Blair Thompson believes Giants Blue are “maturing into a team that’s looking good for the future”.
The former Junior Black Sox returned to his hometown club this season after spending more than a decade playing for Hutt Valley clubs.
He is enjoying how the young players are developing in the Intercity premier two competition.
“The boys are very confident, and I think that’s due to the influence of some of the senior guys and the energy they bring.
“Sean Robinson and Tarquin Karaitiana are leading the way, and they’re showing some real maturity, and some of the young boys are stepping up as well,” said Thompson, who was quick to deflect any credit away from himself.
“I don’t think my influence has had much to do with it.
“It’s a real team effort, there’s lots of energy, and the boys are keen to go along to tournaments and go to our games I think that’s half the battle these days is trying to get guys to be keen enough to turn up.
“’Chunky’ [Justin Karaitiana] is the one who coaches the team, and his influence as pitcher and batter is really good.”
The Blues go into this afternoon’s game with Poneke-Kilbirnie Red [PK] at Hataitai Park as joint leaders in premier two with Cardinals.
Thompson wants to see a better performance than what the team showed last Sunday and Monday in the Kapiti tournament, where they won two, drew one and lost four games, including a defeat to today’s opponents. He felt the Blues struggled to adapt to the shorter one-hour games.
“There were runners on base right from the get-go, which was a good learning experience for some of our boys because you had to be sharp from ball one and be sharp right till the end of the game. There were a couple of games that were tight, and we just switched off a couple of times, and that was the game pretty much.”
The Blues won their first-round premier two clashes with PK 9-5. Thompson said after last weekend’s loss to PK, today’s rematch is a bit of a grudge match, and the boys will be up for it.
Although the 36-year-old enjoys playing for the Giants, he doesn’t think his body is.
“I tell ya, mate, I’m struggling. I was out on the mound on Monday after playing a couple of days before that, so yeah, I’m certainly feeling it.”
Giants Red have a bye in Intercity premier three.
The Giants women are keen to bounce back after suffering a surprise 11-6 loss to Demons last weekend [only their second defeat of the season] when they take on Dodgers Divas at Fraser Park in the Hutt Valley premier three championship.
