Happy to miss grind

TOWNSVILLE Fire forward Darcee Garbin says she’s happy to escape the preseason grind as she and teammate Abby Bishop take the court for the Australian Opals in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup.

Garbin and Bishop fly out today for a final training camp in Canberra including an exhibition game between the Opals and the Chinese national team on Thursday.

The game will provide the 16-player Opals squad with valuable match practice ahead of their Asia Cup opener against the Philippines in Bengaluru, India, on September 24.

Garbin is still a newcomer to the national team having only made her Opals debut in July last year, but she was keen to make the most of every chance she gets in the green and gold.

“I guess I’m probably filling a spot of a WNBA girl who’s in finals so it’s just taking my opportunities as I get them,” Garbin said.

“I’m not sure how much court time I’ll be playing so when I get out there just doing all the little things. That’s going to put me forward maybe for a team in November or February for (Olympics) qualifiers.

“It’s a bit of disruption during preseason, but I guess missing out on preseason and all the running and extras won’t be too bad.”

The Fire are only in the second week of preseason and will lose two starters for the next fortnight, but Bishop was confident in the progress they have already made as a new group.

“Not a lot of teams consistently have that core group so it’ll be a challenge, but not only for us, it’s pretty much the whole WNBL,” Bishop said.