WELL, it continues to be the most compelling storyline of the 2022 Sunraysia sporting calendar.
Just how far is the Mildura Heat women’s basketball team going to make it in this season’s Big V Division 1 competition?
A third of the way through the season, James Madigan’s side was seemingly confetti after dropping its first five games.
There were two overtime losses in that slump to give a glimmer of hope. But they were also demoralised by 53 points against Sherbrooke.
Try as he might, Madigan simply couldn’t get a quality import to put pen to paper, and there were all sorts of frustrations around getting enough players to suit up for away games.
Madigan was at his wit’s end as the season was slipping away.
But fast forward to last weekend, and the Heat has risen from dead last to sit in fourth spot with a 7-7 win-loss record in the nine-team competition.
This is stunning stuff by anyone’s measure.
With as much drama as a several episodes of Home and Away, the Heat’s season is now on the brink of something truly magical.
Not only does it appear likely to make the finals (the top five qualify), but it is now a serious flag threat.
The team has a bye this weekend, but Madigan has been working players hard at training this week in preparation for their last two regular-season games.
Next week they travel to last-placed Craigieburn (3-10), before hosting top-placed Sherbrooke at the Hothouse the following week.
Now, who knows what Sherbrooke will do for the trip to Mildura?
Will they rest their big guns for finals after already securing top spot?
It’s an option firmly on the table as they have nothing to gain by showing all their cards and risking injury to key players.
Or, will they want to make a statement against the Mildura girls on the eve of finals?
Either way, I can’t wait for the clash.
If the Heat finish fourth, it will host the week-one elimination final. This would be a huge night at the Hothouse.
If they advance past this stage, there’ll have to do it the hard way on the road.
But in 35-year-old club great Vanessa Power, classy import Fanni Szabo and an all-star support cast including returning mum Mikayla Hermans, hard-working veteran Demalza Henry and multiple young guns, this team can achieve anything.
There truly is a sense of destiny and self-belief that wasn’t there two months ago.
Szabo and Hermans’ arrival when the team was in a deep hole have helped lift its fortunes.
But it’s much more than that.
The spirit in the team and the drive to succeed for each other is something to behold.
There are two more steps to climb before the finals. But I really believe that something special awaits this team.
If they bring home the Big V Division 1 flag, it will be the year’s best local sporting story.
Feeling Blue
It has happened again. Queensland was meant to be rank underdogs to beat New South Wales in the State of Origin series-deciding game three in Brisbane on Wednesday night.
However, in an Origin rugby league clash for the ages, the Maroons delighted the parochial, sold-out Suncorp Stadium crowd to prevail 22-12.
I grew up in NSW and bleed blue.
I’ve count how many times that the Maroons have defied the odds to beat the Blues, especially when the series is on the line.
It was a cracking game, though.
It was a throwback to the incredibly hostile games in the 1980s when a bit of biffo was par for the course.
Dane Gagai (Qld) and Matt Burton (NSW) were throwing wild hay-makers at each other early in the second half (a couple of which connected), resulting in the pair being sin-binned for 10 minutes.
The home side was trailing by two points at the time and didn’t concede a point after then as “Queenslander” call come to the fore.
Clearly, Origin means more to the Queenslanders. And good luck to them.
My only consolation was that I had a few bucks on ’em at $3.40 to win.
It was going to be a small price to pay for a Blues victory that wasn’t to be.
