Bright side to star’s loss

TOWNSVILLE Fire coach Shannon Seebohm is confident the loss of rising star Zitina Aokuso won’t derail their WNBL campaign as he challenged the rest of the squad to step up.

The Fire were dealt a bitter blow last week when Aokuso ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament at pre-season training, which means she will be sidelined for up to 12 months.

The athletic 193cm centre was set to play a big role for the Fire this season following WNBL legend Suzy Batkovic’s retirement, leaving the club with a difficult search for a replacement.

Seebohm conceded it was highly unlikely the Fire could secure another player of Aokuso’s calibre with just over two weeks until their season opener against the Southside Flyers.

But the new coach believed the Fire still had the depth to cover as they chase a return to the play-offs this season.

“It certainly changes things … she’s a player that is very difficult to replace,” Seebohm said. “There’s not many players out there like her to begin with and obviously this late into our preparations with free agents available and things there’s not a lot we can do.

“We’re searching for a player currently and hopefully we’ll have somebody in place in the next week or so, but now it’s a challenge for the other girls to step up.

“There’s probably now some minutes available. That’s the exciting part is we’ll see some other people from our current roster gain more opportunity.”

The Fire’s newest recruit Christina Boag is one player in line for more game time without Aokuso.

The energetic 188cm forward was recruited as a role player off the bench, but Seebohm hoped Boag could make the most of her opportunity in Sunday’s pre-season clash with the Sydney Flames at Townsville Stadium.

“She’s had a little bit of a quad strain that she’s been dealing with, but we’re hoping she’ll be available for us this weekend,” he said.

“It’s a great chance for her I think to be thrown in the deep end and we’ll just see what she does with the extra opportunity.”

The Fire have had to roll with the punches during the pre-season with Abby Bishop, Darcee Garbin and Micaela Cocks all playing in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, while Canadian import Bridget Carleton has yet to join her new team due to her international commitments.

Seebohm admitted it wasn’t the ideal preparation with a new-look roster this season, but he was proud of the way the players had responded to that adversity on the training court.

“We’re still getting through things and still getting better every day and working hard at practice,” he said.

“The games this weekend are going to be good for us, albeit missing some key rotation and starters from our line-up, but it’s a great challenge to play Sydney when they’re probably close to full strength.”

The Fire’s community day starts from 9am at Townsville Stadium, with the pre-season game against the Flames at 12pm.