A 224-centimetre opponent stands in Warrnambool Seahawks’ way as they strive for a third straight Big V win tonight.
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Craigieburn Eagles recruit Kewal Shiels is seven foot four in the old scale.
Warrnambool coach Bobby Cunningham said the lean Shiels had improved since the Seahawks’ eight-point away win against the Eagles in round one.
The Seahawks want to use their pace to advantage on their home floor at the Arc in their second meeting of the season tonight.
Warrnambool has a 5-2 win-loss record while Craigieburn is struggling at 1-6 but Cunningham expects a hard-fought contest.
“We played them in the first game of the year and had a win by eight points,” he said.
“They cut it to three late in the third quarter.
“Looking at both teams’ records, it’s not going to be an easy game.
“We have to do our best to limit them to one shot.
“If we do that we feel we can get them and run.”
Warrnambool became the first division one team to register 100 points a game from 50 matches played this season on Sunday against Chelsea.
Former coach Tim Gainey was instrumental in the result, dropping 33 points.
Cunningham said Gainey’s strong shooting form — he is averaging 20 points a game — was a catalyst for the Seahawks’ emphatic start.
“On Saturday night (against Sunbury) Tim didn’t shoot as well as he’d like to shoot but on Sunday Tim was incredible and made sure we didn’t lose the game when Chelsea came back at us,” he said.
“Whoever has hit the floor has done something.”
Cunningham had an individual training session with former Seahawk and US college graduate Nathan Sobey yesterday.
Sobey arrived back in Warrnambool on Monday after a standout senior year for NCAA division one team University of Wyoming. The 193-centimetre guard will play for SEABL club Ballarat Miners, which is eight games into its season, this winter.
Cunningham said Sobey had the potential to play at a high level.
“We wish him nothing but the best and hopefully one of the NBL clubs snaps him up,” he said.
“I think he has NBA athleticism and it is about harnessing it and making more good plays than bad.”
A Legends versus Future Stars will be a curtain-raiser to the Big V game.
Cunningham will MC the one-off match.
“Our club needs to recognise those guys and it was a great idea by Craig McLeod saying we need to pay homage to the guys who started it,” he said.“Hopefully we can get a good crowd to watch the young boys run past the old guys. It should be a good night and hopefully at the end of it the Seahawks can be winners again.”
The Legends-Future Stars game starts at 5.15pm with the Big V contest scheduled to tip off at 7pm.