FRESH FIRE READY FOR BENDIGO BATTLE
FRESH FIRE READY FOR BENDIGO BATTLE
The Fire will begin a 5 game stretch too see out 2024 when the team hits the court in Bendigo tomorrow evening. Townsville hasn’t played since overcoming Adelaide to finish off a round 5 double header at the end of November, and after several strong training sessions against each other, the players are relieved to face someone else… At least Alicia Froling is.
“Yeah definitely! You get sick of playing against your teammates every day, so I think we’re ready to go out there and take on someone different.”
It’ll be the second battle between the sides this season. The spirit prevailed 76-84 at the Fire Pit in round 3. Froling felt Townsville strayed from the scout on that occasion, in both defence and offence.
“I think for us yeah playing as a team, sticking to the game plan and what Shannon wants us to do. It’s going to be a team effort and it’s going to be a grind.”
A chance to level the scores and botch Bendigo’s perfect record is providing motivation for the visitors.
“To be the team to give them their first loss would be something pretty cool for us but yeah I think we just go in there and focus on the little things.”
Fellow Co-Captain Courtney Woods isn’t underestimating the task at hand, however she’s also confident of handing the Spirit a first defeat.
“We know they’re an incredibly talented team but any team’s beatable on any given night.” We’re just kind of going in there and taking a free swing and we’ll give them everything we’ve got. Taking it to the top team, I think you’ve just got to approach it the same way you try to beat any team in the WNBL, you’ve just got to go out and play harder.”
The guard says the new look squad is no longer that and believes building and identity is crucial moving forward.
“All the growing pains are kind of over now we’re moving into the middle part of the season. So we don’t really have that excuse that we’re a new team or we’re a young team anymore. I think we’re kind of at the point where we need to start kind of having more consistency, so I think it kind of just transitions into like a new phase.”
Catch the clash tomorrow on then 9NOW app at 4pm or jump on the club’s social media pages for score updates.
Following the side’s Spirit showdown, will be 4 straight home games at the culminating in a New Year’s Eve blockbuster. You can purchase tickets to each game or even better… buy a holiday pass for all the action RIGHT HERE as we farewell the year.
