It is understood that the club had six applicants for the role left vacant since it parted ways with Ben Rush and has made an offer to its preferred choice.

The Torns will need to bring their A-game to Elphin Stadium against the Rangers who are the 2016 SEABL champions and Southern Conference ladder-leaders.

They boast a 6-1 win-loss record having won six straight since dropping their opening round to Bendigo and head to Launceston full of confidence against the third-placed Torns who are 6-2. Dandenong has a number of players with extensive WNBL experience and like the Tornadoes have an explosive double threat with forward Lauren Scherf averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds per game and guard Aimie Clydesdale averaging 14 points, four rebounds and five assists.

Tornadoes captain Lauren Mansfield was full of praise for the opposition and understood the importance of shutting down their key playmakers if the Torns are to win. “The Rangers have a number of players who can hurt you with their scoring capacity,” she said. “Scherf, Papavs and Clydesdale are all potential game winners in their own right. They are very experienced players and are bringing good form into this game.

“We will need to continue to work hard at both ends of the court to shut down their scoring options and then give us best options to score ourselves. We have been sharing the load well in the past few games and it will take a real team effort to get over the top of a strong Dandenong team.”

Lauren Nicholson is unavailable.