I guess the Canberra crumble was inevitable but it was still disappointing to see it happen. In the second half, Perth's three point shot came back and Whitcomb and Scherf realised nobody on Canberra could guard them. Game over.

Good to see the Jade Melbourne at point guard project going well. It's really going to help her international prospects if she can legitimately play the position.

If it's Scherf vs Bunton for backup Opals centre, I'd take Scherf without hesitation.

Bibby is quietly having a good first post-college season. Solid WNBL stretch 4.

Jackson 43, Tolo 35 and George 35 in 2024, no doubt atleast 1 of either Scherf, Bunton or Aokuso getting the call up beyond paris.
At 6'1, hard to see Bibby being useful at international level, maybe asia but certainly not WC or Olympic level.
Canberra missed swain, smart terrible this game.

Why didn't Harmon play?

She warmed up but spent a lot of time in the rooms and looked off when she returned. Did the tv coverage say anything about Swain or Schwagmeyer-Belger?

Belger still a week away and Swain went home for a funeral.

Has Forster pushed her way into the 10, or is Gandini injured?

Melbourne was good for most of the game, but down the stretch when things got important, Whitcomb absolutely took her to school.

Why are WNBL coaches not held to the same standard as NBL or WNBA or any pro league. They retread the same coaches and don't fire the ones who have great rosters but can’t get it done. Some of these coaches should have been fired weeks ago. I can think of 3 right now that should be gone. They consistently under perform, don’t develop players or evolve themselves. Some have no idea how to get the best out of their pieces or even what pieces actually fit together. This league has the talent and opportunity to be one of the best in the world. The coaches in it need to be better.

I'm guessing lack of finances would be one of the reasons Juice. Every top leagues recycles coaches though, they’re usually better the 2nd or 3rd time & very few GM’s are happy to take a chance on a rookie head coach.

We’ve seen a few get a chance this year in Hurst & Veal which is great. Boomers needed to recycle (& import) a head coach, no good available rookie head coaches in Melbourne just waiting for an opportunity, apparently...

Should be starting Borlase over whittle.

Good game. We've going to OT.

Great game by Murray, gone up a gear under Lucas,
thought she was near getting booted from league after being let go by the fire.

Wallace makes some real bonehead decisions, can she really be trusted with the keys to the Opals mobile?

Very entertaining game. Congrats to Cayla George for the triple double. Wallace had a weird game - got a points/assists double double and then played horribly after getting it. Fortunately, Adelaide couldn't capitalise on it because they were mediocre in the same time period.

Interesting that Hurst went with Borlase, Brook and Whittle over Bell and Monroe in crunch time. Bell's shot selection is iffy at times and her jumpshot is streaky - need to improve if she wants to last in the WNBA.

Footloose - with Melbourne and Reid and possibly others, I don't think the Opals will need Wallace at the point guard, though I suspect they will continue to play her there in short spurts. It will help her WNBA (and possibly European) prospects if she can play some time at the position.

^^ agreed. I think Monroe got injured, very interesting that Bell didn't play at all in the 4th or OT

Jenni Screen's commentary last night was weird. I think she needs to remember that she's doing sports commentary as opposed to being an exercise to express her stream of consciousness. But at least we know amongst other things that she really likes the Newley and Borlase families and that she wanted to punch her fellow commentator multiple times.

Great energy from Southside thus far... kind of what you would expect from such a talented and deep team.

Fun thrashing by Southside. Would have been more of a blowout if not for some silly turnovers by Southside. A bit surprised by how headless chicken Bendigo looked all game and they never adjusted to meet Southside's level of play.

Southside looked better with Conti running the point as opposed to Rocci. Rocci has always been turnover prone and Conti is slowly playing her way into form. Could be an interesting lineup conundrum for Chambers in the future.

Chambers loves Rocci, she would never make Conti the #1 pg.

Wonder where swain will go in the draft...

Officials in the Flames/Caps game certainly want a bit of attention. I don't think it's THAT physical.

Wonder where swain will go in the draft...


Probably end up at Seattle with Jade Melbourne ........

Froling is quietly having a career season - she's averaging 18.7 pointe per game and shooting 55% from the field. If only the rest of the team could match her level more consistently.

Burrell has scored 20 points or more in three of her past four games. She and Melbourne make a nice 1-2 punch (when Melbourne isn't in foul trouble!)

The officials should look at that game and consider how they could have called it better. Star players from both sides were restricted for no particularly good reason IMO. It wasn't an overly physical game.

