By Jamie Thomas

Making their WBBL Playoff debut last year, the Essex Rebels were sent home from May Madness by the eventual winners – the London Lions – but their veteran guard Ashleigh Munns says there are a bunch of positives the team can take from that experience, as they prepare to take on Sevenoaks Suns in this weekend’s WBBL Play-off Quarter-finals.

“Going in as an underdog always reduces the pressure, we saw that last year.” Munns said.

“It also showed that when we want to and we’re doing things as we should, we can compete with anybody. We’ve got inside presence, cutters, shooters – basically everything we need – and we did take confidence from the London game because aside from a few minutes in the middle, it could have been closer.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I know, and we did lose by quite a lot in the end, but it was close for the majority apart from one or two bad spells from us, so we have to take confidence from it because they were a very good team last year.

“We’re a very inconsistent team and we know that is our biggest flaw, so we have no reason not to address it. The five starters from last year have all returned, so we have that experience, and we’ve only added better players around us so hopefully we can take another step forward this year.”

“There’s no reason why it can’t happen for us.”

Covid outbreaks and persistent injuries to key players have meant that the Rebels have struggled to find consistency on the floor this year with an ever-changing roster and line-up available to Head Coach Tom Sadler, but with that being said the cohesion of the group away from the court is obvious as there is a joy that can be observed within this group from afar that suggests as much.

Essex will have to show their best selves in the post-season if they are to have any chance of success as the Sevenoaks Suns are mighty competitors – which Munns knows only too well from her days representing Len Busch’s side – but the sharpshooter argues that her team has to believe they can have a successful post-season run.

“If we can win that first game then why not? We saw Newcastle last year go all the way to the final, we see it all over basketball all the time that the favourites don’t always win, so it can happen and why can’t it happen for us?

“We’re just going to take it game-by-game, we’re not looking too far ahead, but there’s no reason why it can’t happen for us. We’ve got the potential, we’ve got the quality, and I’m hoping we can practice what we preach and deliver.

“It would be the perfect end to a really great chapter this season, if we were to win on Sunday, get some momentum and go all the way to the 02 Arena.”

“I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else.”

Incredibly honest and open about her experiences in basketball, Munns has made no secret of the joy she feels at being a part of Coach Sadler’s set-up with the Rebels, and in our conversation with her she stressed the team’s belief that the Head Coach deserves huge credit for his efforts in Essex.

After taking a brief break from playing basketball to focus on her teaching career a few years ago, Sadler and Essex were persistent in their pursuit of Munns – who they see as a vital piece for the team’s future success – and the guard is clearly very thankful for that persistence to bring her into the programme.

“He is the reason why I’m still playing because when I chose to step away from playing a few years ago I really didn’t enjoy basketball at all, and it was going to take somebody or something special to make me find that love for the game again, and he’s done that because he cares so much about us.

“Everything he does is for us and there’s so much that he goes through behind the scenes that people will never know about, but he’s done all of that to put us in the best position possible. He’s very selfless, very humble, it is never about him and always about us as players and people.

“The team know that we are his pride and joy and he makes it very clear to us how much he appreciates us, how much he wants us here and so on which is so important. Everything we do, we do for each other and for Tom, and I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else. It would mean a lot for us to get a win for him, for sure.”

Get your tickets for the WBBL Playoff Finals and join us for the showpiece finale to an epic season at London’s 02 Arena on May 15th here!