Team colors Green & white Date founded 1989 | League State Basketball League Championships 3 | |
Leagues State Basketball League History Wanneroo Wolves
1989–2013
Joondalup Wolves
2014–present Arena Joondalup Basketball Stadium Location Joondalup, Western Australia Main sponsor City of Joondalup
Sixty 30 | ||
Joondalup wolves week 4 sbl highlights
Joondalup Wolves is a State Basketball League (SBL) club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's SBL (MSBL) and Women's SBL (WSBL). The club is a division of Wanneroo Basketball Association (WBA), the major administrative basketball organisation in the Joondalup/Wanneroo region. The Wolves play their homes games at Joondalup Basketball Stadium. For sponsorship reasons, the two teams are known as the Sixty 30 Joondalup City Wolves.
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Background
In 1983, Wanneroo Basketball Association established two senior representative teams, one for men and one for women. That same year, the association moved into Joondalup Basketball Stadium. Three years later, both teams won District championships.
Formation of the SBL
1989 saw the formation of the State Basketball League (SBL) with both a men's and women's competition. Wanneroo, trading as the Wolves, entered a team into both the MSBL and WSBL. While the women missed a playoff spot with a 9–12 record, the men finished in the top six with a 14–8 record. They went on to lose to the Willetton Tigers by one point in the Qualifying Finals.
Early success
Success came quickly for the club as the women won three early championships in 1990, 1992 and 1995, while the men won their first championship in 1993. After starting with a losing season in their inaugural year, the Wolves women went on to record winning seasons every year between 1990 and 1997, with 1995 producing a first-place finish and a club-best 22–2 record. In the wake of a grand final defeat in 1997, the women recorded a dismal 5–19 record in 1998 before recovering in 1999 with a 14–13 record.
The men on the other hand struggled to find consistency throughout the first decade of the competition, as they recorded three losing seasons over the first six years. One of those losing seasons came in 1993 when they finished the regular season in seventh place with an 11–13 record. Miraculously, they went on to reach the grand final and defeat the Cockburn Cougars to claim their first title. The men closed out the 1990s with five straight winning seasons, but were unable to return to the grand final.
Halcyon era
Between 1998 and 2010, neither team was able to return to the grand final, as success eluded the club throughout the 2000s. Season 2011 saw the appointment of Ben Ettridge as head coach of the men's team. He brought with him immediate results for the Wolves as they finished second on the ladder with an 18–8 record and made it through to the grand final for just the second time in team history. There they faced their arch rival the Perry Lakes Hawks, with the two sides ensuring that the WA Basketball Centre had their first sell-out event—it's 2,000-seat capacity was sold out, forcing Basketball WA to release 100 standing room tickets. They were successful in defeating the Hawks 88–83, claiming their second championship. Greg Hire was inspirational for Wanneroo throughout the campaign, with his breakout season earning him the final spot on the Perth Wildcats roster for the 2011–12 NBL season. Supporting Hire was NBL veteran Brad Robbins, who starred after joining the Wolves mid-season.
The 2012 season saw both teams win minor premierships with first-place finishes on their respective ladders. It marked the second minor premiership for the women and the first for the men. Both went on to earn semi-final defeats.
In 2013, two years after the men claimed championship glory, both the men and women made it through to the MSBL and WSBL Grand Finals. However, the men were unable to produce the goods against the Lakeside Lightning after the women overwhelmed the Kalamunda Eastern Suns a night earlier to claim their fourth WSBL title.
In 2014, Wanneroo Basketball Association changed their trading name from Wanneroo Wolves to Joondalup Wolves, but success did not follow suit as the women lost in the semi-finals, while the men failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Moving on from the hiccup of 2014, the men redeemed themselves in 2015 as they finished the regular season three games clear on top of the standings and went on to win the club's third MSBL championship with a 30-point grand final victory over the South West Slammers behind head coach Ben Ettridge and Grand Final MVP Trian Iliadis.
In 2016, for the second time in three years, both teams made it through to the grand final. This time, however, both were defeated.
Notable club figures
In August 2015, Wanneroo Basketball Association announced the retirements of Life Members and longstanding employees Van and Mary Kailis. Having commenced work with WBA in 1986, Van and Mary Kailis were considered the forefront of basketball's growth in the Wanneroo area, building one of the most successful and professionally operated basketball associations in Western Australia. During his time with the Wolves, Van won WSBL Coach of the Year in 1990, guided the women to championships in 1986 and 1990, and worked as an assistant coach with the Wolves men.