THE Albury-Wodonga Bandits head into this weekend’s crunch SEABL road double knowing a successful trip could be the impetus that powers them to the minor premiership.
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Sitting second in the East conference with a 12-7 record, a half-game behind ladder leaders Geelong, and a half-game ahead of Dandenong in third place, the Border club can move into top spot with a sweep of Ballarat on Saturday and Sandringham on Sunday in its final regular season matches away from the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre.
And given they hold the head-to-head advantage over both the Supercats and the Rangers – who clash in a blockbuster at The Geelong Arena on Saturday night – skipper Michael Watson said the Bandits were in no doubt as to how big this road trip is.
“It’s a trip where we’re in a good spot, not having to rely on other results,” Watson said.
“The past few years, we’ve been around the playoff mark but had to rely on other games, so our destiny is in our hands.
“It’s a cliche but we’re taking one game at a time, knowing if we take care of business we can lock in a top-two spot, which has been our goal.
“(Bandits coach) Brad (Chalmers) has made it very clear it’s the biggest weekend of the year, it can go one of two ways.
“We can either sweep and really establish ourselves or we lose games and find ourselves in a real dogfight for playoff positioning.
“In the end, it could come down to home court advantage in the playoffs, so this is easily the most important road trip of the year.
“I haven’t liked how we’ve played lately, even when we’ve been winning but I thought the Kilsyth game last week was the best we’d played in two months and I think that’s a real positive for us going into this weekend.”
Ballarat sits fifth in the East conference, a full two games out of the playoff picture behind the fourth-placed Nunawading Spectres, while Sandringham is languishing in seventh spot in the South conference, having lost six of its past seven outings.
The Bandits emerged triumphant in a wire-to-wire 99-89 win over the Miners at home in round six, with reigning SEABL player of the week torching Ballarat for 23 points and 16 boards.
Guards Deba George and Daniel Sepokas also hurt the Miners with 26 and 22 points respectively, nullifying Ballarat’s star playmaker Roy Booker, who scored 28 points but missed 11 of his 18 shots.
“He’s (Booker) a potential game-winner for them, so we really need to keep him in check again,” Watson said.
