SEEBOHM’S SEEN GREAT GROWTH FOLLOWING ROSTER REBUILD

From an Abbey Ellis buzzer beater to shoot down the Flyers to the arrival of import Nia Coffey, and a return to the Fire Pit on Saturday night… Townsville’s terrific week keeps getting better. The players are on a high heading into the final month of fixtures for the regular season and coach Shannon Seebohm’s certainly enjoyed what’s been a challenging but exciting roster rebuild.

“I think we’ve got more players that are within zero to two years in the league than we do that have multiple years in the league so it’s been really fun coaching them and working with them. There is a lot of growth that I’ve seen from day one to now and if we keep going, I’m really excited for the future of this club.”

That’s not say the Fire can’t claim the current Championship on offer, despite Perth and Bendigo being clear front runners.

“I think we feel like that already. I don’t think we’ve played our best basketball against Bendigo yet and we’ve been close a couple of times. And we’ve split the series so far against Perth so I think we feel we can compete with anybody.”

The recent addition of Coffey is added experience which will only help the youthful squad step things up another level. And the guard will be determined to win a ring having gone agonisingly close in the 2018-19 WNBL season, when she was the Lightning’s MVP as Adelaide reached the grand final.

“She’ll give us that versatility, and her ability to defend multiple positions, you know I think is going to be big for us down the stretch. Last time she was out here she was a really effective player and certainly adding someone like Nia to our roster, hopefully gives us a little edge that just puts us over the line.”

While Seebohm senses something special could be developing, he knows an impressive campaign can be blown before the playoffs if Townsville starts looking too far ahead, even though a top 4 finish is within reach.

“We’re playing Southside on Saturday and that’s all I’m really worried about, and I think we need to keep that mindset. If you start getting ahead of yourself, you never know what’s going to happen in this league, so we’ve just got to worry about the next game on the schedule. Hopefully if we keep doing that, we’ll get enough wins to be in the finals at the end of the season and have a chance.”

The Fire has 8 games remaining, 5 of which are at home. Be sure to get your tickets and get behind the team.