Chief says team goals outweigh personal milestone

Alex Pledger will this week join a rather exclusive club at the SKYCITY Breakers. Provided the big centre suits up in Cairns on Friday night, the man known as Chief will become just the fifth player to notch up 200 ANBL games for the Breakers, a feat that will be further celebrated when he returns to the North Shore Events Centre this Sunday for his 201st outing against the Adelaide 36ers.

The fact he has made it to the double century is in itself a feat of endurance, one that he might not have considered too seriously given the battles he has endured and overcome in recent years to be fit and available, most notably the most talked about turf toe injury in sport that saw him play out a (Championship winning) season on one leg before undergoing surgery and a lengthy rehab.

But having regained his fitness, he was one of the first signings for Head Coach Paul Henare, who described him then as a player you can build a team around.

"It is not a surprise for a player like Chief, in our competition when you play 30 games a year if you are around long enough, these milestones will come along," said Henare.

"He is big for us - excuse the pun, when he is cementing our defence by being that rim protector at the back and rebounding well and playing with confidence at the offensive end he is a hell of a player. He is 28 or 29 (years old) and a lot of big guys get into their prime at that age so I think we are still going to see some improvements and really good basketball out of him."

29-year-old Chief is understandably proud of his achievements in the game and the 200-game milestone, but has eyes on only on doing his utmost to deliver yet more success and a shot at a fifth NBL Championship this summer.

It is not lost on Pledger either the fact that all who have gone beyond 200 games for the Breakers are still with the club, either playing (Vukona and Abercrombie), coaching (Henare) or in the front office (Boucher).

"Guys like Mika and Tommy who are playing at the moment and then to Pauli and Dillon upstairs in the office, to be mentioned in the same breath as legends of the club like them is special to group to be part of.

"It doesnt matter so much for me. Dont get me wrong - I am proud to be able to get to this point with the club but in saying that it wont change my approach or the teams approach to the game, we will go in with the same mindset as we do every game so from that point of view it wont have a massive overall effect on the game on Friday."

Pledger admits that there have been times recently as he battled to overcome injury and surgery when he did not consider his long-term future in the game, let alone clocking up 200 games.

"There were definitely times when I thought I might not ever get to this point and might not be the player that I was before those injuries ever again. But I have worked pretty hard and I think I still have a lot of work to do but I am starting to feel like my old self and yeah, I am proud of myself because of that."

In typical Breakers fashion though, Chief says there is only one way that he can truly enjoy the milestone and perhaps allow himself a small celebration post-game on Friday.

"Cairns is a tough place to get a win and they have a hostile crowd up there so to get out with a W would make the milestone all the sweeter for sure."

That sure would be a nice way to travel back home on Saturday with a short turnaround for the home game at the North Shore Events Centre on Sunday and the visit of the Adelaide 36ers, at which Chief will be presented with a plaque to mark his entry to the 200 Club.

SKYCITY Breakers 200 Club (numbers accurate as of January 4 2017)

315 Mika Vukona

250 Paul Henare

241 Tom Abercrombie

220 Dillon Boucher

-199 Alex Pledger

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Basketball New Zealand