Three years ago Simon Parker, Craig Allen and Blake Srdarev were combining their coaching minds for the good of the Willetton Tigers, but fast forward to 2021 and they are all head coaches of three top four teams in the NBL1 West Women’s Division.
The trio were the masterminds behind the Willetton Tigers reaching the 2015 SBL Grand Final and winning the club’s ninth championship a year later with Parker building his reputation as one of the brightest coaching minds in Western Australia.
However, working alongside him was the experienced Allen waiting patiently for his own head coaching opportunity while doing impressive things with state teams and Srdarev who was emerging as one of the best young coaches coming up through the ranks.
Their chances at other clubs would come with Allen taking over at the Perth Redbacks for the 2019 season and then Srdarev named coach at the East Perth Eagles entering 2020.
To say they were contrasting appointments given the state of each women’s program would be a great understatement with Allen taking over a Redbacks team who had just reached the semi finals from second position while Srdarev inherited an Eagles team who had won one of the last 54 games.
But now during this inaugural NBL1 West season in 2021, Parker’s Tigers, Allen’s Redbacks and Srdarev’s Eagles finished with a combined 37-17 record with Willetton finishing in first place, Perth third and East Perth fourth.
That sees Parker and Srdarev go head-to-head in this Saturday’s qualifying final at Willetton Basketball Stadium while Allen and his Redbacks head to HBF Arena to take on the Joondalup Wolves also with a spot in the preliminary final on the line.
It’s a remarkable story that the three men who worked so closely together for success at the Tigers are now in charge of three of the top four teams this NBL1 West season.
There’s also every chance they were the top three coaches in terms of Coach of the Year voting with Srdarev taking out that award for his performance of lifting East Perth from easybeats to the top four.
At least they would have all been in the top five of voting for that award with Charles Nix from the Wolfpack and Jonelle Morley from the Senators rightfully in the mix too.
Parker has spent a lifetime at the Tigers firstly as a player who put together 120 games on the court and now as a coach who not only has had success and helped the development of his players, but helped turn his assistant coaches into head coaches too.
There’s no reason his assistants of 2021 Peter Cook, Michael Winter and one of WA basketball’s all-time greats Mel Marsh couldn’t follow the lead of Srdarev and Allen in coming years too having developed under him.
But right now his focus is on winning a second championship of his coaching tenure even though he’s looking forward to the challenge of knocking heads with Srdarev in Saturday’s clash with East Perth, and is proud of both of his former assistants for how well they are performing.
“I enjoy going up against coaches I’ve worked with before like Blake. Because you know them it becomes a bit more of a personal battle and there’s that bragging rights at the end of it,” Parker said.
“There’s Blake and Craig Allen as well who have made the top four which was pretty awesome and I’m happy for him.
“Let’s just hope I’ve helped them a little bit with the coaching but I know those guys have their own way of going about things, and they might have made it whether they worked with me or not. But I am happy to see three of us Willetton blokes are coaching teams in the top four this year.”
Meanwhile, Allen can’t help but find some pride in the fact that the three men who worked so well together as a coaching staff with Willetton are all at the helm of their own clubs in top four positions as he prepares to lead the Redbacks into battle against the Wolfpack on Friday night.
“I think it’s actually pretty cool that the three of us are coaching teams in the top four and I have the utmost respect for both Simon and Blake,” Allen said.
“That’s born out in the results and to see all three of us in that top four is something pretty special to have us fighting it out. Both Blake and Simon have had outstanding seasons with their teams and warrant that top four finish, no question, and now those two get to play each other this weekend.”