Boag’s glee after Fire call rekindles dream
TOWNSVILLE Fire recruit Christina Boag wants to make the most of every second on the court this season after revealing she thought her shot at making a WNBL roster had passed her by.
Boag is set to bring her energy and physicality to the Fire as one of their key weapons off the bench when they open their WNBL campaign against the Southside Flyers in Dandenong next weekend.
The 28-year-old has previously trained as a development player with the Sydney Flames – most recently during the 2016/17 season when twin sister Carly was part of the main roster.
But Boag was unable to cement her own place in the WNBL before catching the attention of new Fire coach Shannon Seebohm while playing alongside Darcee Garbin in Western Australia’s SBL earlier this year.
The 188cm forward averaged a near double-double as she and Garbin helped the Rockingham Flames win the championship, which also saw Boag recruited to fill the Fire’s last roster spot.
“After Sydney and when I didn’t come back the year after I just thought it was done,” Boag said about her WNBL prospects.
“The older you get the less chance you’re going to get into the WNBL being an Australian, so I thought it was over, but when I got the call from Shannon I was so happy.
“I’ve always wanted to play in the WNBL properly and to play with Darcee again is awesome. I loved playing with her last season and it couldn’t have worked out better.
“I never thought I’d play for the Fire to be honest.
“I always thought it was going to be Sydney, but I’m more than happy to play for Townsville and get a chance in the WNBL.”
Boag was recruited as a role player off the bench, but she will have the opportunity to push for more minutes following a season-ending knee injury to Zitina Aokuso.
Boag admitted she hasn’t had the smoothest preparation given she suffered a quad strain soon after arriving in Townsville, which has limited her ability to train.
She was able to take the floor in last weekend’s p pre-seasonson games against her former club Sydney and Boag insisted that she was ready to prove herself in the national league with the Fire.
“We’ve still got Darcee, Abby (Bishop), and Bridget (Carleton) so it’s not easy to get minutes and I have to fight,” she said.
“I’m a role player so just doing the things like rebounding and hustling in defence.
“You always want to play your hardest, but not knowing how many minutes you’re going to get or if you’re going to get minutes you really want to just leave it all on the floor.”