Townsville stunned, but ready for revenge

Five-time Coach of the Year Shannon Seebohn admitted he was stunned by Townsville’s lack of intensity after the Fire’s 109-89 Semi Final Game Two loss to the Flyers on Wednesday night.

After most pundits predicted Townsville to sweep the series following Southside Melbourne’s crushing 0-17 start in game one, the Flyers bounced back with a statement 109-89 win on Wednesday night. 

With Olympian Cayla George silencing the doubters with 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists – it was another defining game in her histroic career.

Townsville, by contrast, looked uncharacteristically disorganised and lost. They failed to replicate the discipline that underpinned the regular season and were unable to match the soaring Flyers physciality. 

“I was surprised by our lack of intensity… Our goal was to play hard and play focused today, and I don't think we did either of those things,” Seebohm said post-game. 

“Because we allowed them to get so many good looks and we broke down so many times, their confidence is high. And now they start hitting pull-up jumpers and threes – and we end up giving up109 points.”

Seebohm explained the responsibility sat squarely with the group failing to execute their scout, not being consistent and having the wrong mindset heading into the game.

“Win or lose, we don’t ever want to have a performance like that again, where we don’t give maximum effort and maximum focus,” he said. 

“We need to throw everything at it (game three), we need to make sure we're locked in

right from the start of the game. We need to execute everything.” 

With a three-day gap between games, the Fire get to reset in front of their home fans in arguably the hardest place to play in the league. With a 76.9 per cent win rate (10/13) at the ‘Fire Pit’ (Townsville Entertainment Centre), the odds are against Southside Melbourne to pull off a historic upset. 

Watch the game live from 3:00pm AEST live and free on 9Now and 9GO!, and live on demand via ESPN on Disney+.

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