Image credit: Michael Farnell (Sports Imagery)
Warwick Senators coach Andrew Cooper has tried to put the lid on the excitement after buzzer beating preliminary final win but he can't fault his team's preparation and build up to Saturday night's NBL1 West Grand Final.
The scenes were remarkable when Cooper Creek hit the game winning shot and with time expiring seconds later when the Rockingham Flames couldn’t respond at Warwick Stadium on Saturday night.
The Senators had just beaten the regular season champions seven days after beating the second placed Buccaneers in Geraldton to book their place in the Grand Final against that same Buccs team this Saturday night.
The Senators lost a Grand Final back in 1990 to the Perth Redbacks but are attempting to win a first men's championship in the SBL or NBL1 West aside from the West Coast Classic championship they won with Mike Ellis as coach and Cody Ellis as captain back in 2020.
So understandably given the way the Senators had won and the history they had made to reach the Grand Final the celebratory scenes were wild, but Cooper was quick to turn down his own emotions knowing that making a Grand Final is only half the job done now.
"It's exciting but I'm more excited for the club and for the players. There's definitely a level of excitement for me as well, but making a Grand Final isn’t the pinnacle, winning one is," Cooper said.
"But seeing the joy on the faces of the fans and our support staff, and all our volunteers and the players on Saturday night, that is satisfying and exciting. We also know that there's also one more to go."
Emotions after winning preliminary final
After finishing the regular season in third spot and given how good the top two teams Rockingham and Geraldton have been all season, it was going to take something special for the Senators to make it to the Grand Final.
In the end, Warwick have got to the Grand Final at RAC Arena by firstly beating the Buccs in Geraldton with a blistering second half display and then winning a heart stopper against Rockingham at Warwick Stadium.
What won that game against the Flames for the Senators was a last possession that didn’t go to plan, but that was also never drawn up for MVP runner-up Elijah Pepper like everyone might have expected aside from the Warwick coaching staff and players.
Cooper did have a brief feeling of excitement and relief when the win was secured, but then was quickly focused on what was next.
"There was a bit of emotion going on and that last play wasn’t the exact one we were hoping to execute, but it turned out great obviously," Cooper said.
"The emotion was hard to explain from my point of view and if Ryan didn’t call the timeout, I don’t even want to think what might have happened if Rockingham took the ball up the floor.
"But when Cooper made that shot there was an element of relief and then after that I was just thinking what was next, and focusing on what we had to do.
"It was definitely loud in the stadium, I know that, and I was just feeling a bit of relief and worrying about what we had to do to finish this off."
Making Grand Final beating top two teams
In the end it was losses late in the regular season to both Rockingham and Geraldton that cost Warwick a top two finish but in that last month they did score tough wins over Willetton, Kalamunda, Joondalup and even a vastly improved Cockburn by 35 points.
So Cooper was content with his team's preparation for the finals even if they had to go to Geraldton for the qualifying final, but they delivered dominant second half outscoring the Buccs by 27 points after half-time.
They then backed it up by beating the Flames who finished the regular season in top spot on Saturday night in a game for the ages. Cooper can't fault the preparation for the most part heading into the Grand Final.
"It has gone well obviously the last two weeks but we did have Cody's illness in that first week for the trip to Gero and what people don’t know, Pep was quite sick last week as well and wasn’t at 100 per cent," Cooper said.
"The Geraldton win was great and that was a nice kickstart for our playoff run and obviously winning against Rockingham is always a tough thing to do.
"We feel like we've won some tough games over the last stretch so we do feel like we're battle hardened. We haven’t had too many easy games over the last month or so and we're feeling pretty comfortable with where we're at right now."
Not just a one man team
For whatever reason and it hasn’t gone unnoticed to Cooper, when the Senators of 2025 are spoken about they are still largely seen as a team that lives and dies by the performances of the league's leading scorer and MVP runner-up Elijah Pepper.
However, what Cooper is most proud of his team about is that they continue to show that not only do they not rely on Pepper, but also they aren’t reliant another pair of stars with NBL experience, Mitch Clarke and Todd Withers.
They aren’t reliant on former Illawarra Hawks and Sydney Kings forward, and their own West Coast Classic championship captain Cody Ellis either. Then there's Brody England, George Pearl, Tyler Shand and Cooper Creek.
Even captain Jay Thwaites is still playing a crucial role even if he doesn’t always hit the floor. It's all the pieces coming together that is what Cooper is most pleased about with this Warwick team of 2025.
"People even underestimate how important Brody was on the weekend and he's been interrupted all year with injuries and hasn’t been able to consistently get out there, but touchwood now that he's had another good game, he can keep that going," Cooper said.
"That's what our group's about, yes we do have Pep and we have Todd and we have Mitch, but you're not winning everything with those three players. You need those role players and it's important for George, Tyler, Cooper and even then, you talk about Cooper as a role player but he's a lot more than just that.
"Then it keeps going down the bench and the other thing that people don't realise is that we have pretty deep and strong squad. Our D-League made a championship game and it's important those guys are in every week practicing against our guys, and pushing them.
"That also helps that preparation and to be battle hardened for the big games at this time of the year. Then even with Jay, I'm sure he'd want to be playing more but he understands the situation and he always turns up to training and works his butt off.
"He works harder than anyone still and he's a reason he's captain of our team. People might think we're a one trick pony with Pepper, but Rockingham probably thought he was getting the ball and then Cooper steps and does his job."
Taking on Geraldton in Grand Final
While the Senators haven't won a Grand Final aside from that West Coast Classic in 2020, the Buccaneers are no strangers to being there having won championships in 2019 and 2023, and losing a tough one to Rockingham in 2022.
Playing at RAC Arena is a different thing, though, and the Senators do have players with more experience on that floor with Ellis, Withers, Pepper and Clarke all having played NBL games there.
Cooper doesn’t necessarily expect that to be a big factor and nor does he know if the Senators will be able to replicate what they did in Geraldton two weeks ago, but his focus is on taking the Buccs strengths away from them.
"We'll take a bit out of what we did against them two weeks ago but they're a better team than what they showed that night," Cooper said.
"We played well and shot the ball well, and everybody knows that we shoot the three ball and the statistics don't lie so there's no secrets.
"The difference between what they showed against us and have showed since is their ability to get after it a bit more, and play a bit tougher.
"That's what you have to match with Geraldton and watching those games of theirs last weekend, when they are tough as in being physical and playing hard they are tough to stop when they are creating those extra possessions.
"Replicating what we did, I'm not sure we can, but understanding what their strengths are is where we need to be focused on."
Having both teams in Grand Final
While Cooper might not want to get caught up too much excitement when there's still a job to do in the Grand Final on Saturday night, he can't help but be happy for so many people associated with Warwick.
To have both teams in the Grand Final is a remarkable feat that deserves to be celebrated and he is proud of everyone involved to make it a reality.
"It's amazing for the club and when the pressure comes on, I am someone who tries to deflate things a little bit and turn inwards so the excitement side of things isn’t quite there until the whole job is done," Cooper said.
"But seeing the excitement around the club this week has been great and the feedback from the whole community and public around Warwick has been awesome.
"To have both teams there, is amazing in itself because as a club the women's group and the men, and the coaches and everyone are all tight.
"We all talk and we all know each other, and want the best for each other so to be able to see it all together on one night at RAC Arena is going to be pretty special."