great moments along the way that need to be celebrated and that was the case when they played the Lightning at Lakeside Recreation Centre back May 31.
That was the night where captain Aaron Ralph caught fire in the first half like only can to break the league's all-time three-point record. It was only fitting he made the three ball to surpass Ryan Neill right in front of Joseph and the Geraldton bench.
"When I look back on it, I'll think about how lucky I've been to coach Ralphy who has become the three-point record holder and Mat Wundenberg who is second in games played and I was lucky enough to coach guys like Greg Brown, Dan Hunt and obviously his son Liam," Joseph said.
"There'll be a long list of high quality players that I've been lucky enough to coach or be part of in basketball over the years. Ralphy's record will be one of those and it sort of sprung up on us a little bit even though I knew it was getting close.
"We weren’t making a big thing about it although we knew once Ralphy makes one, there's a good chance of making another and another.
"It probably helped that Lakeside played a bit of zone which meant we could utilise his expertise a little bit better as well, and it just so happened it happened fast in that game.
"It was also really cool that his family had an inkling of it and came down for that trip so it was cool that they were all there and got to celebrate with him as well."
Trying to help players achieve dreams
Then beyond any team success, a focus for Joseph and the Buccaneers is to do everything they can to help players achieve the dreams and aspirations in any way that they can and whatever they might be.
In the case of 2023 grand final MVP Johny Narkle, he is continually improving at a rapid rate with the 23-year-old in the middle of an outstanding 2025 season that has him right in MVP calculations with 24.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists a game.
His shooting percentages are also at career-high levels and while Joseph remains unsure why an NBL opportunity is yet to present for Narkle, he has no doubt he's ready for it.
"I think if someone gives him that opportunity and put him in that environment I think he could thrive and rapidly improve further," Joseph said.
"I think he does need someone to actually care about him as well and not necessarily just give him a contract, and tell him to go play.
"He would need someone to give him some guidance to go with it if he got the chance because he might have missed out on having that when he was a bit younger.
"He is still maturing as a basketball player and an athlete, and if someone shows him a little bit of love and guidance, I think they will get a hell of a lot out of him in the future."