Hynes says establishing the Ruby North competition has been a huge development step for the players in the Cairns-based franchise and it’s progress that will go far beyond those taking part on the court.
Experiencing a higher level of competition as well as exposure to training programs, high-performance behaviours and even managing road trips has been the big growth areas for Hynes’ squad.
“We've had to teach them every single little thing and it's been exciting. I think these players have grown exponentially,” Hynes said.
“It's our responsibility in these competitions to teach the girls the things so that they can take it back to their clubs and they can take it back to the other competitions that they're in and make those ones stronger.
“It’s given them a chance to do that.
“Hopefully it's a platform for all regional competitions to set a higher standard.”
The Flames sparked new life into their season in the most recent action in Mackay last month.
Back-to-back wins over the Capricorn Claws and North Queensland United in their final two matches of Round 3 may not have lifted the Flames off the bottom of the competition ladder but will have them full of belief going into their home round this weekend.
“I always was confident that we had the skill set to deliver dealing however, with the young athletes and trying to instil some belief into them, obviously, has taken some time,” Hynes said.
“I feel like now we have cemented that belief.
“I knew we had the skills. Now we have the belief and hopefully we can now have some consistency going into the final round.”
The Flames begin their weekend against ladder-leaders United on Saturday morning, aiming to once again upset the Townsville-based franchise, before taking on the Claws on Saturday afternoon and wrapping up their season against the Mackay Monarchs on Sunday.
Sitting just one game behind the Claws with a 3-6 record after nine games, the goal now for Hynes and her team is to build on their encouraging Mackay results and aim to ensure they deliver in front of a home crowd.
“We're having heaps of feedback from junior comps and junior players just saying, ‘hey, I want to be a flame one day’,” Hyne said.
“The little kids are already starting to say this, and they haven't even had the exposure yet. They haven't even seen a great deal of Flames, other than us getting around and that sort of thing.
“Can't wait to show everybody what we've been working on for the last six-seven-eight months, whatever it's been - we trialled in November last year. To show our community what we've done and where we're at is super exciting for us.”
The fourth and final round of the Ruby North begins on Saturday at Cairns State High School. A full list of fixtures is available here.
Don’t miss any of the action. Catch every match from of Ruby North streamed LIVE AND FREE on netballqtv.com.au.
