FIRST-year Cockburn Cougars women's coach Deanna Smith still feels as though she is finding her feet in charge of an SBL team for the first time, but has no doubt her side will be a force throughout 2014.

The woman affectionately known to all in basketball circles as 'Doccy' has a decorated playing career behind her as she begins her coaching career as a five-time WNBL All-Star, winner of two WNBL championships and a member of the Australian Opals squad along the way.

However, the 33-year-old was cut down by injuries upon joining the West Coast Waves and managed just six games in 2012, and then three in 2013 and now is beginning her time as a coach during this SBL season.

Smith has taken over the Cockburn Cougars for 2014 and managed to recruit Marita Payne and Sam Richards to her group, and they have started the season with three wins from four games heading into a bye this weekend.

The rookie coach is confident her team can be a contender this year even with Fleur McIntyre currently injured, and is especially buoyant about the work done with the squad by fitness coach Rob Chipchase.

"It's going to be a great combination once we click. I think we still have a long way to go in terms of gelling and our game style has changed quite a bit from the last two years the Cougars played. The best basketball is still ahead of us that's for sure," Smith said.

"We also have a new fitness coach on board Rob Chipchase and he has been fantastic. He has taken the club to a new professional level.

"We now do a lot of prehab stuff before training and games, and he manages all the loads of the players and took care of our pre-season. We are fit and ready to be unleashed on the league for sure."

The adjustment to coaching hasn’t been a completely seamless one for Smith, but she does feel like she is getting better with every game she is in charge of.

"For me, it has definitely been a challenge. I love coaching when I'm at training and that's when I'm in my element, but game day coaching I still have a long way to go with," she said.

"I've thrown in a lot of changes and sometimes it's a little too much and then against Mandurah I still had three time-outs left. It seems basic, but it takes time to adjust to those sorts of things. I am starting to feel more comfortable and relaxed, though, and I think that rubbed off on the girls last Friday."

Smith suffered her first loss as a coach last Friday night at the hands of the Perry Lakes Hawks, but the Cougars were without Payne.

However, Smith was happy to get the chance to blood some young talent which will only bode well for the future.

"It was a tough ask for us with some players out, but from my point of view I had some juniors who actually got some game time," Smith said.

"Jess Burke is a 17-year-old who had last season off and came back into our mix on Friday as a starter, and she got a fair bit of game time.

"Lauren Gandini hadn’t seen the court much this season but played 30 minutes and Nic Pitcher is another junior. Those girls are the future of Cockburn so to get some minutes into them early in the season is fantastic."

One of the first phone calls that Smith made when appointed coach of Cockburn was to Payne and she was delighted to be able to lure her away from the Perth Redbacks.

"Marita is a great fit for Cockburn. We love having her involved with the club and for us she is a presence inside and that's something that we did really lack in the game on Friday without her," she said.

"She rebounds and I have challenged her in a number of areas because I think at times last year watching her she was just standing in the key. I want to push her out of her comfort zone a little bit and I think she is enjoying that. We also haven’t seen the best of Marita Payne in Cougars colours yet."

Perhaps the very first phone call, though, was to Smith's former Opals teammate Richards to try and lure her out of retirement.

"Sam is fantastic. I guess it's tough for a player like Sam to come and play in the SBL especially after two years off given the expectations upon her from the club, her teammates and herself. She is handling herself really well. It is a process getting her body back conditioned to playing again," Smith said.

"She is friends with quite a few girls in the team and once I got notified that I was the head coach I sort of knew who I wanted to try and recruit, and pretty much put the calls in straightaway.

"It's a different angle for me being on the different side of the coin trying to recruit players, but I understand where you are at with injury-management as well as study and work commitments. The club was obviously keen to have somebody of Sam Richards' involved as well."

Article by Chris Pike