Huntington proud to share 300 with those close to him

Eastern Suns captain Rob Huntington finds himself equally humbled and proud to join the 300-game SBL/NBL1 West club and to be able to share it with his two best mates and to have his wife and their daughter there too will mean the world to him.

It's been quite the journey to 300 games for Huntington who initially did come back to basketball to play as a teenager at the Eastern Suns before starting his SBL career with the Warwick Senators and then joining the Joondalup Wolves.

It was at the Wolfpack where he became a cornerstone of a tremendously successful team where the big man proved what an impact he could have as a good shooter for his size while having a good inside game and being a rock solid defender and rebounder.

He would go on to play 232 of his current 299 games at the Wolves which included being part of the championship team of 2015 which was the start of a remarkable run of reaching five consecutive Grand Finals up to the end of 2019.

However, at the end of 2021, Huntington along with long-time teammates Seb Salinas and Reece Maxwell parted ways with the Wolves and headed out to the hills to now be in their third season at the Eastern Suns.

Huntington remains captain in 2024 and now will join Salinas and Maxwell in that 300-game club this Saturday night when the Suns play host to the Rockingham Flames at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

What does 300-game milestone mean

What makes Huntington humbled by the milestone is those he joins as playing life members of Basketball WA by getting to 300 games.

That includes teammates Salinas, Maxwell, Damian Matacz and Doug Gates, and those he has played against for a long time like Mat Wundenberg, Aaron Ralph, Jarrad Prue, Joel Wagner, Ben Purser, Tom Witts, Rhett Della, Rob Cassir, Damien Scott, Corey Easley, Ryan Godfrey and Kyle Armour.

A list like that puts in perspective what an achievement it is for Huntington to reach 300 games and he is rightfully tremendously proud.

"I think the number itself is probably not something I ever really thought about, but it's more seeing other guys achieve it around the same time," Huntington said.

"I think it's a pretty classy group to be part of and just off the top of my head there's Kyle and Maxy recently, and it's a pretty impressive list. It makes me feel pretty privileged that I get to be part of that group now that's played 300 games."

Sharing it with two long-time teammates

Huntington just couldn’t think of two other teammates he would rather share the milestone with than Salinas and Maxwell either.

They went through so much together at the Wolves as part of a team that reached five consecutive Grand Finals, then it wasn’t the smoothest of transitions out but the trio stuck together and wanted nothing else but to continue playing together.

They found that new home at the Eastern Suns and since going there Salinas has set the league's all-time games record to currently be at 521, Maxwell is at 312 having reached his own triple century milestone, and now Huntington joins them.

It's about much more than what they share together on the basketball court, though, with all three now married men and fathers having grown up together in so many ways.

"They're my best mates so when I say I haven’t even thought of the number of games, it's probably because basketball with those two guys is just part of my life and has been for so long," Huntington said.

"It's a really big and important part of my life, and it used to take us five minutes to get to training, but now it's more like 45 but that 45 minutes on the way to and from training is some of the most important time of the week for me.

"It's the time when you get to debrief and let off a bit of steam, to celebrate the little things like your kids starting to walk or talk, or whatever it is. To be able to share it with them more the day to day things is what means so much.

"Then the few minutes we get to share together on the court is really great, but it's more about everything that come around it."

Doing it now with a young family

While sharing so much of the journey with Salinas and Maxwell means a lot to Huntington, nothing can quite match what he has been able share for more than a decade now with wife Federica.

The couple now have a 15-month-old daughter, Andi, and for Huntington to have them both there on Saturday night for the milestone is going to be the most special part he could imagine.

"I guess it's even more special because my wife couldn’t come to many games last year when our daughter was so young, but they've made it to one this year and they will be there for this one," Huntington said.

"But the routines around our baby is certainly more important than whether the ball goes in the hoop or not, but for her to be able to be there too that's probably the most special thing for me.

"She's put in far more energy than I have to be able to allow me to keep playing, and while I get to run around on a court, she certainly does the heavy lifting to let my do that. I'm incredibly grateful to her for me being in this position now.

