She must have something lined up.

She's coaching nbl1 central districts men, maybe a potential nbl assistant job again under CJ?

Molloy, Goriss, York to be replaced for 22/23.

If sandy fails again at the WC, Seebohm is the likely replacement.

Chambers job safe?, well liked but a good coach? Debatable.

Lucas has had a few health issues, not going to be around forever.

Lots of senior/graduate women returning from college, expect several players to be pushed out to make room.

A couple of retirements for sure.

New teams not on the cards until 23/24

Likely or possible new recruits from college

5'10 M.Goodchild SG
5’10 C.Gould SG
6’0 A.Atwell SF
6’2 C.Horvat CF
6’2 C.Bibby CF


COE or WNBL DP players who could go pro

5’6 D.Loughridge PG
5’11 I.Borlase G/F
6’0 T.Brazel G/F
6’1 S.Burrows SF
6’2 N.Puoch SF

Is Tom Maher coming back? The coach with the most championship wins in WNBL history? He's back living in Melbourne.

Is that perhaps why Molloy is departing? Makes sense if big money Melbourne with Gerry's money hire the GOAT Aussie women's coach. Still, as of this afternoon, the only coach to lead Perth to a WNBL title and he did it in only one year of tenure.

Bendigo Spirit future locked in for another 10 years, SEN to acquire licence

From April 2022, Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) will acquire the Bendigo Spirit WNBL licence from Bendigo Stadium Limited (BSL).

Sports Entertainment Group (SEG) proposed the acquisition of the Bendigo Spirit WNBL basketball team, with licence to remain in Bendigo for a period of 10 years. BSL will also have the first right of refusal to re-acquire the Bendigo Spirit licence if SEG wish to dispose of it in future.

"There have been key considerations during this process and we are confident in this move forward to ensure the viability of the team. This transaction provides a guarantee of support for the Spirit Brand, BSL and Bendigo." Said Dennis Bice, BSL Chief Executive Officer.

The Bendigo Spirit WNBL have been challenged over the journey both off court and on despite having success (2 WNBL Championships).

The team has been supported by a number of dedicated supporters both financially and emotionally, credited to the ongoing success and survival of the Bendigo Spirit.

BSL have held the WNBL licence for a period of four years (previously held privately for 11 years) and during that time have found it challenging to not only financially support the WNBL team but also to enable the team to advance to the next level required to continue to successfully compete at the WNBL level.

During the negotiation period the BSL CEO has consulted several supporters to gauge their thoughts and response to the transaction. All have supported the proposal to allow the acquisition of the Bendigo Spirit WNBL licence to the SEN group.

“We are committed to the success of Bendigo Spirit and this agreement will ensure the longevity of the Bendigo Spirit. BSL will continue to support elite women's sport in Bendigo and the pathways it makes available for our younger basketball community.” Said Dennis Bice.

Key points:

* The WNBL team will continue to be known as the Bendigo Spirit.
* The Bendigo Stadium will continue to be the home of the Bendigo Spirit with home games played at the Stadium.
* Bendigo Stadium has sought first right of refusal should SEG not wish to continue at any stage with the licence.
* SEG financial support and resources will allow for the further development of the Women’s WNBL program and pathway for Bendigo players.
“We couldn’t be more excited with this agreement and look forward enhancing our already strong connection to the local Bendigo community. We are committed to grow opportunities on and off the court via the SEN network, while supporting the team to deliver a third WNBL Championship.”  Said Richard Simkiss, CEO Ballpark, Rainmaker & Publishing, Sports Entertainment Network.

Just move the license to Tassie...
And call it tasmanian spirit.

UC Caps announce former WNBL legend and AIS COE coach Kristen Veal as head coach

Good for Canberra, bad for Coe.

Congrats to Vealy!

When will she be leaving the COE

August

Likely Sarah graham takesover.

Really looking forward to opals selection.

The entire list over the last few years has been extensive + those talked about.


