Little reason for change at Wolfpack ahead of another run

HAVING played in four of the past six men's SBL grand finals, there was little reason for Joondalup Wolves coach Ben Ettridge to change much coming into 2017 with his core group recommitting but he couldn’t be happier with the way his two signings are shaping up.

Coming off championship wins in 2011 and 2015, and a grand final appearance in 2013, the Wolfpack were again a force last year searching for back-to-back titles.

They ended up finishing second at the end of the regular season before beating the Perth Redbacks and Willetton Tigers in the playoffs to earn a grand final berth against the Cockburn Cougars.

While the Wolves lost that decider, it was another successful season for Ettridge and his team. It was done without Bobby Evans, Greg Hire and Ben Ironmonger who were all set to be key pieces coming into the season.

Aside from Joel Questel and Kevin Davis, the Joondalup squad is back with Ironmonger to soon return from a knee reconstruction and new imports Richard Ross and Wade Guerin arriving for their first experiences in the SBL.

Ettridge saw no reason to want to change much in a successful, committed and hungry group.

"Pretty much everyone from last year's grand final team minus Joel Questel who has moved to Melbourne and Kevin are back again," Ettridge said.

"It's pretty much the same group and we haven’t had a high turnover of players since about 2011 and 2012, so we have that six or seven who were there in that time and have remained.

"Really the only guy that's come into our group outside of our area has been Joel, and you couldn’t have asked for a better fit for us. That core group is still there including Damo (Matacz) who is rolling around again as he does. He will give us everything he's got as usual."

The Wolves season now begins this Saturday night at home to the Cockburn Cougars in a grand final rematch. While he wouldn’t have turned down some extra preparation time, Ettridge feels his team is ready to go.

"We probably wouldn’t have minded an extra couple of weeks to get some more fine tuning done," he said.

"We started back in mid-October and had a few boys away over Christmas who have come back in and with Wade and Richard getting here early February, they've had a good six weeks with the team as well. We'll be rusty that first month but I guess we're in the same boat as everyone else."

The only change for the Wolves coming into 2017 is the arrival of imports Ross and Guerin.

With Davis having moved on after two years and two grand finals with the Wolfpack, and after Evans didn’t pan out last season, Joondalup will have two strong players to add to a core group that knows how to win.

Ettridge couldn’t be more impressed with what the pair is already providing on and off the court.

"For two first-time guys out to Australia and not really knowing a lot about the country, they've really settled in well. They have some good people around them which has helped in that transition for them," he said.

"They have both already been great around the club with their energy, their communication and their involvement with the community stuff that we do.

"They are already proving to be really good fits for us and the important thing with this group is that we have eight or nine guys who have played between 150 and 350 games so they know how to play the game of basketball and we don’t need to rely on someone to get 30 points a game.

"We need them to contribute to a team that will play defence and good offence. They get that as well."

Guerin arrives at the Wolves to provide that inside presence with the Minnesota native having shown what he could do in his time at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. He has since spent time with Athletes in Action as he now takes up his first stint overseas.

"Wade is a country guy and from where he went to school in Wisconsin was out in the boondocks really, so Perth is a big city for him and he's enjoying that and the weather," Ettridge said.

"He's from Minnesota so the day he left it was minus-30 and when he arrived it was plus-38. That was a big shock for him."

Ross comes to the Wolfpack as an explosive, power athlete who Ettridge has no doubt could excel at any sport and he already tried out for the NFL.

"We still don’t know what Richard is going to be," he said.

"He is just a phenomenal athlete, a great person and he is one of those guys that chose to play any sport you would say he would make it because of his work ethic and athletic tools."

Ironmonger is another player that Ettridge is looking forward to returning early in the season after rupturing an ACL 10 games into 2016 and requiring a knee reconstruction.

"His first training of five-on-five will be this week and that's the first time he will be allowed to after going five-on-zero and with some modified drills. We're not in a rush to get him back especially after a first-time knee injury for a kid like this," he said.

"There's a lot there that we are working through but we are hoping for Week 3 that he might be back. We are up to Kalgoorlie next week and I don’t think sitting on a bus for nine hours is conducive to his comeback game. So back in the metro area is a good time for him to come back and hopefully that's Week 3, if not the week after."

Looking back on 2016 and another grand final appearance, Ettridge is proud that his group overcame adversity and that was more than what was obvious on the surface with the absence of Evans, Hire and Ironmonger.

"Everybody goes through adversity in any season and it was a great testament to Cockburn that they still won after losing who should have been the MVP, Gav Field, but I'm very proud of the way our boys stuck together," he said.

"There were a lot of things going on throughout the year that the boys had to deal with, but they took it in their stride and that's why we work as hard as we do to make sure the quality of people in the program can manage any setbacks. I'm proud of our season and you always want to put yourself in a position to compete, and that's all we can hope for."

The pain of losing a grand final is always something that can either prove the end of a group, or in the case of this Wolves team drive them on to earn another crack at the title 12 months later.

With the majority of the players returning and committed to go again, Ettridge has plenty of reasons to be motivated heading into 2017.

"You do still use that and you can bring up some things related to it every now and then, but we know we had a pretty decent season and there's not a lot we'd want to improve," he said.

"There's no need to change a lot but the boys are hungry and that can be seen with the way they've all come back and haven’t missed a beat. It's been good to add a couple of news guy in there in Richard and Wade, and Ben Ironmonger is back on the track.

"When you see those people around, it sets the scene for the new season and we're excited about it. It's also our last season in the old stadium and we want to transfer across in both programs on the highest note that we can. We want to leave and go to our new home on a high."

Ettridge had a full on and stressful 2017 not only coaching the Wolves, but preparing the Australian Rollers men's wheelchair team for the Paralympic Games in 2017, and then coaching them in Rio.

While juggling life at home, coaching in the SBL and having to constantly travel interstate and abroad, it left him exhausted by the end of it.

He has handed on that job to Craig Friday heading towards Tokyo 2020 and while he doesn’t expect his workload to lessen in 2017 overall, it should involve less travel and stress overall for him.

"That's what you want to do, you want to be a full-time basketball coach and that's the life you need," Ettridge said.

"That balance was hard last year given the time I had to spend away from home, so it takes some strain off but I will still help Luke with the under-23s as a mentor and Craig is one of my best mates who takes over from me, and I want nothing but success for him and the program.

"It's good to catch up regularly with both Luke and Craig, but I still have plenty else going on and I've just got back from the Invictus Games camp in Canberra on the weekend where I helped out with them.

"It's a bit of a slowdown year for me in some ways so I can refocus and help more around the club a bit more so I'll work more with our WABL and WABL coaches.

"The pressure level isn’t as high, but the work rate and hours are probably similar with basketball along with family time and having to hold down another job. You still have to be organised and prepared to make sure you do everything the best you can."

Photo by Vikki Hile




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