Thunder eager to end successful season on right note

Paris Heyd.
Paris Heyd.
The Dunedin Thunder has a chance to finish its season with a winning record this weekend.

It takes a record of seven wins and seven losses into its final two games, against the Canterbury Red Devils in Dunedin today and tomorrow.

Whatever the result, it is guaranteed  to finish third.

The games had originally been scheduled for July 22 and 23, but were deferred when flooding prevented the Canterbury team travelling south.

Coming off two wins against the second-placed West Auckland Admirals, Thunder captain Paris Heyd said it would be great to carry on that success through to the end.

"We’re going for a couple of wins to finish the season on a high," he said.

"If we won the last four games of the season it would be really positive. I think we’d end with nine wins, which is a big step up from last year.

"So if we can complete that I think it’s a good space to be in moving on to next year."

Heyd had returned to Dunedin and the Thunder this year after a 10-month stint in London and had enjoyed being back.

He said the season had been successful. The young team made great strides and knocked off all of its opponents at various stages.

"We knew we had quite a young team and on paper we knew that we might not be as strong as some of the other teams. But I think we showed that when we played those better teams that we could really step up and play that complete game and we did manage to do that — we won a couple.

"So it’s just a matter of getting a bit of consistency now, but I think that comes with a bit of maturity.

"Hopefully everyone’s learnt a bit this year and then we can carry that through to next season and keep moving up, I guess."

Heyd felt the team’s ability to close out tight games, as well as  coming back after being down, had improved.

However there had been a handful of games in which a sloppy 10-minute period had cost it.

If it could cut out those periods, Heyd said the team could push for a finals spot next year.

The young players, in particular, had made big improvements this year and they had mixed in well with some of the older players.

"Most of the young guys have definitely stepped up this year.

"We’ve relied quite heavily on them, with people being away with work and study and injuries. We’ve had to kind of rotate through and they’ve shown they can step up and compete when they’re required to.

"It’s definitely a big help having some of the younger guys now reaching that late teen, early 20 age.

"That kind of experience is what we’re looking for. The maturity shows a bit — it really helps, I think everyone’s taken a big step up this year."

Today’s game begins at 7.30pm and tomorrow’s starts at 4.30pm.

The season would wrap up with a function open to the public next week, which would include season awards.

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