Francis backs Sunshine Girls to challenge Aussies
Published:Thursday | August 4, 2022 | 12:11 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
NATIONAL SENIOR netball coach Connie Francis says “it will be business as usual” when the Sunshine Girls go up against Australia in their Pool A top-of-the-table clash at the Commonwealth Games today.
The Sunshine Girls, who are unbeaten in the competition so far, with four straight victories, will enter today’s contest second in Pool A on goal difference in the pool behind the Australians.
Both teams are already through to the semi-finals of the competition, but a win for either side will see them topping the group.
The Sunshine Girls, who won the bronze medal four years ago in Gold Coast, Australia, have been in excellent shooting form so far in the competition, dispatching Scotland 78-34 and Caribbean side Barbados 103-24 in their last two games.
The Australians, who won the silver medal four years ago, have scored the most goals in the competition so far with 331 followed by the Sunshine Girls 321, New Zealand, 281, and England, 267.
Francis said the group has been playing well and she is expecting more of the same against the highly fancied Australians.
“We appreciate the way that we have been playing in this competition and so while we have a lot of respect for our opponents because we know that they have won this competition before, we are going out there to give 110 per cent of ourselves,” said Francis.
“We know that it is not going to be easy playing against them because they are so consistent and playing well. But I think that the Sunshine Girls are ready to go and are equal to the task of trying to topple them,” she said.
The veteran coach is not just leaving it up to the ability of the girls though, and is intent on trying to come up with a strategy to counteract the Australian style.
“I have seen a lot of videos of them and their style remains the same because they are fast, quick, fluent and very strong and they are a good team. But how we are playing netball now, we certainly have a good chance of defeating them,” Francis said.
“We just have to go out there and support each other on court and each person will have to do their job well and, most of all, secure our centre passes at all times,” she said.