Plaudits for our shooting star, Cara
DIAMONDS coach Stacey Marinkovich has heaped praise on Townsville’s Cara Koenen as the young shooter attempts to grab hold of the Constellation Cup.
Koenen has enjoyed a barnstorming start to her international career, almost pulling a win from the flames in the opening game of the five-match series before a player-of-the-match performance in Australia’s win on Wednesday.
Koenen appears to have unseated former captain Caitlin Bassett from the shooting circle in the process.
While Marinkovich said Bassett “still had a wealth of experience to provide for the team”, the coach couldn’t hide her pride in Koenen after her 29 goals in the Diamonds’ 45-36 win.
“She’s a very smart athlete, hugely athletic, (and) very quick in the way that she plays,” the new Diamonds mentor said of Koenen.
“She feels very comfortable within this environment now and we’re experiencing the leadership that she can bring and the contribution that she brings to team meetings now and all those types of things that make everything about her a bit more holistic. “She’s really embracing it.” Marinkovich would not reveal who will captain Australia as part of her rotating leadership group in Saturday’s third match of the series in Christchurch.
JOSHUA Spiers will return to Townsville Heat this year with his eyes on lofty goals.
The towering forward was identified early as one of coach Rodney Anderson’s first targets, and the chance to again compete on home turf was enough to tempt him back. Not since the 2017 QBL championship victory has Spiers donned the Heat jersey, but after his disrupted stint in Rockhampton, he still envisions a future in the NBL.
Triumph in what will now be the inaugural NBL1 North competition will go a long way to achieving that milestone.
“My goals were to play with the NBL guys that were on the team and do well enough where I could get some notice from coaches at the next level,” Spiers said. “That’s always the goal, to try and get to the next level, so to continue trying to reach that goal would be something in mind. If you’re a part of a team that does well and you’re one of the main guys contributing it’s always a good thing.
“(Rod) wants me to be a leader on the court, slide in with Keegs (Keegan Tudehope) and PC (Peter Crawford) as the older guys in the group and contribute on the court verbally with the younger guys we’re bringing in who haven’t’ had experience playing NBL1 yet.”
With the coronavirus pandemic stripping Spiers of his 2020 campaign, he turned to coaching junior representative teams upon his Townsville homecoming 18 months ago.
Leading the Division 2 Lightning outfit gave him a new perspective on what a coach expects — which could prove pivotal with a host of young guns to take the court. He said he would to lead by example, and inspire aspiring Townsville players.
“It gives me a new perspective and better appreciation for coaches,” Spiers said. “Seeing, when a coach tells you to do something and you don’t do it, the frustration that comes from that and appreciating their directions a lot more than I used to. When I grew up we had (role models) and you always look up to the guys at a level you want to aspire to, so if we perform well it can give those kids the aspiration to get better.”