The 20-year-old has quickly won over the Illawarra faithful as part of Beveridge’s second unit, and it’s showing in the plus-minus where he’s led his side (at +27) over the past five games.

It’s part of a huge overall contribution from the bench, with Tim Coenraad, Emmett Naar, Jordair Jett and Dave Andersen the respective next in line on the plus-minus chart.

Grida says it’s part of an edict from Beveridge for himself and fellow rookie Naar to come on and push the tempo from the bench.

“We’re the younger guys in the group so we need to bring intensity and some oomph at the offensive and defensive end,” Grida said.

“We’ve been playing with the same guys [in the second unit] so we’ve got a feel for each other now. 

“We just try come in and bring intensity and bring something different to what the first group brings.” 

It’s come in valuable minutes for the Perth-raised gun who came to Wollongong in pursuit of regular time on the floor.

“I wanted to play straight away so coming here definitely helped out with that,” he said.

“I grew up watching Bevo coach the Wildcats and I loved how they used to play and the way he went about coaching them. 

“He’s really helped me slow things down. When I first came in I was just doing everything too quick.

“He’s always there reminding me to slow things down and let things happen. He’s really helped me evolve my game in that way.” 

He may have had to pump the brakes at times, but Beveridge said the Rookie of the Year candidate’s energy has been infectious.

“I coach players to get better, I love teaching the game, and with Grida it’s just a joy with his passion, how hard he works and how much he gets after it,” Beveridge said ahead of his side’ road clash with New Zealand on Friday.

“Sometimes you get in a grind or your losing and moping around but then you turn up and see him with his energy, nothing fazes him, he plays with no fear.

“The great thing about this team is he’s encouraged to go out and play with that passion. He can make mistakes and we’ve got his back.

“We have so much faith in him to shoot the pull-up three, attack the rim, all those things and we’ve got players around him to help him do that.” 

The club has locked the AIS Centre of Excellence product down for next season, while Naar is under contract for the next two.

Beveridge makes no secret of the fact he’s building the club’s future around the young-guns, a formula he used with Damian Martin and Matt Knight in Perth.

He did the same with Nick Kay and Mitch Norton in Wollongong before they were lured away by the Wildcats, but it hasn’t changed his approach.

“To win a championship you need great young talent, then people in their prime and you’ve got to have veterans,” Beveridge said.

“I did it in Perth and it obviously worked over there. We had the same model here, unfortunately we lost some players, but it’s going to be the same situation with these two young guys.

“I want to build teams around them.”