Garbin vows to ignite in offence

DARCEE Garbin has vowed to be more aggressive on offence for the Townsville Fire as she looks to recapture her scintillating off- season form.

Garbin worked as hard as ever during the break, making the QBL All- Star Five with the Townsville Flames before helping Australia win gold at the World Uni Games, all the while averaging a double- double for both teams.

It was a lot for the 23- yearold to live up to when she returned to the Fire, and by Garbin’s own admission she has been disappointed with the start to her WNBL campaign.

Garbin played less than two minutes in the first half against Canberra last Friday after foul trouble and she is averaging just 4.5 points and 4.5 rebounds so far this season.

Garbin has naturally taken a back seat with Fire superstars Suzy Batkovic and Cayla George dominating the front court, but she still felt she could be contributing more when she’s on the floor.

“I probably haven’t been that happy with my performance, especially last week,” Garbin ( pictured) said. “I got in early foul trouble in the first two minutes of the game ( against Canberra), which kind of plays on your mind a little bit.

“Hopefully I can come out a bit more aggressive and a bit more confident this weekend with the two games. It was probably more offensively that I think I was a bit passive, last week especially.

“Defensively, maybe I won’t be as aggressive in t terms of f fouling but I’ll have that mindset offensively.”

Assistant coach Rachael McCully believed there were still encouraging signs from Garbin in the win over Canberra.

“Obviously she was disappointed in that first half but I think in that second half she came out with a bit more fire in her belly and was a lot more aggressive offensively,” she said.

“But I think that also gave Zitina ( Aokuso) a fantastic opportunity, which she took with both hands. For someone like her, she’s got to make the most of those opportunities.

“Darcee’s had a fantastic off- season and we expect her to keep putting up big numbers and being aggressive offensively, as well as smarter defensively.”

Garbin can likely expect more minutes this weekend as the Fire tackle their first double- header, starting with Sydney at home tonight before hitting the road to play Dandenong on Saturday.

“Backing up on Saturday, I think we’re going to have to rotate through our whole roster,” McCully said.