Thunder's Nick Haywood prepared for tough home NBL1 South double-header

Original Story by Emily Clooney - The Advocate

If the North West Thunder are to give themselves a "fighting chance" of winning in round three, they will have to do all the one percenters right. 

That is according to coach Nick Haywood who is preparing his side for a tough NBL1 South double-header on home soil.

"Our guys don't shy away from a challenge, which is great and one thing that we pride ourselves on is if we are the underdog, what else do we have to give," Haywood said ahead of Friday night's game.  "We have to give those one percenters and get the loose ball, and take charges.  We have to do that to give ourselves a fighting chance."

The Thunder will make the short trip to Launceston on Friday for their clash against Knox Raiders before returning to the Coast on Saturday to face Ballarat Miners.

While his side might not have the same height stocks as those around the country, Haywood was hopeful that it would work to his side's advantage.  "It's kind of a double edged short because if we're a bit short, teams have to guard us," he said.  "And we showed that on Sunday, if we have great team play it's hard for people to match our play. I don't mind being undersized but rebounding becomes a priority.  A tough job coming in defensively for our bigs and our bigs have to play out of their skin."

The Thunder's height problems are expected to get a boost, with the club understood to have signed a replacement for Montavious Murphy.

The decision to replace Murphy was one Haywood said he made with the help of assistant coach Sam Armstrong and Mark Radford.  "We all just thought we were just one piece short.  A piece short of being a finals contending team and that's no disrespect to our local guys," he said.  "Things happen (through the season) and I went down that road last year and it's just too tricky.  So in my smartest opinion, why don't we get them. Then it becomes a good problem."

It is understood the replacement player won't be take part in the round three action.

While Haywood was unsure of his starting five, he was eager to get the likes of Lachy Brewer, Eli French and potentially Ben Woolley back after the Victorian road trip.

Friday night's game will get underway at 8pm at Elphin Sports Stadium with Saturday's game to tip-off at 8pm at Ulverstone.