Launceston Tornadoes captain Lauren Mansfield said the players were happy their hard work to earn a double chance had paid off as they look to redeem themselves against Geelong in Saturday’s cut-throat preliminary final at Elphin Stadium.
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“I think we didn’t play with enough intensity last week against Kilsyth especially on defence – we let them take control and they were a lot more assertive and aggressive than us so that is something we have taken away from the game,” she said.
“If we are aggressive on offence and stick to our rules on defence and bring that intensity and play with more passion we should get the job done.”
Mansfield said playing at home was going to be “huge” for the Torns.
“We’ve only lost one game at home all year and we love playing in front of home crowds that have been amazing this year,” she said.
“I think we have already sold 500 tickets so it is going to be an awesome crowd which will hopefully help us get over the line.”
Forward Mikaela Ruef said she was confident the team could bounce back from last week’s defeat as they had done from losses throughout the season.
Ruef said her role would be to play solid defence and help out on the offence end as she does every week with a focus on rebounding which was her favourite part.
“I thought I could have done better last week and missed some easy lay-ups,” she said.
“I played some bad defence on one of their better players so I think there are things I can improve to help our team be more successful this week.
“I think the key to beating Geelong starts on defence – play hard, tough, aggressive defence and then that will lead to easy points in transition because our offence works a lot better when our defence is working well.
“There are always nerves from being in finals so hopefully we worked through that last week and won’t have the same thing happen this week.”
Guard Ally Wilson said she was looking forward to the preliminary final and getting some revenge on Geelong after their defeat at home in round 17 and earning another crack at Kilsyth.
“Last week wasn’t how we like to play and we came out flat on both ends of the floor but we know we can fix a lot of those things which are effort-based stuff,” Wilson said.
Happy with her own form this season, she said her focus would be on helping the team to win and go all the way.
“Last weekend I didn’t shoot as well as I have been so I need to pick my form up a little bit and this place will be rocking come Saturday night.”
