Geraldton Buccaneers face Goldfields Giants in do-or-die semifinals clash in NBL1 West

After dropping the qualifying final at home last week to the Warwick Senators by 31 points, the Geraldton Buccaneers will be looking bounce back with only one more chance left to continue their run in the 2025 finals.

Having beaten the Senators on the other two occasions this season, Buccs’ coach Dayle Joseph said it was a case of spending their tickets earlier in the season against Warwick.

“We might have played our hand a little bit early with the Senators, beating them twice earlier and having a bit of a game plan to do that,” he said.

“So we didn’t have an answer to their offence on the night.

“They put us out of our structures a little bit, and that’s obviously a bit more physical pressure than usual.

“They did well to keep us to under 100 but when any team shoots as well as they did, it’s hard to contain them to under 100 themselves.”

Last time the Buccs met the Giants, it was a road trip to Kalgoorlie in round 12 that led to a win for the Buccs with Johny Narkle scoring a mammoth 53 points, leading the Buccs to a 47-point victory.

The Buccs got the Giants when they were on their knees after four consecutive losses and without star player and former championship Buccaneer Shaun Stewart. But now with a big elimination final win against Mandurah Magic last week and Stewart well and truly back in the team, the Buccs will have to be at their absolute best.

Stewart, the former Bucc, will return to Geraldton for the first time since being a member of the 2023 championship winning side. He now leads the Giants as captain with the goal of ending the Buccs’ season.

If this season’s history is anything to go by then you would be backing in the Buccs at home on Friday night as they fire back after their loss to the Senators.

The biggest home loss of the Buccs’ season came in round six at the hands of the East Perth Eagles who swooped to steal a three point win.

While it wasn’t a big loss in terms of margin, it was a loss against a side that at the time were sitting in the bottom half of the ladder and managed to beat the Buccs in their own backyard.

From then on, the Buccs only lost one other game for the rest of the season (against Willetton Tigers) — sparking a run home of 11 straight wins. The question now is how will the boys in blue and gold respond?

Joseph said the feeling among the group heading into Friday’s do-or-die clash was a sense of excitement as the side looked to revert back to their traditional way of playing.

“Look, we were certainly disappointed after the loss (against Warwick) but we didn’t dive too much into it,” Joseph said.

“We sort of came to the conclusion that the way we played against the Senators wasn’t our traditional way of playing.

“So we will go back to what works and that is out traditional style of game which the boys are excited to execute.”

Goldfields Giants coach Lennon Smartt told the Kalgoorlie Miner earlier this week that his side are looking at breaking even with the Buccs after their big loss back in round 12.

“We’re good and I’m happy we’re going there (Geraldton) ready to take them on,” Smartt said.

“We owe them one from last time when they embarrassed us at our house, and we plan to do the same thing to them.”

Joseph on the other hand isn’t too worried about the Giants approach, indicating that the group aren’t putting a lot of thought into what happened last time the two sides met.

“I don’t think the result back then really means anything,” Joseph said.

“Yes, we had a convincing win but we will treat them like anyone else that comes to Geraldton.

“We just want to win, it doesn’t matter to us how we do that.”

If the Buccs win on Friday night, they will have to back-up quickly and play a preliminary final against the Willetton Tigers in Perth on Sunday.

Tip-off on Friday at Activewest Stadium is at 7pm.