Woodville take on West Adelaide in tomorrow night’s state league basketball grand final

RETIRING Woodville Warriors veteran Steve Pilkington is hoping to bookend his basketball career with state league titles when he lines up in tomorrow’s grand final.

RETIRING Woodville Warriors veteran Steve Pilkington is hoping to bookend his basketball career with state league championships.

Pilkington, 34, won a title in his debut season with South Adelaide in 1997 in a team sprinkled with Adelaide 36ers stars.

Seventeen years later, the 200cm forward has the chance to claim his second championship when he plays his last state league game for Woodville against West Adelaide in the grand final at Adelaide Arena tomorrow night.

“In 1997 I was pretty lucky to be on a jam-packed and talented team,” Pilkington says.

“I was playing with the likes of Brett Wheeler, Mark Davis and Scott Ninnis.

“They were NBL stars and state league stars so they took me under their wing and I definitely learned a lot.

“To go out with a (winning) finals campaign would be icing on the cake for my career.”

Pilkington lined up for the Panthers until 2010 when he joined the Warriors chasing success.

“South was going in another direction and Woodville were winning so I wanted to be part of that.”

Along the way he played for three English teams – Manchester Giants, Tees Valley Mohawks and Kingsmead Fury.

“To experience international basketball and be living away from home at a young age made me grow up a hell of a lot.”

Pilkington plans to play on at a lower level next season but says he is quitting the top tier to spend more time with his family, including sons Josh, 6, and Riley, 2.

“It’s father time.”