If preparation is a key to success, then the Australian Rollers are primed for a successful Paralympic campaign.
Like all Paralympic participants, the team’s lead-up to Tokyo was impacted by Covid but a full national league season, which culminated in 11 of the 12 team members taking part in the Grand Final, tours and the Ford Ballin’ event in Melbourne in July has the Rollers well placed.
Coach Brad Ness said his players have found cohesion and chemistry as a group both on and off the court.
Since landing in France, the Rollers have played and defeated France, 73-53, and Canada, 91-73, in warm-up fixtures.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better preparation. Leading into Tokyo, the guys literally hadn’t played for two years so it’s been a completely different situation where we’ve been able to have three good tours this year and obviously the national league with 20 odd games in eight weeks,” he says.
“We don’t have any injuries and in terms of preparation I don’t think we could be any better physically prepared than we are at the moment.
“The guys are at a level now where they communicate things on and off the court in a way where they take it on board and actually act on it. The culture and leadership is strong and the players are in a good place to challenge each other which makes things a lot easier for me.”
The Rollers open their campaign on Friday morning AEST against the Netherlands then face Spain that night with the final game of their pool on Sunday against powerhouse USA.
Competition is even hotter with a reduced format of eight teams, down from 12, vying for the podium.
“So, we’ve literally got the eight best teams in the world at the moment,” Ness explains.
“Italy didn’t qualify and they’re a really good team so when you’ve got countries of that calibre missing out it just goes to show how tough this competition is.
“Our first game is at night (France time) and we’re playing the Netherlands who are fourth in Europe and have one of the world’s best high point players (Mendel Op den Orth) who scores 45 per cent of their points so we’ll have to take care of him.
“Then we’ve got to back it up against Spain who were second in Europe and been medal recipients since Rio. We’ve got to play them at 12.45pm the next day, it’s going to be a pretty tough 12-18 hours of competition then we get a day off and play America who are the best in the world.”
