Manchester Thunder head coach Karen Greig has revealed her expectations for her squad in 2018.
Greig is heading into her second season at the helm of the Black and Yellows and a ‘top four finish’ is the minimum requirement for the season, which begins on Saturday evening, away to Severn Stars in Worcester.
“We always say we’re going for top four, we’ve got to come top four,” said the former England shooter.
“And as we said last year, we come top four and anything can happen once you get into those playoffs so that’ll be our aim again this year.
Thunder finished third in 2017 – a feat that defied many pre-season predictions, due to an exodus of many senior players and head coach Dan Ryan.
But Greig quietly got on with business, rebuilding her squad’s personnel – and morale. Thunder made the finals weekend, losing out to eventual champions Wasps in the semi finals.
They then beat Team Bath to third place.
Thunder have two solid pre-season performances under their belts, with Greig experimenting with a number of player combinations in those comfortable victories over Team Northumbria and Celtic Dragons.
Speaking after the most recent 27-goal win over the Welsh outfit, Greig said: “I don’t want to be overly confident but plenty of the stuff we are doing in training is really translating on court. And that’s great to see.”
Thunder’s first home game of the season is against Sirens at the club’s new home ground, Belle Vue, on Saturday, February 19 at 7pm. Buy tickets now >>