Chargers to back Ruef in big clash

CHARGERS women coach Dwain Davie has put the onus on his entire squad to help mid-season recruit Mikaela Ruef through the first initiation against her former side this weekend.

Hobart heads to the Silverdome for the intrastate derby against Launceston on Saturday night, in what will be Ruef’s first showdown against the Tornadoes after her WNBA stint with Los Angeles.

Ruef left Launceston on the eve of the SEABL season for a training camp with the Sparks, and after being cut by LA joined the Chargers a month ago — with the Tornadoes having replaced the rebounding giant with local talent Tayla Roberts.

“We haven’t spoken about that directly just yet. I know it will be an interesting challenge for her given she still has quite a few friends that are not only involved with the team but people in Launceston in general,” Davie said.

“It is up to us as a team to help her through that. She is part of the family now so we have to look after her.”

The Chargers are coming off a mixed road double, toppling league powerhouse Dandenong for the second time this season last Friday night before losing to the bottomplaced South Conference outfit Melbourne 24 hours later.

It has left the team three games behind Launceston in fourth spot, with any hope of snatching a home final with five games remaining potentially hingeing on victory against their arch-rivals.

However, Davie is blocking out ladder positions as much as possible to ensure his troops are focused on the task at hand.

“We said a couple of weeks ago, as hard as it is we are just going to stop looking at the ladder and finals placings and home finals and that type of thing.

“The best thing for us is to focus game by game. At the end of the day we know if we play the right basketball we are good enough to beat anyone in the competition.

“If we knuckle down and focus on that week to week, the rest will take care of itself.

“We are ready to go. We feel we are the underdogs, but we are pumped to go up there and hunt them down.”