Garbin ready to step up
DARCEE Garbin’s Townsville Fire teammates are backing the young forward to take things up a notch in the WNBL after a productive off- season.
Garbin underlined her commitment to the Fire in June when she extended her contract until 2021 and she has been working as hard as ever on the court.
The 23- year- old is a genuine MVP candidate in the QBL this season, averaging a double- double for the Townsville Flames as they reached the quarterfinals.
Garbin wasn’t able to stick around for the QBL play- offs as she joined the Emerging Opals at the World University Games in Chinese Taipei.
The West Australian leads the Emerging Opals in both points ( 14.3 per game) and rebounds ( 9.3) so far as they prepared for a huge quarter- final clash with Team USA overnight.
Suzy Batkovic has been a mentor to Garbin during her time at the Fire and the skipper was excited to see what she’ll bring back to the WNBL when the season tips off in October.
“I think she’s come a long way and she keeps improving which is great to see,” Batkovic said. “She’s a kid who works extremely hard. I think she’s probably one of the blue- collar workers ( in the team) that never gives up even when she’s frustrated at herself.
“I think it’s great to see her do so well at QBL ( but) now she has to bring it back over to the WNBL. She’s in great form, she’s fit, and she’s been working really hard in the off- season so it’s going to be good seeing her back on court ( with the Fire) and get rewarded for it.”
Fire championship- winning captain and now assistant coach Rachael McCully has seen Garbin’s improvement first- hand over the past few months as they’ve played together in the QBL.
The Fire have added some tall timber this season, with Cayla George set to reunite with the club along with 192cm prodigy Zitina Aokuso, and McCully expected Garbin’s greatest challenge would be proving she deserves more time on the floor.
“Obviously there’s a massive step up from the QBL to the WNBL, but we know that Darcee can compete. It’s probably more about her consistency week- to- week,” McCully said.
“With Suzy and Cayla both coming back, she’s going to be up against it at training so that’s definitely going to benefit her.
“Most teams have recruited more bigs to be able to compete with teams like us with Cayla, Suzy, Darcee, and Zitina now. A lot of teams are going to be a lot bigger and the focus is probably going to be a bit more inside.”