Burning desire to fire like before
WITH North Queensland to play host to the entire WNBL season, Townsville Fire coach Shannon Seebohm’s attention has quickly shifted to ensuring last year’s disappointing campaign is not repeated.
The championship of the 2017-18 season has been forgotten, with the once dominant franchise failing to make the finals in the past two campaigns.
But under Seebohm’s tutelage a new era is upon the side, with only two players remaining from a season which had the Fire stuck at the bottom of the ladder — with only five wins to their credit.
Only two players remain from the previous season, and Seebohm said they had identified the areas that hindered their wooden spoon efforts and recruited in kind of rectify those misgivings.
“I think impacting our opponents’ field goal percentage is a big one, I think we gave up the worst percentage from the field as a team last year defensively,” he said. “That meant we were taking the ball out of the net a lot and didn’t get enough transition offence by running off our defence.
“And I think just protecting the paint a little bit better; as a team and individually being a little more accountable on the defensive side.
“I think we’re a little bit more athletics and have more size in the front court. It’s just exciting to see what this group is going to do, we’ve had some challenges last year but I still thought that group gave it everything they had and played hard to the very last game.
“Hopefully this year we can just continue to improve and build on our culture and how we play the game.”
Among the latest recruits is Australian Opal Lauren Nicholson and returning WNBL winner Mia Murray, the pair set to add much needed leadership.
But perhaps the most exciting addition will be 19-year-old Shyla Heal, who has already showcased the credentials to suggest she is a star on the rise.
It will be her x-factor capabilities that could be the feature of the Fire’s attack, with Seebohm lauding her ability to create chances for herself and teammates. Seebohm was finally able to hold his first full team training session on Thursday, and from what he saw the energy levels and effort was at an impressive high.
Given the 14 regular season fixtures will be condensed into six weeks, and only about 20 pre-season training sessions will be possible, the coach said managing that energy to ensure players do not break down would be a key priority.
“This season’s going to be different to any other, we’ve already spoken as a staff about managing player welfare and wellness, and obviously managing for the potential of injuries with as many games as we’re playing in such a short space of time,” Seebohm said.