Ralph with so much to be excited about ahead of Grand Final

Doing it for his kids was a big reason why Aaron Ralph worked so hard to return to the Geraldton Buccaneers in NBL1 West and now he'd love nothing more than to celebrate a championship with them while joining great mate Mat Wundenberg as a title winning captain.

Ralph might have nothing left to prove in his career in both the SBL and NBL1 West at the Buccs that has now spanned 433 games, and has included that first championship for the club in 19 years in 2019 that he was such a key part of.

However, the moment he ruptured his ACL late midway through the 2021 season, he knew he wasn’t ready to retire and dedicated himself firstly to becoming the best assistant coach he could be as part of a Buccaneers team that made another Grand Final in 2022.

He then committed himself to his rehab to get himself fit and raring to go for the start of the 2023 season, and a big reason for that was to share his playing days with children he has with wife Erin, Molly and Max.

The season couldn’t have gone any better for Ralph and the Buccs. He is now one win away from a fairytale return as the captain of the Buccaneers heading into Saturday night's Grand Final against the Joondalup Wolves at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Going through this whole experience with kids

A big reason Ralph was so committed to return from his knee reconstruction was because his children Molly and Max are now old enough to be able to appreciate seeing what their dad is doing out on the basketball court.

If anyone is more excited than Ralph about this Saturday night's Grand Final, it could very well be his kids and he can't wait to go through the whole experience with them this weekend.

"They wouldn’t miss it, they've already been to the shop and got streamers and everything. They are probably just as excited as me and every morning they are asking me how many more sleeps until the Grand Final," Ralph said.

"They are really excited and they are getting to an age now where they are understanding what it's all about so it's a pretty sweet feeling to be honest with you to have your kids that involved, and that excited about what you're doing. 

"They just can't wait and I'm sure you'll see them running around and crazy on Saturday night. Hopefully it can become even sweeter to celebrate with them after the game."

Feeling now to be in another Grand Final

Ralph is no stranger to being part of Grand Finals with the Buccs and even though he wasn’t out on the court last year in the eventual loss to the Rockingham Flames, he was a key part of the team still as an assistant coach while rehabbing his knee.

He was out there for the championship win in 2019 and also the Grand Final loss going back to 2014 so Saturday night will be the third he's played in, and fourth he's been part of but nothing takes away from the excitement of getting to another one.

Geraldton won the two finals matches at home in front of wild crowds at Active West Stadium to reach the Grand Final with a thrilling win over the Willetton Tigers before a dominant 36-point hammering of the Perth Redbacks.

On the back of that, Ralph is proud of his team for getting to consecutive Grand Finals with much the same team as last year aside from the recruitment of Sydney Kings NBL championship winner Zac Gattorna to replace Cameron Coleman.

Ralph's return has virtually replaced Mathiang Muo, ironically who will be playing with Joondalup in the Grand Final, and even he is pleasantly surprised with how well the season has gone.

"I'm feeling good about it all this week. It's a bit surreal actually to get to the Grand Final, I mean I thought we did have a pretty good squad but we had to overcome quite a bit during the season so I didn't know how far we'd be able to go," Ralph said. 

"But we've gelled really well and it's helped that we have had most of the team from last year and have really added Zac in and me even though I was still obviously around last year. It's good to be having another crack at one now and a much better feeling knowing I won't be sitting on the bench this time."

It wasn’t as if Ralph didn’t have full faith in what his Buccs team was capable of, he just knows how much has to go right to get to a Grand Final and missing 2019 Grand Final MVP Liam Hunt for eight games late in the campaign did throw a curve ball.

"We didn’t have Liam for those six weeks and it was in that period where we still went pretty good where I thought that actually, we are doing better than I thought so we could do something special this year," he said. 

"I thought we could go this far, but I guess I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much because a lot of things have to go right. We've all come together now, though, to be playing at our best at the right time."

Support received in Geraldton

There is no experience in the NBL1 West competition anything like being at a Buccs home game in Geraldton at Active West Stadium.

Just about every home game is sold out to capacity with upwards of 2000 people creating an unrivalled atmosphere that is equally as hostile to the opposition as it is rapturous in support of their home team.

On the back of that, the Buccaneers won all 12 games at home this season by an average of 19.2 points including the two finals triumphs to get to another Grand Final where they will take the bus down to Perth on Friday in preparation.

However, it hasn’t always been the case that the Buccs have been invincible on their home floor because of the focus opposition teams put on the trip, but right now, it's hard to imagine them losing in front of those home fans.

"We had a couple of years there where we felt a lot of teams just thrived coming up to Geraldton so we had to take their best shots in every home game we played so that was tough," Ralph said.

"But when you're playing in front of the kind of fans that we get out there, it's pretty hard to not get up for every home game. All year it's been packed out except for once and the last two weekends have just been absolutely ridiculous with the people who have been there and the noise they've made. 

"It's just been so loud in that stadium, and they play such a big part in how well we've been playing."

The whole reason the crowds are so supportive in Geraldton is because the Buccaneers really are the pride of the city. Ralph is so thankful to the way the whole community gets behind the team and they will again have no shortage of support at the Grand Final.

"We've got a whole town that's behind us which is what makes it so different to the teams down in Perth. We're the only sport in Geraldton who plays in a state league at this sort of level so everyone is pretty passionate about it," he said. 

"Down in Perth they just have their suburbs so it's a bit different. Even when you just walk around the street right now, every second person you bump into is asking about the weekend so that's when you know you have a fair bit of support. 

"Even our crowds during the season travel to support us too so now I can't wait to play in front of our fans that are coming to Bendat this weekend. Hopefully we can put on a show for them."

