The final pieces of the coaching puzzle were put in place over the weekend with the signing of Chris Rideout and Nikki Bairstow to the SBL/QBL programs. Chris is well known to the Pirate family having a major influence in the development of players through the Algester Hawks, South West Metro junior represenative and SBL teams. Chris will be the SBL head coach and will work closely with QBL women's coach and Olympian Fiona Hannan and new signing Nikki Bairstow.
Nikki brings a wealth of knowledge and experience as a player and a coach. Nikki played with south east Queensland's original WNBL team the "Brisbane Blazers", she won a national championship in 1999 at QBL (ABA) level, as well as playing in numerous junior state teams and was a member the Australian Schoolgirls team.
As a coach Nikki has worked with Australia's best at the Australian Institute of Sport, has been an assistant coach at WNBL level and been the head coach at many QBL level programs. Nikki has been involved with State teams for over a decade and has a great understanding of the talent ermerging, the QBL and what it takes to make it to the highest level.