KEY POINTS:
A Canterbury team steps into Australian professional sport for the first time on Friday night when the Christchurch Sirens take the court at the Westpac for their women's national basketball league debut against Townsville Fire.
The Sirens' build-up has been less than perfect, but skipper Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe is confident her team can be a force in the WNBL.
She and teammates Aneka Kerr, Donna Wilkins (nee Loffhagen), and Charmian Purcell all have experience playing for other teams in the Aussie league.
However, the Sirens have to hit the court running.
Coach Leigh Gooding's preparations have been dislocated by losing eight of his squad to the Tall Ferns for nearly two weeks and Wilkins away this week on a belated honeymoon.
McMeeken-Ruscoe points out the Ferns said "Hi, Goodbye" to American import Ashley Awkward two weeks ago before the Olympic qualifying tournament in Dunedin.
The Ferns players left there on Sunday with their place booked for Beijing next year, and were back into Sirens training on Monday.
The break means the Sirens will have to base their offences on Ferns play at least for the early games, but the captain says her team has huge potential.
"It's just a matter of how quickly we're able to focus to win games and how quickly we re able to adapt to the style of play. It is very physical, but it's also very highly talented, so it is quite a big step up from the New Zealand league.
"And although it wasn't the Sirens team, eight of us just played the world champions so you can't get better preparation than that."
There was no reason why Christchurch could not reach the play-offs, she said.
"But we haven't had even one hit-out yet together as a team. So that will be key - how well we gel, how well we are able to make our offences work for us, but our potential is definitely massive."
The Sirens were incredibly deep across the board, she pointed out. Any of the 12 players could potentially start "we'll be able to sub in good player after good player after good player, and able to keep the pressure and momentum.
"However, we won't be as big as some of the Australian teams. We don't have any six-foot sixers in there. But we have some big solid post players that will hopefully step up to the challenge."
The Sirens should be very quick and very fit, said the captain, who helped Melbourne to fifth in the WNBL last season.
She and Gooding have been up to Auckland to have a close look at the NZ Breakers to tap into their Aussie league experience. They asked them a lot of questions about how they dealt with road trips, adjusting to the time differences, and the heat.
After their home opener, the Sirens have a daunting run of six matches away this month before a sequence of four homes in November.
McMeeken-Ruscoe, whose mother and father were both New Zealand basketball reps, is from Christchurch and hopes Red and Black sports fans will get behind a team whose players, apart from two US imports, are genuine kiwis.
The WNBL will also be a vehicle for most of the Ferns in Sirens' guise to build up to the Olympics - and hopefully lure the Aussies onto the rocks.
- CHRISTCHURCH STAR
