Image credit: Michael Farnell (Sports Imagery)
There was a slip up in last year's preliminary final and two weeks ago against Warwick Senators, but Buccaneers basketball is the trait of Dayle Joseph's coaching at Geraldton Buccaneers that he wants to see in NBL1 West Grand Final.
The Buccs won the NBL1 West championship in 2023 and then looked right on track to go back-to-back for the first time in club history last year when they finished the regular season four games clear in top spot, and then beat the Mandurah Magic in a qualifying final.
The Buccaneers were then shocked in the preliminary final and the hardest part to accept for them all was that they were outworked on their home court by the Willetton Tigers, and had no chance to try and make up for it because it ended the season.
That's the positive that coach Joseph now takes from the qualifying final loss to the Warwick Senators in Geraldton two weeks ago. That was every bit as disappointing to be outscored 63-36 in the second half on their home floor, but the positive this time is they have the chance to make up for it.
THANKFUL HUNT EMBRACING EVERY OPPORTUNITY
CONSTANT EVOLUTION THE GOAL FOR JOSEPH'S BUCCS
And the Buccs did respond last week beating the Goldfields Giants at home and then the Tigers on the road to now book in a place in this Saturday night's Grand Final at RAC Arena and it just happens to be against that same opponent from two weeks ago.
While never happy for a loss especially as emphatic as it was in the qualifying final, the positive for Joseph is the chance to learn from it, and make up for it.
"I think we learned a lot from that and I always say that we're in a better position this year having had those couple of losses because that really makes us sit down and go through our game with a bit of a fine tooth comb," Joseph said.
"We never really had to do that last year because we kept on winning and then we had that loss when it counted, and we didn’t get a chance to look through that and try to make a bit of amends for some of those mistakes.
"But that loss to Senators in the qualifying final was another really good opportunity for us to go through our systems and where we went wrong, and how did the Senators get on top of us.
"We learned a lot from that and I'm also aware that Coops (Andrew Cooper) is really big on scouting and knows his stuff really well when it comes to that sort of things.
"He's been in tournaments where you have to think on the run quickly and make changes, and tweak teams and he's done that with huge success in the past.
"I've got no illusions that he knows what we're up to so we have to find a way to know what they're up to too, and then it will turn into a bit of a chess make and it's all about who can get that check mate at the end."
Being able to win different ways
To close the regular season the Buccaneers were in remarkably hot form having won 11 straight matches by an average of 28 points while scoring 113.4 points a game in that stretch.
They were blowing teams away with a smooth flowing offence with a variety of threats including Johny Narkle averaging 25.8 points, Nik DeSantis 12.9, Akeem Springs 17.4, Joshua Keyes 14.8, Liam Hunt 17.1 and Verle Williams 12.6.
However to bounce back from that loss to Warwick two weeks ago, the Buccs had to put their hard hats on to beat the Giants and Tigers in the one weekend to get to the Grand Final.
That was especially prevalent against Willetton in the preliminary final where Geraldton ended up with 26 offensive rebounds to 12 for 23 second chance points to 11 which ultimately led to them taking 12 extra field goals and 11 more free throws.
Joseph is glad knowing that going into the Grand Final he has a team that can win in a variety of ways.
"I think that's one of our strengths is that we're not relying on any one person to have that good game for us to win," Joseph said.
"Even against the Giants last week, Liam didn’t have his best and only had three points and a few rebounds, but others stepped up and he still contributed even if it didn’t show up on the stat sheet.
"We've made a big focus on even if you're not scoring, you can still contribute to the team and sometimes things come to you if you work hard and stay in the moment.
"Then what we saw on Sunday was a bit more of what Geraldton likes their team to be known for and that was a bit of a stamp from us that this is who we are.
"It was all down to getting down to hard work and we'd put our losses to Willetton in the past to being outmuscled and letting them push us out of our sets, and being really physical with us.
"That should be us and we took that a bit personal, and made sure we were ready for the fight on Sunday and now we know the Senators are going to be exactly the same. We know they'll be ready for us but as we like to say, we have to play Buccaneers basketball."
Feelings after making Grand Final
Coming off that loss to Warwick in the qualifying final and Joseph has no problem admitting to being quite nervous heading into last Friday's semi-final against the Giants with him desperate to not have their season ended again on their home floor.
After getting that win, he was feeling good heading into the preliminary final at Willetton on Sunday knowing his team would give their all to get that chance for a Grand Final at RAC Arena.
"I've got to admit I was probably a little nervous going into the Giants game more thinking that we didn’t want it to end there," Joseph said.
"Then the Willetton game was more about feeling like we deserved to be there and we wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to see if we could win the whole thing.
"I feel a little bit more relaxed than I was on the weekend to be fair and now it's a matter of enjoying the moment, take everything in and be grateful that we've made it here. Then see if we can turn that opportunity into a win."
Making the most of the occasion
There's nothing the Buccaneers can do now about the missed opportunity of being part of the first ever Grand Final at RAC Arena last year. What they can do is make sure they embrace everything about this week, and then experience of being out there on Saturday night.
That's the approach that Joseph is taking because it could very well be the pinnacle of his coaching life to be in coaching in a Grand Final at RAC Arena in front of that many thousands of people.
It's a similar story for the majority of his team too whether it's Mat Wundenberg and Aaron Ralph with their combined 1023 games of experience or someone like Elliott Bennett or Jake Baker who continue to put in all the work even when getting limited minutes.
"I'm really excited about the whole thing. I might not get nervous a bit later on, but I'm really excited about the opportunity and one of the things I have said to the playing group is that this is probably as big as it gets for a lot of us here," Joseph said.
"We may never get the opportunity in this sort of arena in front of this sort of crowd, and this sort of prize on the line again.
"Maybe Johny might in the future out of our current squad, but the rest of us we might dwindle back off to play in front of 100 people afterwards if you know what I mean.
"So this is a great opportunity for us to take all that in and make the most of that opportunity that the boys have earned. You really have to grab it with both hands once you get there and not be satisfied with just being there."
Excitement building in Geraldton
The support that the Buccaneers get in Geraldton might very well be unlike anything for any NBL1 team in the entire country, and it's fair to say the entire town is pretty excited this week.
Geraldton might also be a ghost town come Saturday as they head down to Perth to be at RAC Arena to help fill the stands, and support their team like only they can, and Joseph appreciates that support from his hometown.
"It's been really cool and there has been lots of congratulations and good lucks around town. I go to the gym and they are one of our sponsors well and there's lots of good vibes around there," Joseph said.
"If you go and get a quick lunch somewhere, there's lots of good vibes you get from that and I think there's some social media stuff from our work places in the town that are getting involved.
"It's all really exciting and I know some of the boys work in the schools and they have told me the kids are really excited and supportive so they are getting a bit of a rah rah through that well.
"I do get the sense that everyone in Geraldton is really excited and a lot of them will be coming down to Perth that's for sure."