Cheeky Verle ready to push Johny's buttons

Featured image: Michael Farnell @sportsimageryau

Verle Williams Jr's career high of playing with his dad will always be tough to beat, but winning NBL1 West championship with Geraldton Buccaneers at RAC Arena came mighty close with the father-to-be now excited to face Johny Narkle for first time.

It's a remarkable story where when Williams Jr was looking for a new NBL1 home with the folding of the Darwin Salties at the end of 2024 that it was on a request from Narkle that led to him heading to Geraldton to play with him at the Buccaneers in 2025.

What that led to not only was the pair playing a massive part in the Buccs winning the championship on RAC Arena last year where they could well have been the two best players on the court, but the presence of Williams helped Narkle go to the next level.

Willams saw Narkle come right out of his shell more and more as the season progressed to the point not only did he win a second Grand Final MVP, but earned an NBL contract at the Illawarra Hawks on the back of it.

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 Nobody was happier for Narkle about that than Williams and he still is to see his former teammate now earn a full contract with the Hawks for NBL27 even if he is now playing a starring role in a team the Buccs are in a fight over being a contender with – the Cockburn Cougars.

That all leads to Narkle's first ever game against the Buccaneers this Saturday night at Wally Hagan Stadium and Williams might even be more excited to play against Narkle than he was to be his teammate.

"It's gonna be exciting and after playing on the court with him last year and having fun, and now having him on the other side of the court is going to be even better because we can have our fun and talk trash to him a bit more," Williams Jr said.

"Maybe give him a little cheap shot and see what he does and stir him up, but it should be exciting and I can't wait for it."

Helping bring Johny out of his shell

Williams was rightfully excited to play with Narkle last season at the Buccs but he didn’t necessarily expect him to be as shy and reserves as he was, and nor did he quite foresee just what remarkable chemistry they would end up having.

What the pair did to help win the Buccaneers the championship with their Grand Final heroics will forever be the stuff of legend and Williams was proud of the bond they formed but it was the whole culture at the Buccs that blew away the stunningly quick point guard from the outset.

"I didn’t realise he was as quiet as he was, but throughout the season I guess with him getting more used to how I played and we'd catch up a lot of the times off the court so we built that bond together," Williams Jr said.

"I think that showed out on the court and that's what I loved about the Buccs culture last year. It didn’t matter who you were from the 16th man to the starting five, you were all the same part of the team and we'd all crack a joke and have some friendly banter.

"That brought us closer and closer together as the season went past. I think Johny just got better each game and whatever he wanted, we'd make sure that would happen. At the start of the season he'd quietly ask for the ball, but by the ball he was a bit more forceful about demanding it.

"I guess having that confidence where he would just do that, that's when we knew he was ready for that moment and to take that next step into the NBL. I'm happy he got that contract which is great."

Meaning of First Nations Round

It's that culture at the Buccaneers that Williams has thrown himself fully into being part of that now makes the First Nations Round celebration mean all that more to him.

Because of how the Buccs feel like a big family to him, it makes it mean that little extra for him to also share his culture with his teammates on the other side of the country from where he grew up in Brisbane.

"It means a lot hey to play the game that I love and to see it show its respect and celebrate the week with me and our people is pretty awesome," Williams Jr said.

"It's just about bringing everybody together and family, culture and all that stuff. I told the Buccs before the game that I see them as family and that's why I signed back for this year because I felt a part of a family with them.

"That's all I wanted to do playing basketball was to play for a great team and their culture has resembled that with how they have embraced NAIDOC and everything too. I've just enjoyed their culture here as well and I get to give them a bit of insight into my culture as well."

Living the dream on RAC Arena

While Williams embraced everything about joining the Buccs as soon as he arrived for the 2026 season, he wasn’t expecting things to necessarily turn out like a dream and end up with such an incredible highlight on Grand Final night at RAC Arena.

Playing in front of the biggest crowd of his career, Williams rose to the occasion and helped to turn the game the way of Geraldton against the Warwick Senators and it's going to be an experience that sticks with him forever.

"That would definitely be one of my top memories of playing basketball just to play in front of a crowd like that was amazing," Williams Jr said.

"It's the most people I've played in front of and to be a part of a team like the Buccs and win it in front of that crowd was just unreal. And the season we had too meant a lot too so it's definitely up there for me."

Only experience to trump that championship

Verle Sr was on hand at RAC Arena last year to see his son's heroics to win the championship with the Buccaneers with him still part of the coaching staff at the South West Metro Pirates in the NBL1 North where he finished his playing career.

