McCully answers Fire call
Club legend’s masterclass to help team overcome defensive frailties
THE Townsville Fire have turned to a club legend in an effort to bolster their defence ahead of a crunch road game against the in- form Bendigo Spirit this afternoon.
Former championship- winning captain Rachael McCully returned to Fire training this week for a defence masterclass with a particular focus on defending on- ball screens.
McCully – who is the only player to have her number retired at the Fire – is widely regarded as one of the WNBL’s greatest ever defenders and was twice crowned the defensive player of the year.
Defence has been an issue for the Fire as they’ve slumped to a 3- 5 record, conceding an average of 78 points while Bendigo are the best defensive team as they give up just 68 per game.
McCully stepped down from a full- time assistant coaching role this season, but the veteran of 324 WNBL games said she was more than happy to come back and share her defensive expertise.
“It’s pretty obvious that most teams are using on- ball screens a lot more this season and it’s something defensively that the team’s been struggling with a little bit,” McCully said.
“I guess as an ex- player and ex- coach who has a bit of experience defensively it was an honour to come out and have a couple of sessions with the girls.
“The games that they’ve lost have been very close so we just need to learn how to do those little one percenters and make sure that we’re ready defensively.
“It’s a game of momentum and when you’re giving up 80odd points a game it’s always going to be hard.
“If you can slow those momentum swings down – and every team’s going to have them – and limit them defensively I think they’re going to be keeping teams to the right score to win games.” The Fire have been brilliant in the second half in recent weeks, but their defensive lapses have proved costly as they’ve had to claw their way back from double- figure deficits.
Bendigo have also been prone to switching off despite their 6- 3 record and they are coming off a 81- 65 thrashing against Dandenong last weekend.
Fire coach Claudia Brassard has urged her side to defend more aggressively in the first half, but she felt they could also exploit their sizeable advantage inside to get around Bendigo’s lockdown defence.
“Bendigo have surprised teams and they’re a really good outfit defensively,” Brassard said.
“We’ve got to make sure that our shooters are ready to shoot and that we’re finding our bigs inside.’’