PG
Lavey, Reid, Rocci, Heal, Mansfield, Mangakahia

SG
Whitcomb, Madgen, Wallace, Nicholson, Cole, Melbourne, Garrick

SF
Talbot, Allen, Blicavs, Kunek, Sharp, Atwell, Horvat, Bibby

PF
Magbegor, Smith, Maley, Garbin, Froling, Griffin

C
George, Tolo, Bishop, Scherf, Aokuso, Jackson

Basket Case WNBL Roster Tracker


Official free agent list is due on Monday

A see quite a few cuts being made, imports for every team and new Aus/nz talent entering.

A note about salaries for next season

CAP & SALARY INCREASES

In line with the launch of free agency, is the release of the Salary Cap for the upcoming season, which for 22-23 increases to $430k per team (up from $420k in 21-22). As part of that each Club may designate a 'marquee player' of which $66.5k (15.5%) is included in the Cap. The minimum wage for the 22-23 Season also increases to $15k (up from $13.5k in 22-23).

Clubs’ stipend contribution to athletes for Private Health Insurance also increases in the upcoming season, moving up to $200 per month per player (up from $100 in 21-22).

These increases provide more to existing athletes of the WNBL, and also provide greater enticement for those considering the league from both overseas and locally.

With the free agents list now online: Link, the names that are NOT on it are as follows:

ADELAIDE
Brooke Basham
Chelsea Brook
Ella Batish
Sam Simons
Steph Talbot
Tayla Brazel

BENDIGO
Anneli Maley
Mary Goulding

CANBERRA
Jade Melbourne
Shaneice Swain

MELBOURNE
Cayla George
Lily Scanlon
Lou Brown
Penina Davidson
Tess Madgen

PERTH
Sami Whitcomb
Tayah Burrows

SOUTHSIDE
Abby Bishop
Aimee Rocci
Maddison Rocci
Rebecca Cole
Sara Blicavs

SYDNEY
Shyla Heal
Kiera Rowe
Kalani Purcell
Keely Froling

TOWNSVILLE
Lara McSpadden
Steph Reid
Lauren Nicholson
Courtney Woods
Zitina Aokuso


...courtesy of Basket Case 2022 WNBL offseason tracker

Better backup bigs outthere than batish imo.

Some new additions ?

Mangakahia
Goodchild
Atwell
Puoch
Horvat
Bibby
Jackson

Magbegor and Kunek sign in euroleague for the current champions, sopron basket(hungary)

Sykes also to the same club.

With the late arrival penalties starting to kick in next season in the WNBA (though only in a minor way compared to 2024) it will be interesting to see if there is any change with where players sign and whether any European leagues start to tweak their schedules.

Magbegor and Kunek sign in euroleague for the current champions, sopron basket(hungary)

so no Ezi for Boomers
Lindsay Allen was waivered in the WNBA too, be interesting to see just who they appoint as new coach and hopefully they can get a decent big to replace Ezi, shes a big loss to the league.

Chris Lucas to Melbourne Boomers is official

Adelaide-Vacant
Bendigo-Vacant
Canberra-Veal replaces Goriss
Melbourne-Lucas replaces Molloy
Perth-Petrik
Southside-Chambers
Sydney-Heal
Townsville-Seebohm


Names mentioned.
Hurst, Brassard, Hibbert, Anderson, Snell, Kereama, Alabakov, Maher

atleast 2 new coaching roles in the next few years with brisbane and Tassie likely wnbl franchises

Hurst is the new Lightning coach.

Cooks is going to be the difference here methinks

For future teams, I'd nominate

Brisbane - Aja parham ammar
Tasmania - David Herbert

Aja coaches men doesn't she?

Now men but before women.

Caps re-sign Britt Smart

Caps re-sign Britt Smart

Kennedy Kereama announced as the new Bendigo coach

Bendigo Spirit has announced the appointment of Kennedy Kereama as head coach for the upcoming 2022/23 WNBL season.

Kereama brings years of experience to the role, including nearly a decade as the head coach of the New Zealand Tall Ferns and most recently as assistant coach at the Canberra Capitals.

"For myself, my new role is about giving the Bendigo athletes and the community as much as I possibly can to help grow the game and for the players to realise their ambitions," he said.