"Even starting in 2013, she was a big supporter of mine and at every game, and it's nice having my best friend and now wife by my side, and supporting me even if it's in a slightly different way."

Season so far with the Suns

Friday night's opening to Round 7 for the Eastern Suns summed up what has been a frustrating season of near misses to date for them, and it was similar to what Huntington saw while sidelined for much of 2023.

The Suns are making themselves more than competitive and continue to put themselves in winning positions, but can't quite close out games and that does leave them at 1-8 coming into Saturday's home clash to Rockingham.

Last Sunday was another prime example at home to the undefeated defending champion Geraldton Buccaneers while on Friday night, the Suns had all the momentum late closing to within a point of the Perry Lakes Hawks but then didn’t score again to end up losing by seven.

While frustrating for Huntington, he gets the sense they can get on a roll if they get over the line in just one of those tight contests.

"I think not playing for the majority of last year was really difficult because I was able to see the boys really shake up some of the games that most people might have expected to lose," he said.

"We came up and took the challenge head on, and claimed some of those wins and we're sort of in a similar position this year.

"Looking at most of our losses and we've been right in them and could have or should have won them so from a leadership perspective, I think we're right there. It's just trying to find that right combination or right tweak to be able to get us over the line."

Helping to build a new culture

Having seen the strong culture that he was part of at the Wolves for so long and the hard work that had been put in by a lot of people to make that happen led by coach Ben Ettridge and captain Salinas, Huntington wants to see something sustainable on and off the court built at the Suns.

He can see that starting to happen now and he's proud to be able to play a small part in that, but he can see things growing from the juniors up at Kalamunda that he thinks there is a bright future for the club.

"In terms of the culture of the group, it's actually really great because we've got all of the people there in place. It's just getting us all together consistently now," Huntington said.

"We've that core, heart, family of the team with the Lowe boys and they are absolute legends on and off the court. We've also got a really good crop of young guys coming through and even some of them who haven’t made it to the NBL1 court yet, which I hope they get to soon.

"That's guys like Marley Sam who are right there and it would be awesome to see someone like that hit the court. They are probably in the same position that myself, Sebba, Maxy, Trian and us guys were back in the day at 16 or 17 ready to get our first sniff at it, and give it our best shot.

"When you look at the make up of what it takes to be successful, it's all sort of there and we just need to get it together."

A chance to reflect and be thankful

What a milestone like reaching 300 games does do is provide the chance for some reflection on how you got to this point.

For Huntington, he looks back on how he actually got back into basketball when he was almost lost to the sport, and will always be thankful for that given what a significant part of his life it has been ever since.

"I did play basketball as a really young kid but then went sideways and played footy until I was about 15, 16 and the way I got back into basketball was that a mate in high school was playing for the 18s twos team at Eastern Suns," Huntington said.

"That coach, Rob Casson, he gave me every opportunity I could have asked and pushed me into every opportunities I thought were ridiculous to even try.

"I went down to 18s state tryouts and had no idea even what help defence was, but learned it on the fly and it all sort of snowballed into something I'm incredibly grateful for. He most likely won't be there, but our assistant coach Van (Fredericks) should be.

"There's a lot of people who have been on the journey from the very start and it's kinda nice to be back at Eastern Suns because in a lot of ways it's where it started for me to take basketball seriously."

A win would be nice too

As nice as a milestone is to celebrate, it's always a lot better to do so with a win and that's what Huntington hopes can happen with the Eastern Suns attempting to put a string of frustrating losses behind them to upset the Flames.

Having Ryan Godfrey on the side of the court as a 313-game veteran for Rockingham is another part of the night Huntington is looking forward to.

"We've been that close in so many games that I think we're all at a point of kicking in the locker room door at these ones going begging like last week against Geraldton," Huntington said.

"This would be a nice one to get obviously, but it's also nice that on the other side of the floor will be Boof who I grew up with through all those state teams and everything. That's another connection and guy who's played 300 games so he's also in that really classy group that I'm pretty excited to join."