Bring it on: We’re ready for the finals
with Townsville Fire player WE’VE finally reached that time of year.
Finals basketball has arrived and there’s no place I’d rather be than here in Sydney with my Fire teammates ready to play for a WNBL championship three- peat.
This has been a really solid week of preparation for us. Everyone’s ready to go.
We haven’t made too many changes to what we do already and we’re still focusing on ourselves and the task ahead.
When we’re on top of our game we can beat anyone anywhere, but if we’re not bringing it we do struggle.
The player who I think has been really bringing it for us recently is Mia Murray.
Mia’s always been a great player, but she’s done a really good job at being even more consistent this season.
She’s developed to another stage of being one of the main scorers for the Fire.
For our younger players this will be a tremendous learning experience no matter what happens, especially if they’re willing to be a sponge and absorb everything’s that going on around them.
To me that’s what makes a great athlete; the person who has the drive and passion, but who makes sure to learn as much as they can.
When I was coming through the ranks and first put with some of Australia’s best athletes like Trisha Fallon, Michele Timms and Robyn Maher, it was intimidating to begin with.
But I learned so much because I was like a little sponge with everything, and I almost wanted to copy them so I could play with them at that level.
Hopefully our younger players feel the same way when they have the opportunity to play with great players, and if I was a junior coming through at the Fire and I was shooter, I would stay with Mia Murray and learn what she does.
If I was a point guard I would be listening to what Kelly Wilson says and watching her, so I would use it to my advantage and benefit myself for the future.
When it comes to finals basketball it’s an exciting time for both young and experienced players.
This is the fun part, this is what we play for.
Finals games are always challenging and at the end of the day you want the big prize.
We’ve been hanging out for nearly half a season for finals and they’re finally here, so now we’re just making sure everyone’s ready, counted for and putting everything on the line to win that championship.
On a lighter note I couldn’t help but wonder what Kelly Wilson was doing sitting near her car in Idalia on my way to training this week.
Turns out Kelly had been waiting for the RACQ and didn’t know how to change a tyre, and her husband in Melbourne got a phone call.
All ended well for Kelly and she got the help she needed, but it’s interesting to see who knows how to change a tyre and who doesn’t.