WNBL: Final thoughts ahead of the grand final series between Townsville and Southside

As the Townsville Fire and Southside Flyers prepare to play the first game of the WNBL grand-final series, both team’s coaches and star players weighed in on Saturday night’s big game.

Townsville Fire at Entertainment Centre. Southside Flyers player Sara Blicavs and Fire's Steph Reid. Picture: Evan Morgan

As the Townsville Fire and Southside Flyers prepare to play the first game of the WNBL grand-final series, both team’s coaches and star players weighed in on Saturday night’s big game.

While the Fire are riding a 14-game winning streak, coach Shannon Seebohm downplayed his team’s favouritism heading into the clash.

“They (Southside) are probably the most talented team in the competition and probably the team that everybody tipped before the season to win it,” Seebohm said.

“The amount of offensive firepower they have, they’ve probably got seven or eight players that have scored 25-plus points in a WNBL game before.

“The other thing for them is, you look across their roster and every player has won a championship – so they’ve got that championship experience, which is one thing we don’t have.

“But the great thing for us is we’ve got the hunger to get that, so I think we’re going to come out and play extremely hard in this series.

“It’s a very exciting time for our team, our club, Townsville and the WNBL in general, so we’re really thrilled that we’ve made it this far and can’t wait for the game to get started.”

Townsville Fire at Entertainment Centre. Fire's Steph Reid. Picture: Evan Morgan

Fresh from winning the Golden Hands Award at the WNBL awards night, crafty point guard Steph Reid said the backing of a sold-out home crowd would help the Fire get over the line.

Reid has been one of the team’s most valuable players all year and starred in game 1 of the semi-final series against Perth.

“We’re really excited, we know it’s going to be a massive game and we know that the crowd is going to come in full force,” Reid said.

“We were really fortunate to have an amazing crowd for the first game in the semi-finals and we can’t wait to see what Townsville puts on for a Saturday night.

“This is a whole new team, a whole new series, and we need to make sure we take care of one game at a time.”

The Fire co-vice captain added that the team had been buoyed by the support of local businesses and organisations with the ‘paint the town orange’ campaign.

“As a female athlete, it’s an unbelievable feeling. This is obviously a big rugby town but I feel like in the last few weeks it has really become a big basketball town,” Reid said.

“It’s been really awesome to see so much orange everywhere I know even at the apartments where the girls live it’s been off chops.

“I’m really excited with the support that we’ve had this season and you know, it’s really fun to just go down the shopping centre and see a bunch of Fire T-shirts just walking around.”

Townsville Fire at Entertainment Centre. Southside Flyers player Sara Blicavs and Fire's Steph Reid. Picture: Evan Morgan

Meanwhile the Southside Flyers will be counting on their big game experience heading into the deciding series.

This will be the Flyers’ third grand final appearance in four years and their entire team have WNBL championships to their names.

Southside coach Cheryl Chambers said her team would look to limit Townsville’s scoring opportunities, as the fire’s losses this season have usually been when the team is kept to a low score.

“We’re really thrilled to be in the grand final because that’s what your first step is: to try and get into a grand final,” Chambers said.

“We know we’re coming up against the Townsville Fire who are on a huge winning streak and we know we’re going to have to play at our best to get over them.

“We haven’t really defended them well in the past, and those game that they’ve been challenged in, people have kept them to lower scores – so we definitely need to defend.”

Chambers said her team would not be deterred by a boisterous packed house.

“I love that atmosphere, and whether they’re cheering for you or against you, sometimes you can just hear the cheers,” Chambers said.

“I think it’ll be fantastic and the quality of the league and the players in the league have got better and better every year.”

Townsville Fire at Entertainment Centre. Fire's Steph Reid and coach Shannon Seebolm with former player Cr Suzy Batkovic. Picture: Evan Morgan

Southside forward Sara Blivacs has been instrumental for her team throughout the season and carried that form into the semi-finals.

Blivacs scored 47 points and claimed 17 boards across the three-game series against the Boomers, and will again be one of the Flyers’ main points of attack on Saturday night.

She said she was relishing the opportunity to head into the game as the underdog.

“I like being the underdog. We’ve got no pressure on us and we know Townsville are a ball of confidence at the moment and it’s no secret that they’ve beaten us three times during the round games,” Blivacs said.

“The crowd here is amazing, it’s like a sixth man for them out on the court.

“Your city gets behind the team and it’s really impressive, it’s something I would love in Melbourne but unfortunately there’s a lot of sport going on in Melbourne.

“It’s a nice atmosphere and even though every single one of you guys go for Townsville, I really enjoy playing in front of the crowd.”

Blivacs was wary of a well-rested Fire outfit, but revealed she was glad Southside were able to play through the week to maintain structure and form.

“Grand finals are massive and you don’t get the chance to play many so we’re just happy to be here and thriving after a big semi-final win,” Blivacs said.

“We’re feeling good but you can’t dwell on it with the quick turnaround.

“Personally I’d rather be playing, it’s tiring but I think your body gets used to it and I know for me mentally I couldn’t handle sitting back for seven days and just watching and waiting, I would hate that.”

Originally published as WNBL: Final thoughts ahead of the grand final series between Townsville and Southside