Keilor’s Big V women’s basketball side has added exciting duo Jodi Impey and Carly Simons to its 2015 roster.
Impey returns to the Thunder after a year with the Werribee Devils.
In her 22 matches with Werribee, she averaged 9.1 points and 7.3 rebounds and played valuable minutes in the Devils’ semi-final series against Geelong Supercats.
Simons has signed with Keilor after crossing over from fellow division 1 side Whittlesea, where she shot at more than 40 per cent from the field last year.
Keilor coach Carey Paps is rapt to have the pair on board.
“It’s good to get a player of Jodi’s experience back,” he said. “She’s had a couple of injuries in the pre-season but is hanging in there.
“Carly will be a really good pick-up for us and will play the three.”
The Thunder appeared finals-bound last year, sitting third on the ladder at the season’s mid-point before a second half slump proved costly.
Paps is hoping the new players will help Keilor take the next step.
“I thought our game discipline wasn’t there sometimes,” Paps said of last season. “There were a couple of times where we didn’t do what we needed to do and sort of lost focus.
“In this league you can lose four or five in a row and suddenly you’re out of contention.”
Keilor opened the season with a 75-56 loss to Sunbury on Saturday night.
The Thunder travel again this weekend to play Whittlesea before the first home match, against Geelong, a week later.
While the Thunder isn’t being spoken about in Big V circles as a title contender, Paps hopes to go under the radar all the way to the finals.
“My expectation is to make finals and I think the girls’ expectation is the same,” he said.
“I really believe in this group.”
Liam Twomey
