ROCKINGHAM Flames coach Ryan Petrik feels his team isn’t quite as hungry as this time last year while trying to make history but he is confident having been there and done it now will hold the defending champions in good stead starting this Saturday night.

There might still be one round of the SBL season to go until the 2015 playoffs, but it starts early for the Flames when they put the minor premiership on the line on Saturday night against the Willetton Tigers at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

Rockingham can secure top spot and the minor premiership for the second straight season with a win over the Tigers, or a defeat by four points or less, but if Willetton manages to win by five points or more then the minor premiership will go to the Tigers for 2015.

Petrik is certainly aiming to finish on top but what he's noticed in the Flames team of 2015 is that without them looking to make history and with Kaye Tucker desperate to go out on a high, the hunger might not be as desperately high for a second championship.

However, he feels as though the experience of having now won a championship and having lost just one game for all of this season coming into Saturday's clash with the Tigers suggests the Flames are well placed to make it back to back women's titles.

"If Willetton beat us five next week they finish first. If they win by four or less, or obviously if we win, then we finish first so the minor premiership is still up for grabs," Petrik told SBL Slam on 98five Sonshine FM.

"Our girls are probably not as hungry, which sounds crazy, but that's the reality because last year we had Kaye Tucker in her last season and we had been close for years, and we had to win it and the hunger was really there.

"And we have won it now so we're probably not quite as hungry but we are way more confident having been there and done it, and we know what it takes. We've lost three games in two years now so there's a fair level of confidence in the group."

The Flames got off to a slow start last Friday against the Magic in Mandurah, but came back well to end up winning by 16 points to stretch their winning run to 13 heading into the final round clash with Willetton.

Reigning MVP Sami Whitcomb continued her stunning form of late with another 28 points and nine rebounds as she has now averaged 34.7 points and seven rebounds over the past seven games.

She also received good support from Jacinta Bourne, Darcee Garbin, Talisia Bourne, Tarsha Fletcher and Kate Williams but Petrik is always confident that the Flames will come good at any point in a game once their three-point shooting starts to fall.

"I think it got to 13-zip before we hit a free-throw which was nice, but six minutes into the quarter we only had three or four points. That's just how we play. We shoot a lot of threes and if they aren’t going in then bad luck, but if they are then we are hard to beat. Early on, we stunk the joint up and eventually got going and played much better from there," he said.

"It's just how we play and we have one style. We adjusted a few things with what we are doing, but the reality is we'll probably play Mandurah or Kalamunda in the second round if we finish first, and obviously if we lose next week we get Joondalup or whoever finishes sixth.

"So we knew there was a chance we'd play Mandurah again so we didn’t want to have to show our hand and we tried to keep a secret anything we might do later on."

Petrik has also been appointing an assistant coach to the Perth Lynx under Andy Stewart in the upcoming WNBL season, and he is excited with how the squad is coming together under new management.

"It's a really exciting time for women's basketball in this state," Petrik said.

"They're just an excellent organisation and I've been around the scenes for four years, and now I'm more involved and they are just terrific, and building a really exciting team going forward."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography