Being championship captain motivates Wellsteed

Featured image: Tyson Lumbaca | @ty.visuales

Jordan Wellsteed is now in his sixth season as captain at the Joondalup Wolves and is rightfully proud to now join the 300 SBL/NBL1 West club, but it's another championship that keeps bringing him back.

Wellsteed did enjoy championship glory early in his career back in 2015 having made his debut in 2014, and for the vast majority of his career since with the Wolfpack since, they have been contenders and given themselves a real chance.

That included making Grand Finals in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2023 while in 2022, 2024 and 2025, they were still around the mark only to not quite make the Grand Final.

The Wolfpack made another Grand Final in 2019 but Wellsteed did spend the 2019 and 2020 seasons with the East Perth, but since returning to Joondalup he has been captain ever since and banging down the door for more championship glory.

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Given Wellsteed and the Wolves have been so close to what would be a fourth men's championship over the past decade, that's what continues to drive the 31-year-old as he now prepares to celebrate his 300-game milestone this Saturday night.

To be able to go down in history as a championship captain with the Wolfpack would undoubtedly be the highlight of his career.

"It’s the reason I keep coming back. I want to hold that trophy again," Wellsteed said.

"I tasted success early with the 2015 championship but to be a championship winning captain is certainly a goal of mine.

"I’m as hungry as ever to help this club get back to the top step where it belongs and also for my teammates that have been here for the last 3-4 seasons as I know how hard we’ve all worked to be that perennial contender."

Reaching 300-game milestone

Having started his career at a Wolves team in 2014 that had just played in a Grand Final and was about to win a championship in 2015 to start a run of five straight appearances playing a decider, Wellsteed came into a team that already well established with stars and veterans.

Coach Ben Ettridge was always happy to blend in the local juniors too and that's where the likes of Wellsteed and Ben Ironmonger became crucial members on those teams with plenty of experience and quality resumes.

Wellsteed himself has now turned into that veteran showing the way for the next generation of Wolves players including the son of an NBL coaching great, Taj Gleeson, and it's a proud moment for him to reach 300 games.

I haven’t really put too much thought into it but it does mean a lot. It takes a lot of commitment and dedication and that’s something I’m proud of myself for. But it’s also something I’m grateful for, I’m grateful to the club and my coaches over the years to have been given the opportunity to reach such a milestone. 

Rare company to reach 300 games

That time Wellsteed spent at the East Perth Eagles means he still has another 25 games with Joondalup to go before he can join Damian Matacz (385), Doug Gates (382) and Seb Salinas (317) as the only players to reach the milestone for the club.

But he got to play with each of those players early in his career and will be honoured to hopefully get to the same mark they did for the Wolfpack.

"I was only made aware of this just recently," Wellsteed said.

"I used to look up to those guys a lot in my teenage years watching SBL games and even into my 20s when I was fortunate enough to play alongside them.

"I certainly don’t put myself on their level as those guys have all done some special things in this league but to have my name on the same list as them is an incredible feeling and something I’m very proud of."

Wolves is where home will always be

It was a desire to continue to play under Ettridge as his coach that took Wellsteed to East Perth back in 2019, but once the West Coast Classic was done in 2020 and the NBL1 West started up coming out of Covid in 2021, he was back home to Arena Joondalup.

That's when he was appointed captain and has remained in that role ever since with the Wolves and while there's no point regretting anything in life, it's at Joondalup where he's always going to feel at home in a basketball sense.

"Well I like to think of it as all being at the wolves but I did spend one season at East Perth in 2019,"
Wellsteed said.

"But no Joondalup has been my home, it’s where I learnt to play basketball, I played juniors there, played WABL there and have been fortunate enough to have really been a core piece in the SBL/NBL1 program.

"I’m truly grateful for this club and everything it’s given me over the journey and I hope in some way or another I’ve given back to the staff, community and the fans that make it such a great club."

Being a contender again in 2026

After making the Grand Final in 2023 and then the preliminary final in 2024, the 2025 season didn’t quite go to plan for the Wolves where they did make playoffs once more but lost in the first round at home to the East Perth Eagles.

They have retooled a little in 2026 with a new coach with Lucas Allen arriving to take over and even though the core group of CJ Turnage, Caleb Davis, Damon Ballantyne, Gabe Chadinha and Ben Geel remain, there have been two significant additions.

Sharif Black has joined the NBL1 West for the first time and has been brilliant with 27.2 points. 5.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists including 46, 10 and five last week against the Perth Redbacks.

Taylor Young also brings great experience to take over as point guard and Wellsteed likes the way the team is coming together currently sitting third at 12-4 ahead of hosting the Perry Lakes Hawks this Saturday night.

"Yeah it’s an important game for us, our schedule at the back end of the season certainly hasn’t got any easier. We still have some things as a group to work on and to prove to ourselves and this is another good test for us," Wellsteed said.

"They are two great additions we made this year, both great players and both great people. Sharif packs an incredible scoring punch and pace up the floor that we’ve needed.

"And Taylor is everything you would want in a point guard, a great leader, unselfish, and can do a bit of everything which is also a great benefit to us.

"And both are entrenched in the culture of the club and fit in seamlessly with the boys and the locker room banter."

Enjoying married life

In between celebrating 250 and 300 games, the big change for Wellsteed in his life is that he is now married to Kate.

While they've been together for so long that married life doesn’t feel all that different, he couldn’t be happier to share everything in life with such a supporting partner who he can now call wife.

"Married life is good. It’s a weird thing as nothing really changes except I wear a ring now," Wellsteed said.

"My wife has been tremendously supporting over the last 10 years that I’ve been with her. She very rarely misses a game outside of the long road trips to Gero and Kal.

"But she’s been there through all the ups and the downs and I’m thankful she allows me to keep doing it because it is a huge commitment and a lot of time spent playing basketball when there’s things that need to be done at home."