Josie Gets a Tall Ferns Chance

Hawkes Bays and Colgate University player Josie Stockill has received a well deserved invite to trial for the Tall Ferns.

With the odds stacked against them, Tall Ferns coach Kennedy Kereama insists his players have a lot to be excited about.

Over the next couple of weeks, starting tomorrow with trials in Auckland, the national women’s basketball team face a massive challenge – the world’s second-ranked team and London Olympic bronze medallists, the Australian Opals.

The Ferns have faced the Opals many times before, but rarely a full-strength roster like the one preparing under new coach Brendan Joyce. There’s a chance it may include basketball legend Lauren Jackson.

By contrast, the New Zealand team will likely be without injured captain Natalie Taylor and their best player in recent years, Jillian Harmon. Their line-up will consist of many promising youngsters making their international debuts in the most unenviable of circumstances.

But Kereama is most excited about the fact they will get to do so on home soil – at the North Shore Events Centre on August 14.

“Especially being in the hotbed of New Zealand basketball, I really hope people will come and support us,” he says.

“I think we have a programme worth supporting, but we don’t have the opportunity to play in front of our fans very often.”

In fact, the most recent was four years ago at Porirua’s Te Rauparaha Arena – the last time the FIBA Oceania Championship doubled as a world championship qualifying series. The Tall Ferns were well beaten that night and again in the return match in Canberra a few nights later.

But this time, the opponents will likely be even more daunting.

“I don’t think the Australians will take any chances,” says Kereama. “They’ll bring the best team they can, including arguably the greatest women’s basketball player ever.

“We’re trying to talk about development and we’ll be blooding a lot of new players, while the Opals will be bringing their big guns. This is what they do for a living – they win world championships and they win Olympic medals.

“I’m just asking our players to enjoy playing in front of our crowd.”

The Tall Ferns will have no build-up games and their preparation camp has been split into two waves – tomorrow, the NZ-based players will have a chance to push for spots in the line-up, while the more-seasoned performers will fly from their overseas bases next weekend.

Taylor is battling against time to take the court, after tearing up her knee midway through the last Australian WNBL season and needing a clean out of scar tissue last month.

“At the moment, that’s not really looking favourable for us,” says Kereama. “Her long-term health is the most important thing, so if she can come into camp and play a leadership role – be the spiritual leader – that would be a massive addition to the programme.”

With older sister Charmian Mellars finally retiring from international play, Taylor still has a slight chance of combining with younger sibling Kalani Purcell, one of the rookies in line for a call-up.

Perhaps the most intriguing newcomer to the group is 2.03m Whangarei centre Megan Craig, who has spent the past two years improving her skills on scholarship with the University at Albany.

The Tall Ferns rarely boast that kind of height and Kereama likens her in stature to Aussie centre Liz Cambage, who has become one of the world’s best female centres.

“I remember seeing Megan play when she could hardly get up and down the floor,” he says. “But I think she’s really embraced the culture of basketball and the way of living in the United States.

“Most of our female athletes are very reserved and don’t show their emotions too often, but you can see Megan has really embraced that style of basketball.”

The full Tall Ferns squad for the coming week are:

Stella Beck (Hutt Valley-Porirua Flyers), Brooke Blair (Harbour Breeze), Shinae Blair (Harbour Breeze), Jess Bygate (Dickinson State University), Micaela Cocks (Townsville Fire), Megan Craig (Unversity at Albany), Shea Crotty (Canterbury Wildcats), Penina Davidson (Auckland Lady Hawks), Antonio Edmondson (West Coast Waves), Samara Gallaher (Otago Gold Rush), Jordan Hunter (Auckland Lady Hawks/Southeast Missouri University), Anna Lacey (Harbour Breeze), Casey Lockwood (Townsville Fire), Kalani Purcell (Waikato Wizards), Terai Sadler (Taranaki Trojans/Crowder College), Josie Stockill (Colgate University), Natalie Taylor (Logan Thunder), Rebecca van Kuyk (Harbour Breeze), Lisa Wallbutton (West Coast Waves)




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