Decider stokes rivalries
TOWNSVILLE Fire stars Kelly Wilson and Darcee Garbin are set to become rivals tomorrow night in the Townsville Super League women’s grand final at Murray Stadium.
Wilson coaches the Dennis’ Flames, who will come up against Garbin and the Bamford Medical Bandits with the trophy and bragging rights up for grabs.
Garbin’s Bandits have lost just one game all season – against Wilson’s team – but they’ll be without marquee player Haylee Andrews for the decider.
The Flames have an impressive squad with WNBL young guns Zitina Aokuso and Miela Goodchild, but Garbin has coaxed former Fire development player Ainsley Walsh out of retirement to give her side more attacking spark.
“I expect her to have 40. Whether she has that or not will be a different story,” Garbin said. “We shot around during the week and she barely missed, so I’m hoping that follows through to Sunday.
“I don’t want to talk too much trash before the game but we did finish top of the ladder, so hopefully we come away with the win.”
Goodchild was a late inclusion to the Flames squad but she said Wilson’s knowledge and experience had them primed for a big grand final performance.
“She’s pretty assertive, tells us how it is and she definitely has a high IQ, and knows what stuff to run when we need it,” Goodchild said.
“We’ve got a pretty good combo with ‘ Zee’ and I, but it’s a grand final so it’s going to be tough. We’re going to have to pull out the big guns.”
Meanwhile, bragging rights will also be on the line in the men’s grand final as the Rodney Anderson- coached TUBE Thunder take on Greg Vanderjagt’s Zarraffas Triple Shots.
The Thunder have beaten the Triple Shots twice during the regular season with a squad that includes marquees Boston Mazlin and Joe Owens.
Anderson also coached the Townsville Heat to their first state league title in 17 years earlier this year and forward Alex Cox said he was confident the Thunder were ready for the final.
“We’ve probably been very quiet as a team but I do think Rodney’s got a few tricks up his sleeve, especially after winning the QBL this year. I think he wants to keep that win streak going,” Cox said.
“I think our key will probably be working down low, keep feeding it into the bigs, and just whatever Rodney wants to run.”
Triple Shots small forward Logan Kyle said they would be the underdogs in the decider but he felt they were starting to hit their best form with former Crocs NBL centre Vanderjagt driving the team.
“We’re probably underdogs right now but we haven’t really had a full team when we’ve played them ( the Thunder), and we’re coming into form,” Kyle said.
“They’re a real big team so we’ve got to guard the paint pretty well. They attack the paint and we’re a shooting team, so hopefully we can shoot the ball and it should be a good game.”