Julian Pesava had been quite the journeyman since a 2016 championship with Cockburn, but now hopes to have found a home with Mandurah Magic and is looking forward to celebrating his birthday in Saturday night's NBL1 West Grand Final.
Pesava turns 29 on Saturday and what a way to celebrate by being part of the first ever NBL1 West Grand Final at RAC Arena to finish off his first season with the Magic with the faith he had in coach Mark Utley's vision in Mandurah paying full dividends.
Since his time in college at Wayland Baptist University, has played at a different club and been in at least a different city if not country year after year starting off coming back to the Cockburn Cougars in 2018.
He then spent the next two seasons playing in Germany and then his return to the NBL1 West saw him head to Kalgoorlie to play with the Goldfields Giants in 2021.
It was then back to Perth but with the Joondalup Wolves in 2022, before a season in the NBL1 South at the Mount Gambier Pioneers. When he was thinking of what to do in 2024, he thought it might be time to try and find somewhere to settle.
Pesava then instantly bought into the vision Utley had for Mandurah and while the signatures of Lachlan Bertram, Michael Durr, Corey Easley, Jermaine Malie, Jarrod Molnar, and finally MVP Joel Murray were to come, Pesava was the first to sign up to come to the Magic.
Pesava bought into the vision so much that he now lives in Meadow Springs, only 6km outside the heart of Mandurah, and now that he is part of a team to reach a Grand Final, he would love his stay at the Magic to be a longer one.
Looking back on travels in last six years
Pesava began his SBL career at the Lakeside Lightning back in 2014 as a teenager before moving to the Cougars and going on to become a key member of their championship team under the coaching of Matt Parsons.
He was then off to college and spent three years at Wayland Baptist University and it's been quite the journey since playing with the Cougars, Giants and Wolves in the NBL1 West along with time in Germany and at Mount Gambier.
However, he is now hoping that he has a 29th birthday to treasure forever on Saturday night to conclude what he hopes is the first of many seasons with the Magic.
"There's been a lot of travels that's for sure the last few years. I've been away from my family a lot and have spent a lot of time a long way from home, but that's where it's good coming here to Mandurah and being quite close to back home," Pesava said.
"I can go back to see my parents and a lot of my close friends a lot easier which is nice. It has been nice to do so much travelling, but now as I'm getting older and am turning 29 this Saturday on the Grand Final, I would like to stay closer to home and settle somewhere after all the moving around the world I've done even though I've had some great experiences."
Making sure Marshall Nelson doesn't go for 48
Saturday night will also see Pesava back out on the same court as Marshall Nelson with Mandurah taking on the Willetton Tigers in the Grand Final at RAC Arena.
It's the sort of stage they dreamed of being on together throughout their junior days, time at college together and now since both being back in Perth of working in coaching and training programs together.
Pesava proudly calls him a close friend, but he also has that competitive drive to make sure Nelson doesn't continue his heroics that included 48 points last Thursday night against Rockingham.
"It will definitely be a memorable birthday that's for sure and even getting to share the court with Marshall who I went to college with and have spent so much time with, that's going to be fun," Pesava said.
"I'm very proud of Marshall for what he has done especially this post-season, but we're always competitive each other and I'd like to think I will back myself guarding him if I get caught in that situation on Saturday night.
"There'll be some friendly banter for sure, but I'm definitely not going to let him go for 48."
Desire to be part of Utley's Magic vision
After Pesava's season at Mount Gambier ended last year, he caught wind of what Utley was wanting to build in Mandurah and it didn’t take him long to know he wanted to be part of it.
Pesava was the first player Utley was able to recruit to this Magic team for 2024 and Pesava just knew that he was the sort of coach every player wants to play for.
"I've played against Utley's teams for a lot of years now obviously in the SBL and NBL1, and I've always liked how free flowing his offences are and how they give his players the opportunity to be aggressive," Pesava said.
"So it was mainly wanting to be part of that playing style and Utley had the faith in me which is why I had the desire to come to Mandurah this year."
However, being a good player's coach isn’t just about giving your players freedom, it's also all about finding the right pieces to run the system you want to run and then also putting them in a situation to be able the thrive.
That's something Pesava always had faith in Utley being able to do. If you look at having Joel Murray and Lachlan Bertram in the back court, having wings like himself and Jarrod Molnar, and then Michael Durr up front, they all have defined roles to maximise their strengths.
There's also good back up with Jermaine Malie and Chad Miegel to help in the back court, Corey Easley and Dion Collins there to help Durr down low, and Pesava isn’t surprised how it's come together.
"He (Utley) is definitely a good recruiter that's for sure and then he gives us that confidence to play freely and aggressively is a big help us as well," he said.
"He doesn’t put any restrictions on what we can do out there, like Jarrod can go out there and shoot confidently each time and the coach will back him in. So whatever our strengths are, he wants us to go out there and play with that freedom so that's all you can really want as a player."
Team chemistry and belief was key
Utley took over the Magic in 2023 but he never really got to build that team for himself and didn’t have time to create much, it was just a matter of trying to get through that season and build something for the future.
The fact that Mandurah has now gone from winning just two games to reaching the club's first ever men's Grand Final is a remarkable story and especially with the way they had to get there.
First up in the finals and the Magic had to go to Geraldton for a qualifying final and despite being without Pesava and Bertram, and with Murray under the weather, they still pushed the Buccs right to the brink.
That gave Mandurah confidence and they were back to a sold out Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre on Friday night on the way to a 17-point win against the Goldfields Giants.
Then on Sunday and the Magic had to overcome a 17-point deficit before forcing the Joondalup Wolves to overtime, and then prevailing and Pesava always stayed confident what was possible.
"Firstly it's just such a nice story that we went from finishing bottom last year to now making a Grand Final so we don't want to lose sight of that, but it was just about finding the strength through team chemistry and digging deep when the game's on the line," Pesava said.
"Especially in that Joondalup game, we lost to them earlier in the season and they were one of the teams we couldn’t wait to get another chance against.
"Then we got down by 20 and we just had to stick together, and we were able to rally and get back into the game. It's not often that you can get to a Grand Final so it's special to do it with this group and because of the belief we have in each other."
Always positive in what was possible
Even when Taj Benning was a late withdrawal from the Magic squad for 2024 when he got an assistant coaching job in college and he was ultimately replaced by Murray, Pesava always had full faith in what Mandurah would be capable of.
Then once Murray hit the floor for the first just days after arriving in the country, suddenly Pesava thought not only could this team be a finals contender, but a championship wasn’t out of the realms of being possible.
Now they are one game away from making history on Saturday night.
"I was always positive from the start and even when some things popped like last minute our first import had to pull out, but it was once Joel arrived and realising what he can do is when we all had that belief about what we could do this year," Pesava said.
"Then once we saw him on the court we started to think we actually could go all the way and I was always positive from the start with the calibre of players that we brought in, but then once I saw Joel I really thought we could win this whole thing.
"You always want to be positive about trying to win it going into every season, but then the longer the season went that's when I saw that we had a real shot at it that doesn’t come around too often."
Mandurah community behind the team
Pesava might be new to the Magic and to living in the Mandurah community, but it hasn’t taken long for him to realise the support the team receives. He has no doubt the city will be behind them come Saturday night.
"We 100 per cent feel like Mandurah is behind us and there's a real community feel behind the whole club here," Pesava said.
"I've had so many people either congratulating us or encouraging us for the Grand Final this week, and there's a great feeling that we have Mandurah behind us and backing us for this last game.
"A lot of people are just telling us to do it for one more game and there's a real feeling how much the community is around the club."
