Opals apply the polish
By STEPHEN HOWELL
Wednesday 30 August 2000

The Opals start the task of bringing Michele Timms and Michelle Griffiths back into the Olympic team at the camp that starts in Sydney tomorrow.

Coach Tom Maher said the transition would not be seamless, but the two players were veterans who knew the system well despite having played with Phoenix in the WNBA rather than be part of the full leadup program.

"The focus now is not about having two players who have been out of the team come back in to the team," he said. "The focus is to keep the team rolling.

"We'll just go about our program with a couple of different players."

Perhaps a more difficult task this weekend will be to get full value out of the game against Olympic easybeat New Zealand on Saturday, the Kiwis having replaced Cuba, which will not arrive in Australia in time for the game.

Maher said the Opals would experiment but would also play hard and play to win.

They will follow up with three games in Adelaide next week against much tougher opposition - Poland, France and Slovakia.

The United States will play the same three teams, but will not play Australia until September 9 in Melbourne as part of the double-header with the Boomers and Team USA at Rod Laver Arena.