KEY POINTS:
After opening their inaugural Australian women's basketball league season with a run of seven straight losses, Christchurch Sirens coach Leigh Gooding concedes he thought his side would be lucky if they could string a couple of wins together all season.
Now, following four consecutive wins, Gooding has fresh optimism for his team's progress this season.
Despite being just one place off the bottom of the WNBL table, the Sirens are the hottest team in the league - no other side this season has managed a four-game winning streak.
"We were ordinary at the start of the year," says Gooding, who is also Tall Ferns assistant coach. "I was a bit unsure when the wins would come."
With a brutal early season schedule which included six straight away matches, the wins started coming as soon as the Sirens were able to spend time together at their Christchurch base without the complications of having to travel. After spending the last month at home, Gooding says the Sirens, who are captained by Tall Fern Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe, have become more familiar with each other and the systems he is trying to put in place. "I'm happy with the way things are progressing," he said. "The four home games have allowed us to consolidate a wee bit and get more time together."
Gooding believes a limited pre-season also meant his side started the season well behind the eight-ball.
While the more established teams in the league had six to eight practice games heading into the season, the Sirens had none.
"Our first seven games were essentially our warm-up matches which is why we're beginning to show this improvement now."
Despite their remarkable turnaround, the Sirens coach refuses to get too far ahead of himself and says he will not be reassessing his side's play-off ambitions on the strength of their recent performances.
Gooding knows it is hard for a new team to come into any league and make an immediate impact so he is realistic about the Sirens chances in their first season.
Just four players on his roster - McMeeken-Ruscoe, Donna Wilkins, Aneka Kerr and Charmian Purcell have previous WNBL experience.
"We didn't sort of sit down and write any goals and aspirations at the beginning of the year. I didn't really know what I had on my hands with this team or where we'd fit into the league," said Gooding. "At the moment, I'd say we're playing like a mid-table team, if we can continue to [improve] we might push for a top four spot, but our play-off ambitions are on the back-burner for now."
Having proven they have what it takes to win in the league, this weekend's away double-header will be a real test of just how much improvement the Sirens have made in the past month.
They have a good opportunity to break their away duck tonight when they take on the bottom-placed AIS team.
