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Batgirl into the Fire
TweetANYTIME a sportsperson is known by their first name or a nickname, you know they have captured the public's imagination.
Without doubt, The Batgirl rekindled interest in Lightning and the WNBL, leading Adelaide to the 2011-12 regular season championship.
In the process, she led the league in scoring, rebounding, plus steals, the first 194cm centre to claim the latter category.
Big people don't usually like to scrap but Suzy Batkovic isn't your regular basketballer. Named to the WNBL's All Star Five, she became the first Adelaide player since Rachael Sporn in 1997 to win the league's Most Valuable Player.
Naturally, she was Adelaide's MVP as well, playing alongside Abby Bishop as the "Queen Bs''.
Selected to the Opals for London and her third Olympic Games, The Batgirl came home with a bronze medal, then immediately set about dominating the 2012-13 WNBL season.
She followed Sporn again to win back-to-back league MVP awards, also again leading the league in scoring and rebounding. But this time, she wasn't scrapping on the floor but flying high, leading the league in shot-blocking. And she was All Star Five as well.
Suzy was quite the super-heroine in Adelaide.
Losing her, first to free agency and then to Townsville on Monday was a massive blow in Adelaide, though it has largely been a "good news'' week since then.
The Lightning have coaching issues to address, Peter Buckle with a third year to run at Adelaide but into the last four of candidates for the Bulleen job with Cheryl Chambers, Gary Fox and Larissa Anderson.
That in itself strongly suggests an untenable situation evolving in Adelaide and one which Batkovic may have been happy to distance herself from.
That and Adam Savage, her "significant other'' living in Townsville, plus the steady emergence of the Fire under Chris Lucas - back-to-back playoff appearances plus the Grand Final this season - made it an easy choice.
How Batkovic was allowed to remain on the free agents' list for so long by Adelaide was the biggest issue but the cloud over the coach's plans probably has much to do with it.
Here's how I reported at at adelaidenow:
Someone is going to have very big shoes to fill.
