Rollers keep Rollin’

After beating Poland 76-53 in their quater final, the Australian Rollers have advanced through to the Semi-finals.

Australian captain and WAIS athlete Brad Ness was the star for the Rollers, while fellow Western Australians Justin Eveson (13) and Shaun Norris (11) were both impressive.

Rollers coach Ben Ettridge said Australia’s group form gave them the perfect platform for a successful quarter-final win, but predicted another tough test against the USA.

“You always bring a level of confidence in when things are working for you so we were pleased with our pool games. We made a few errors in that first half especially against (Mateusz) Filipski, we let him get off the chair a little bit and I think we tightened that up in the second half OK. But in doing that, we let a few of their third and fourth options score some baskets, but we had to douse that fire that he was bringing and make other people beat us, which proved to be the difference in the game.”

“The USA are very dangerous. They’ve played themselves into some great form. They’re a team very similar to us, they’re very deep, well coached, well prepared and we’re expecting a battle tomorrow for 40 minutes,” he said.

Beijing gold medallist Shaun Norris said the Australian support in the crowd was a huge boost to the team.

“It’s fantastic. It gets you up and you can feel the energy around you. But personally I don’t really see the crowd, I only see the basketball, the rings, the bowl. But you can feel the crowd there and it is a special occasion, you really do enjoy that atmosphere.”

The Rollers booked themselves a semi-final clash with the USA to be played on Thursday, and should the Aussies repeat their group stage win over the Americans, they will get a shot at back to back Paralympic titles.