There’s no doubt being on the wrong end of a 3-0 sweep won’t look good in the history books, or give a fair indication of how competitive the series was, but coach Rob Beveridge remains positive about the future. In fact, when the disappointment of a grand final defeat subsides, the 2016-17 season is arguably Beveridge’s finest achievement as a coach.

To – very unexpectedly – lose the reigning MVP Kevin Lisch would have been a big enough blow, but for an all-time great in Kirk Penney to follow him out the door would have seen most clubs slip dramatically. It’s what most preseason experts predicted so, to not only reach the playoffs in consecutive seasons, but go one better is a remarkable achievement.

“In our first two seasons we’ve gone to the playoffs and now to the grand final so I know we’re headed in the right direction,” Beveridge said following Sunday’s loss.

“It’s amazing what this club has done. To lose Lisch and Penney was a pretty big hit and we were tipped to come second-last. Everybody wrote us off. It’s amazing the amount of experts who are out there.

“Nobody rates us, nobody respects us and that there fuels the fire for us as an organisation to continue to get better. You can’t demand respect you have to earn it and I think we’ve done that.

“The [lack of] resources we have compared to other teams… it’s just ridiculous, so for our guys to firstly make the playoffs and then beat the number one team at the time, Adelaide, in game three on the road to give ourselves a chance [at a championship] was just an incredible effort.

“It’s obviously very disappointing we couldn’t get it done but I’m exceptionally proud of our players.”

There’s irony in the fact that Beveridge’s third grand final defeat came at the hands of a team he largely put together but it’s what leaves him confident that he has the blueprint to deliver a long-awaited second NBL title to the Illawarra faithful.

While imports Marvelle Harris and Michael Holyfield may well move on, Rotnei Clarke is strongly tipped to stay while veterans Oscar Forman and Tim Coenraad have also expressed a desire to stay with the club if offered new deals.

The rest of the roster is already under contract, leaving Beveridge confident he has the nucleus of a title-wining team.

“We’ll continue to get better and my vision for our club is to win a championship,” Beveridge said.

“All those years ago when I came to Perth it was about rebuilding the club, identifying the best young talent and recruiting those players. The resources are at a completely different level which makes it a lot harder but the same model I had in Perth I want in Wollongong.

“You always go and evaluate your program at the end of the season and no team ever stays the same but but the majority of our players are under contract so we won’t be making too many tweaks. We’ll review, evaluate and we’ll put a pretty good team on the floor next season as well.”