Barr wants Senators to turn strong bond into championship glory

While she has consolidated her spot as the best player in the NBL1 West throughout 2022, it's the lifelong friendships and family feel she's now found with the Warwick Senators that has Stacey Barr desperate to taste that championship glory.

Barr has claimed her second league MVP award in 2022 to go with the one she won back in 2019 in what was her first year with the Senators where they also reached the Grand Final before ending up losing to the Rockingham Flames.

The Senators are now back there again for Friday night's battle with the Willetton Tigers at Bendat Basketball Centre as they chase a first women's championship since 1994.

While Barr is going to be at the forefront of things for the Senators after the brilliant all-round season she's had where she's not only maintained her scoring punch with 25.4 points a game, but shown her ability to rebound, defend and create all at the same time.

That's why she was a no-brainer to win the MVP award in the NBL1 West for 2022 but the great thing about this Senators team is the depth and chemistry that they have built.

Coach Jonelle Morley has done a terrific job putting together a rotation of three bigs in Nat Burton, Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard and Leonie Fiebich, and three guards with Barr, Nicole Jorre de St Jorre and Chloe Forster that has inspired them to a 17-game winning streak coming into the Grand Final.

More than that, it's the bond that the group has built on and off the court that has made it special for Barr already in 2022, and that's why she knows how much it would mean for so many people if they could get over the line on Friday night.

"Off the court and building those friendships and making the lifelong friends that I have in this team has made going to trainings easier, and winning these games more special," Barr said.

"It is a lot of fun out on the court and even if we get behind we somehow band together. To see everyone dig deep and fight for each other has made it a special season so far, and hopefully we've got one more win to go.

"I haven’t thought about it too much and I guess if you're superstitious you don't want to jinx it or anything, but having been involved in winning teams previous back over east and even when I was in college it's a really special experience.

"We have had a competitive team in my team here at the Senators, but this year it definitely feels different and we have the capability of winning on Friday and I really hope we do for those older girls and all the hard work that we've put in this season. We've been playing really well so I hope we do the same on Friday and get the reward for that."

Barr has been with the Senators since 2019 now having a spent a season each at the Kalamunda Eastern Suns and Willetton Tigers when she first arrived in Western Australia, and she couldn’t be happier with the group she's part of.

While she's had an outstanding season herself as highlighted with the MVP award, having the experience up front of former Australian Opal, Burton, has been an terrific addition for her to work alongside Perth Lynx forward Clinch Hoycard.

Import forward Fiebich has also been a massive inclusion putting up 19.7 points, 12.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists a game while young gun Forster has delivered 16.3 points a game while you have the leadership and playmaking ability of Jorre de St Jorre to bring it all together.

Having six genuine weapons and stars who are combining to play big minutes is why Barr hopes the Senators will be tough to stop for the Tigers once again in the Grand Final on Friday night.

"It's kind of like a testament to our relationship together off the court as well. We all get along and hang out quite a bit so I think that definitely plays a role with our chemistry on the court, and fortunately for us it's showing," she said.

"We have all those areas covered that you need to and with our team you can't really just focus on one or two players. If you shut down one or two players there's another three or four to step up and do the job. We've had strong contributors all year and I think that's what has been making us so tough to beat."

As for her own form, this could be the best all-round season of Barr's career where she's proven herself as someone who can still play a match-winning role even if she's not shooting the lights out or putting up the huge points numbers.

Now, that's not to say she still hasn’t proven she can do that. Just in the second last round of the regular season she did catch fire for 42 points against the Lakeside Lightning and she had 36 and 34-point scoring nights earlier in the campaign.

She still averaged 25.4 points a game this season as well while shooting 43.7 per cent from the floor, 37.9 per cent from deep and 81.4 per cent at the foul line, but she's also averaged 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists while threatening a triple-double on a host of occasions.

You wouldn’t put that past her on Grand Final night, but she's just happy with the role she's got on this team where she knows her teammates can pick up the scoring load and the opposition can no longer just focus on shutting her down.

