Sunbury Jets’ women entered last weekend’s bye round on the back of a four game winning streak, and they’re confident of keeping that form going in the run towards finals.
The Big V state championship defending premiers have taken some time to find their best play this season, but coach Kennedy Kereama said he was happy with how his side was placed. “I definitely think we’re at a good point in our season,” Kereama said.
“We’ve now got pretty much a full roster, and we’re building very nicely for what we’d expect is a good post season, striving to do what we all want to do which is win championships.”
While the Jets last year took all before them as they finished the season on top of the ladder and swept their finals series, this year’s team has struggled at times.
They lost half of the first 10 rounds before their current winning streak, and Kereama said the resilience and flexibility of the side had been most impressive to this point of the year.
“The depth of our team has been tested, and we’ve had to cope with losing players at different times,” he said.
“One of our imports Jess (Scannell) broke her finger earlier in the year, and has a calf injury at the moment, and obviously Monique (Stevens) with pregnancy has meant players have had to fill different roles at different times, so our resilience and toughness has been very pleasing.
“Our players have just got on with the job, and while the results were inconsistent early we’re still in a position to be fighting for a playoff spot late in the season.”
Kereama said the Jets – who currently sit fourth on the table – were realistically hoping to finish in third place at the end of the regular season, with Waverley and Knox fairly settled in the top two spots on the ladder.
“Obviously top spot is the best spot to be, but I think with the new format the best we can do is third, possibly second,” he said.
“We’re probably relying on Waverley to drop some games to jump higher, and based on the way they play and our last game against them I probably wouldn’t expect them to drop too many more, if any.
“However if third is the best you can get then it’s not a bad place to be. There’s not much difference between fifth and second in all honesty.” While they may not finish as high at the end of the regular season, Kereama said the goals for his side remain unchanged.
“I firmly believe we’ve got a team that will have a chance to be there at the end of the season,” Kereama said. “I don’t think we need to tweak too much, and our brand of basketball this season has been the same as previously and we know that can be successful.
“It doesn’t guarantee you’re going to win a championship, but we know if we put our best basketball out on the floor each week we’ll give ourselves a chance, and that’s all any coach can ask for.”
