Magic women ready to take next step in 2017

THE legend Casey Mihovilovich is back for another crack, he has added a playmaking import and a current WNBL grand finalist with his young players another year older leading to Mandurah Magic coach Randy Miegel entering the 2017 SBL season feeling good.

In each of Miegel's three seasons in change of the Magic women's team in the SBL they have been around the mark and not too far off breaking through for an elusive grand final appearance or even ultimately a championship.

It was a big job ahead of the former Goldfields Giants captain and coach when he took over the Magic ahead of the 2014 season with them having won just seven games combined the previous two years, but he quickly righted the ship.

They might have been eliminated by grand finalists Lakeside in 2014, the 2015 champion Rockingham Flames and the Perry Lakes Hawks last year, but the Magic have been a tough team the past three seasons and there's reason to expect further improvement in 2017.

The Magic farewelled both imports Annette Davis and Adijat Adams from last year who were solid performers, but the majority of the rest of the group is back including 400-plus game veteran Mihovilovich and captain Rachel Halleen.

There's also Bree and Emma Klasztorny, Rachel Pettit along with the emerging group including Kasey Miegel, Emmah Gardner, Georgia Haines and Aimee Coles.

Then there is Mandurah's two signings.

Sydney Uni Flames WNBL player Carly Boag will miss the start of the season but she has a decent reason given she is playing in the current grand final series that her team leads against the Dandenong Rangers 1-0.

The other is an exciting combo guard Nici Gilday and Miegel can't he happier with the group he's got together, even if the preparation might not quite be perfect for Round 1.

"I'm not 100 per cent confident that we are ready for the start of the season but I doubt I'm the only coach who still feels like there's some things to work on," Miegel said.

"I'm just lucky we have a pretty stable playing group even though there's obviously some changes. We play Willetton first game and that will be a pretty good test first up no matter who they have out there."

Gilday had a storied college career at Santa Clara before beginning her professional career in Romania.

She is now making her first trip to Australia and not only does Miegel expect her to be outstanding on the court, but off it as well as she has eyes to coaching down the track.

She has plenty left in her playing days before that, but Miegel and the Magic are already seeing her helping the young players on the team and in the local area since her arrival.

"We recognised that we needed another playmaker in our side so we chased Nici first of all in our recruiting," he said.

"We did some background checks on her and obviously her playing stats and everything are outstanding, but we've also got a good off-court player as well.

"She is a leader and was a leader at college, and academically she was really good and she is going to be very good for our young girls to learn off. We have a number of young and exciting guards who can do a lot of individuals with Nici and then training with her will help their development."

Miegel is also looking forward to adding Boag to his group to add some size and experience inside whenever she is ready to join up following the WNBL grand final.

The potential of her arriving as a WNBL championship winner is exciting for everyone involved in Mandurah too.

"Then with Carly we have an experienced WNBL player who has international experience as well having good stats in Queensland where she played in Bundaberg the last couple of years. Just from speaking to her, she is excited about getting here but she obviously has bigger fish to fry first," Miegel said.

"I don’t think she wants to have a big rest, so we expect her to arrive within a week or two after the grand final to start with us. She is a good country girl from Tamworth as well so she will have a good work ethic and should fit in well with a lot of our girls who she is the same age a lot of them."

Another player who could be like a new recruit is Bree Klasztorny. Injury again limited her to 15 games in 2016, but all signs are pointing towards her being healthy coming into this season.

If she stays on the floor, Miegel knows she can be a difference maker.

"She has done a lot of work in the pre-season and I'm confident that we will get quite a bit out of her. We need to manage her and we say that every year, but that just goes with her style of play," he said.

"She plays hard and puts herself in position at times where she gets knocked around, but she is mentally ready to go and certainly showed a bit at the Blitz.

"If we can keep her on the floor, which I hope we can, she is just a fantastic player for us and she can win games for us off her own back on any given night."

Naturally any team that has Mihovilovich still running the ship and with her hungry, motivated and relatively healthy, then they are going to be competitive. Miegel has no doubt a number of factors played into her wanting to play on in 2017.

"The desire is still there with Casey's game and she is always shooting around three or four times a week outside of training, and dragging other girls along with her," he said.

"Her training is high-class and competitive and an attraction to her is to play in our new stadium this year. It looks really nice and I think there will be a pretty good vibe there this season. Also the thought of winning it all is what we're all striving for and I'm sure that is another major driving force for her."

After doing a strong job in making his team a competitive force the past three years, Miegel is hoping to see the Magic take the next step in 2017.

"I feel like we've been around the mark for a couple of years, we just have to keep working hard and luck plays a big part in it too," he said.

"Last season we got off to a bad start with a few injuries where if we could have earned a top four position it could have turned out different for us. But in saying that, we have to keep working that little bit harder and have trust in what we're doing and we should be around the mark."

Making Mandurah's performance more impressive last season was the fact the club had no home base with the redevelopment going on at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.

They played their home games in Rockingham and had to train elsewhere, but now with the new facility up and running, there is an air of excitement around basketball.

"When you finish the season and look at what we did, we actually played in Rockingham quite well and had a good record there," Miegel said.

"The girls never complained about being there either but this year I think we'll get a bit more support from the community and some more sponsors on board, and more people to our games with the new facility. And having that new stadium will make us all more comfortable. We will train on that floor every week and I think it will end up helping us hugely.

"Just looking forward, the first game there will be against Kalamunda on a Friday night and I would say that the club will pump it up and we'll get good support there even though we have our official opening when we play Rockingham on Mother's Day. That will be another special night but that first game we play in there will be fantastic."

Photo by Vikki Hile




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