Taking on Wolves in another Grand Final

The opponents in Saturday night's Grand Final for Ralph and the Buccs are a familiar foe as they battle the Joondalup Wolves.

It was also the Wolfpack that the Buccaneers defeated in the 2019 Grand Final, but both teams are markedly different from that decider only four years ago.

With Geraldton, only coach Dayle Joseph, Ralph, Mat Wundenberg and Hunt remain while at the Wolfpack, they now have a new coach with David Morrell and a totally new playing squad aside from captain Jordan Wellsteed.

However, Ralph can't wait to take them on and has always enjoyed the battles over his career with the men in green.

"It's a great thing to be playing them again and the Wolves have one of the better supporting crowds in Perth as well so it's going to be set up for a great atmosphere that's for sure," Ralph said.

"We've changed a lot too and I think there's only three of us left from 2019 so both teams have definitely changed a lot from that last Grand Final we played. I'm just really looking forward to playing them, they're a highly skilled and well coached, and drilled team. It's going to be a dog fight I think."

It might have shocked many in the NBL1 West community when the reigning champion Rockingham Flames didn’t make the Grand Final, but Ralph was far from surprised that the Wolves were able to knock them off in the preliminary final.

With a team featuring imports Quintin Dove and CJ Turnage, and new recruits, Bryan Michaels, Ioannis Dimakopoulos and Muo, Ralph always knew it was a tough Joondalup team and that's what he's expecting to come up against in the Grand Final.

"I'm not surprised at all really. We've played Joondalup twice this year and they are tough. I wasn’t surprised when we finished our game on Saturday and got into the changeroom, and had a look and it was a tight game they were having with Rockingham," he said. 

"It's not often in finals games that there are blow outs so it was no real surprise they were able to beat Rockingham because we know how good of a team they are. But for us, we were just happy to get there and didn’t really mind who we were facing."

Tough lessons from last year's Grand Final

Last year's Grand Final result was tough to stomach for everyone at the Buccaneers given how well they played against Rockingham in the opening three quarters before being overpowered down the stretch. 

To then have to see the Flames go to Melbourne and become National Champions only rubbed it in further, but Ralph hopes that the Buccs can learn from those tough lessons especially considering the majority of the playing group is back for another go.

"Like with any finals game, it's not over until it's over and last year we played really well up until the third quarter and obviously Rockingham were a pretty tough team," Ralph said.

"They just got on a run at the right time and you definitely learn so that if you get in those situations again you can respond differently to it hopefully. We will just see how it eventuates on the weekend now."

The comeback season

To watch Ralph play this season and really, you would have never known that he was a player that missed 18 months of basketball with his knee injury.

He has picked right back up where he left off and it's not just his numbers of 10.9 points and 4.3 rebounds a game, but he's gone 67/151 at 44.4 per cent from three-point range again, remains the ultimate pest to opposition teams and is an outstanding captain.

Ralph has now knocked down 1008 three-pointers over his 433-game career with the Buccaneers that started back in 2006 as he chases down the record of 1097 from Ryan Neill with the Cockburn Cougars and Perth Redbacks.

He might find it a bit surreal that the comeback has gone so well to where he's leading his team into a Grand Final this week, but he also put in a lot of work to get back.

"It's a little bit surreal with how well the year's gone really. After being out for a year and coming back, as the season has progressed I'm feeling a lot better and the knee is feeling 100 per cent now so there's no issues with that," Ralph said.

"I'm just that excited now for Saturday night. Even on Sunday morning I woke up and just wanted the game to be here, I'm just so excited to get back out there with the boys now.

"I did put in a fair bit of hard work off the court to get myself back to be honest, but in saying that even before the injury I wasn’t exactly an explosive kind of player so I didn’t think it would be that hard to get back to where I wanted to be. 

"It still did take a lot of hard work but I'm just happy to be back and being able to contribute, and help guide the boys through."

Bond with coach Joseph

You can't have the sustained success that the Buccaneers have now been able to have without having an outstanding coach, and while Dayle Joseph might not always get a lot of attention outside of Geraldton, he certainly deserves to.

The championship winning coach from 2019 is certainly respected from his peers throughout the NBL1 West having now won back-to-back Coach of the Year awards, and Ralph just can't speak more highly of the bond he has with him.

"I'd like to think it's a pretty close bond we have and he's more than just a coach to me anyway. The way he prepares and gets us ready during the week with our game plan, it's second to none in my opinion," Ralph said.

"He gets the boys all ready and it's not just him too, Duc (Aaron Ducas) has been around for 18 years as an assistant coach now and he has his say. Carter (Cook) has been exceptional this year as well stepping up a little bit as a lead assistant, and he just knows the game. 

"But with all the coaches, they're not just coaches to most of us because we spend so much time on top of each other on the road that we can't help but become pretty good mates. That bond is pretty integral to the way we go as well."

Great mate will be on 499 games after Grand Final

Speaking of bonds, Ralph has developed a lifelong bond with 2019 championship winning captain Mat Wundenberg and has played his entire career alongside the big man.

Wundenberg will now be sitting on 499 games after Saturday night's Grand Final so is in a fascinating position regarding what he does moving forward, but Ralph won't be broaching the subject with him.

Instead, all Ralph is focused on is joining him as a championship winning captain with the Buccaneers and then celebrating together.

"He's a very stubborn person so I don't think he'll be asking me for any advice, and I definitely won't be offering him any in terms of that," Ralph said. 

"He's my best mate, but I wouldn’t even try telling him which way to go and I'll just let him make his own decision. 

"But if Saturday night goes the right way, it would be a pretty special little ending for him but knowing Mat, he's such a competitor and his body is feeling as good as ever so if he wanted to go on, he could. He just loves being around it at all and I honestly don’t know what he's thinking, and I'm not even going to bother asking him."