Giants working hard in run to upcoming NBL1 campaign

Goldfields Giants coach Lennon Smartt has relished a chance to devote an entire pre-season towards fine-tuning what he views as a solid and sustainable game plan ahead of his first full season at the helm of the NBL1 squad.

Smartt, who got the nod as the Giants’ head coach in 2025 after he excelled in an interim role last year, said there were big differences between the top job and those of an assistant coach.

But he remained fully committed to further putting his stamp on a group that he guided into the play-offs last season.

It included what he said were practical sessions combining skills and fitness through the opening five weeks of pre-season training.

“Most of the squad are aged in their mid-20s right down to 16 years old and all in pretty good shape,” Smartt said.

“I wouldn’t say it’s new-age, but a lot of the younger coaches are not so much about purely running sprints up and down the court because it’s just not basketball-related fitness.

“A lot of the fitness we’re doing in the pre-season is still built on getting up and down the floor but at pace and with skill and endeavour in game-like scenarios.

“It’s been a combination of fitness and skills, but not fitness in the traditional sense of running around Mt Charlotte but moreso in the confines of actual game situations.”

Under Smartt last year, Goldfields won five of their final eight games, including an elimination final against Warwick to launch the play-offs.

The squad bowed out of championship contention with a semifinal defeat in Mandurah on short rest and Smartt initially declared that his preference was returning as an assistant coach.

But he changed his mind after the season.

“It’s funny how things shift, as far as being the lead assistant last year and now taking over the team,” Smartt said.

“There’s a lot of things that need to be put in place — but we (Smartt and assistant coach Sharni Winter) inherited a good team and good structures that were already in place.

“It’s a different weight of pressure, maybe because you always want to make things better and try to connect more with the players, but it wasn’t broken last year so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

“We’ll be tweaking some things, but we’re really just continuing on from what we started to do last year and hopefully get that continuity going again.

“It’s been a lot of learning for me and there’s a bunch of things that I want to learn and get better at, but I want to enjoy it as well.”

Smartt said the squad’s new signings, including import Shaun Stewart and 198cm guard Joshua Duach, would arrive in Kalgoorlie-Boulder by early March.

In 2025 the Giants will travel six times, including the last game of the qualifiers on August 2 against Perry Lakes.

The club’s 2025 draw includes three consecutive home games at the new stadium from June 7 through June 21.