Finals or bust for Slammers
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers senior director Russell Donovan says anything less than a first women's State Basketball League playoff appearance this season will be a failure for the club.
The Slammers have never even won more than 36 per cent of their games, let alone made the playoffs, in their 15 seasons in the women's State Basketball League but there is optimism for big improvement in 2012.
Having won just two games in 2011 and one the year before, the Bunbury side went on a major recruiting spree over the off-season by bringing in West Coast Waves players Kara Hargreaves from Cockburn and Zoe Harper from Willetton.
They also attracted a pair of imports in Rachele Kloke and Valerie Ogoke and appointed an experienced coach in Darren Austin.
Donovan said the club must make the playoffs on the back of all those changes but that higher ambitions might be overly optimistic.
"We have the team, on paper, that will make playoffs," he said.
"How far we go in playoffs will depend on how much improvement we can get out of our 6-10 players.
"I'm quietly confident that we'll go well into the finals but if you're asking for a professional opinion, we'd be happy to make playoffs and see where we go from there."
He said the changes brought about by Austin's arrival and the influence of the new recruits had been excellent for the club.
"Darren has brought and demanded a higher level of discipline and will not tolerate girls who aren't totally focused and working towards what he wants and we've seen some real improvement already because of that," Donovan said.
"By bringing in these girls who haven't experienced the lack of success that we have, it's built a winning culture straight away. These girls aren't used to losing."
While the women look set to be big-time improvers, Donovan was more measured in his expectations for the men's side.
Incredibly, the Slammers have won just one of their previous 64 MSBL games and Donovan said change under new coach Greg Worthington would take time.
"If we won six to eight games this year I'd be over the moon. This is a two to three year plan," he said.
"We're under no illusions. I can guarantee you we'll win more games than we did last year, but whether that's going to be enough to get us to the playoffs I don't know."
South West's men begin the new season at home against Geraldton on March 17, while the women face East Perth a week later.
Article by Jacob Kagi
Photo by Helen Theoharakis (Hoop Shots)
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