Going back-to-back focus for Willetton captain in career-best form

She is already a championship winning captain, but that desire to keep improving has seen Desiree Kelley take her game to another level in 2022 and that competitive drive to try and go back-to-back for the Willetton Tigers remains as strong as ever.

Kelley has now played over 200 games at the Tigers and her journey started as a young player developing under superstars winning championships, and now she is that captain and star who the next generation are developing under at the NBL1 West Women's trendsetting club.

Willetton has already won nine women's championships and Kelley has been part of two of them going back to when she was a young player behind the likes of Kate Malpass, Louella Tomlinson, Zoe Harper and Ebony Antonio in 2016, and then in 2021 when she was the captain.

Kelley has always been a standout all-round player who can shoot and score, run the team's offence and set up her teammates, and then play outstanding defence with her natural smarts and athleticism.

However, the 27-year-old is having the best season now of her 201-game career having put together 15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists a game while shooting at 38.8 per cent from the field, 36.4 per cent from three-point range and 85.0 per cent at the free-throw line.

Then in last Saturday night's preliminary final she stepped up when it mattered most with 28 points and 10 rebounds while hitting eight three-pointers in the win against the Joondalup Wolves to win their way into another Grand Final.

Kelley has already crammed plenty into her 201-game career with the two championships, and while she's happy to have been put in positions to show her full array of talents by coach Simon Parker in 2022, it's all about winning for her at the end of the day.

"It's something that I've gotten older my game has been able to mature mentally and physically," Kelley said.

"I guess my smarts of the game have improved so I have a better feel of the whereabouts of the game and whether it's knowing when to take shots or run the time clock, or take on defensive assignments. 

"There's been a lot more that I've been able to grow and I think I have been able to put in a lot more this season, pre-season included, with time and effort into my game. I'd like to think that's been showing and I am feeling really good about where I've come and from seasons prior to what I've been able to develop and now to have trust from the coaches and teammates to take those shots at crucial moments in the game. 

"It's all about your teammates really and I wouldn’t be having this sort of season if my teammates didn’t trust in me to take those shots. I think we all work to each other's strength and everyone has probably had a really good season. We don't win games from just one person, it's a team effort always and I think it's something that Willetton is really good at. 

"We don’t just have one person that we solely rely on any given night to drop 20 or 30. It's always been a collective team effort and I'm not someone who would ever want to be that person who scores 30 or 35 but nobody else is scoring and you're not winning. I want everyone to feel part of it and I think that's what we do so great at Willetton, we are a hard team to stop because it's hard to know who to send your best weapon to. 

"It's been nice for me to get that recognition from Simon to put the ball in my hands a bit more, but I don’t play for that. I play to win and to compete, and if anything else is happening it's a bonus and I pride myself on my defence and rebounding, and if my shots drop then that's just an extra."

The Tigers will now take on the Warwick Senators at Bendat Basketball Centre on Friday night with Kelley desperate to try and lead Willetton to back-to-back titles for the first time since the three-peat in 2009-10-11.

While this season hasn't been as smooth sailing, the Tigers have had a target on their backs as the defending champions and Kelley is proud they've found a way to get back to a Grand Final.

"I think last year going into the Grand Final we had finished top of the ladder but this year we had a bit more of a bumpy journey to get there, but that makes it mean a little bit more," Kelley said.

"Especially trying to obviously go back-to-back which is the end goal. It's sometimes harder the second time around than the first time, and Willetton is kind of always one of those teams without a lot of hype around them. 

"But to be honest, we love that and we love being the underdog when it comes to games with people underestimating what we're able to do even though we are the defending champs. 

"It was very evident in our preliminary final how much it meant to us with the adrenaline, excitement and intensity that all the girls had. It was second to none so it was an amazing feeling and we just need to carry it through to Friday night's game."

Willetton was the dominant team in the NBL1 West competition last year on the way to beating the Wolfpack in the Grand Final, but the going has been significantly more challenging throughout 2022.

Even though the Tigers have had a similar group added to with the recruiting of Tayla Hepburn, and despite winning 11 straight through the midpoint of the season, they went into the finals losing their last two to Lakeside and Cockburn.

Willetton then lost in the qualifying final to the Senators but they bounced back with two wins last week at home to the Cockburn Cougars and then on the road to Joondalup to advance to this Friday's Grand Final.

While there have been hiccups along the way, Kelley always had the belief Willetton could deliver when it matters most and sometimes feeling what losing is like only makes you hungrier to win to avoid that again.

"I think to appreciate winning you need to experience what losing feels like," Kelley said.

"Obviously the games that we did drop weren’t ideal and you never want to lose, but it did make us realise what that feeling of losing was like, and how easy what you are working towards for the end of the season can be gone in an instant. 

