Mates battle for bragging rights

Coenraad has been one of Wollongong’s best players throughout the season and expects to have his hands full against Crocodiles forward Blanchfield.

The pair played on the same Mackay team a few years ago in the Queensland Basketball League and remain close friends despite a six-year age difference.

‘‘Todd’s got a really good feel for the game. He doesn’t just do the one thing and it’s been good to see his development,’’ Coenraad said.

‘‘He’s a good guy. I wish him all the best and hope he keeps doing it the way he’s doing it, because he’s playing basketball the right way.

‘‘Having said that, I’ll be going all out to beat him on Friday. There’ll be no holding back and I’m sure he’ll have the same mindset.’’

Blanchfield is still one of Australian basketball’s best kept secrets. The 23-year-old is two metres tall and quicker than most guards. He can score from the three-point line and is equally comfortable driving to the basket.

Coenraad plays the same position as Blanchfield and is relishing Friday night’s final-round duel.

‘‘He’s become a really special player, an amazing individual talent but also a great team guy,’’ he said.

‘‘Todd’s not just ‘me, me me’. He knows when it’s not happening for him and he’s not just a scorer. He wants to come off picks and shoot and have you chase him around. He’s got all that in his tool kit, but he’s turned himself into a decent defender and is also a good rebounder.

‘‘I’ll be picking up Todd defensively and he’s a tough match-up, but we do a lot of switching anyway. It’s what we do collectively as a team that will get us the result we’re after, not what one person does against another person.’’

Regardless of this weekend’s results, Wollongong (6-20) will finish last for just the second time in the club’s 36 years.

If they beat Townsville on Friday they will claim the regular season series 3-1. If they lose, the Hawks will become the first team in club history to fail to win at least one season series.

Wollongong’s barren 2014-15 campaign wraps up with Sunday’s home game against finals-bound Adelaide.

‘‘You don’t want to go into the off-season having played a game that you’re not happy with, because that’s all you’re going to think about for the rest of the off-season,’’ Coenraad said.

‘‘As professionals, we should have the same mindset for these last two games as we had for the first game.’’

The clash with the 36ers will be the last game of Hawks forward Adam Ballinger’s 12-year career.

‘‘We can’t do this forever like a lifetime job so you can’t take it for granted,’’ Coenraad said.

‘‘You get to play in the spotlight for a little while then you pass the torch, kind of like Balls [Ballinger] is doing.

‘‘We should come with intensity like it’s a playoff game on Friday because it’s a chance for us to win a series.

‘‘They’ve been scoring the ball pretty well lately and if we can them to around 80 or under we’ll give ourselves a chance to win.’’