First the Wildfire, now the Scorchers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Bathurst Goldminers showed in their Waratah Youth League division two debut last weekend they have no trouble handling the heat – downing Camden Valley Wildfire comfortably – and will aim to blow out another flame against the Springwood Scorchers.
The under-22 Goldminers will fancy their chances against the Scorchers, who lost 96-57 to the travelling Illawarra Hawks in the opening round.
Andrew Osborn liked a lot of what he saw in the Goldminers’ 114-67 win over the Wildfire but the Bathurst coach knows there’s plenty of room for improvement.
“Very few of these guys have played together regularly so the experience of playing as a team is new. Getting that cohesion is going to take a while,” he said.
“The signs were evident particularly in the first, second and fourth quarters of last Sunday’s game that the cohesion will come – and the team believe that too.
“You don’t win competitions in the first round. Come round 20 we need to be in the top six, and that’s our first goal. After that we re-evaluate depending on who we play and the position we finish in.”
Matt Gray, one of four Orange guns in the Goldminers’ squad, picked up 48 points in the opening game in a superb individual effort, but the entire Bathurst squad showcased their potential in the big win.
Five different players hit the mark from three point range and all Bathurst members looked like genuine scoring threats throughout the game.
The blight on the Goldminers’ performance was the occasional player left open during the second half, plus some missed defensive rebounds.
Osborn has confidence, following Wednesday night’s training session, that his team’s work off the ball will improve going into the Scorchers meeting.
“Matt Gray’s older brother [Andrew] plays for Illawarra … so I already know the defences they play and I’m confident that our offence will be more than what’s needed to break their defence,” he said.
“I don’t have any real concerns with our defence. The guys now recognise that there were situations [last game] where players were left open, and that’s because they weren’t doing their job defensively and because there was no communication.”
The match is an important one for the Goldminers who will have three successive matches on the road after Sunday’s meeting.
