Phoenix Fighting Tooth and Nail

The Phoenix are well and truly in the trenches right now, with four players and the head coach on the sidelines due to Covid protocols, their response on Monday night notching up an away win against the Hawks tells you everything you need to know about this ball club.

Judd Flavell joined the SEN Breakfast crew to talk about the teams ability to bounce back after heavy defeats, how head coach Simon Mitchell has helped him take the reins, and the form of Ryan Broekhoff.

(Judd Flavell has coached the side during Simon Mitchell's absence due to Covid protocols.)

"We are getting a bit of a master class at the moment on dealing with adversity," Flavell said.

The Phoenix suffered a big loss at the hands of the Wildcats at the Fire Pit on Saturday, but bounced back less than 48 hours later to snatch a one point win on the road against the Hawks.

"This is a really tough competition, and the beauty of it is if you are slightly off your game you're going to be beaten, and we were slightly off and disappointed with the Perth result," Flavell said. "It was more the way it felt, we felt like we weren't the aggressor. 

"We went down to Wollongong and there was a big change in the way we played." 

With so many games in such a short amount of time Flavell explained that for most teams keeping it simple was the key.

"Keep it as simple as we can, learn from last game, don’t overthink it. In most cases we've got 24 hours to get ready so keep it simple. When you have a schedule like this it is more about the team coming out and being more aggressive."

(The team had an impressive bouce back win on the riad against the Hawks on Monday.)

According to Flavell head coach Simon Mitchell has been a huge help as he assumes the responsibility of head coach.

"Simon is doing well, family is doing well, we’re hoping he's back in a couple of days time. I'm sure he's yelling at the screen, but he's been great as a staff we are together every single day, chatting every day, the work we do together prepares us for this situation," he said.

Flavell also spoke about Ryan Broekhoff and the impact he has on the team.

"I think we're starting to see Ryan settle into his role with the team, he's a shooting threat, he doesn’t need to be shooting the ball well to have an impact on the defence," Flavell said. "His reputation at times will keep defence tight. Xavier had a game Monday night working off the high pick and roll, the defence couldn’t come off Ryan so it created space for Xavier to go to work.

(Ryan Broekhoff pulled down 16 rebounds to go with his 11 point game on Monday night.)

"That being said we saw him dominate the boards, he's a leader on defence, and even though some people will say he didn’t shoot the ball well but there are plenty of other things he does on the court, he was everywhere."

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Phoenix Media (09/02/2022)