Confident Thunder host quarterfinal
LOGAN Thunder will host the first quarterfinal of the QBL against Cairns on Saturday at Cornubia from 7pm.
The Luke Cann-coached side finished the home-andaway season in third position after accounting for Gladstone 108-94 last weekend.
Thunder finished with an impressive 14-4 win-loss record.
“The impressive thing is we have won five straight and we have not won the same way – we have won in different ways which is important for finals because rarely do you get to play your own style of game in finals,’’ Cann said.
He said he believed his team had learned lessons from its two mid-season losses after starting the competition with successive defeats.
One loss came after a fourgame winning streak and the other after a six-game winning streak.
“Both (losses) came at timely times because we might have been getting ahead of ourselves,’’ Cann said.
“Both losses were key learning tools for us and allowed us to address key issues.
“We go into finals knowing who we are now.
“We understand it is a new season and anyone can win – it is do or die.’’ Cann said he had enough players with finals’ experience in the side to benefit the squad.
Michael Cedar won a championship with Mackay, Australian representative Mitch Young has been on the big stage while most of the players have been involved in finals’ campaigns with Thunder for the last three seasons.
“We feel a final is just another game,’’ Cann said.