Bucc Keyes never felt better about game

Featured image: Michael Farnell @sportsimageryau

Josh Keyes had already proven himself in the NBL1 West and was key in Geraldton Buccaneers' 2025 championship, but this 2026 version of him is a whole different unit and he puts it down to the confidence he came back with from an MVP season in Norway.

Following helping the Buccs win the 2025 championship with the thrilling Grand Final win at RAC Arena against the Warwick Senators, Keyes had the best season of his life playing in Norway with the Fyllingen Lions.

Keyes delivered 19.1 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.5 steals while shooting a scorching 65 per cent from the field across both the Norwegian League and in the European North Basketball League.

By the end of it, he won the Norwegian championship, was named both MVP of the season and the Finals, and as a result came back to Geraldton for a third season feeling on top of the world.

The end result has been that it's not a stretch to call Keyes the best all-round player in the NBL1 West for 2026. Even though he missed the first five games, he was named Defensive Player of the Year and to the All-Second Team.

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Keyes can legitimately defend any position on the floor where he can battle with the bigs and keep up with the guards, and then offensively his game has gone to another level this season with the Buccs.

He has gone on to produce 22.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals a game on a phenomenal 64 per cent shooting to have been huge in Geraldton getting to a second straight Grand Final this Saturday night against the Rockingham Flames at RAC Arena.

That presents Keyes with the chance to help the Buccs to win back-to-back championships for the first time, and a third in four years, and fourth in the past eight.

"I feel really blessed and fortunate to be able to be part of another Grand Final especially at RAC," Keyes said.

"It's something that I really looked forward to getting back to and I enjoyed it last year so this year I really want to make a mark with my performance and do whatever I can to get my team the victory.

"I'm super grateful to be back and I know it's not an opportunity that comes by very often, so whenever you get the chance to go back-to-back and be in a position to play in two Grand Final I think it's always a humbling experience but you're also more prepared."

Coming back to Geraldton full of confidence

Given how much Keyes has enjoyed his experience in Geraldton the past two seasons, it really didn’t take much thinking time to decide to come back for a third and attempt to go back-to-back with the Buccaneers.

There had been great turnover to the team, though, with Johny Narkle, Akeem Springs, Aaron Ralph, Ryan Blanchett and Nik DeSantis gone from that championship team.

But on board were former two-time MVP Devondrick Walker along with Cooper Creek and Matt Norman, but what has happened is that Keyes has become the focal point of the team.

That was Narkle last year to a large degree and he did deliver a Grand Final MVP performance, but now Keyes has become a focal point on offence and he's the standout defender perhaps across the entire NBL1 around the country.

He puts a lot of the confidence he is playing with now in 2026 down to what happened when he was in Norway where he was the go to guy on his team, and delivered them a championship and an MVP season.

So he couldn’t help but be feeling the best he ever has with his game when got back to Geraldton in 2026.

"I think my play has increased this year mainly due to my championship season last year in Europe," Keyes said.

"I was in Norway where we won the championship and I was MVP of the league as well so being able to be in that position to be able to play high-level basketball all across Europe, and also in Norway, kinda allowed me to see different parts of my game that I hadn’t really been able to explore any other place.

"So getting to be the No. 1 guy in that situation helped me view what it was to be like No. 1 somewhere else.

"Now coming back here to Geraldton where my teammates are just unbelievable, Verle Williams, Liam Hunt, Devondrick Walker, Matt Norman, Brendan Redhead, Mat Wundenberg, Cooper Creek, they all allow you to focus on your job because they will do their jobs.

"That just kinda makes it a little bit easier for me so I'm truly grateful and blessed to be surrounded by the group of guys that I am surrounded by. I give credit to them for being able to find me and put me in positions to make plays.

"I think what it comes down to is the consistency and reps and experience I got in Europe and getting through that season winning a championship overall did it for me, but winning MVP as well then just gave me some sort of looks at defensive pressure that I wouldn’t have got to see any other way.

"So that's really all opened it up for me as well and then I've been able to stay aggressive coming back here and use all my experience and strength, and positioning, to elevate my game this season."

Championship DNA of the Buccs

While the Buccs have been the ultimate winning team in the NBL1 West especially over the past eight years with four-time Coach of the Year Dayle Joseph in charge, they do often have to fight out of tricky situations.

During games, it's not unusual for the Buccs to find themselves in a big hole but still find ways to win. Then even in the bigger picture, both the last two years they have lost a home qualifying final, but then won twice in the second week of the finals to reach Grand Finals.

It can be hard to pinpoint on the outside what helps the Buccaneers just continue to find ways to win no matter what players are out there or what situation to find themselves in.

But having seen it for three years now, Keyes just believes the Buccs have a remarkable winning culture that's hard to find and impossible to replicate.

"I think it's just a willingness to win and undoubtedly we do whatever we can," Keyes said.

"We dig deep, we look deep within ourselves and we push ourselves as far as we can and we challenge ourselves physically, and we challenge ourselves mentally and emotionally to compete and be the best.

