Cougars on their mettle for Buccs game in Geraldton

Adam Nener suited up against the likes of Mat Wundenberg and Aaron Ralph when he played basketball for Willetton and later Cockburn.

Now he’s coaching against them.

“They were good then, they’re still good and lead by example,” Nener said.

“Throw in (Willie) Conner and (Colton) Lasher and they’ve got some talent. And then there’s Alipate and that Kiwi fella. And what about Liam Hunt, he’s most underrated by teams. Have to find a way of shutting some of them down.”

Nener is the coach of the Cockburn Cougars, who are winless after three SBL games this season and face the toughest of tough assignments tomorrow night: the Geraldton Buccaneers on their home court.

“We will leave Cockburn at 7.30am on Saturday because the D-grade are playing the curtain-raiser. We will stay the night in Geraldton and hit the road again first thing on Sunday,” Nener said.

“It’s always fun playing in Geraldton as the atmosphere is good.

“This is my third year coaching and hopefully we are improving. We had a big turnover the first year but now have a core group.

“We’re still waiting on our import (Eric Millam) to arrive and we’re short on depth.

“We had a good first half against Rockingham last week, before they blew us away to win by 30. But we’re getting better.”