GOODLIFE Homes Willetton Tigers coach Simon Parker has accepted that his team will likely tackle the 2016 Women's SBL playoffs from third position but after backing in a similar group that made the grand final last year, he remains confident they can go one step better in 2016.

Parker took over as Tigers coach midway through 2014 and that year led them to eighth position before last year they made the grand final, and it was only a monster performance by Sami Whitcomb for the Rockingham Flames that denied them an eighth Women's SBL championship.

On the back of that, Parker didn’t see the need to change much and while the Tigers did lose Melissa Collins (Marsh) to retirement, Ella Kennedy to the Flames and Lisa Wallbutton to the Perth Redbacks, Parker was happy with the group he had coming back again.

While there have been challenges along the way in 2016 with Louella Tomlinson and Desiree Kelley missing time, the Tigers look set to finish in third position entering this Saturday's final regular season game against the Perth Redbacks with a 16-5 record.

Unless the Flames are upset by the East Perth Eagles, Willetton will finish third and while Parker ideally would have liked a top two finish, he remains confident in his group now that they are all back together, and up and firing again.

Willetton fell out of the top two with consecutive losses to the Wolves and Flames, but they bounced back impressively last weekend with wins over the Lakeside Lightning and Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

That has made for a tough last four games and Parker is happy for the playoff preparation.

"Last year it was pretty soft going into the finals but this year our start to the season was pretty soft. We are having some pretty good hit outs going into them this year and we've got Perth again this week so it's going to be another good preparation for us," Parker said.

"I am disappointed that we won't finish top two and you ideally don’t want to play Rockingham in the second round, you'd rather save that for the grand final, but they are still beatable as well.

"We could have beaten them last week, we just didn’t fire a shot. We are realistically playing for third and we'll play a Mandurah, Lakeside or Perth and go from there and try to move forward. I try not to worry about what I can't control."

Parker had the option of adding another restricted player to his group in 2016 but he wanted to back in his group that went so close in 2016 instead.

With Louella Tomlinson remaining a dominant presence inside with support from 200-gamer Zoe Harper and Kate Malpass remaining lethal with Ebony Antonio, Desiree Kelley, Lara Napier, Emma Gandini and Emma Lobb all remaining important pieces, Parker is happy with his group.

"We could have picked up another restricted player. We always go local to get the pieces we need and we could have gone and got that as well, but I thought we had a decent enough eight that can actually win a grand final," he said.

"We feel like we would be better placed if we had our whole group available through the middle of the year as well, so we decided to stay with the local girls with Lou as our restricted player.

"In hindsight we could have done it, but we decided not to so we can give everyone else a go and we are still competitive and end up finishing third. If we put it together in the finals and work for each other, and work harder than the opposition I think we have the team capable of winning a grand final."

The Tigers' most likely quarter-final appears to be the Lakeside Lightning depending on what happens in this weekend's final round.

Lakeside and Willetton played last Friday and while the Tigers won, it wasn’t without a scare from the Lightning with Alison Schwagmeyer delivering 19 first quarter points and despite them missing Courtney Byrnes.

Parker has no doubt they would be a tough challenge if they end up being the first round opponents.

"I'm hoping we don’t play Lakeside. They are pretty tough to defend because they go for 40 minutes but the biggest thing was to match the pace of their intensity for 40 minutes. We didn’t do that and matched them for about seven minutes and ended up winning the game of basketball," Parker said.

"They are pretty hard to scout as well because they play with a bit of controlled chaos, but once we shut Schwagmeyer down they only scored 40 in the last three quarters.

"It will just be about getting off to a better start if we play them in the finals. I think they are a beatable but dangerous team."

The Tigers have had an interrupted run for much of 2016, particularly the back half of the season in not having their best team available but they are all back now. Kelley is one player who is showing how important she is, and how much she was missed when out for seven games.

"It is good to have them all, now we just need to find that groove again and get back on track. The defence is probably our strong point but it's just about working a bit harder as a group and knowing what each other does again to get that groove back," he said.

"She (Kelley) has only played three or four games since she's been back now but she hasn’t lost her shooting touch. She is really important for us. She is like a genuine three man and she can match up on the taller guards for us and defensively she's pretty solid so it's good to have her back out there."

One other new thing for Parker has been the chance to coach against his old friend Glenn Clarke.

While Parker's Tigers have beaten Clarke's Stirling Senators by a combined 85 points in the two games, he has enjoyed the experience and would look forward to a playoff battle against three-time championship winning coach somewhere down the line.

"It's pretty tough coaching against him because he works hard the whole time. We always talk about scouting other teams and I try to tell him that he doesn’t have to cover absolutely everything," Parker said.

"We feed off each other still and go for dim sum just about every Friday to bounce stuff each other so it's good. I try not to get into the mind games stuff like he does, but I'd like the opportunity to coach against him in the playoffs one day.

"He's done a good job with what he's got there at Stirling this year and I know how hard he would make me have to work if I went up against him. I'd have to work twice as hard but I think it would be good fun."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by June Halliday