Geraldton Buccaneers’ coach Ray Evans said he hopes to add some new talent to the team’s line-up this year to help progress the team back into the playoffs.

Evans was re-appointed as coach last week and said the club is in negotiations with a few players.

“We are talking to a couple of Australian guys at the moment and hopefully there will be some news on that in the coming weeks,” he said.

“I think we need to add two or three more guys to the roster and develop the young guys to add that depth to the team.”

The 2013 season will be Evans’ fifth in charge of the Buccs.

The former Buccaneers point guard led the team to the playoffs in his first two years but has failed to return to the post season since 2010.

He said 2012 Buccaneers MVP Daniel Thomas is hoping to return to the line up and has applied for a job in Geraldton for next year.

Organising his roster is first on Evans’ to-do list.

“Over the next couple of weeks we will talk to most of the players to see where they are at so we are both on the same page,” he said.

“Then we will start organising preseason which will be a lot of the stuff away from the stadium.”

Geraldton stormed home in the second half of last season after a slow start.

Playoffs looked out of reach half-way through the season for the Buccs before they won seven of their final eight games.

The Buccaneers needed Cockburn Cougars to beat Kalamunda Eastern Suns in the final game of the year but the Suns won and stole eighth position from the Buccaneers.

Evans said the team was unlucky last year and he hoped to help the Buccaneers return to their glory years.

“I am really looking forward to it and hopefully we can build on what we did at the end of last year,” he said.

“I am still learning and I think you learn more and more at every training session and every game we play.”

“We had a few things that did not go our way last year with injuries and stuff like that and lost a couple of close games.”

Article by Taylor Courtland (Geraldton Guardian)
Photo from Geraldton Guardian