Cocks stays upbeat
TOWNSVILLE Flames captain Micaela Cocks is adamant the Queensland Basketball League minor premiers can overcome the absence of star big Darcee Garbin in Saturday’s quarterfinal against North Gold Coast.
Garbin is unavailable for the door- die clash after being named in the Australian Opals’ world cup extended squad, to convene in Canberra this week.
It’s an unwelcome setback for the minor premiers, but Cocks is confident it’s one they can overcome after they managed to clock up wins with- out the Fire youngster as she made her Opals debut at a recent tournament in China.
They’ve also had to deal with the loss of Stella Beck ( New Zealand) and Alex Fowler ( Australia under- 17s) at different stages this season.
“All season we’ve had players leave on international duty, and we’ve been used to having to deal with that adversity,” Cocks said.
“Darcee’s a huge loss coming into the finals, we’d love to have her playing but that’s the way it is.
“We’ll be fine, we’ve got a good team and we’ve shown we can win without some members of our starting five.”
Cocks won the team’s Most Valuable Player and Player’s Player awards over the weekend after her 17 points, 4.89 assists and 6.83 assists per game at point guard helped guide the Flames to a 16- 2 record.
Having alternated between point guard and shooting guard most of her career, she is likely to spend more time at point guard for the Fire.
“I love point guard. I played it a lot for New Zealand and played it with the Fire.
“It’s easy to run teams when you have heaps of talent. Even with the Fire, they make the job easy when you have players like Suzy ( Batkovic), and at the Flames with Darcee.”
The Flames will have to contend with in- form North Gold Coast star Casey Samuels, who will be Cocks’ Fire teammate next season.
Samuels is averaging just over 19 points this year.
“We don’t want her playing well on Saturday, but she can play well when she gets to the Fire,” Cocks said.
“She’s been playing all sorts of positions. She brings the ball up sometimes and can play in the post, she does it all for them.”
The Flames- Seahawks clash tips off at 6pm at Townsville Stadium, followed by the men’s battle between Townsville and Gold Coast Rollers at 8pm.