Benson Steere a Warrnambool Seahawk again after time with Big V rival Mildura Heat

The point guard is happy donning the Seahawks' jersey again after returning to the south-west last year for a teaching position at St Patrick's Primary School in Port Fairy.

Steere, 29, said he enjoyed working with young people and helping them grow.

"The first game we played (coach) Alex (Gynes) came up to me and said 'I was going to do a big song and dance about it but you're captain mate'," he said.

"He sprung it on me. Working with kids, I like that. We do have a lot of good young kids coming up."

Steere had planned to play basketball for his home club in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic forced community sport across Victoria to be cancelled.

He's played big minutes at the point in the Seahawks' first five games of the 2021 season.

"It's just good being out there playing," Steere said.

"I grew up in Warrnambool and did all my juniors here and played a bit of Seahawks when I was younger.

"But I moved away to Melbourne for uni and have been in Mildura playing with them for the last four or five years."

Steere is living in Warrnambool with wife Marly and daughters Hattie, 2, and Ophelia, five months.

He said he enjoyed his time in the Mallee which has a starkly different climate to wet and windy Warrnambool. "I loved it up there but I needed to get back to the ocean," he said.

"I loved it up there but we like to get away on weekends too and the closest place (to Mildura) is Adelaide and that's four-and-a-half hours away. It's just nice being down here closer to civilisation."

Steere said Warrnambool had a strong family focus which appealed to him too. Hattie was in the crowd for a rare 6pm game two weeks ago.

"Hattie could could come along and was chanting. I think it got to about half-time and she turned to mum and said 'all right I'm ready to go home now'," he laughed.

"I think half of the game is probably enough for her."

Warrnambool hosts Corio Bay at 8pm this Saturday at the Arc. Steere said the Seahawks were in a development phase but believed they could become regular winners in the statewide competition.

"Because we got the team together at the last minute, we didn't have too many expectations," he said.

"To have already won two games out of five is nice.

"It's a good crew. It's funny, most of the kids I am playing with when I was back in Warrnambool last were playing under 10s."

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