Geraldton Buccaneers will play against a familiar face this weekend, with the reigning NBL1 West champions set to come up against their two-time grand final MVP Johny Narkle for the first time since his move to the Cockburn Cougars.

The former Buccaneer had a delayed start to his season, not taking the court until round seven and missing his homecoming at Activewest Stadium in round five.

Since then, Narkle has quickly found his feet and remains one of the league’s top players — averaging 25 points, 3.36 assists, 5.36 rebounds and 2.27 steals.

Among his 12 games in new colours, he has also had some stunning performances — including two 40-plus point performances against Willetton and Goldfields.

Coach Dayle Joseph says the Buccs would be paying close attention to Narkle to limit his output, treating him like any other team’s star player.

“Johny, obviously being a big part of their squad, he probably gets a little bit of attention, but that’s no different from any other team preparing to play them as well,” he said.

“He’s been up and down a little bit I think, so still trying to find his way amongst the team; I think that sometimes depends on the opposition and how the opposition play him to his performances.

“He’s still proven that he’s one of the better players in the competition, and you need to pay a lot of attention to him when you’re doing your scout reports and try and keep the ball out of Johny’s hands, so that will be a little bit of a goal of ours as well.”

After last weekend, Cockburn has made a late charge for the top four, downing Mandurah Magic to slide into fourth place with 12 wins and five losses.

The last time these two sides met, the Cougars won by four points, becoming just one of three sides to defeat the Buccaneers this year.

However, Joseph believed his side was better placed to combat Cockburn this time around in a battle between two and four on the ladder.

“We still had four or five guys not available at that time, and admittedly they were still waiting on Johny to come in as well,” he said.

“This will be completely different from earlier on in the season. Cockburn have been going along really, really well. I think they’ve proven to themselves that they’re around the mark and think they’re a chance.

“We obviously want to try and make that gap between us, even if it is just mentally that you know we’re a bit superior than them, so that’s what we’ll be aiming for.”

Geraldton’s double-header on the road this weekend sees them take on Cockburn at Wally Hagan Stadium on Saturday at 6pm, before facing the 13th-placed Warwick Senators on Sunday at Warwick Stadium at 12pm.