“We want to be a team that competes for championships and to be a contender every year.”

Kereama takes over the role from Tracy York, who resigned as head coach after three years in the top job.

In what marks a fresh era for the Spirit, with new ownership under SEN and Kereama now as head coach, there's plenty to accomplish.

“I am really appreciative of the opportunity to work with the new SEN ownership group and to be based out here at Bendigo at the Red Energy Arena,” Kereama said.

“What attracted me to the role the most was the opportunity to come in and work with such outstanding athletes.

“Reigning MVP Anneli Maley will be fresh off WNBA experience with the Chicago Sky and her ability to rebound will be crucial to our team.”

The 23-year-old won the Suzy Batkovic Medal as the league’s MVP - the second Bendigo Spirit player to win the award after Kristi Harrower (2009-10).

In addition to a host of other key players, Kereama couldn’t be more keen to get a group together and get the season underway – which is expected to commence around October this year.

“If I had my choice we’d be starting tomorrow,” he laughed.

Kereama already has his own plan in place for how he will get the best out of the 2022/23 Spirit roster.

“It’s important that I am able to get to know the athletes on a personal basis and learn about their ambitions,” he said.

“Irrespective of it being my first year, we want to put ourselves in a position to be playing finals.

“Just as it is for the other seven WNBL teams, finals is the focus.

“In order for the team to achieve this we need to perform at our best consistently and then there’s no doubt we’ll be in a position to win more regularly.”

With more than 15 years of coaching experience behind him, Kereama is excited to put all his knowledge into action this year with the Spirit.

“In the past I’ve been supported by some great coaches who’ve helped me learn a number of different things,” he said.

“Now is my chance to apply it all on the court and I look forward to the challenges that will come.”

Nat Hurst officially announced as Adelaide Lightning Head Coach

Love the Nat Hurst signing! High IQ PG, with 2 years as an AC under her belt. Hope she does well

Ditto. Best of luck to her.

Tiana Mangakahia & Emma Clarke -> Sydney Uni Flames

Perth likely getting atwell and keeping Sharp pushing out Clarke.

Likely will see Mansfield in Bendigo or Adelaide now.

Sydney?

Mangakahia-Nakkasoglu
Heal-Yaeger-DP
Import-Rowe-Clarke
Froling-Local-DP
Import-Purcell-DP

Funda would have better options on the table than a return to Sydney.

New aflw schedule is late august to early February.

WNBL should be late Feb to late June in the future imo with nbl 1 moved to July-October.
Nbl november to April.

HC lineup 22/23

Adelaide-Hurst replaces Lucas
Bendigo-Kereama replaces York
Canberra-Veal replaces Goriss
Melbourne-Lucas replaces Molloy
Perth-Petrik
Southside-Chambers
Sydney-Heal
Townsville-Seebohm


Only $$$ will save chambers this year Imo.
Both Southside n Melbourne need a pf. Both likely after smith.

Nat Hurst announcement could have been made long time ago - was always going to happen.
Hopefully this means she gets the chance to choose her own players.

Not all the new coaches are likely to be so lucky, the word on the street is that some clubs have already signed a lot of players, but just not publicly announced yet.

H.Sjerven signs with flames

Ryan Petrik re-signs with the Lynx for 3 years

Need to go to 12 player rosters.
Starting to become difficult to fit good players in.
Need atleast 1 more team next year.


Some squad predictions after early signings and performances...


Adelaide - Hurst

(I)-Fejo
Wehrung-Basham-Brazel
Wilson-Simons-Borlase
Talbot-Brook
(I)-Batish


Bendigo - Kereama

(I)-Mansfield
Garrick-Goulding-Mclean
(I)-Whittle
Maley-Bibby-Boag
Mckay-Ernst


Canberra - Veal

(I)-Melbourne
Smart-Swain-Tupaea
(I)-Potter-?
Griffin-Froling
Ruef-Bunton


Melbourne - Lucas

(I)-Scanlon
(I)-Brewster-Gould
Madgen-Beck-?
Smith-Brown
George-Davidson


Perth - Petrik

(I)-Burrows-Gandini
Whitcomb-Ciabittoni-?
Sharp-Atwell
Garbin-Isenbarger
(I)-Allen


