Perth Lynx star Han Xu has a WNBL championship on her mind and that makes it vital to beat Townsville Fire

Boom Lynx recruit Han Xu has made it clear she is determined to end the Perth’s championship drought as the club faces its biggest challenge of the season – a road trip to Townsville. The Lynx will play the top of the table Fire for the second time this season, but with the bonus of having added the 211cm Xu to their team since losing to Townsville by nine points at home in November. Xu has had a stunning impact on the Lynx across her first two games. Perth thrashed Canberra by 24 points in her first game, as she scored 22 points, and then the club beat Southside Melbourne by 17 points last weekend after bursting out to a 31-point lead. Clubs now have to make the choice about trying to stop Xu and allowing Perth’s other stars to fire, or risk the Chinese centre dominating on the inside if they take a team approach. Xu is one of the biggest names in the basketball world and Lynx coach Ryan Petrik said she has already told him that she wants to win the club its first title since 1992. “We’ve won once in forever and she;s like ‘cool, it’s about to be two.’” Petrik said. “She has embraced the club from day dot. When a global mega star walks into your program, you are like ‘are they going to be fully invested? Are they just here for the short term?’ She has been just one of the players from day dot. “She was pranking the coaches and players on day two of practice. She feels at home. She loves it. Speaking to her people here, she loves everything about it. We have got a ripper human. As good as she is on court, she is just a lovely human being.” If Perth can become just the second team to beat Townsville, they will send a message to the entire WNBL about what they can achieve this season. The Lynx have played in two grand finals this decade, but fallen short of a title. Having smashed the club’s home attendance record last week, the Lynx are riding a wave of momentum which is a far cry from when there were doubts surrounding their future. Petrik said it was important to capitalise on their opportunities as a team and a club. “The West Coast Waves era was obviously super tough. Obviously Bendat bought it with the Wildcats licence and it looked like we were going to sail off into the sunset in a really good situation there and then they obviously gave it back to BWA. So it was like ‘we might not be around here for much longer,” he said “Then Covid hit. And then obviously SEN got involved and it has gone from strength to strength. To have moved into that facility – we speak with a bias, but it is the best venue in the comp. Eleven or 12 years ago it wasn’t that. Six years ago it wasn’t that. There was real fear that we might not survive.”