It's those special moments - a hug here, a smile there and even the occasional 'wet willy', much to son Taj's disgust, - the Perth Wildcats mentor holds dear.

They provide the Warrnambool-raised Gleeson a release from the high-pressure environment of professional sport.

Wife Dawn and children Taj, 11, and Shae, 9, are his greatest supporters and will be there when the stakes rise on Friday night when Perth hosts Cairns Taipans in game one of their semi-final series at RAC Arena.

Gleeson, who is chasing a fifth championship in seven years as coach, said his family kept him grounded and calm.

"We usually stay there (on court) and do our recovery. There's not that much room in the locker room to do that so while we're there we do all our media," he told The Standard.

"It works they (my family) can come down and chill out for five minutes or so.

"It is something I will look back on in later years when dad's not cool anymore and they don't want to hang out, so while it's there it's great."

His children also play a role in keeping him relaxed outside of game day.

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Watching them enjoy their own sporting pursuits gives him a thrill.

"They are pretty active in sport and a great pressure release is to hang out with them and go and watch them play or get outside in the backyard," Gleeson said.

"They are doing well at school and it's good to have a conversation and hang out with them."

Gleeson said both children played basketball and he was there to talk skills and tactics.

But it's ensuring they embrace sportsmanship which is most important to the former Warrnambool Seahawks and Mermaids coach.

"I don't want to put them under anymore pressure, being the Wildcats coach's children," he said.

"Get out there and learn the rules of team sport - your team work, being unselfish, work ethic, discipline to be at training and punctual, all those things are life skills.

"That is more of a concern than worrying about if the ball goes in or not."

Gleeson, who has also coached Townsville Crocs and Melbourne Tigers, remains passionate about his job.

He arrives at Wildcats' headquarters most mornings no later than 6.30am.

He knows there's always something to be done at an organisation which prides itself on sustained success - Perth is featuring in its 34^th straight playoff series and chasing its 10^th title.

"It is something I love doing, it's not really work. It's always a great challenge with the daily issues you've got with professional sport," Gleeson said.

Part of the all-encompassing role is travel. It's frequent.

On Saturday the team will fly to Cairns via Brisbane for game two against the Taipans on Sunday.

"I got an email from Qantas the other day that said I'd travelled four times around the world this last year," Gleeson said.

"It was 61 flights. It's certainly a fair amount of travel.

"It is over 100,000 kilometres and that's just in the regular season. I think the (Fremantle and West Coast) footballers do 40,000 to 50,000km.

"It is part of the business, it's part of being in WA. We embrace that, we don't complain about it at all.

"We know we'll fly more miles than any other team but it also builds resilience up."

Gleeson is hoping the Wildcats, who would face either Sydney Kings or Melbourne United in the grand final series if they advanced, have more trips to plan in season 2020.

He feels they're ready to stake a claim for back-to-back championships.

Star imports Terrico White and Bryce Cotton are fit and inspirational captain Damian Martin has overcome injury.

"I am still hungry to be successful and get another championship. We're not there to make numbers up," Gleeson said.

"We've got a group of guys that come together and keep improving at the tail-end of the year.

"Some teams fall apart, some teams can't wait to get rid of each other and the team that comes together the best is usually the team that wins the championship and we're heading in that direction."

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