THE Kalamunda Eastern Suns lost their last 15 Men's SBL matches to end 2015 when Michael Clarke took over as coach but he bravely backed in a new playing style with a youthful, and character-driven player group and is excited to starting to see some of the hard work pay off.

The Suns won just twice in 2015 in the Men's SBL and lost their last 15 matches with Clarke appointed as the new coach with the former criminal lawyer having recently completed a successful stint in the United States at Virginia Commonwealth University.

He had previously been involved at the Eastern Suns and had a passion for the club, so when he took over he was prepared for the hard work that was required to virtually build the Men's program from the ground up.

Clarke has a firm belief in his style of playing an up-tempo, full-court pressure game so he wanted to implement that with a focus on building a player group mostly made up of Kalamunda talent while bringing in players who fit his system and were of high character.

Import Brandon McGill fit that bill and then it was Jarrad Prior and Travis McIlroy who were brought in to still play a big role on the court, but to help set the tone for the standards and provide leadership and to be role models.

Clarke's focus, though, has been on providing opportunities to shine for the likes of Tim Squire, Kerrod Horn, Geordie Murray, Ryan Blanchett, Billy Grey and Anthony Edgar.

Now the additions of Courtney Belger, Madison Stoveld and James Pado have been the icing on the cake.

"Those sorts of leaders can help us playing-wise in the short-term but their real value as I see it is what they can do long-term off the court. Travis and Jarrad are such great mentors and coaches of kids who bring so much to a club. That was foremost in my mind when I went after those sorts of people," Clarke said.

"A big focus was on our young people and I'm ecstatic to see some rewards for it. I wanted to get these people that I knew who were out there and had been at the club in my time at 2011 who were out in the cold and had been overlooked.

"They hadn’t been given the opportunities they deserved and I wanted those Suns people to get a chance. When you look at people like Timmy Squire, Billy Grey, Jake Correia and even Kerrod Horn, they are all people we call our own and they are the real success story for us in the short-term. They have really contributed and started to reach their potential."

All that didn’t mean it has been a smooth ride to start the season. The Eastern Suns still lost the first 11 games of 2016 including some horror shows against the Cockburn Cougars and Willetton Tigers.

"There was a new playing style to put in place that was somewhat unconventional so that takes some doing," Clarke said.

"There was a new culture to put in place and I wasn’t starting with a stacked line-up, I was going right back to basics with younger people who were our people, and people of the right character and fit for what we wanted to do on and off the court. It really was a complete rebuild and it was always going to be a long-term thing without any quick fixes."

But there were signs they were on the right track and then they broke through with an overtime victory over the Lakeside Lightning and backed that up with a win nine day later over the title contending Geraldton Buccaneers.

For Clarke, even he found himself doubting himself through those opening 11 losses to start the season but he had the faith he had things on the right track and is glad the playing group stuck firm to start getting some rewards.

"Truth be known it has been really tough at times and even I doubted myself and what we were doing at times," he said.

"Those early losses, bearing in mind the big ones, there was those that were tantalisingly close and we could almost taste it and I could see glimpses of what we were striving to. They were heartbreaking to see it and then lose it. That early period was tougher than even I could have imagined."

The Eastern Suns had a couple of close calls to bringing their losing run to an end, but eventually it arrived in that overtime win over the Lightning and Clarke couldn’t hide his relief to finally breakthrough.

"I was nervous to be honest. I hoped we could close out a tight game and have what I call a belief moment where they realised they can actually win, and this actually does work. We had a lead in that game and we watched Lakeside come back and then into overtime," Clarke said.

"It was nerve-racking but I have to say that the longer a game goes often the better it's going to be for us because of the way we play and how we prepare. To score 21 points in overtime I think reinforced that.

"Tim Squire was 0-of-4 going into overtime from long range and then nailed two crucial ones for us. That belief in sticking to what we're doing led to such elation afterwards. It really was great for the guys to be rewarded for so much hard work and so many nervous moments along the way."

To then back up nine days later up against the hugely talented Buccaneers team where the Eastern Suns piled on 84 first half points to end up winning 145-123 only further reinforced that what Clarke was building both in personnel and style was on the right track.

"That was a really good win. That was the next step beyond the Lakeside game. You get that first one out of the way and then ask if you can beat a side near the top of the table, and if we can do it playing our way," he said.

"That first half against Geraldton was the best display of our style that I've seen. We were firing putting up 84 points and it was raining down.

"We were driving to the basket, hitting them from long range, turning them over and the pressure had them on their heels immediately. That was fun to watch and that's what we are striving for. It was a big step in our progression that's for sure."

Clarke has no doubt that the Suns' style of play will stand the whole club in a strong position moving forward.

Not only does it give them a chance to compete against teams that play vastly similar ways, but it is also enjoyable for a youthful team to play and it is exciting to watch evidenced by some tremendous crowds in 2016 turning out to watch at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

"Style of play can't be underestimated and I had that suspicion many years ago. I have always coached that up-tempo, pressure defence style and I thought that was something that made sense to me and had a lot of positives going for it," Clarke said.

"Then when I went to America and saw the havoc it created at VCU that just cemented it for me. This is a great way to play and there are so many benefits for coaches, players, spectators and it really gives you an identity to bring people together as a club.

"It's fun for everyone involved and there's always something happening. Basketball can be a bit tedious if it's just walk up the court and end up with a 40-44 end result.

"I think if you want to play it like that, we might as well make it a half-court game. I like to play it the way I think it was meant to be played over a full court and let people watch something where there's always something happening."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin