Shaun Stewart
The 2023 NBL1 West Grand Final will see the Geraldton Buccaneers take on the Joondalup Wolves at Bendat Basketball Centre on Saturday 12 August.
Both the Buccaneers and the Wolves will contest their ninth grand finals in SBL / NBL1 West history. The two teams previously met in the Grand Final in 2019, where the Buccaneers defeated the Wolves by twelve points. The Buccaneers are two-time champions (2000 and 2019) and were runners-up in last year's decider against the Rockingham Flames. The Wolves are three-time champions (1993, 2011, 2015), with their last appearance in a grand final being 2019.
In charge of the two Grand Final teams are Dayle Joseph (Buccaneers) and David Morrell (Wolves). Joseph was at the helm when the Buccaneers won the championship in 2019 and coached them to a runner-up finish in 2022, and before that was an assistant coach of the Buccs' championship team in 2000. Morrell, an American who previously coached in South Australia, is in his second season with the Wolves and is yet to taste championship success in his coaching career.
The Buccaneers finished the 2023 regular season in second place with a 17-5 record, while the Wolves finished in sixth place with a 14-8 record.
The Buccaneers were led by import Shaun Stewart (183-G-1994, college: Limestone, agency: Elevate Sports Alliance) alongside Australians Malik Meunier (185-G-1999), Isaac Gattorna-Hargrave (201-F-1999), Aaron Ralph (200-G/F-1989) and Liam Hunt (201-F/C-1995, college: HIU).
For the Wolves, imports Quintin Dove (200-F-1998, college: UT Martin) and C.J. Turnage (201-F/G-1995, college: SVSU) led the way alongside Australians Mathiang Muo (196-G/F-1987, college: Charleston So.), Bryan Michaels (190-G/F-1996, college: Concordia, OR) and Ioannis Dimakopoulos (218-C-1994, college: UC Irvine).
The regular-season series between the two teams was split, with both winning at home. In the first game at Joondalup on 15 April, the Wolves won 96-90 behind Dove's game-high 34 points; Gattorna had a team-high 20 points for the Buccs. In the second game at Geraldton on 10 June, the Buccs won 74-67 behind Meunier's game-high 26 points; Michaels had a team-high 21 points for the Wolves.
Geraldton won two finals matches at home in front of wild crowds at Activewest Stadium to reach the Grand Final with a thrilling win over the Willetton Tigers before a dominant 36-point hammering of the Perth Redbacks. The Wolves had to win three finals games as the sixth seed to reach the decider, defeating Warwick, Willetton and the first-seeded Rockingham.
Both squads boast very different line-ups to when they met in the 2019 Grand Final. With Geraldton, only coach Joseph, Ralph, Hunt and Mat Wundenberg (200-F/C-1983) remain while at the Wolfpack, only captain Jordan Wellsteed (194-F/G-1995) remains.
For the Buccaneers, the championship pedigree of stalwarts Ralph, Hunt and Wundenberg should hold them in good stead, with last year's loss adding fuel to the fire. For the Wolves, they will he hungry to win their first championship since 2015 after four straight grand final defeats between 2016 and 2019. Wellsteed was part of the Wolves' last championship while Turnage will need to bring his championship experience from his time in the NBL1 Central. Muo was part of the Buccs' losing squad in 2022 and will be out for redemption as a member of the Wolfpack.
2023 NBL1 West Grand Final
Who: Geraldton Buccaneers vs Joondalup Wolves, hosted by Basketball WA
When: Saturday 12 August, 7:00pm tip-off
Where: Bendat Basketball Centre - the home of basketball in WA
Potential starters:
F Narkle vs Dove
F Gattorna vs Turnage
C Wundenberg vs Dimakopoulos
G Meunier vs Muo
G Stewart vs Michaels
Tags : SHAUN STEWART, GERALDTON BUCCANEERS, AUSTRALIAN BASKETBALL
