Geraldton Buccaneers captain Aaron Ralph reaches 450 NBL1 West games this weekend and is closing in on being the league's all-time three-point leader, but all he cares about is continuing to help the Buccs win with new goals to shoot for.
Ralph grew up in Geraldton dreaming of playing for the Buccaneers and one of those men he looked up to was Greg Brown. Now this weekend on the double-header on the road for the Buccs, Ralph will join him on 450 games in the SBL/NBL1 West.
The dream began to come to life when Ralph was just a 16-year-old making his debut in 2006 and Brown was a teammate of his then. What he has done ever since and continues to do to this day means that he is as much a Geraldton legend as any of those men he looked up to.
The current youngsters in Geraldton no doubt idolise Ralph just like he did his heroes from his childhood. It's been a career now that is about to reach 450 games this Sunday and it just happens to be at Bendat Basketball Centre where he's celebrated his two championships.
Ralph was a key part of that drought breaking 2019 championship and then was captain in 2023 for a second triumph, and right now he's leading the Buccs to leading the league at 13-1 as they attempt to win back-to-back titles for the first time.
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Feeling to get 450-game milestone
Ralph isn’t one to worry too much about individual accolades, but reaching 450 games does put him in rare company with only Seb Salinas, Troy Clarke, Mat Wundenberg, Ryan Neill, Joe-Alan Tupaea, Travis Moore and Greg Brown having also got there.
It's something that he's proud of although catching the top two is going to be mighty tough considering old rival Salinas (526) and best mate Wundenberg (513) continue to play.
"I haven’t really thought too much about it, but I did know it was coming up," Ralph said.
"It's the sort of thing that's the last thing on my mind really, but it is something I'll reflect back on when I finish playing and be pretty proud of.
"Mat's obviously over 500 now and he's going to be very hard to chase down because I'm getting older and he's still playing but it's pretty cool to reach a mark that a couple of legends of the club have got to. It's nice to be in the same breath as those sort of guys."
Joining Greg Brown on 450 games
To now be about to join one of his childhood idols Brown on 450 games this weekend is something that Ralph will always cherish.
He never imagined such a thing was possible when he played that first game as a 16-year-old alongside Brown back in 2006, but it's one of the things that makes the Buccs so special is the bond with the community and the current and former players.
"I only got to play with him towards the end of his career, but I grew up idolising him and wanting to be like Greg as everyone in Geraldton did," he said.
"He was an amazing player and to get the chance to play with him, and learn from him was amazing. It wasn’t just him, but also Bunts (Jason Bunter), Ray (Evans) and even though I didn’t get the privilege to play with Dan (Hunt), I still learned a lot from him as a coach.
"It's awesome to have those guys still in town and involved at the club, but back then in my early days they were a pretty big part of my career at the start for sure."
Still playing well on reaching 450
With the way Ralph will always do whatever he can to help Geraldton win as many games as possible and to always put the team first, a milestone like 450 games would be something he would give up if he wasn’t still playing well and contributing.
Given the injuries to Johny Narkle and Josh Braun, he's had to even move back into the starting line-up and play more minutes than his legs might be enjoying, but the best thing about the milestone is the high level he's continuing to play at.
His ability to not only hit big shots, but to make them when they matter most and when games are on the line is what he's always going to be remembered for.
While he might think he can play better personally, the reality is he is playing as well as ever this season and showing no signs of slowing down even upon reaching 450 games and at 35 years of age.
"I still feel like I can play a bit better but it does help with the guys that we've got around us," Ralph said.
"The guys we've brought in and then to still be playing with Mat and Liam and those guys, and bringing Bob through, it kinda keeps you young.
"We've got a couple of us older guys, but then playing with that youth means there's always competition at training so you always have to be on your game. Some of our sessions get pretty intense and they are good hit outs, and fun to be part of."
Three-point shooting
With Ralph about to become the eighth man in league history to 450 games and the third to do it with Geraldton behind Wundenberg and Brown, he's also quickly tracking down Ryan Neill's all-time three-point record of 1097.
Ralph has now hit 45 in his 14 games this season and is within touching distance of hitting that mark this season if he continues on the pace he's on now needing just another 43 to equal the record, and 44 to break it.