I think Swain may go third round in the 2023 WNBA draft but it wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't drafted. A WNBA team may draft her with the hope she develops in the next 2-3 years - she's probably got bigger upside than most other WNBA third rounders.

23' Swain third round... Shelley?
24’ Borlase? Puoch?

Jaz Shelley - maybe mid-late second round? Her season has been a bit up and down so far. A ballhandler who can shoot is appealing to a lot of WNBA teams, even if just to look at in training camp. There is the chance she will return for a fifth year to Nebraska.

Definitely Borlase and Puoch for the 2024 WNBA draft. I can see Borlase going late first round if she continues to put up good numbers in the WNBL and is willing to commit to the WNBA.

Is Jaz Shelley athletic enough for the WNBA? I wouldn't have thought so. Swain is, but Skill & IQ wise she’s at least a few years in the WNBL away from being ready for that level

Drafted yes but the chances of making a roster are very slim.


20 years of Aussies drafted

Jackson
Taylor
Veal
Kingi
Batkovic
Phillips
Camino
Foley
Payne
Mitchell
Lacey
Ardossi
Cambage
Jarry
Mijovic
Talbot
Tupaea
Wallace
Smith
Magbegor
Heal
Atwell
Melbourne

Not a bad strike rate in terms of getting drafted & then holding a spot, especially considering there's no DP spots

Getting drafted imo

23' Swain and Shelley, late second / third round 18-36
24’ Borlase and Puoch, late second / third round 18-36
25’ none
26’ Hall, late first round 6-12
27’ too early to predict

Hall is eligible for the 2027 WNBA draft as that is the year she turns 20.

I think Juffermans may attract some draft attention for 2025. She's a great rebounder and may intrigue some WNBA teams. Performed ok at the under 17s World Champs and still has a lot of development to go.

Think they will be changing the rules to one and done, 19y.o year of to get drafted.

I don't see jufffermans making wnba nor do I see her as a long term lock as an opal centre.
Traditional 5 that sits under the basket, dominates at jnr level but in college, wnbl?
The next Bunton probably the best comparison.

Brionna Jones is a 6'3"/190 cm centre who mainly sits under the basket in the WNBA and she's carved out a fine career for herself.

I'm not saying Juffermans is the next Brionna Jones (if only!) but there are multiple pathways to becoming an effective basketball player at one's position.

Juffermans is only 17 and I have NFI how she will develop and will be waiting and seeing. I saw the hints of a midrange game at the Asia Under 18s and I suspect she and her coaches have realised (or will realise) that she needs to diversify her game a bit.

No doubt her game will develop but I don't think enough for opals or wnba level.

I think Jackson(07) has the greatest potential from the list of young aussie centres. 6’3 now, potentially 6’4-6’5 in coming years.
Interested to see how 6’7-6’8 portlock(06) develops. Very long with good mobility but atm offers nothing more.

I agree Jackson has great potential. She is a good athlete, is a natural at shot blocking and projects to be a great rim protector, which is something that Australian basketball could always use more of.

I don't know much about Portlock but I'll be interested to follow her development as Australia doesn't really have much of a history with players her size. The two I can recall are Liz Cambage and Tracy Beatty who are entirely different players lol.

Current imo

Top ranked centre prospect
00 Cochrane
01 Anstey
02 Rees
03 Evans
04 Gordon
05 Juffermans
06 Portlock
07 Jackson
08 Juffermans
09 Johnson


Top ranked power forward prospect
00 Bourne
01 Fowler
02 Pollerd
03 Prior
04 Crawshaw
05 Petrie
06 Clarke
07 Somfai
08 Fagan
09 Barbakas


Some age groups go really deep in the frontcourt positions, like 07.

I'd take Juffermans over Jackson both over as a short term and long term prospect. Jackson hasn’t got the ticker and Juffermans has the work ethic already established to be successful.

Recent highlights are on YouTube


Juffermans(05) fiba highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO7kgpGGJcw

Vs

Jackson(07) ajc highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcurU5QG2Us&t=106s


Im still going with Jackson long term.
Currently, Apart from hunger for rebounds and under the basket finishing ability/use of body, jackson is more advanced in every other skillset.
We won't get to see who’s better for atleast another 5 years once they hit the late college years or pro ranks.

One thing was very obvious watching the game live between Spirit Vs Lightning last night was the body shape of both teams. When it became & up & down type of game from a transition perspective the Lightning struggled.

Weedy I think there are more -



Weedy Slug
Last week

Drafted yes but the chances of making a roster are very slim.