"That's for players individually but also to be the best team and I think for us we hold each other to a high standard and we also hold ourselves individually and collectively to the same standard.

"I think when we look down the line or are looking at each other in that locker room, we understand that we're all that we've got. We trust each other and will leave it all out on the floor. Just that winning culture and history, and what I call it is championship DNA."

Geraldton his favourite ever destination

When anyone asks Keyes why he has now come back to Geraldton to play with the Buccs for a third straight season, the answer is quite simple for him.

He has never enjoyed being part of a club or his basketball more than in Geraldton so why wouldn’t he continue wanting to return.

"A lot of people ask me why I came back to Geraldton for a third year and honestly out of all the other places I've been, it's the funnest brand of basketball that I've ever played," Keyes said.

"I know what to expect out of my teammates, they know what to expect out of me and we have fun with that winning culture that we have.

"It's so contagious and for me I desire it and I need it. So to be able to come here and play this brand of basketball and winning basketball, and being around high-character, great individuals.

"That's like my coaches Carter and Dayle to my teammates with Tuss, Matt Norman, Liam Hunt and even Jake Baker, everyone on this team makes up a great character group of guys. The Buccs do a great job of surrounding us with not only great players, but great people.

"That part about it is what sticks out to me as much but also, I love living here in WA and the weather is nice all the time and I just came from Norway, so I'm loving being able to just see the sun.

"Then there's the beaches, the trees, the vibes, the food and Australia in itself is one of my favourite places to come play and travel."

It's about more than just winning

While Keyes is the ultimate competitor and will do whatever it takes to help make sure his team wins during a game, he also takes his responsibilities as a teammate seriously.

If you're a teammate of his, he wants the very best for you and that is more than just about wanting to help a team win, but helping any of those individuals achieve their dreams in any way that he can.

And Johny Narkle is a great example of that. Keyes took him under his wing over the past two years and was even willing to defer the spotlight to him in games to allow Narkle to shine and to put himself in lights for NBL suitors.

It ended up working with the pair winning a championship together last year while Narkle went on to have a first season in the NBL at the Illawarra Harks, and now he has signed a full contract for the next two seasons in Wollongong.

And Keyes won the championship in Geraldton and then went on to have even more success in Norway and play the best basketball of his life so it worked well for all concerned.

"Johny is my guy and I saw great situation for him to be able to take his game further to the next stage and genuinely I wanted that for him," Keyes said.

"I want that for all my teammates to be able to play with me and elevate their game, and take their game to the next level or to higher heights.

"Hopefully they can take some of the time spent with me as a learning curve for them to go ahead and thrive and be successful on a high level. I'm happy when we're winning whether that's with the ball in my hands or not, and the type of player I am I'll find a way regardless to make plays.

"That's what I've been able to do here in all three of my years and this year just a little bit more than not because we don't have some of those other players that we did in the past.

"That doesn't take from them or add to me, I think regardless I was just going to play my game and be able to pick my spots and be aggressive when my team needed me to."

Playing against championship teammates

While it did feel a little strange for Keyes playing against former teammates like Johny Narkle and Akeem Springs this year who had both joined Cockburn, in a lot of ways it didn’t feel much different to practice in Geraldton just with higher stakes.

Keyes did try to keep his game face on even if Springs in particular would make that a challenge, but at the end of the day it was tough to take losing a home qualifying final to them, but they are all still close once the final buzzer goes off.

"Having to play against Johny in a real game and Akeem as well and any of those guys, it was weird seeing those guys in other uniforms coz I'm usually not a friendly opponent," Keyes said.

"I usually mind my own business and stick to my team, but Akeem Springs likes to blend the lines a lot and laugh and joke so he makes that impossible to be super, super competitive outside of the lines.

"But we both know when the ball is in the air that it's like another day at practice and we used to really go after it.

"The same with me and Johny so it kinda just translated into that in the games but just on a higher level and these games were serious and counted, especially that finals game against Johny and Akeem.

"It was bittersweet losing to them and beating them as well, but that's how it works in this game and you're always going to win some and lose some."

Ready for Grand Final v Flames

No disrespect to the other teams in the competition and certainly Cockburn and Joondalup did tremendous jobs to win qualifying finals on the road to earn home preliminary finals, but it did feel like Rockingham and Geraldton were always on a collision course.

They were jostling over top spot most of the season, they each beat the other on their home floors along the way and you can throw in the added intrigue of Walker now in Geraldton having won two MVP awards, a championship and Grand Final MVP with the Flames.

It does feel like it's the decider to find out once and for all who the best team of 2026 is and that's exactly how Keyes is looking at it.

"I feel really good about the Grand Final, man. I feel really good and I'm really excited that this is the match up that we've got," Keyes said.

"I think both teams wanted this match up as well and I ran into Isaac White in the past and we both agreed that we wanted to do this again on the big stage, and we've both held up our ends to be able to make it here.

"Now I'm just looking forward to a really good game, a really hard played game and I expect both teams to leave it all out on the line, and may the best man win."