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LAUNCESTON Tornadoes coach Peta Sinclair will suit up for the club's season-opener against the Hobart Lady Chargers at the Elphin Sports Centre tonight.
The 187-centimetre forward will add some valuable height and experience to an inexperienced Torns line- up.
"It wasn't the plan for me to be a player-coach this season but we lack a bit of height at the moment while we continue to secure a post player, so I will play to assist with this hole," Sinclair said.
It has been less than ideal preparation for the season start with Sinclair arriving in Launceston on Thursday after the Townsville Fire's WNBL finals campaign ended in a grand final defeat to Bendigo last weekend.
She took charge of training that night and has had two days to settle on a team line-up and a strategy to beat the Hobart Lady Chargers in the season-opener at Launceston's Elphin Sports Centre.
"It's going to be a tough challenge with the preparation we've had so far and me coming from the WNBL season," Sinclair said.
"We had a good training session on Thursday which gave me a chance to have another look at the players and see how they are going and to try to find some combinations.
"Hobart have a lot of quality post players in their team this season with Tayla (Roberts) and Lindsay Laur but I think we have some strength in our guard rotations."
Sinclair said she was familiar with the Tornadoes squad after a visit two weeks ago and studying footage from last season.
"We are still searching for a post player at the moment so that is one of the key things and we are probably close to securing someone at this stage," she said.
"At the moment we're a guard-oriented team with a lot of play going through the rotations there with Lauren Mansfield and Katina Mandylaris from last season to add a bit of experience to the line-up."
"Lauren is a quality point guard and she has national league experience with Adelaide and is unique as a left-hander and leads the team well as a young point guard at only 23.
"She is going to get better each game as her confidence builds and we're excited to have her."