Geraldton Buccaneers welcome Senators as they look to build off Cougar showing

The Geraldton Buccaneers will be back in front of the home fans after two weeks away as they prepare to take on fellow finals contenders the Warwick Senators this weekend. The Buccs sit in sixth spot after splitting results against the Joondalup Wolves and Cockburn Cougars with a 2-2 record while the Senators sit in fifth at 2-1 after taking down the Goldfield Giants last round. While coach Dayle Joseph was disappointed after being run down by the Wolves on Saturday night he was pleased with his side’s ability to turn it around. “We were obviously we were disappointed with the Saturday game I thought we did some really good things and put ourselves in a winning position a couple of times but wasn’t able to get ourselves over the line,” he said. “But they’re a quality team and probably going to be a top two team in the competition so to push them as early as we did and have opportunities, I think that’s probably could take a positive out of that.” “It’s been a fair while since we’ve lost two games on the road and they didn’t want to be part of that so they pulled out everything they had on Sunday and to be consistent for 40 minutes as well was great.” Compared with their 10-0 run to start last year, a 2-2 result may not look as promising but Joseph is happy with the team’s development over the opening weeks. “When you look back we might have won 10 games in a row but ultimately, we didn’t win the championship it’s a long season, and we want to put ourselves in a position where we make finals and then go from there,” he said. “There’ll be some hiccups along the way, I’m sure but its how we respond to those and what we use those losses or those hiccups for that is important. “I still think there’s still a little bit more to go but there have been some big improvements just in two weeks, getting out and playing games and being tested against quality opposition is sort of highlighted a few of the things we need to be better at quickly.” Joseph is preparing for another quality game against the Senators believing defence will be the key. “They did defend a little differently to some of the other teams we play against so we’ll be paying a bit of attention to that, the way we run out stuff and then obviously defence plays a big part in the way we play the game too,” he said. “So we want to lock them down, make things tough, you know, force them to make tough shots, and the guys have been running really well. “I’ve been loving what we’ve been doing, getting rebounds outlet paths and running really hard into our offence and, and getting some fast breaks and putting teams under pressure early in the offence.” The Buccs may have a strengthened bench this weekend with Robert Greichen returning from State duties though it is uncertain whether he will be in the line-up on the weekend. “Generally when some of the guys come back from the sort of championship so I usually like to rest because they’ve been pretty full on for a little bit,” Joseph said. “The week off might do him good without throwing him in the deep end this weekend and then we’ll see what happens the week after.” The Buccs tip-off against the Senators at 7pm on Saturday at Activewest Stadium.