A record like that is the last thing Ralph's thinking about and not many of the 1054 stick out, but the first certainly does and so does the one earlier this season to force overtime against the Goldfields Giants that has to be still seen to be believed.
"I don’t think there's been any luckier shots than that one, that's for sure. It was pretty cool and I've never hit a shot like that before, it's pretty funny actually to look back on," Ralph said.
"The only other one that really sticks out would be the first shot that I made. That was a three-pointer too so if anything that is the one that sticks out to me, but I'm not playing to chase record and all I care about is us winning as many games possible.
"As for that first shot, it was against Mandurah at home and it was a pump fake, one dribble and was nothing but net. It felt pretty cool because I was only a 16-year-old kid."
What could still lie ahead in 2024
When you've played 448 games like Ralph has, when you've won two championship and being captain in one of those, when you've made over 1000 shots, and talked more on the court than anyone in league history, it's not easy to come up with new experiences.
However, there is the lure of some special experiences should the Buccs keep on winning in 2024 with the NBL1 West Grand Final to be played at RAC Arena for the first time and then the winner getting to go to the National Finals on the Sunshine Coast.
They would both be experiences Ralph would embrace, but he's not getting ahead of himself.
"It would be a cool little bonus of course, but not one of us guys are thinking that far ahead right now," he said.
"We're just focusing on the job at hand and the old cliché of one week at a time. It doesn’t matter who you're playing in this league, nothing's easy and every team is tough and capable of beating you.
"But if those sort of things did happen, it would be a lot of fun to be part of especially if it's a sold out RAC Arena. That would be pretty sick but that's a long way away and we have a lot of things we want to achieve before then and even thinking about that."
Haven't yet been at full strength
While the Buccaneers are currently clear on top of the table in the NBL1 West as reigning champs and having lost just one game, they are yet to have been at full strength at any point.
Grand Final MVP Johny Narkle has now missed the last 10 games, former league MVP Josh Braun is working back from a hamstring injury and new arrival Junior Garbrah is still settling in.
The scary thing that means for the rest of the league is that Ralph feels they can still get a lot better the rest of 2024.
"I've said to the boys that we have had a big chuck of our scorers out for a lot of the year so far so we're all pretty excited to get back to full strength, my legs are probably the most excited," he said.
"Josh is getting back nearly to 100 per cent now and he's been easing his way back in, and Johny is just about ready to come back too.
"Then we've got Nik (DeSantis) and Josh Keyes who have fitted in perfectly too and it's been seamless moulding them into our system, and hopefully we can keep things rolling."
Taking pride in the Geraldton local talent
While the Buccs do well with their recruiting and their import duo of Josh Braun and Joshua Keyes this season is first class along with bringing in South Australian point guard Nik DeSantis who is putting himself in MVP calculations with his all-round game, it's a club based around local talent.
Whether it's long-time servants like Ralph, Wundenberg and Liam Hunt or the emerging Johny Narkle and then the next generation of Bob Griechen who is about to go to college, it's something Ralph takes great pride in.
"We've been lucky enough to have some talent come through and we did lose some talent along the way too, but to get them to come along and play a little bit is good before they head off," Ralph said.
"We like to think we can help them learn a bit by playing with some veterans but it's great seeing them come through.
"Bob's a great kid and it's good to get him in the mix before he goes away like we did with Alex (Ducas) going back a few years, and to have Johny around as well, he's in the top echelon of players in the league.
"He's itching to get back and we're itching to have him back. You've got Liam as well along with myself and Mat who have been around for a while so we take pride in our local talent and we always have, and we all enjoying playing with each other."
Having kids continuing to watch their dad
Above everything else Ralph has done and continues to do in his basketball career, nothing tops sharing it with wife Erin and their daughter Molly and son Max.
Experiencing that championship last year with them especially after the heartbreak of the year before is something he'll never forget, and the longer he keeps playing the more his kids can embrace what their dad is doing.
"They're another year older so they are loving coming to basketball. It's the highlight of the week for them every Saturday night to come down, but they get disappointed for our road trips because they have to miss out," Ralph said.
"Having them there for the Grand Final was really cool though. My little girl always kept bringing up after we lost the year before and said that was the first time she'd seen me cry.
"Then last year she said that they were happy tears so it was pretty awesome to have them come down on the court after the game. That was really special and one of the things I will never forget so that's a memory we'll always have that's pretty sweet."
