Jamaican sensation Jhaniele Fowler says she’s not content with her record-breaking Round 1 shooting heroics, and plans to up the ante this weekend against the Magpies and beyond.
Fowler’s 66 goals in her West Coast Fever debut against the Adelaide Thunderbirds shattered the Australian national league record for most goals in a game, but the towering 196cm target promises there’s more to come.
“Most definitely, the challenge is always to go above and beyond what you’ve done the week previous. So yes I’m either going to maintain that or put out my best effort to go above,” Fowler says.
“That was a very good game for me and that’s how I’d love to start every single game. Hopefully I can sink as (many) shots. My girls are going to feed me as much, so I’ll just have to pay them off with a shot.”
Fowler’s assignment could be tougher this week, with Magpies goal keeper Sharni Layton waiting for her in what will be the Jamaican’s first game in front of the Perth crowd.
Not that she’s worried.
“They’re pretty good players on that team, and defensively really good as well, but I’m just going to go out there and play my game and do what I do,” Fowler says.
“I expect (Layton) to come out hungry and try (to intercept) all of my balls, and what she cannot get in the circle I think she’ll go outside to get them, so I just need to be strong and communicate well with my feeders.”
Looking at the stat sheet and seeing 66 goals against her name isn’t foreign to the Fever import – she achieved the same mark playing for Southern Steel in New Zealand’s national league last year, which might explain why she’s so laid back about the nightmare she presented for the Thunderbirds defence end.
“Honestly I had no reaction, I was just, ‘oh, that’s great’,” she says.
“My teammates, they expect it of me, they have expectations and I just need to live up to it. It’s just good that we can hold each other accountable for what we need to do on court.”
“We can achieve so much. I feel we had such a consistent game. We had some lulls, but if we can build on that, we’ll be awesome.”
Fowler says she can’t wait to put on a show in Perth.
“It’s going to be pretty good, I hear they’re a really awesome crowd, so it’s going to be nice playing in front of them.”
“I feel we’re just going to go out there and play our way, which is the Fever way, and just make sure that once we have our processes right, we can beat any team.”
