Giants are a definite chance to make the top eight playoffs at the national inter-club men's softball tournament in Christchurch next week.
That's the view of coach Tony Nixon, who believes his side only have to return to their best form to reach the quarter-finals by finishing in the first two
of a pool which sees them squaring off with Poneke-Kilbirnie from Wellington, Howick from Auckland, Pumas from Hawke's Bay, Halswell from Christchurch and another Canterbury side, Christchurch United. Nixon is optimistic a four-game losing streak which has included elimination from the Hutt Valley premier division competition - which they won last year - and the Inter-City series will have a positive rather than negative effect on his team's performance at the nationals.
"We know we are better than our results have indicated and there is a determination within the squad to prove that," he said. Nixon himself puts down the recent losses to a lack of mental sharpness?and he says that criticism is aimed not only at the players but at the coaching staff as well.
"I think it's been a wake-up call for all of us, when you play at the top level you have to make things happen and we've been a bit lax there," he said. Having Poneke-Kilbirnie as their first opponent in pool play will provide an excellent gauge on Giant's prospects of making the quarter-finals as the two teams have met three times in Inter-City play this season with P-K having a 2-1 advantage. Their most recent clash came just last weekend when P-K prevailed by a massive 9-1 in a game where Nixon readily admits they outclassed Giants in the batting department.
"They got on a roll with the bat and we hardly fired a shot in response, that's about all there was to it," he said.
On the basis of that result a Giants win next Tuesday would have to be rated a major upset but Nixon is quietly confident it can happen. "There is much more scope for improvement in our game than theirs and we could catch them on the hop?that's the plan anyway", he said.
Giants will be at full strength for the nationals with the exception of big hitting Gordon Wilmshurst who is in Japan. He has been replaced by Hawke's Bay "import" Tyler Cross, a proven batter and outfielder.
