Townsville warm up twice against Perth
THE Townsville Fire will kickstart their WNBL premiership charge in the Burdekin next month when they host two pre- season fixtures against the Perth Lynx.
The Fire will take on their 2015- 16 grand final rivals at The Den on September 22 and 23, along with a host of community activities, including junior basketball clinics featuring both teams.
Pre- season performances will be crucial this year with the condensed WNBL schedule and vice- captain Mia Murray said the Burdekin Blitz would be the ideal platform to ensure the Fire are ready to go from the opening round.
Townsville’s form patchy before Christmas was last year as they struggled with their combinations on the court and Murray admitted they could not afford another slow start this season.
“We have to hit the ground running from Round 1. You can’t have a couple of weeks to get used to each other. You’ve got to be ready to go,” Murray said.
“I guess with the shortened season this year, there’s a lot of focus on being able to recover and back up in a short amount of time for a large number of games.
“We’ll be able to put those sorts of processes in place in the pre- season games and see what works and what doesn’t and hopefully put that in place during the season.
“It was really well received last year in Mackay when we played Sydney for a small series so we’re really hoping it gets us nice and prepared for the coming season.
“Hopefully by the time the games roll around, we’ll have had a couple of weeks together and gelled pretty well and we’ll look pretty good in the Burdekin.”
The Fire have kept the core of their squad intact this season with the likes of Murray, captain Suzy Batkovic, Micaela Cocks, Kelly Wilson and Darcee Garbin all back on deck.
Dual championship winner Cayla George will also reunite with her Fire teammates along with new recruits Zitina Aoku- so and Marena imports Laurin Sydney Wiese.
The WNBL looks stronger across the board this season on the back of a new TV deal, but Murray believed the Fire’s experienced roster still made them one of the teams to beat.
“Micaela and I have been here for seven years now and just adding bits and pieces to that core group is only a good thing. I think we’ve got some superstars coming in,” she said.
“Adding Cayla George brings back 15 rebounds a game and Darcee’s just had a fantastic season. She’s continuing on at the University Games as we speak.
“I’m confident that our team’s going to go pretty deep this year and we’re going to be ones to watch.”
The pre- season games will tip- off from 7pm on September 22 and 23. Tickets are available from the Burdekin Basketball Association. Whittle and Mincy and