He knows the challenges his team will face this season and knows it is unlikely they will be as successful as last season.

But he’s looking forward to continuing the project he started which focuses on making basketball in Port Macquarie sustainable.

Results aren’t overly important; Champion wants to continue to develop young players and transform the club with an eye on success long-term.

“The biggest thing for me is that we’re trying to build something that’s sustainable,” he said.

“It’s harder work when it’s a project, but I enjoy it. My wife asks me all the time why I keep doing it.

“We’ve been good before, but I want us to be sustainably good.”

Now in his fifth year in charge of the Waratah State League club, Champion will go into the 2018 season with his eyes wide open.

“This year, we’re not going to be as good as last year because most of our older players have moved on,” he said.

Two seasons ago, wins were few and far between and Champion forecasted it could be more of the same ahead.

“We’re going to be back in that situation where we’re not great,” he said.

“But if we can have another season where we’re competitive the whole time, steal a few wins here and there and further develop some of the young players we’ve got that’ll be great.”

When asked how he would gauge a successful season, he admitted it depended on a variety of factors.

“It depends how you define success,” he said.

“Last year we won eight or 10 more games than we did the year before which by one measure is successful, but all the people who played in the year before will tell you we did better the year before.

“That year we had no shot and everyone was better than us and we got away with winning a couple of games.

“Last year we were a lot better, but it wasn’t as much fun and we weren’t making the most of ourselves.”

Champion said another hurdle Port Macquarie regularly had to overcome was losing talented players to metropolitan areas.

“It’s hard in Port Macquarie to be blunt,” he said.

“We lose two or three young guys between 18 and 21 every year who go off and find jobs or find something because the opportunities haven’t been here.”

The Dolphins will play a round-robin pre-season tournament against Coffs Harbour and Newcastle this weekend.

Port Macquarie play Coffs Harbour at 6pm on Saturday evening, while the match against Newcastle tips off at midday on Sunday.