Former Adelaide 36ers centre Blake Truslove set to finish his 350-game career with the Bearcats
West Adelaide Bearcats premiership star and former Adelaide 36er Blake Truslove will finish his hoops career at the end of this men’s Premier League season.
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Eighteen state league seasons, 354 games, nine coaches, five grand finals, one title and countless teammates.
Those numbers help to encapsulate West Adelaide basketballer Blake Truslove’s illustrious career.
At 40, Truslove is the oldest player in the men’s Premier League by about five years.
But the 204cm centre will pack away his beloved Bearcats singlet at the end of this season following his retirement last week.
“We’ve got guys playing for West now who weren’t born when I started playing,” says Truslove, whose career also includes five NBL seasons with Adelaide, Canberra and New Zealand.
“I think the body has started to tell me it was time.
“The role I had agreed to at the start of the year sort of changed when we lost the US import (Shane Heyward).
“I had to play a lot more minutes and my body didn’t like it.
“I’ve been through nine different head coaches, multiple different teammates.
“I did get quite a few offers to go play for other teams but I was quite happy staying at the one club.
“The friendships I’ve made along the way have been awesome.”
Truslove joined the Bearcats at the age of 19 after moving to Adelaide from Darwin via Cairns.
He has since missed only three seasons – one through injury and two because he was with New Zealand.
Co-captaining the 2017 title win with fellow veteran Anthony Spadavecchia, to break the club’s 21-year men’s championship drought, is his fondest memory, particularly after playing in four losing grand finals with West
“The win was that bit sweeter because of the four we lost,” he says.
“It would’ve been nice to do it again but I will still always have that one that we got.”
Truslove will play his 350th game when West hosts Central Districts on June 29 and hopes his body will last three more minor rounds so the milestone will not be his swan song.
He is now looking forward to spending more time with his children – Carter, 13, Chelsea, 11, and Spencer, 7, who all play with West’s juniors.
West is seventh with a 4-9 record and out of finals contention with six games left.
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