Tara Murray
The wait is almost over for Keilor Thunder’s women’s side as the National Basketball League 1 South season.
The Thunder will start their season on Saturday night against Bendigo Braves at home, hopefully in front of a packed Keilor crowd.
Coach Tom Bandilovski said the team was keen to get out there and show what they can do.
“We have waited for this for such a long time,” he said. “We started the preparation in November and we’re slowly getting better.
“We have few local players, and recruited a few players who played for Keilor previously in the champ women’s program when we were in the grand final.
“It’s very exciting.”
Bandilovski said attracting the best players who had previously played at Keilor and lived in the west was one of the keys in putting together a side.
He said this was not only important for the program, but the community as a whole.
“The main aim of what we really wanted to do was recruit local players to come to our club,” he said.
“We targeted all these players and I think we’ve done really well with our recruiting, not just for the club, but the community and the program as well.
“We’re very happy with that and we can hope they will stay at the club for a while.”
Ellen Kett is again part of the Thunder line–up and is joined by Ally Keating and Bianca Babic.
Aneta Bandilovska and Chloe Hildebrand who were part of the Thunder’s Big V championship division grand final side have returned.
Monique Andriuolo, Hailey Wynd, state representative Amy O’Hara, who all live in Melbourne’s north-west have come across.
Neehara Ravikumar joins the club from Waverley, while Taylah Babic and Jaz Salon both came through the junior ranks.
The Thunder will have two imports this season. Shayla Cooper has already arrived in the country and will suit up in round one.
Bandilovski said the had a squad of about 14 players who would all make an impact. He said signs were good early on.
“We’ve had a few practice matches, six or seven and only lost one,” he said.
“It’s not about winning, about preparing the team and getting there, I think we are, but you never know until you start playing.
“We’re pretty confident. We’re probably a team that no one will like to play as we will be aggressive and things like that, we’ll see, time will tell.’
?? said they were setting the expectations high this season. He said they don’t want to just make up the numbers.
Tickets: www.intix.com.au/events/rd1-keilorthundervsbendigobraves
