Cocks urges teammates to turn up the volume
MICAELA Cocks has urged the Townsville Fire to play with a championship intensity in tomorrow night’s WNBL semi- final at Townsville Stadium to put the pressure on rivals Sydney.
Tickets go on sale to the general public at 1pm today and the Fire are hoping for a big home crowd as they chase an early advantage in the best- of- three series against the defending champion Flames.
Sydney has a strong recent record against the Fire, knocking them out of last year’s semi- finals with a 2- 0 sweep which also ended Townsville’s incredible run of four- straight grand final appearances.
Cocks is one of the veterans of the Fire’s line- up, having featured in seven consecutive post- seasons for two championship wins while she was also named grand final MVP against Perth in 2016.
The New Zealand international believed turning Townsville Stadium into a fortress tomorrow night will be crucial to overcoming Sydney’s home court advantage for games two and three.
“I think in any three- game series getting that first win is huge … it’s a great advantage to play here in Townsville in front of our home fans,” Cocks said.
“I haven’t even thought about the games in Sydney. It’s almost like a championship game this Thursday and we must get this win. If you get that first win at home then you need to get one game away which is totally doable. It’s putting the pressure back on them.
“It’s definitely a different intensity once you’re going into finals basketball. It sucks to lose.
“I’ve had the experience of both losing and winning in finals series and it makes you really hungry to get those wins and get into that championship final series.
“We know what we need to do and we’ve got all the talent, the resources, the coaching staff, everything in place. We just have to come out and fire.”
The Fire were humbled 107- 81 in their last clash with the Flames less than a week ago, but Cocks felt that loss had also given Townsville a valuable insight into where they need to improve for the playoffs.
“All season we’ve known how we need to start and what we need to do, it’s just making sure we execute that and having the right mindset,” Cocks said.
“They came out ( in the last game) and executed their game plan better than us. They caused a lot of turnovers and got a lot of fast break points. I think it’s coming out in the first quarter and dictating to them, getting in the lanes and applying the pressure and not letting them do that to us.”
Tickets for tomorrow night’s semi- final are available through The Ticket Shop at the Civic Theatre or by calling 4727 9797.