Coach has eye on third crown
THE Townsville Heat will face off in a grand final replay against the Cairns Marlins early this season as they look to crack the elusive QBL threepeat championship wins.
The Townsville Flames will also look to back up their decent 2018 season in the WQBL after missing out on the top spot to Southern District Spartans during the best-of-three Grand Final Series.
The 2019 season draw ( below) has been released this week with a favourable start for both local sides. The men’s Round One bye is followed by a match up with last year’s 10th place South West Metro Pirates at home before a grand final replay against Cairns Marlins in Round Three.
Heat coach Rodney Anderson said he was looking forward to a few of the upcoming match ups for the 2019 season.
“It’s always good to get up for a game against Cairns,” he said. “I think we play Mackay (Meteors) twice in a row and there’s a period we play five games in nine days.
“We’ll look to take time off training when we need to so we get through the season.
“It’s never been done before (winning the championship three times in a row). It’s been an amazing run for us.
“It’s definitely something you think about. We’ll just do
IF WE GET THE THREE-PEAT, IT’LL BE A NICE LITTLE CHERRY ON TOP — AND WHAT A SWEET CHERRY THAT WILL BE RODNEY ANDERSON
what we normally do and if we get the three-peat, it’ll be a nice little cherry on top – and what a sweet cherry that will be.”
The Heat will be bolstered by the re-signing of pointguard Josh Wilcher but will lose the experience of Harry Froling (Adelaide 36ers) and Jordair Jett (Illawarra Hawks) to the NBL.
Anderson said there was still plenty of local talent in his squad.
“It’s great that we’ve been able to re-sign the best point guard in the league in Josh (Wilcher),” he said.
“I’ve literally been searching the world for replacements because there have been some pretty big shoes to fill.
“We have a lot of young local talent which is really good. There are guys who aren’t in the squad who could play at that level.”
The Flames will look to redeem themselves after falling short to the Spartans last year during the grand final series, despite their ladder-leading season.