,Fever first is the mantra
West Coast Fever coach Stacey Rosman says individual success will not distract from the team’s march towards the ANZ Championship finals, insisting there would be no relaxing in the second half of the season.
At the halfway mark of the season, Fever are the competition’s only undefeated team and sit four points clear at the top of the Australian conference.
They are raging favourites to make their record under Rosman seven wins and one draw when they take on the struggling Central Pulse in Well-ington tomorrow. But the first-year coach is well aware her side must stay focused, especially in the wake of five West Coast players being named in the preliminary Australian Diamonds World Cup squad this week.
Rosman said there were always outside distractions and the players selected — captain Ashleigh Brazill, vice-captain Caitlin Bassett, Nat Medhurst, April Letton and Khao Watts — were the ones driving home the importance of ‘team first’.
Fever must finish in the top three in the Australian conference to make the finals for the first time in the competition’s eight years, but Rosman said they were determined to finish higher to earn hosting rights.
“We’ve really been able to internalise our message,” Rosman said. “The girls are rapt for the ones that have been selected and I think it just brings more excitement for the journey that we’ve been on and that good things are happening for the first time for Fever.
“That’s been our mantra — Fever first.
“We’re ticking a lot of boxes to gain some sustained success.
“But we’re only halfway there. They know that they’re still here to do the job.
“We know we still haven’t secured a finals spot.
“We have still got to get wins because the other Australian teams are hot on our heels and we still have our bye to go. So there’s no time to relax and just take it for granted with individual success. We’ve always been about the team.
“We want to stay on top. We want to secure a finals spot.”
Rosman said the players had adapted well on their two-week New Zealand trip. They watched the Pulse’s narrow loss to the Northern Mystics live last Monday and would be ready for the challenge tomorrow.
“Pulse are one of the strongest teams as far as putting a zone on or playing the real traditional New Zealand style of game,” she said.