While he was finishing up playing into his 40s, Verle Jr got to live out a remarkable dream of playing with his dad at a league level.

And no disrespect to winning a championship with the Buccaneers last year and like he hopes to do again to go back-to-back in 2026, but sharing a court with his dad at this level will always take top billing for him.

"He's played a lot in my game and he's taught me so much especially on the defensive end. He always said that if you want to be a great basketball player or want to stay on the court, you have to play defence," Williams Jr said.

"So that's kinda been my role and on the plus side if you score 10 or whatever points you get, then that's a bonus, but if you want to make a career out of it and get paid, then play defence.

"There's not many people that get to say they get to play at this sort of level with their dad so doing that would probably take No. 1 in my career and the Buccs might have to take No. 2 for me."

Instantly fitting in at Geraldton

Another former Buccaneer, Matthew Adekponya, did give the Buccaneers a high recommendation when Williams Jr was trying to decide his future after he had to find a new home with the Salties ceasing to exist after that 2024 NBL1 North season.

He had already played back home at the Pirates, then having stints in the NBL1 North at the Mackay Meteors, Red City Roar and USC Rip City along with a championship season at the North Adelaide Rockets back in 2021.

So he was open to anything around the country and once Narkle made it clear that he wanted him as a teammate, that sealed the deal for Williams to head west to Geraldton.

"There were quite a few people who reached out to me a couple of years ago and I played against Matty Adekponya when he was at Mackay and he got me in touch with Mat Wundenberg from when he played here," Williams Jr said.

"He had sent me a message back then that I didn’t even realise and only found at the start of this year, but then it was actually Johny who hit me out of the blue. As soon as he asked me to come over, I was like yeah why not.

"I literally signed a deal within two weeks of that and as soon as Johny wanted to play with me, I was happy to join the team and run amok with them. And we ended up running amok all of last year which was pretty cool."

Two huge home wins for the Buccs

On the back of winning that championship last year, the Buccaneers are attempting to go back-to-back for the first ever time and are currently in a good place sitting in first spot with a 14-3 record.

That included a massive double last weekend at Active West Stadium where they snapped the winning run of the league-leading Rockingham Flames on Saturday night before backing up to beat a Willetton Tigers team on Sunday they have battled in the past two preliminary finals.

Coming off those two wins and Williams is now excited to see how the rest of the season pans out for the Buccs.

"It was a tough weekend and double headers are tough in general but to go up against two great teams like that, two top four teams as well, was extremely hard," Williams Jr said.

"Rocko and Buccs I've heard have always had a history of battles and I know that meant a lot to Devondrick (Walker) to against them.

"Then with the Tigers, for what they could have had on the court, they still put up a fight and the scoreboard might not have said much, but as Tigers they always put up a fight and made it a tough and physical game to play against, but it was obviously good to get the two wins."

Testing himself against the best

It might be the flashy and dynamic plays offensively that Williams makes that gets him on the highlights, but like his dad always told him, he always makes defence his focus and then anything at the other end is a bonus.

That was his focus again back on Saturday night when he resumed his long-standing rivalry with Rockingham's Isaac White that goes all the way back to underage days in their Queensland-South Australia match ups.

Even though White still had 31 points and six assists with seven threes as reigning MVP for the Flames, Williams did make his life as hard as possible and most importantly from his point of view, helped his team come away with the important win.

"I've been playing against him since under-16s I think for state and he's always been a great player, and you don't really get to go against guys like that too often," Williams Jr said.

"So I just enjoyed playing against him and he still had 30 points so he still gave me some buckets, but it challenges me to sit down and play some defence.

"I look forward to it and I'm sure he loves to do it too. Credit to him, he's still a great player and I've got to respect that too."

Another big life moment to come

Not only could basketball be hardly be going better for Williams right now since the move to Geraldton, but life is about to become a lot more hectic with he and partner Karla now expecting their first child.

With her currently stationed in Newcastle and Williams living in Geraldton, he knows that he can't continue being so far apart so life might be taking him back east for a while following this 2026 season at the Buccs but for the best possible reason.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited and my partner and I are expecting our first kid which is pretty exciting," Williams Jr said.

"It's another big responsibility and she's over east right now so I've gotta quickly wrap things up here and hopefully go all the way, and make her happy by being there with her for the rest of the pregnancy.

"Over the last three or four years I've been playing all over the place, but she's been based in Newcastle with the Air Force and then next year when she's on maternity, we'll stay closer to her family and then see what happens after that."