20 years of Aussies drafted

Jackson
Taylor
Veal
Kingi
Batkovic
Phillips
Camino
Foley
Payne
Mitchell
Lacey
Ardossi
Cambage
Jarry
Mijovic
Talbot
Tupaea
Wallace
Smith
Magbegor
Heal
Atwell
Melbourne

Summerton and Sporn

Bevilaqua

Timms

there are 40 all up

Last 20 years, lots before then....

Chandler
Hibbert
Bibby
Burgess
Whittle
Fallon
Harrower
Griffiths
Bevilaqua
Brondello
Sport
Timms

wasn't Sport a first round pick in 93 ?

Sporn 98

Abby Cubillo playing for Lightning like watching Angela Marino playing.

Marino was a far better player than Cubillo, Cubillo couldn't tie up Angela’s shoelaces...

Cubillo is ok as a 2nd or 3rd pg. should be in the league for awhile given the ages of alot of Australian pgs and the likelihood of a few leaving. Cubillo will bounce around the league I reckon. Never a primary pg though.

Atm

Perth
35 Whitcomb-Burrows-Gandini-Foster*

Adelaide
33 Mansfield-Cubillo-Fejo-Stamateopolous*

Bendigo
39 Wilson-Lavey**-Mclean-Simpson*

Melbourne
Wallace-Madgen-Scanlon-Burrows*

Southside
Rocci-Rocci-Conti**-Loughridge

Canberra
Melbourne-Calleia-Tonks-Solway*

Sydney
Heal-Mangakahia-Panousis-Rotunno*

Townsville
Reid-Yaeger-LegerWalker-Hay*


**aflw likely to end basketball career
**dp, mixed bag, some stay, some never seen again.




Players like Shelley, Amoore will be highly sort after in the next 1-2 years youd think.

Others possibly inline for backups/3rd pg places...

Ncaa or nbl1
00-04 ellis, hurst, Deeble, armato, Palmer, heal, andrews, Sawyer, Hendersons, mcdowell-white, moffatt

Youth
05/06 Holmes, Fahnbulleh, bond, Deas, Harvey, Martin
07/08 Hall, Lehmann, seumanutafa, Perkins, dakic, Fotu, hodges, Dimarco, Mccowan, hearn, turner
Etc

Bell returning home, big news out of Adelaide this morning. I hope they have a replacement for her.

Last ditch effort to make the finals, wonder who they will bring in. They are 3-4 games behind atm.


Either bring in a import pf or a high scoring import sg beside Mansfield and have Borlase/whittle at sf and Talbot at pf.

The young guards coming through will replace a lot of the ones currently on rosters, there is plenty of talent coming through. LT Poa is another not mentioned above that will step straight into a team's rotations, when she returns from LSU, I would think.

Will she be a point though? Played Mainly g/f for lsu

She played PG in VJBL, I've only seen her once at LSU but she started at PG in that game and was pretty good. She has all the requisite skills for the position and positional size. I really rate her.

For today's game against Sydney, UC caps will be wearing the following gear
a) Sutherland Sharks
b) Bankstown Bruins
c) City of Sydney
or
d) go to the wrong venue and miss the game

d

IMO - if I was Adelaide - play some locals more - save the $ and look towards 23/24 - I think we are too far behind the pack.

Yeah, I wouldn't bother with another import if I was Adelaide. Start Borlase, put her in Bell's role and run more of the offence through her.

Brazel still injured?

2 best young players from south Aus are Borlase and Brazel.
Should be getting minutes if healthy, so too Fejo.


SA stock

College
Levy
Sawyer
Vidmar
Gordon
Cotton
Hank
Rees
Rees

WNBL dp
Porter

Academy
Sienna Lehmann
Bianca Stasinowsky
Awur Ajak
Hannah Stewart
Jess Simons
Olivia Bradley
Emily Close
Mia Parkin
Jemima Whitton
Margot Hall
Emily Winter
Jordyn Freer
Lara Somfai
Maddy Freer
Katia Stamatelopoulos
Abby Brenton
Mia Walker-Roberts
Maddy Hinton

Lightning absolutely zero chance of playing finals this season with very poor physical conditioning as a team a major barrier. Bell's style of play was cancerous & quite selfish, definitely give her minutes to a fast developing Borlase.

Lol suck it Shane

https://wnbl.basketball/blog/news/fines-issued-for-sydney-and-uc-capitals/

That's a very vague statement. I’ve noticed the flames are no longer wearing player trackers, so I wonder if it is about that and not the phone after being ejected...

