By Nicholas Creely
Well, they are the toast of the town so far this season, and rightly so, but the Jayco Dandenong Rangers’ best is still yet to come, cautions coach Larissa Anderson.
After a patchy start to the WNBL season, in which the Rangers lost three of their first seven games, they responded and with the brute precision that has seen them play high end basketball and now go into the Christmas break as the ladder-leaders.
“There is way better still to come – you can just feel it, the group realizes their potential and the belief is continuing to grow,” Anderson said.
“We have a lot of work still yet to be done – we are focusing on the areas of improvement, and we have little goals along the way.”
“We are travelling really well – even that first month it was all about building.
“Obviously we know we can do better and we have a lot of work to do which is a pleasing situation to be in,” Anderson said.
“A couple of those early losses just shouldn’t have happened but they have also helped get us to where we are now.
“We have let those losses go and I’m extremely proud of the group, in particular without our two star imports Ally Mallott and Nat Novosel, who have been injured a lot but are now starting to build up their games.
“We have got a lot of improving and building – we have now beaten at-least every team once which is great and we have shown we can match it with everyone and we have also shown where our strengths and weaknesses lie.
“I think everyone is playing their role and that’s the thing about this group.
“Last weekend we had a couple of players play minimal minutes because our players on the court had the opposition in complete lockdown – whether it be 10 minutes or three minutes, everyone is playing their role beautifully.”
There have been some extraordinary stories to come out on an individual sense in the first-half of the season for the Rangers, something the coach is fully aware of.
“Ally Mallott and Nat Novosel are two players who have already showed their quality and will be primed for the second half of the season,” Anderson said.
“Sarah Blicavs has been given some really tough assignments this year and we demanded she rebound more this season. She is now our leading rebounder.
“Aimee Clydesdale is coming along beautifully and she is hitting her straps.
“Amelia Todhunter is playing such a vital role for us, shutting down players and hustling around the court – Lauren Scherf and Rosie Fadljevic are both playing great roles for us, Jacinta Kennedy has also been phenomenal on limited minutes, and Chloe Bibby has been missing a lot because of Year 12 but I’m looking forward to what she brings.”
But special praise was heaped onto Steph Cumming, who is putting together a marvellous season on the court, being named the WNBL player of the round several times.
“At the start of the year she was probably a little bit up and down, to be honest. She has carried a big load,” Anderson explained.
“She has always been up there on my list of players to watch, she is just phenomenal and I’m so proud to see her come into her own, and that’s because life off the court is so sorted for her.
“We do a great job as a team in getting the ball to her and we play well to her strengths.”
But Anderson won’t allow the Rangers to rest on their laurels and will attack the second-half of the season with the same gusto.
“No matter where we are placed on the ladder, we were always going to approach the second half of the season the same way, and we will continue to build,” she said.
The Rangers will return from their break on 8 January 2017 with a clash against the Adelaide Lightning at home.
