Werribee Devils have brought together the old guard to give them a harder edge as they move up into the Big V basketball women’s division 1 competition.
The Devils have assembled a starting five with plenty of experience at division 1 level, including former championship-winning player-coach Sharon Grieve.
Grieve will join established stars Emma Coyne, Lisa Troyahn and Elisha Burnette, and boom recruit Jodi Impey, on the court this season.
“We’ve had to pick up a couple of players to make us more competitive because it’s a bigger and stronger league,” Devils coach Lloyd Klaman told the Weekly. “I like the idea of all of them playing together.”
Grieve returns to her old stomping ground where she climbed the top of the division 1 mountain with a premiership. She left the Devils to join Altona Gators and went on to win another title with them.
She’s a big-game player and a winner when it counts.
“She’s just so smart as a player,” Klaman says. “She’s going to be a fantastic addition to us.”
The most important signing of the off-season was Impey.
The forward/centre made it her mission last season to be a thorn in the Devils’ side as a member of the Keilor Thunder.
Impey, adept in the paint and used as a stretch four for her ability to shoot from long range, decided to retire after leading the Thunder to last year’s title.
Klaman talked her out of her retirement plans.
“She was retired for about two weeks,” Klaman says with a laugh.
“She’s a scorer, a great passer and she’s smart on the court. She can go inside and outside. She’s also a leader and does so many other things that make her teammates better.”
The team’s young players will also be front and centre in Klaman’s thinking. But while Tegan Doyle, Alex Moss, Olivia Klaman, Georgia Tauschke and newcomer Brittany Klaman will all command playing time, there will be less pressure to get minutes on the court thanks to the establishment of a youth league team.
Maddison Rocci, who has a busy year with under-age national commitments, could be a regular starter once her representative duties are over.
The Devils will face Impey’s former team this weekend in their last hitout before the annual Frankston preseason tournament.
The Big V season begins on March 15
