Jencke confident she can fill Wilson's shoes and lift Firebirds
The Sunday Age
Sunday March 28, 2010
IT MUST not have been easy replacing the biggest name in the history of Queensland netball. It could not always have been comfortable succeeding the great €” and greatly affronted €” Vicki Wilson as the coach of the Firebirds. And then to lose the opening home game of a trans-Tasman season in which your team was tipped to be the big improver. Ouch.But Roselee Jencke insists she is not treating last week's surprise three-goal defeat by the NSW Swifts as a setback. Nor is the former Australian and Victorian defender anything but measured and pragmatic ahead of today's challenging second-round appointment with the reigning premiers Melbourne Vixens at Hisense Arena."We need to be able to raise our level to be able to win and compete against the best teams, and the Vixens are the best team in the competition, there's no doubt about that," said Jencke. "So we need to make sure that we're doing everything right on court if we want to win. We're going to have to play our best and take it right up to them, but I believe the girls have got it in them."Along with former Vixen Sarah Wall and talented defensive recruit Amy Steel, Jencke is one of three Victorians in the Firebirds' touring party, and her appointment was one of the more interesting off-season stories. Wilson had taken the Firebirds to fifth place in each of the league's two seasons, only to then find her position advertised last July. The legendary goal shooter was among the applicants, as was the understated Jencke, her former world championship teammate. A bitter Wilson was overlooked, and later raged against a perceived lack of respect, while Jencke got the job €” and, she says, has since received all the support she has needed."It hasn't been difficult at all," she said. "I've just been been concentrating on the players and focusing on my job."Obviously Vicki was a great player, probably Queensland's greatest player, however the position was advertised and I was lucky enough to get it. There's been rumours of sackings and things, but it was never like that: the job was advertised and I went for it and I got it, and for me it was just a great opportunity to try and recruit a number of different players to see if we could improve the team. It's all about developing and improving the players."And, initially, overhauling the personnel. Captain Peta Stephens was among a large group of players delisted to clear space for recruits including Thunderbirds star Natalie Medhurst, Wall, and four graduates from the Australian Institute of Sport, where Jencke worked in 2005 before being appointed to assist her long-time mentor, national coach Norma Plummer.Improvement will come, she is confident of that, but it will take time for combinations to settle and understanding to grow. Indeed, Medhurst's partnership with shooting star Romelda Aiken appeals as the key to the Firebirds' chances of making the predicted impact this season."For us it's really about making better use of our ball and giving it on the first option. That's what we'll be wanting to do this weekend €” make better decisions," she said. "But they've got a really good feeling between each other and they're coming along, and each week they'll get better and better, I know that."Jencke has kept her house in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs, and so has seen plenty of what until now has been her local team. The Vixens beat the Magic by eight goals in round one despite the unavailability of Julie Corletto."They're the team that have set the standard and benchmark last season for where all the other teams want to be in the competition, so we know that we've got our work cut out for us this weekend," Jencke said.
© 2010 The Sunday Age
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