Southside - Chambers

Rocci-Rocci-Loughridge
Cole-(I)
(I)-Horvat-Puoch
Blicavs-Jarry
Bishop-Scherf


Sydney - Heal

Heal-Nakkasoglu
Mangakahia-Yaeger
(I)-Rowe-Clarke
Froling-?
Sjerven(I)-Purcell-West


Townsville - Seebohm

Reid-(I)-Cubillo
Wallace-Goodchild
Nicholson-Woods-?
(I)-Payne
Aokuso-Mcspadden


Overseas list current.

Kunek
Magbegor
Tolo

WS - interesting predictions - for what it is worth I think there will be some rotations between Adelaide , Bendigo and Canberra . Also not every team will go with 2 imports, some maybe with none ,to keep cost down and to build stability.

For sure Mansfield is not going to Bendigo to play behind Lavey or she would have been there already over the last couple of years - more likely to return to Adelaide.

Lavey playing football could mean she will no longer play big minutes at Bendigo, might be on a cheaper backup role or not at all.

Nice list Weedy... assume you just guessing a lot of these squads?

https://wnbl.basketball/blog/news/22-23-wnbl-season-key-dates-structure/

Yes... make it during the exact same time as aflw season.
Poor decision.

Seems fine to me. I'm happy we are finally able to return to a somewhat normal schedule.

KEY DATES
* Start of Pre-Season 21 September 2022
* Rd 1 commences 3 November 2022
* 84 regular-season games (21 games per team)
* Last day of Regular Season 5 March 2023
* Semi-Finals (Best of 3) 8-16 March 2023
* Grand Final (Best of 3) 18, 22, 25 March 2023

Yaeger - Adelaide
Griffin - Bendigo
Wehrung - Bendigo
Ernst - Southside

In the last few days, Lynx have re-signed Burrows & Scherf, and signed Atwell

Wilson = Bendigo

Jessie Edwards returns to Perth

Bendigo = 2 x wilson

Garbin to europe

All of last years imports unlikely to be coming back.
90% have already signed in europe.

Fiebich, the German international now in nbl1 makes me think she might have been signed by Perth to replace Garbin.

My bad, just signed in Spain 2 weeks ago. Must be keepin fit in the off season.

Lauren Mansfield joins Adelaide.

Garrick to Italy

Guy Molloy sacked already in nz

Guy Molloy sacked already in nz

KG23 confirmed back in Bendigo for three years.

Karlie Samuelson to the fire

Jocelyn Willoughby is a nice get for the Flames.

Whittle > Adelaide

Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard > Perth

Tianna Hawkins to Townsville Fire

Rebecca Pizzey > Caps

Why...
Not a good start for veal imo.


Atm it's

5’10 Melbourne-5’9 Tupaea-5’3 Cubillo?
5’10 Smart-5’10 Swain
(I)-6’1 Potter
(I)-6’3 Pizzey
6’5 Bunton-6’3 Harmon

Lost sykes, griffin, Wilson and Ruef
Froling doesn’t look to be coming back, wouldnt make sense.
Both Pizzey and harmon are lucky to get contracts imo.

Only good thing is they retained 3 young studs in Melbourne, Swain and potter.

Tiffany Mitchell returning to Melbourne

Bibby > Perth

Well that's an unexpected surprise. Nice get, Perth!

Good get for Perth.

Rachel Jarry has retired.

Flames must have released Pizzey. She went there on a multi-year deal.

Strange, Heal must have other plans.

Though she'll probably only get backup minutes behind Bunton if they don't get another F/C, she seems to not have a lot of passion/drive to go further from watching NBL1 games.

Robbi Ryan to Perth Lynx

Who dat?
A former ASU Sun Devil who has been playing well here in NBL1 West, but ... not exactly what we were hoping for to fill the Jackie Young void.
Welcome Robbi Ryan/

Guess we'll be back in the pack this season, albeit with some quality aussies in the lineup so I'm still very much looking forward to the action getting underway.

