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IN 21 years of coaching at WNBL and SEABL level, Bendigo Spirit coach Bernie Harrower has led teams to 10 grand finals.
He has a proud 7-2 record going into his 10th championship game in Sunday's WNBL grand final against Townsville.
Victory against the Townsville Fire would sit atop Harrower’s career achievements.
“This is the first grand final I’ve coached away from home,’’ Harrower said.
“That’s why I always strive so hard to get home court advantage in play-offs because when times get tough those 2000 fans screaming for you can be a big help.
“That’s why a win on Sunday would be the sweetest win of all.”
The Spirit go into Sunday’s clash in Townsville as underdogs having lost to the Fire by 19 points two weeks ago.
Harrower had no issues running with the underdog status.
“This is Townsville’s best group by a long way,’’ he said.
“It’s such a talented scoring group. If this Townsville team had played us the past two years we might not have won a championship.
“That also puts them under an enormous amount of pressure because the team is expected to win, they’ve been the best team all season and should win.
“We’re under no pressure because no-one expects us to win. We can go in and give it our best and if we lose by a few everyone will say ‘oh well, Bendigo gave it a good shot, but it was Townsville’s year.’
“However, if Townsville lose they are 0-3 in grand finals and that creates a big monkey on your back.”
The Spirit were blown away by the Fire two weeks ago, but Harrower expects a much better performance from his team on Sunday, particularly at the defensive end.
“Last game they (Townsville) had too many scorers,’’ Harrower said.
“Everyone contributed to Townsville’s scoring that game and all of a sudden they had 82 points.
“We need to do a similar job to what we did against Sydney. A couple of Sydney players scored well, but we kept the rest of them quiet.
“That’s what we need this week. You’re never going to keep everyone quiet, but if you can restrict the spread of scoring you’ll be in the game.”
