Final’s week!! What a time to be alive! This Saturday night will see all three QSL teams hit the floor in the first week of finals at the Nest.
The QSL2 Men will start off the night with their quarter final against Southern Districts Spartans, with the previous meeting seeing the Seahawks men coming back from a 20-point deficit to eventually win by 10.
If the QSL2 Men are to win their quarter final, they will back up the following day and head to the Sunshine Coast to take on the Phoenix team that took out the minor premiership.
With the minor premiership sewn up for the season for the QSL1 women, with a record currently of 12 wins and 0 losses, the SmartSkill Seahawks women will be looking for a berth in the Grand Final with a strong performance over the 4th placed Spartans team.
Whilst there may be some injury concerns, it will present opportunities to Coach Brad Kann’s bench squad to step up.
“It will be a great opportunity for our bench to step up at the pointy end of the season” said Kann.
“Heading into the finals, we need everyone from 1 to 12 firing and ready to step up whenever they are required”
“I’ve been really happy with what Jasmine (Hunter), Tamsyn (Pascoe) and Anahera (Tuhega) have been able to provide off the bench this year, as well as our seasoned veteran in Taylor Harvey”
“They give us the depth we need to compete, so once we start our rotations throughout the game, there’s no let up for the opposition to zero in on our second unit”
“In saying that, we are still preparing for this game with our starters being available and that it’s a non-negotiable to make the grand final.
“We know we’ve had a great season to date, but we aren’t ready to lift the foot off the pedal until we complete our overall goal of being Champions!”
The Men’s game will see a fiery match up with cross town rivals Gold Coast Rollers making the trip to the Nest for the elimination in the QSL1 semi-final.
With bragging rights and a grand final position up for grabs, the Seahawks Men will be looking to continue their hot form they hit prior to the COVID shut down and secure themselves a spot in the Grand Final.
Head coach, Jordan Mullan, recognises the importance of heading into the finals with his team full of confidence.
“We’ve competed extremely hard as a group prior to the COVID break, and we will be looking to repeat our effort this Saturday night against the Rollers” said Mullan
“We need to lock into every single possession, offensively and defensively, and not look to short cut anything”
“The emotions will be high throughout this game and we need to manage and tap into that as needed, whilst still executing at a high level”
“It’s do or die now – in order to be the best, you have to beat the best”
This Saturday night will see the return of Tibah O’Brien who has been sidelined with health issues since the commencement of the season. O’Brien will be a crowd favourite from not only his hard-working playing style, but he also doubles up as the assistant coach to the U14 Boys White team.
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