Geraldton hopes to ‘Bucc’ trend on road

With just under a third of the SBL season completed the S&K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers are among a logjam of teams fighting to consolidate their position in the top eight.

But while the Buccs have displayed swashbuckling form at Activewest Stadium — winning all four games, including a stirring victory over SBL powerhouse the Joondalup Wolves — they have been all at sea away from home, winning just one of four so far.

However, despite their so-so form on the road, coach Aaron Trahair said they would resist the temptation to tinker with the strategy and routine they have followed so far this season.

Instead, Trahair backed his players in to respond and said he is hoping his side will “Bucc” the trend in this weekend’s double-header, starting with their match-up against the 4-4 Perry Lakes Hawks.

“We’ll concentrate on the Saturday night game and put all our time and effort into working out how to attack that,” he said.

“Hopefully (we’ll) get the win there and have a bit of a free swing on the Sunday so to speak.”

While the Hawks will be without star point guard Bryton Hobbs, who broke his wrist earlier in the year, the Buccs will still have to contend with 211cm big man Brian Carwell.

The star centre has been in dominant form recently and Trahair said they had put in a lot of effort at training this week to stopping the inside force, even conceding they may have to double team him.

“I think early on I’ll just trust in Mat (Wundenberg) to play him one-on-one but if he starts to get on top of us that will definitely be an option,” he said.

“The last two weeks in particular I think we’ve trained a lot better and looked a lot sharper. I think that’s shown on the court so I’m just hoping that that translates into Saturday night.”

Point guard Beau Samuelson is the only player in doubt for this weekend’s games because of the ankle injury he suffered last weekend, but will travel down with the team.

However, promising youngster Madison Stoveld will not be suiting up for Geraldton again this year, after recently informing the club he would be returning to Perth after being unable to find work.

“It’s disappointing because he has a lot of upside. He’ll be a hell of a player in a couple of years if he wants to be,” Trahair said.

“He has all the potential and physical tools to be excellent so I wish him all the best in the future, and hopefully he keeps playing.”

After taking on Perry Lakes on Saturday night, the Buccs will conclude their road trip against last weekend’s opponents, Stirling, on Sunday afternoon.