DESPITE having an outstanding season again in 2016 making the SBL grand final, coach Ben Ettridge was seeing signs that the Joondalup Wolves might need to change things up to stay ahead of the curve in 2017 and is pleased with the progress.

The Wolves have been the trendsetters in the Men's SBL having made four of the previous six grand finals including winning championships in 2011 and 2015.

Ettridge has been at the helm of that success by running an outstanding system perfectly suited to his playing squad where he gets complete buy-in and as a result consistent, outstanding effort.

While things were still working well in 2016 and the Wolfpack closed the regular season in second spot before beating the Perth Redbacks and Willetton Tigers to set up the grand final with the Cockburn Cougars, Ettridge thought changes were required.

That was perhaps emphasised both with the departure of big man Kevin Davis and experienced guard Joel Questel, and the move from the league to go from 48 to 40-minute games this season.

The Wolfpack have been able to bring back largely the same group with Davis now ending up being replaced by import Wade Guerin following the departure of Richard Ross earlier this week.

The core group is still there with Rob Huntington, Damian Matacz, Trian Iliadis, Seb Salinas, Reece Maxwell, Rhys Smyth, Jordan Wellsteed and Sean Easther.

While the names are the same, that doesn’t mean the game style is.

Ettridge worked hard over the off-season and early in the season itself to implement the game style and while the win-loss record of 6-1 suggests it is working, it's not necessarily about that at this point.

While happy to be 6-1 with wins over the Redbacks, Lakeside Lightning and Mandurah Magic since a loss to Davis and the East Perth Eagles, it's all about getting the game style right so that it's clicking at the business end of the season for the Wolfpack.

"We've pretty much changed the entire way we play this year because teams were starting to work us out we felt last year. We've had to go and reinvent and that's the improvement that we're looking at," Ettridge said.

"We aren’t looking at wins and losses now, we know that when we get it right we are going to be where we need to be.

"There are some pretty good teams that will be locked and loaded come that second half of the year, like when Lee Roberts and Michael Vigor join the Redbacks that's an NBL quality team and not to mention Willetton, Stirling and any number of other teams.

"It's a very, very deep and talented league and everyone is going to be trying to be right there come the end and we hope this new way of us playing will have us there."

While some might have naturally thought the move to the 40-minute game for the SBL in 2017 would mean teams would shorten their rotations, that's not at all the way Ettridge sees it.

He wants his team to be playing at an even greater tempo and in order to keep it up for the full 40 minutes he knows he will need to use up every player on his bench to avoid any drop offs.

His mission of keeping teams to 80 points or under is pretty close to being on track too with Joondalup conceding 82.1 points over the opening seven games.

"It's a different way we are playing than what we have in the past and defensively we're a bit different, and offensively we're a bit different. We are relying on 12 guys to go out and play, and get it done," he said.

"Even though there's eight minutes less in the games this season, we want to take the intensity up to another level and hold teams to under 80 points a game. We've done that now three or four times so far this year. We know that when we're locked in, that's what we can do."

While Ross was seemingly finding his feet as part of the Wolfpack and has now departed the club, Ettridge is leaving no doubt that the Wolves' remaining import Wade Guerin has full support.

Guerin might not be delivering any earth-shattering numbers, but Ettridge is perfectly happy with the role he is playing and with the strong character that he is.

He has no doubt he will continue to provide what the Wolves are asking of him.

"You just have to put faith in him and let him know that he has our full support, which he does. He has come a long way on and off the court just to be here. His story is as inspirational as anyone. He has come so far and to just be playing basketball in another country is massive for him," Ettridge said.

"We love him. He's great around the club, he's great around the boys and is a great teammate. We want him to have success and we'll keep giving him those opportunities to do that. We don’t need a guy out there getting 20 points a game, we need someone setting 20 screens for Trian, Seb, Phil and those guys.

"That's what he's doing. He is creating those opportunities and being that foil for Damo and Robbie as that third big guy which we've always had previously when we've been successful. That's what he's doing for us and he's doing a great job."

The Wolfpack were also boosted with the return of Ben ironmonger from a knee reconstruction in last Saturday night's win over the Magic with six points and three rebounds in almost 15 minutes of court time.

Wellsteed has also moved into the starting line-up for Joondalup this season providing the vision of the pathway that the Wolves are providing through their younger players to play at the SBL level.

"We have Ben Ironmonger who is coming back, Brendan Tucek who will be back in a couple of weeks and those guys started on every state team from under 14s through to under 20s," Ettridge said.

"That's our nucleus moving forward and then behind them there's Lachie Strelein, Mitch McKenna, Ben Gaspar, Jimmy Hepburn and those guys have all been in the system so they are coming through as a group.

"We've got that depth coming through and they have great role models ahead of them. Someone like Jordan has taken his opportunity and he's now starting, and that shows all those guys what is possible."

Photo by Vikki Hile