Steph Gorman's decision to come to the NBL1 West and play with the Cockburn Cougars continues to be the best thing she ever did and while excited for Saturday's home preliminary final, she knows the test the Perry Lakes Hawks present.

If you go back to the off-season leading into the 2023 season and Gorman arrived at the Cougars having come to Western Australia for the first time just looking for a fresh start with her basketball, and not really knowing what lied ahead.

What has transpired ever since has been beyond anything she could have dreamed of with her being the league's Defensive Player of the Year and Grand Final MVP in 2023 on top of being such a key component of the Cougars making history to win a first ever women's championship.

That led to her earning a first opportunity in the WNBL at the Perth Lynx where not only was she an impressive rookie, but became an important player on a team that made the Grand Final and showed beyond doubt that she belonged at the next level.

Now as soon as she was done with her Lynx commitments, she was back on deck with the Cougars as part of the championship defence and has been outstanding once more at both ends of the floor.

Gorman did claim the Youth Player of the Year award at the end of the season, but had to be decidedly unlucky not to also come away with a spot in one of the All NBL1 West Teams or even to go back-to-back in the Defensive Player of the Year award.

However, what she is focused on now is doing all she can to help the Cougars go back-to-back and she was instrumental in last Friday night's dominant 88-72 qualifying final win on the road to the Warwick Senators.

The task now ahead of the Cougars and Gorman is a home preliminary final this Saturday evening at Wally Hagan Stadium against Perry Lakes with a spot in next Saturday's Grand Final at RAC Arena the prize on offer.

With the preliminary final now so close, Gorman is finding her excitement levels growing and she can't wait to get out in front of the sold out home crowd.

"I’m excited. It’s always so fun playing a finals game at home and I can’t wait to get going," Gorman said.

"Wally with a sold out crowd is elite. The cougar family really get around us, we saw that last week at Warwick and I’m super excited to hear them cheering us on."

The Cougars didn’t know who their preliminary final opponents would be until Thursday night when Perry Lakes defeated the Grand Finalists of the past three years, Willetton, to earn their shot at Cockburn on Saturday.

With Ash Isenbarger in hot form and a team well coached by Craig Mansfield, Gorman knows that the Cougars are going to have to be at their best to beat them and book in that place at the Grand Final.

More specifically for Gorman, she'll be spending a lot of her defensive efforts trying to quell the influence of Perry Lakes star Grace Stone and only time will tell if it's a good or bad thing she's coming off a 6/24 shooting night on Thursday.

"I’m excited to take on Perry Lakes. They’re a great team who are very well drilled, I think we match up well against them and it should be a fun game," she said.

"Stone is a great player who can get going at any point, it’ll be super important to take away any of her easy looks and make it hard for her on the offensive end."

Giving Gorman confidence heading into Saturday night is how well the Cougars did last week against the Senators especially having got right back to their defensive best as a team that was so key to the 2023 championship.

That was highlighted with holding dangerous back court pair Chloe Forster and Stacey Barr to a combined six points on 2/24 shooting for the night so Gorman likes that the Cougars can call upon that and what they did last year for confidence.

"Having that experience from last year is so helpful. I think it’s definitely given us an extra edge knowing that we’ve done it before and we know what it takes," she said.

"Yeah I was happy with how I went last week. Our team did a great job crowding the floor which made my life a whole lot easier so it’s also a huge credit to them."

Having enjoyed sharing the back court with Jewel Williams in last year's championship at the Cougars and then calling Alex Ciabattoni a teammate at the Lynx, Gorman has loved the chance in 2024 to call them both teammates at Cockburn at the same time.

She's also been trying to improve herself in all areas along the way and is happy with how it's coming together.

"It’s been really fun. They’re great players and even better people so I’m really grateful I get to play with them each week," Gorman said.

"I think the biggest growth I’ve made is just with my mindset. It’s been amazing to grow my confidence and love for the game."

Chris Pike

Gorman excited for home prelim, wary of Hawks