High stakes on the road
THIS WEEKEND
THE Townsville Flames and Heat have emerged from their QBL bye with mixed fortunes as they prepare for this weekend’s Central Queensland double- header.
The Flames will welcome back WNBL star Mia Murray after she missed their first loss of the season against Mackay with a back strain.
But the Heat will be without star import Jamell Anderson for up to a month after he rolled his ankle while playing Townsville A- grade during the week off.
Both teams face a tough road trip as they take on Gladstone tonight before coming up against Rockhampton tomorrow and fellow Heat import Justin Baker conceded Anderson was a massive loss.
“Jamell is a hell of an athlete,” Baker said.
“He can run and jump with the best of them. He’s high energy and as you guys saw in Mackay last week, even though we lost, he can be a pretty good spark for us.
“Losing him changes our team a bit … but we’re not making any excuses without Jamell. We need these two wins and we’re going to get them.”
The Heat have brought Luke Brennan out of retirement for the road trip while Josh Spiers is expected to play his first game of the season after returning home from college.
The stakes are huge for the 1- 2 Heat against their Northern conference rivals, but coach Rodney Anderson was confident they had the playing depth to overcome the loss of Jamell Anderson.
“The way Jamell plays, you can’t really replace him with one guy so we’re going to have to fill some gaps,” Anderson said.
“We’ve activated Luke Brennan. He knows the system and he knows the plays being assistant coach already and is an old head.
“We’re very, very lucky that we’ve had Josh Spiers return from college and join training this week.
“He plays the same position and he’s a longer defender like Jamell as well so he’ll take up that role. “It’s a big weekend for us.” Meanwhile, the Flames are determined to come out firing against Gladstone tonight as they also prepare for the looming threat of defending champions Rockhampton and Opals star Abby Bishop tomorrow.
Flames forward Darcee Garbin said it was important not to think too far ahead, but she admitted a strong win over Gladstone would be a huge boost for their clash with the Cyclones.
“It will definitely test our fitness, but if we can get a good lead in that Gladstone game then hopefully we can have a bit of a rest and get ready for Saturday night,” Garbin said.