"It's nice not just being a scorer and being able to do all those other aspects of the game like I have been this season," Barr said.

"Putting more focus on that stuff personally I guess has made my game a bit more well-rounded and not as focused just on the offensive end. I know if I'm having an off night there's not that same pressure on me because I know my teammates will step up around me and fill that void, which is a nice feeling to have."

While Casey Mihovilovich is still running around the league as the all-time games record holder at the Mandurah Magic it's tough to take the crown as the player who keeps getting better with age in the NBL1 West, but Nicole Jorre de St Jorre is making quite a case.

She has had another standout season as the point guard for the Senators where she runs the offence and sets the tone defensively, and she's doing that now 438 games into her career.

She is now in her fourth season with Warwick in her second stint at the club after having started her career at the Swan City Mustangs in 1999. She then spent three years with the Senators, four at the Joondalup Wolves and eight with the East Perth Eagles.

Jorre de St Jorre then returned to the Senators ahead of the 2018 season and has put together some of the more outstanding form of her career, and Barr couldn’t enjoy playing with anyone more.

Barr would love more than anything to win a championship alongside someone like her and fellow 365-game veteran Emma Berryman.

"She's huge for our team and she's our leader, and I think if anything her game has gotten better every year I've been playing with her," Barr said.

"I started playing with her here back in 2019 and this is the fourth year, and if anything she has only kept getting better as she's got fitter and stronger. She has been putting in that extra work and it's all been paying off, and I hope more than anything we can get the win for her and Emma Berryman who's still running around with us. 

"For those girls who have been around for that little bit longer and played so many games but haven’t quite got to experience that championship yet, I really hope we get it on Friday for them."

Barr is also looking forward to the challenge of taking on her former team the Willetton Tigers in Friday night's Grand Final.

The two teams met back in the qualifying final where the Senators won by 12 points at Warwick Stadium, but Barr is fully aware it will be a different story with the championship at stake.

She's also looking forward to facing her old team on the big stage and knows that her former teammates Emma Gandini and Desiree Kelley will be throwing everything at trying to curtail her influence.

"They are coming back to try and win another championship and after winning it last year I'm sure they want to go back-to-back. They're a really tough team and they are well-rounded as well with a lot of weapons who can hurt oppositions on different nights," she said.

"It's the same as us, we can't just focus on one player with them. And having played with Des and Emma a few years back, it will be fun playing against them again this time in a Grand Final and it's going to be a really tough game. 

"We know they are going to bring it to us and just because we beat them last time that doesn’t mean much. It's anyone's game in a championship game and they've proven themselves since to win those games to get there. I think it's going to be a close one and it's going to be really tough for us to get the win."

As for how she's feeling now as Friday night approaches and she chases her first NBL1 West championship, Barr is just trying to keep a cool head and is calling on her past success over east and at the University of Idaho ahead of the big game.

"It's a mixture of emotions this week really but excitement is definitely one of them. I guess you just try to not overdo it before the game ever gets here and not play it too much in the mind before your physically play it," Barr said.

"You just try to contain all those emotions and save them for the game. I'm pretty good at putting those emotions aside and not getting too nervous or excited or anything leading up to games, and I'm trying to do that this week even though it's a bigger stage and bigger game. 

"I just try not to think about it too much and to keep busy, and I'll go to work on Friday like I usually do before a Friday night game and keep things the same. That's my personal way of preparing for it."

Not only is the 2022 NBL1 West championship at stake on Friday night but also a spot at next week's National Finals.

Barr would love to be part of that and to get to Melbourne for the weekend representing the Senators, but she also knows there's no point thinking about it right now because it can only happen if they win on Friday.

"I guess we just deal with that when it comes if we win on Friday, but I'd love to go across back to my home city," Barr said.

"It would be nice to be able to play in front of my family and friends again, and it would be really good exposure for West Australian basketball and to see what the competition is like in other states, and we saw sort compare up to them."