Kelsey Griffin is confident the Bendigo Spirit can turnaround their form and qualify for the WNBL finals.
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The fourth-placed Spirit (11-8) travel to Perth (10-8) this week for a mini-final against the fifth-placed Lynx on Saturday night.
The Spirit then face ladder-leader Townsville in Bendigo next Wednesday night to round out the home and away season, while the Lynx play the lowly Adelaide and University of Canberra in their final two matches.
After starting the season with seven-straight wins, few people expected the Spirit to be battling to make the finals at this late stage of the season.
However, a string of injuries and a drop in confidence halted the Spirit's momentum.
No injury was more telling than Griffin's hamstring complaint. The two-time Spirit championship player hasn't played since mid-January.
Griffin is expected to return to the court this Saturday.
"When we started setting our goals at the start of the season it was to make the finals,'' Griffin said.
"Everyone wants to win championships, that goes without saying, but your first goal is to always make the finals.
"While we started off blazing hot, that put us in the position we're in now.
"You can look at it and say 'oh, they're sliding' or you can look at the fact we put in a big body of work to put us in a position where we still hold our finals destiny in our own hands.
"Obviously, you want to be peaking at the right time of the season, but we've had a lot of adversity.
"We're yet to play one game with our full roster. I have every intention to come back and play in the Perth game (this Saturday) and that might be the first time we've had our full roster back on court.
"While I would love it if we had our finals position clinched already, the reality is we're still in control and not everyone has that.
"Perspective is so important. If we can go in with that positive mindset and play the basketball we're prepared to play, then we'll put ourselves in a position to play finals."
Despite the recent adversity, Griffin said the mood around the playing group had remained strong.
She said the difficult times had the potential to make the Spirit a better team.
"I was talking to one of the younger players about team bonding,'' Griffin said.
"This is team bonding. It's when you go through five or six weeks of really tough times when you have ups and downs.
"That's when you find up what you're made of as a team. It shows you who is going to step up and who is going to work hard.
"It's when you build trust and you build an understanding of what you're capable of.
"My hope is, while it's been a hard grind for everyone, that it will pay dividends because we'll know what we can do.
"We have trust in each other."
Should Griffin get through training later in the week and play against the Lynx, it will end a frustrating period for one of the most competitive players to take to the court in the WNBL.
The power forward admitted she was not good at watching games from the sidelines.
"It's been really tough because I've felt so good, like really good,'' Griffin said.
"I was really proud of the body of work I put in during the pre-season. I felt as though my conditioning was some of the best it's been through my entire career.
"The injury came as a complete shock and it mentally took a toll.
"Not knowing if I'd need surgery or I wouldn't need surgery, and waiting for the all-clear, has been a rollercoaster.
"Being able to be back out practicing has been like taking a breath of fresh air.
"Not being able to be on court helping the team is what I missed the most."
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