"That gave us that extra drive as a team to not feel like that again and definitely know for myself I'm a very competitive person so I never want to lose at the best of times. But I think when your season's on the line, we were lucky to have the second chance by finishing in the top four and getting to have another go at Cockburn was a big thing.

"That was also the 200th game for Emma and I too so we had that bit of extra fuel to the fire to not want to lose in a milestone game and with it being an elimination final. It was an awesome effort from the girls really to be able to play how we did on Thursday and then back it up on Saturday against Joondalup who had been a top contending team all year. 

"Finals can really be anyone's game, you just have to make it firstly and then it's about who wants it more on the night and who can get it together the best."

Willetton might have not quite reached their levels of last year, but they've shown terrific heart throughout the season to dig themselves out of tough situations to find ways to win, and it's that belief that Kelley has no doubt is a big key to everything the Tigers do.

"What we've been able to do is add to our championship team of last year with Tay Hepburn coming in and getting into the swing of things, and a lot of us had played with her a few seasons back," she said.

"So we're all familiar with each other's game and what our strengths are, and know what we can go to at certain points in games and we do have that belief in one another. It does come down to that and it's just such a fun game to play in general that I think when pressure is added to us we're lucky enough to rise to that.

"It's not something we deter from, but obviously it does cause a little bit of extra stress for the coaching staff and players and spectators involved. But it is something we can hold our heads up about that we truly don’t give up until the game is over and that's been evident in our last few games."

Not only is Willetton the most successful women's club in the state, but they do it largely based on local talent and that's especially been the case under two-time championship winning coach Simon Parker.

He's embraced bringing through the next generation of Tigers players while handing the reins of this current team to the leaders like Kelly and Emma Gandini.

You top up where needed and the additions of Alex Sharp and Sam Lubcke have been tremendous, but you can also see that next generation ready to go led by Sophie Doran, Grace Foster, Kiara Waite and Eva Cooke.

But for Kelley, to have shared the whole journey with Gandini and to get to celebrate two championships together already and reach their 200th game both last weekend adds to what they've experienced.

Gandini is having the best season of her career too ahead of her WNBL season with the Perth Lynx and Kelley couldn’t be happier for her.

"It's actually crazy when you take a step back when you take a moment to appreciate and acknowledge the journey that we have shared," Kelley said. 

"We've been lucky enough to share all of it together and Em has been an awesome teammate and friend throughout my life for many years. So I guess to reach that milestone together was second to none and I'm sure proud of the player that she's become, and especially the last few years with the confidence she's built to now get a roster spot with the Lynx. 

"Everything is just kind of falling into place for her which is so good because she puts in so much time and effort off court in her personal time getting up shots and working on her fitness. To see her acknowledged for all of that is really awesome and I couldn’t be happier for her."

As happy with the season she has put together that Kelley is, all that now matters is what happens on Friday night as the Tigers look to topple her former teammate and MVP Stacey Barr.

However, like Willetton, Warwick is a deep team with great experience of Nat Burton and Nicole Jorre de St Jorre, and the youth and talent of Chloe Forster and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard, and all-round abilities of Leonie Fiebich.

Kelley is fully aware of the task ahead, but can't wait to be part of another Grand Final.

"I can't wait for Friday night's match up to be honest. It's going to be a blockbuster for sure and it's going to be hard for both teams so whoever comes out the winner is going to have to work really hard for that title," she said. 

"They do have multiple threats in their team so it's just going to come down to who wants it more and who fights until the final buzzer. I honestly can't wait, I play sport for these moments and the build up this week has been awesome. 

"Every day it's getting closer and that competitive nature builds more and more, and I'm trying to take in the moments the best I can because you never know if you'll be part of a championship game again. 

"I feel lucky to be able to play in another one so soon after last year, but there's obviously defensive assignments that we need to focus on and do our jobs with to try and get the job done, and bring back another flag for the Tiges."

Not that winning another NBL1 West championship isn’t motivation enough, but the winner of Friday night will advance to next week's National Finals as well. 

While that would be exciting and Kelley would love to be part of it, she's not letting herself look too far ahead.

"Obviously that's exciting that you could get the opportunity to experience the National Finals, but for me personally I don’t like to get too far ahead of myself and focus on one thing at a time," Kelley said.

"My focus at the forefront of my mind is Friday and Friday only, and whatever happens after that I guess you reap the benefits if you win on Friday. 

"That would be an awesome experience for whoever does get to go, but we have a job to do on Friday first and that's what I'm solely focusing on this week to get to that game and just let it all out on the floor like there's tomorrow."