Fit Queensland Firebirds ready for Steel
Jul 23, 2016 - 2:15 AM Queensland Firebirds coach Roselee Jencke is happy to have all her stars fit for Sunday's home semi-final against Southern Steel, as they strive to achieve the goal of playing in the last ever trans-Tasman netball championship game.The two teams with the best regular season records clash in Brisbane.
Jencke said she didn't take into consideration stats that show her side have a perfect home finals record and that the Steel have never won a finals game or any of their previous four matches in Brisbane.
"The thing that we're motivated about is that to be able to play the last game at the end of the ANZ competition would be a really great highlight," Jencke told AAP.
"That would be awesome to get that opportunity, but we understand we have to work exceptionally hard and make sure that we execute our game plan with precision on Sunday to earn that right."
When they met in a late-season game in Dunedin, Steel scored a comfortable 66-51 win against a depleted Firebirds side missing their starting circle defenders Laura Geitz and clare McMeniman.
Jencke even tried her star shooter Romelda Aiken in defence against the Steel's own Jamaican scoring colossus Jhaniele Fowler-Reid.
"We were a bit all over the shop that day," Jencke said.
"We had people playing out of position. We just didn't have the whole list to be able to select from.
"I think the most important thing is that I've got 12 players that are fully fit to be able to select a starting line-up from."
Jencke didn't dismiss that regular-season result because of her team's injuries and said they had still learnt from the game.
"They don't make that many mistakes, so it's very hard to win ball off them, so when you have the opportunity to score, you've got to make the most of it," she said.
Jencke expected Steel to have learnt from their shock New Zealand conference final home loss to the Magic last week, when they trailed by six at the first change and eight at halftime.
Source: AAP
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