Worried Fire sweat on skipper’s fitness

SUZY Batkovic’s WNBL swan song is in jeopardy after the Townsville Fire captain’s neck injury flared up during Saturday’s 73- 67 loss to the Melbourne Boomers.

Batkovic will undergo MRI scans on her neck today after she was restricted to just five minutes before she had to be subbed out.

The Fire star has managed two bulging discs in her back and neck for the past six years, but she revealed the problem with her neck had worsened this season as she had also lost strength in her left arm. Batkovic has done her best to play on and led the Fire to a memorable road win over Adelaide last month, but she said the nerve problems in her arm became too much against Melbourne.

“Before the game we counted I shot seven air balls and it felt like I was shooting a medicine ball. There’s some nerve problems going on so we need to get to the bottom of it now,” Batkovic said.

“I thought it would just go away with some treatment, but it didn’t and I’m still struggling a little bit with it so MRI and hopefully we can get to the bottom of it and resolve it.

“It’s a little bit of a shock when you’re trying to go shoot and then all of a sudden you’re shooting air balls, but I’m confident they’ll work out what’s wrong after they see the MRI.

“Hopefully it’s just something minor that needs to be tweaked and I can get on with it.” The Fire sorely missed Batkovic’s inside presence against the Boomers, who led by as many as 18 points late in the third quarter as they claimed a 3- 0 series sweep.

Batkovic said it was tough to watch from the bench, but she was encouraged by the Fire’s fighting spirit as fellow bigs Ally Malott ( 17 points, 3 rebounds), Zitina Aoksuo ( 12 points, 10 rebounds), and Darcee Garbin ( 11 points, 7 rebounds) stepped up.

“It was really hard to get pulled from the game, but at the same time I was useless to them,” Batkovic said. “Even with me not being able to play and getting pulled after five minutes of game time it didn’t bother the girls and they just still went out and fought.’’

Coach Claudia Brassard said the Fire hoped to make a call on Batkovic’s fitness early in the week to give them the best preparation for this Friday’s home clash with Adelaide.

“If we have a whole week to prepare without Suzy it’s probably a little bit different to five minutes into the first quarter going we’ll change our whole game plan,” she said.