From the outside, Luke Pople's rise to becoming a Commonwealth Games gold medallist may have seemed like a sharp one.
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But those who know him best - like his Wollongong Roller Hawks captain Brett Stibners - understand the long and hard-working journey that it's been.
Pople on Wednesday morning (AEDT) created history when he skippered Australia's men's wheelchair basketball side to the first ever 3x3 basketball gold at a Commonwealth Games.
In a pulsating final, the Aussies skipped out to an 8-5 lead, before Canada fought back to draw level heading into the final two minutes. The Wombats then led 11-9 late in the dying stages when Canada had a chance to take the game into overtime with the buzzer-beater, but the shot hit the rim and bounced away.
When Pople and his teammates then received their medals, it was a moment that brought great joy for Stibners.
"I'm very proud of Luke, he led the team very well. He's a quiet achiever and a hard worker. He doesn't say a lot and just does his job, but he's a good guy to be around. He loves his beer. He really fits into the way we play down here and with our culture, on and off the court," he said.
"Luke doesn't brag, there's no bravado. He's all about head down, bum up, and does the hard work. But we'd noticed. I coach him and a few others with NSWIS [NSW Institute of Sport] a couple mornings each week and he's always putting in the effort to get to that, and putting in extras in the gym as well.
"I've known Luke for about 10 years, ever since he was a little fat kid who turned up in an old rickety chair and started training with us. Now he's blossomed and played professionally overseas as well, so he's come on in leaps and bounds from where he started."
Fellow Roller Hawk Hannah Dodd also picked up a silver, after her Australian 3x3 women's wheelchair basketball team lost 14-5 to Canada in the final.
"Hannah had a phenomenal tournament. We love having Hannah in our team because, much like Luke, she's a quiet achiever and does the hard work," Stibners said.
"I think she's the toughest person I've ever met. As part of her disability, she will dislocate her shoulder for example, and pop it straight back and keep going life nothing ever happened. So having her there [in Birmingham] was fantastic.
"I think [these results] really gives us really good exposure as a sport to the rest of the world. We don't get many opportunities to play in front of the world, especially now it's a combined able-bod, disabled Comm Games. When we got that opportunity, we really took advantage of that.
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
