How trio of fresh Townsville Fire captains Courtney Woods, Lauren Mansfield and Alicia Froling can fuel WNBL three-peat
The Townsville Fire will be led by a three-pronged attack this season after the club unveiled its leadership team for 2024/25. Find out how their different strengths will benefit the team.
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The Townsville Fire will be led by a three-pronged attack this season after the club unveiled its leadership team for 2024/25.
The Fire will deploy three co-captains, all with their own unique strengths and leadership styles, in the forms of Courtney Woods, Lauren Mansfield and Alicia Froling.
Townsville coach Shannon Seebohm said it was a simple decision to select three very different captains to take charge of the new-look squad.
“They all bring different qualities of leadership to our team but I feel that they all really embody the values and what we think is really important in terms of what makes a winning team and a winning culture,” Seebohm said.
“I’m really excited to have them in those positions. We’ve got a very new team and a new group and none of the girls have really been in that captaincy position before.
“They’re all still in positions where they want to perform really well and carve out their role on our team, so we thought it was better to have a group of players that can balance out some of those responsibilities and support each other in those roles.”
Woods will be most familiar to Townsville fans after five season in North Queensland, and she will be key to maintaining the winning culture that saw the team claim back-to-back minor premierships over the last two seasons.
The versatile swingman’s contributions on the court have steadily increased each year she spends at the Fire under Seebohm’s tutelage, culminating in the 27-year old being named Townsville’s players’ player last season.
She said it was a full-circle moment after joining the Fire fresh out of college.
“I think so highly of the players that have been in leadership positions since I’ve been here, so it’s great to even be in the same conversation as some of those players,” Woods said.
“It makes the leadership a lot easier to have two players who are as established and have as much experience as them (Froling and Mansfield), so it should be really awesome and fun.”
Hometown hero Froling is another who will enjoy a full-circle moment when she runs out for her first game as captain after beginning her career at the Fire as a teenager.
The hard-nosed forward is set to be a fan-favourite with her relentless style of play in the paint, and she said it was surreal to return to her old stomping grounds as skipper.
“To reflect on what my experience was as a DP (development player) looking up to some of those girls who were in the leadership group then, and then to come back and be put in that role is pretty special,” Froling said.
“We (the captains) each give something a little bit different and I think as a group we’re really strong. That’s pretty special too that it’s not all on one person, we can bounce off each other and some people might be better at doing certain things.
“It’s cool that we can all play to our strengths.”
Mansfield is the most experienced player in the squad and one of the WNBL’s greatest veterans.
She said it was a privilege to be trusted with such an important position on her new team.
“It definitely feels like a big privilege and I’m proud of that. I’ve been around the league for a while and I feel like I’ve learnt a lot over my career so I hope to help the team with that,” Mansfield said.
“In particular helping the young ones to learn and grow and understand how to play in the league and be a professional.
“We definitely complement each other in the way that we lead, I think we’re all very different. I’m a bit more of a quiet leader, Frols (Froling) is competitive and she’ll be a bit louder and then Woody (Woods) is level-headed.
“It’ll be a good mix of different personalities and hopefully it goes really well.”
The Fire launch the WNBL season against Geelong United on Wednesday night, tip-off is at 6pm AEST.
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Originally published as How trio of fresh Townsville Fire captains Courtney Woods, Lauren Mansfield and Alicia Froling can fuel WNBL three-peat
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