PRETORIA (21 April 2016) – North West Flames coach Dorette Badenhorst expects an improved performance from her team when they take on the log-leading Western Cape Southern Stings in Round 3 of the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League in Pretoria this weekend.
Michael Vlismas – The Flames have come through the first two rounds with a 100% win record, beating the Eastern Cape Aloes 68-36, the Mpumalanga Sunbirds 66-28 and the Free State Crinums 55-44.
But as they prepare to face a Stings side that hasn’t put a foot wrong in the opening two rounds, Badenhorst believes it’s now time for her players to raise their games for Sunday’s clash at the Heartfelt Arena.
“We haven’t played to our full potential yet. We are still making too many mistakes and losing too much possession,” said Badenhorst.
“It’s important to keep ball possession. If you look at our percentage of centre passes that become goals and our goal average, it’s all in the nineties, which is not good enough. We need to make sure that we keep ball possession. Our turnover rate is good but our centre passes are not yet there.”
The ever-astute Badenhorst knows exactly what to expect against the Stings.
“The Stings are a good team. I know their players very well because I’ve coached many of them at South African Under-21 level. They are very solid in defence and have a lot of experience in their Proteas players. It’s going to be the team that makes the least mistakes that will win this one.”
It’s for this reason, and the fact that the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League is a lot more competitive this year with plenty of player movement amongst all of the teams, that Badenhorst wants her players to reach their full potential.
“It’s the small things we need to work on because when you start playing against the tougher teams where there isn’t much of a difference between the two, then those things are going to start to count.
“The league is much more competitive this year. There are a lot of strong teams and you can’t really go into any match thinking you’re going to get an easy win. Every match is a hard one and you’re going to have to really work to make the semis.”
Fixtures (Heartfelt Arena, Pretoria):
22 April
18:00 – Crinums v Fireballs
20:00 – Jaguars v Aloes
23 April
12:00 – Sunbirds v Kingdom Stars
14:00 – Livacious Litchis v Creative Kiwis – Exhibition Game
16:00 – Baobabs v Crinums
18:00 – Fireballs v Diamonds
24 April
10:30 – Sunbirds v Diamonds
12:30 – Flames v Southern Stings