I don't know why Kiera Rowe gets so many minutes, especially with Emma Clarke also on the bench, but maybe I'll put that in the same bucket as Heal and Mangakahia's backcourt roles ie a Shane Heal oddity.

I find it hard to assess Swain's ceiling as a player. She could be a WNBA rotation guard if all goes well?

Rowe is a non-shooter.

Swain will be an opals sg, I have no doubt, Just a matter of time. Should be in asia cup squad imo.

Opals backcourt has a bright future and on the wing, pf and c not so much. Beyond Ezi and smith, not alot of options in the younger pool of players. Garbin, Scherf, Aokuso, Mcspadden and then a big gap to anyone else we might see in the next 5-6 years.

Another name to consider - Elissa Brett, currently playing for Bowling Green. This year in 11 games she is currently averaging 12.5 pts per game, 5.9 rebounds per game and 1.8 assists per game.

It's ironic that when Shane Heal got to Sydney that he rated Rowe a better player than Maley! Retrospectively that was a disaster of a decision from Heal but apparently Rowe is a close friend of Shyla so Rowe got the nod. The Heal’s debacle in Sydney takes us back to the dark old days of when the Marino’s ran the Lightning.

Rowe is dating Glover who plays for the kings. Probably negotiated a joint deal.

Last 5 seasons, locals lost from flames

Mansfield
Nakkasoglu
Ebzery
Scwagmeyer
Wilson
Kunek
Maley
Mcspadden
Bunton
Scherf

Flames 23/24?

Heal
Mangakahia
Import
Bowyer dp
Clarke
Froling
Import
Purcell
Juffermans dp
+3 locals

Likely headed to ncaa
Rotunno
Donnelly
Crawshaw

Drop
Panousis
Allen
Rowe
Sjerven

If Shane Heal isn't coaching the Flames next season, I would expect a significant roster overhaul.

Who would want to work at the Sydney kings/flames? Only those already associated.

Half of your list of 'locals' are not from NSW Weedy

Locals as in not foreigners but Aussies/kiwis, I don't mean from Sydney or nsw.

Perth's offence is so much fun to watch when it's on (even with all the missed three pointers tonight). They need another good guard to make it really go off but there's definitely the foundation there for something good.

Adelaide probably could have used Kierstan Bell tonight lol. Borlase had her worst game of the season and the rest of Adelaide's perimeter players besides Talbot didn't look quite with it. Monroe strangely alternated between looking like a first team all-WNBL post and then clanking mid-range jumpers (why is she taking them) and missing layups.

Monroe played on one leg

Adelaide should look at Mikayla Williams - she can get the boards and is athletic and strong enough for WNBL

Given the Lightning owners are the richest in the WNBL and their GM was hand picked to be the BSA CEO, the current roster, coaching lining up and import selections were very poor.

Word is the CEO hasn't exactly done anything at BSA to prove he knows what he's doing either.

Women's basketball in SA has been such a black hole for so long, especially given the decades of success of our junior girls.

How long until they have yet another owner running the team on the cheap.

Sigh, was looking forward to watching the NYE Fire/Boomers game. Looks like it'll be muted since they've resorted to Julia Montesano in commentary again.

Lots of screaming into the mic

LOL, she's apparently a communications coordinator.

Bennett, Griffin and Graf, the rest can be replaced next season.

Harsh. McQuade was excellent IMO. So was Alabakov.

LOL, she's apparently a communications coordinator.

^ Mind boggling. Maybe she's an exceptional written communicator?



Harsh. McQuade was excellent IMO. So was Alabakov.

^ Agreed. I think most of them do a decent job apart from Montesano and Screen. Screen has potential but currently is almost unbearable. I just can't listen to Julia at all.

Alabakov done just one game and the rest on the sideline?

Disappointing capitulation by the Fire at home :/

Alabakov has been the colour commentator for a few games, including a stint where he did three games in a row (Round 5, I believe?)

If you can disrupt the Reid pick and roll, you can limit Townsville's half court offence. I think Melbourne did this well enough and while Reid scored reasonably easily, her creation for others was limited and Townsville's other players don't generate assists in their current offensive system. Townsville don't have good one-on-one scorers outside of Reid and maybe Nicholson. This isn't a problem for Townsville in some WNBL matchups but I think being so Reid-centric is going to hurt them in finals matchups.

If I was a coach I would not like Alabakov doing the sideline commentating. Instead of giving the gist of what they're running after the timeout, he gives you the name & a blow by blow breakdown of the entire play. So busy trying to show how knowledgeable he is that he forgets his role

He definitely wanted the hc role at Bendigo, kereama was the right choice though.

^^ definitely