Casey Prather hard at work.
Camera IconCasey Prather hard at work. Credit: Supplied/Andrew Ritchie        d450631

NBL grand final: hard slog against New Zealand Breakers for Perth Wildcats

Greg HireEastern Reporter

You never know when the next one’s coming around so you make the most of it.

New Zealand is the defending champion for a reason.

They’ve beaten us on two occasions in championship series so it would be nice to get one over them this time around.

PerthNow Digital Edition.
Your local paper, whenever you want it.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

It’s going to be an absolute slog under the ring with both teams having big inside players.

The travel situation is not ideal, but we just have to take it how it is.

We could be playing three games in five days including a lengthy journey to New Zealand for game two on Friday.

If you want to win a title, you have to face adversity.

We’ve got a fantastic recovery team and this is where our conditioning becomes crucial.

Given the time difference, the team flies into New Zealand in the early hours of the day of the game, which is an unusual situation, but not one that’s unfamiliar to us.

There have been occasions where we’ve flown to Cairns on the day of the encounter after playing in Townsville the night before.

We’ve had some arduous away schedules over time so I’d like to think we’re hardened for these types of testing stints.

The Breakers have had a longer recovery period than us after winning their semi final series in two games, but I consider the fact we had to slog it out against the Hawks in three games as an advantage.

You can’t replicate game intensity at training so the extra court time served us well.

It’s going to be about limiting the Breakers’ energy and making sure we excel. We’re playing with a desire to win the series in two games. Game one tomorrow night at Perth Arena is crucial.