Flames restock to go again despite loss of mass star power

REPLACING Sami Whitcomb, Darcee Garbin and Ifunanya Ibekwe might seem a daunting task and indeed it has been for Rockingham Flames coach Ryan Petrik, but they appear to have enough pieces to ensure they will still be around the mark in 2017.

Coming off winning back-to-back championships in 2014 and 2015, the Flames were able to add Ibekwe to a group last year that included Garbin and Whitcomb.

Not only them but also Jacinta Bourne, Tarsha Fletcher, Ella Kennedy, Amanda Pether, Rhianna Klisura, Ashlee Sidebottom, Ariana Hetherington, Lizel Buckley and Talisia Bourne.

They went on to lose just four times during the regular season but then lost both games at home in the semi finals to the Willetton Tigers to miss out on another grand final appearance.

That proved the end of an era with Whitcomb and Garbin now moving on, while Ibekwe won't return and Talisia Bourne and Buckley won't be back either.

There will be no accepting of a rebuild at the Flames, though, with Dena English (South West Slammers) and Chelsea Armstrong (Stirling Senators) arriving to add their strong all-round games and experience.

Petrik remains hopeful that import Chastity Reed will also be cleared to arrive at some point too. While it's not the sheer talented squad he had this year, he still has plenty to try and win with coming into 2017.

"We kept Jacinta, Tarsha, Sidebottom, Pether, Ari and Rhianna, and most of the chunk of our group while adding Dena English, Chelsea Armstrong and a WNBA draft pick," Petrik said.

"I know it's not last year's team but it's still a very handy squad and we are very lucky from that side of things. It was back in 2011 when we had to hit reset because we had two really good years before that.

"Then in 2011, (Kaye) Tucker got hurt, Casey Ware fell pregnant and we put that season in the bin and decided to play our kids. We did and we got smashed every week, but the following year Tucker came back, Ware came back and Emma Cannon came over, and we made a grand final.

"I don’t think we're hitting reset to that extent but we need to get some minutes into some girls to set up another five-year run like we've just had. We've got two really good juniors coming through with Ariana and Rhianna, which we haven’t had for a while, so we'll pump them full of minutes."

The pressure put on by Garbin that Petrik would have all the answers in replacing his departing stars didn’t help, but the two-time championship winning coach knows he was lucky to have such a talented group for as long as he did.

"It was only daunting from the fact of Darcee being a smart alec telling the girls last year that if Sam and I don't come back, that they can relax and Ryan will figure it out," he said.

"I don’t know that Sam, Darcee and Ify are the easiest players to replace, but we knew that we wouldn’t have Sam and Darcee playing together forever and we were lucky to have them for as long as we did.

"Initially we thought we'd have Sam for one year, maybe two and how the Waves didn’t pick her up we have no idea. But we got her for four and she was always going to move on at some point and as you would expect she isn’t easy to replace, and neither is Darcee."

While Whitcomb might be the player from the Flames who receives all the headlines and deservedly so for what she has gone on to do in the Perth Lynx in the WNBL and as she heads for the WNBA, Petrik knows it's Garbin who leaves the biggest hole.

Having a big who can shoot, score inside, rebound, block shots and be a leader who loves the club is a combination impossible to replace, but Petrik is grateful for everything she gave to Rockingham.

"Darcee's the one we might miss even more as freakishly talented as Sam and Ify are. But Darcee is the one we will really miss," Petrik said.

"I remember having coffee with her when she was 16 and she was coming back from the AIS during the school holidays and I told her that even though she's young, I wanted to know if she was coming back to WA and if it was with Rockingham because if it was I would build my program around her.

"She told me to relax and that she was coming to play for me. That was literally the only conversation we ever had about her playing at Rockingham. Five years later we made three grand finals and won two championships so she delivered in spades, and she bleeds Rockingham.

"Garbin's the one the players really miss and that the club will really miss because she bled the club from day one until the end. I'm sure she will again when she eventually comes home."

He might not say it himself, but Petrik deserves plenty of credit for giving Whitcomb the platform to show what she could do with the Flames that has now led into her professional career skyrocketing.

As he reflects now, he is a little amazed still that she got to play in the SBL for four years with the fact that she is without doubt one of the most talented players in the world.

"I actually feel very lucky to have found her when we did and I don’t know if we had a big impact on her basketball ability because she was pretty good the day she got here, and she has continued to get better and better," he said.

"I'm very lucky and fortunate to have found her and brought her out here, and in fairness she paid the club back in spades with two championships and we went pretty close two other times.

"We got to have her for four years when in reality we should have only been allowed to have her for one or two. I'm very happy for what she did for our program and fortunate to have her for as long as we did."

One player who will look to try and help fill the void left by Whitcomb as the two guard will be English who arrives from the Slammers.

Armstrong comes on board from the Senators too to provide production and leadership, but it is English who Petrik identified last year coaching against that he quickly realised he wanted to have on his side moving forward.

"We played a game in Bunbury and even with the talent we had I remember saying to my assistant coaches that Dena could be a really good fit in our program," he said.

"We thought she could really excel in our program and there are some superstars in the league who wouldn’t fit at Rockingham with how we play, but we think Dena can exceed expectations with us.

"That's the theory and we were desperate to get her, and did and she has been terrific so far. Her back court partnership with Jacinta Bourne has been off the charts at practice and we'll wait and see what it looks like in real life, but the signs have been really good."

Petrik likes everything that Reed will potentially provide to the Flames as well if she is able to get the all clear to come on board after finishing her season in Romania.

Reed needs to be cleared by an immigration doctor because of playing in Romania for more than five consecutive months. If she gets through that, she will arrive to play with Rockingham and Petrik will be delighted, but he's not getting too carried away until he sees her land.

"Chastity was pick 25 in the 2011 WNBA draft, one pick behind Ify Ibekwe, and she can flat out play. She is similar to Kaye Tucker, that’s the type of player she is," Petrik said.

"From basically going with three restricted quality players last year with Ify, Darcee and Sam, we needed to find a hybrid of all three because we're just using the one import spot and that's where Chastity fits. She's not going to be the shooter that Sam was or the rebounder that Darcee or Ify were, but she's going to fill up the box score in every category and be an eight or nine in every area.

"We know she can flat out score and she has some real swag about her that I saw when she played in Romania where it's a really good league. If we can get her through immigration we are really excited about what she can bring. She will clearly be late, how late we don't know and mid-April will be the best result if we're able to get her here at all."




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