THE return of championship winning coach Ben Ettridge has coincided with him leading the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves to the men's SBL minor premiership for 2015 and he believes their last loss might have given them just the incentive to dominate.

Ettridge has returned to coach the Wolfpack in 2015 after a couple of years away on the back of winning the 2011 championship, and he took over a team that narrowly missed the playoffs altogether, but they are now guaranteed of the minor premiership with two games remaining.

The Wolves are now currently on a five-game winning streak since a surprise loss to the Perry Lakes Hawks back in Week 14, and it was the Week 17 win over the Geraldton Buccaneers in Geraldton that secured the minor premiership.

They now finish this Friday night away to Lakeside and then the following Saturday night against East Perth and Ettridge certainly isn’t going to deny that he's delighted to have guaranteed top spot.

"I wouldn’t say we set our target on it, we wanted a top four finish just to give ourselves that home court advantage throughout the finals," Ettridge told SBL Slam on 98five SonshineFM.

"And the way the season has progressed and the guys have come together, that's what has eventuated for us and we'll take it. Finishing one or two would have been nice so it's a good way to come back into the league after two years away."

While Ettridge would have been happy to have not lost a game at all, he was at least happy that the surprise loss to the Hawks happened when it did so that the Wolves could bounce back.

And bounce back they have done with commanding wins over the Rockingham Flames, South West Slammers, Mandurah Magic, Geraldton Buccaneers and Cockburn Cougars, all in the top eight, to now be deserved championship favourites with two rounds of the regular season to go.

"You never want to go out and lose a game, and you're always playing to win, but that was a bit of a wake up call for the boys that we can't just turn up and teams will roll over," he said.

"To Perry Lakes' credit, Bryton Hobbs came back and we've seen the full potential of him over the last six or seven games as to the impact a guy like him can have on the league.

"It was the one that we probably had to have and it's better to have it in the middle of the season than in one of the finals games. We've learnt from it, we've got better and we have strung together five good games since then."

Ettridge can't speak highly enough of the efforts of former league MVP Damian Matacz either and with the way the veteran has embraced his role off the bench as a leader both in the second unit, and with helping the likes of Kevin Davis and Louis Timms develop on and off the court.

"Damo is the guy we all look up to and want to play like, and we want to be a guy like him off the floor as well. He' a great bloke and he's still the first guy at practice, and the last to leave," he said.

"Just having a guy like him around a relatively inexperienced import like Kevin Davis has been important and Kevin's learnt so much from him off the court.

"You put his leadership with someone like Robbie Huntington who has stepped up into that role and again someone like Louis Timms who is trying to find his way onto that next level, if he can follow Damo's path he will have a very successful career.

"We can't speak highly enough of Damo. He is the anchor and really holds together that second five for us and his leadership along with Brad Robbins is just phenomenal."

And while the Wolves team has stars leading the way like Trian Iliadis, Seb Salinas, Davis and Rob Huntington, Ettridge believes the recruitment of Joel Questel this season from the Kalamunda Eastern Suns has been as big an acquisition as Joondalup has made.

He has been outstanding with his poise and experience and leadership, and also having someone like Ben Ironmonger prepared to play their role is something Ettridge credits as a major reason why the Wolves are going as well as they are.

"Joel sort of fell into our lap and we were very, very lucky to land him. He's just a great fit and you are getting a captain from another club who has played a couple of hundred SBL games. He is a quiet leader but when he speaks the boys listen and I think defensively he is underrated," Ettridge said.

"His on-ball defence is excellent and when you've got two wings like Seb and Trian, you need a guy who can spoon feed them a bit and Joel does that a bit, and if you leave him open he can knock down a shot.

"Benny Ironmonger is one of those kids who could be starting if the situation was a bit different, but he's happy to play a role. He's another one who fits into that second five for us that gives us the back up to Seb and Trian, and he doesn’t take his foot off the pedal when he's out there. He's been great every time he's got the opportunity."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography