FRESH off his first win as coach of the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants, Michael Haney is confident that his group will only keep improving as the 2015 SBL season progresses and that all starts at the defensive end.

It was always going to be a big ask for Haney to come in and immediately start winning as coach of the Giants with the team having lost 42 of 52 matches the past two seasons and having finished 13th in 2013 and then last in 2014.

While it might still be a stretch for Haney to avoid seeing the Giants miss a third straight playoffs appearance, he has been able to build the team into a vastly more competitive unit and several of their first eight losses of the season were only by narrow margins.

The Giants then had a challenging weekend during Anzac Round of the SBL starting on the road to the Geraldton Buccaneers on Saturday night where they put in a competitive showing against an on-fire team losing by 16 points.

They then had to back up by taking on the East Perth Eagles at Morley on Sunday evening, but the result in the end was their first victory of the season as they beat the defending champions by nine points.

Haney was delighted with his team's performance to back up a tough road trip from Saturday night to Sunday to score the breakthrough win even if it was against an East Perth team missing key players including Tom Jervis and Rhys Vague.

"It feels good. After a road trip and going to Geraldton, and we got back in at about three in the morning so for the boys to step up, even though the Eagles were undermanned and fought hard, it feels good to get that win. I hope the guys enjoyed it," Haney told SBL Slam on 98five Sonshine FM.

"With these Sunday games, it often comes down to stepping on the throat when you see that opportunity, and I think we did that at times. We did kind of go to our strengths and we went inside because we knew they were lacking size so we made the most of our strengths."

The Giants might have lost their opening eight games of the season, but unlike the last two years they had been a vastly more competitive unit and especially defensively had found ways to limit the points scored against them.

Then they have added some real offensive talent in 2015 and that was fully on show on Sunday evening with Jacob Holmen leading the way with 43 points and 15 rebounds while Mathiang Muo added 24 points and seven boards against the team he helped win last year's SBL championship and Jay Bowie also contributed 18 points and 11 boards.

Haney liked the work of Holmen in particularly who had a huge night, but really what has impressed him the most has been the work the Giants are putting in at the defensive end.

"Jacob really went to his strengths. He is very athletic and he played very, very well," he said.

"We have been doing a lot of defensive work during the week working on our stuff and not really focusing on our opponents until we get ourselves right.

"It has been awesome, but we've still got a lot to work on. But for a team being 0-8 the boys had the best attitude you could imagine and they are good work with."

Haney certainly hasn’t found the going completely easy coming on board as head coach of the Giants, but seeing the joy on the players' faces after Sunday night's win made it all worth it and now he looks forward to this Saturday night's clash at home against the Cockburn Cougars.

"It is a challenge being the head coach and it can be frustrating, but there are times like this that are rewarding when you see the smile on the boys' faces. That makes it all worth it," Haney said.

"They are all gettable games. This league is very tough and we are going to work hard. They do have two very good imports and they are playing very good ball so it's a big challenge."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by ANDMedia