Bendigo roster on the website has

Lavey
Wilson
Wehrung
Wilson
Maley
Ananiev
Goulding
Froling
Mahady
Parker-Williams
Dunlop
Locandro
Griffin
Mckay
Porter
Condron

@Weedy

Where ? https://wnbl.basketball/bendigo/players/

Doesn't mention here, where are you looking at?

https://wnbl.basketball/team/bendigo-spirit/

Lavey-Wilson-Mclean
Wehrung-Mahady-Porter
Maley-Goulding-Ananiev
Griffin-Froling-ParkerWilliams
Mckay-Locandro-Dunlop-Condron


Since some pics are added onto old roster, 1-2 of the above have likely gone somewhere else or not resigned.

Forgot Alex Wilson. rumour she's gone to Adelaide, could be wrong.

Got first names for some of those players? Name's aren't familiar.

Ruby Porter recent Nebraska ncaa
Dyani Ananiev signed for portland ncaa
Neseya Parker Williams nbl1 west player
Sophia Locandro recent uc Irvine ncaa
Piper dunlop young local big
Erin Condron young local big

The rest you probably heard of

Ah yes missed you link Weedy, someone jumped the gun possibly.

Look to be a bit guard heavy.

would like to see Mikayla Williams training with Lightning

Lightning roster also exposed

Cubillo
Basham
Brook
Batish
Borlase
Monroe - import
Fejo
Bell - import
Mansfield
Talbot
Simons
Coleman
Whittle
Brazel

The Bendigo Advertiser had a story in July 15 announcing that Alex Wilson was returning to the Spirit for 22/23 season. "I'm very excited to be back in Spirit colours again for this coming season. I am keen to continue the great form we finished the season in last year and go a step further into the finals. There is a great culture at the club and I'm looking forward to being a part of it again," Wilson said.

Not sure how accurate those rosters on the WNBL site are as the Southside one still lists O'Hea and Jarry who are both retired.

Yes, 6 are from last season. Only Adelaide n Bendigo have been updated.

Perth's main roster is complete and is accurate on both the club website and the league website (though the league one is missing half the photos)

Alex Sharp 04/02/1997 182cm
Amy Atwell 30/06/1998 183cm
Chloe Bibby 15/06/1998 185cm
Emma Gandini 18/04/1994 172cm
Jessie Edwards 16/10/1995 192cm
Lauren Scherf 07/03/1996 196cm
Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard 29/10/1998 191cm
Robbi Ryan* 13/08/1997 175cm
Sami Whitcomb 20/07/1988 178cm
Tayah Burrows 01/09/2001 179cm

Is than an NBL1 team, or a WNBL team?

Luuuc they still have 1 more signing.

Adelaide - N.Hurst
-
5'7 Mansfield-5’3 Cubillo-5’9 Fejo(dp)
6’1 Bell(I)-5’10 Basham-6’0 Brazel(dp)
5’11 Whittle-6’1 Simons-5’11 Borlase
6’2 Talbot-6’3 Brook-6’2 Coleman(dp)
6’5 Monroe(I)-6’3 Batish


Bendigo - K.Kereama
-
5’8 Lavey-5’7 Wilson-5’10 Mclean(dp)
5’11 Wilson-5’10 Wehrung-5’10 Mahady(dp)-5’10 Porter(dp)
6’1 Maley-6’0 Goulding-6’1 Ananiev(dp)
6’2 Griffin-6’3 Froling-6’2 Parker-Williams(dp)
6’4 Mckay-6’3 Locandro-6’2 Dunlop-6’3 Condron(dp)


2 teams complete, expect lavey to miss 1 month at the start because of aflw.

Bell is the best import we’ve seen so far.



Poor scouting around the league and nbl1 imo. Just picking local players to the club for the sake of it seems unprofessional.

Luuuc they still have 1 more signing.

The 10 are a lock

Our main roster is complete. Our team are all having busy 'off seasons' with NBL1, WNBA, recovery and preparation pic.twitter.com/paLiWzrhJs

— Perth Lynx (@PerthLynx) August 4, 2022

Reports are they have another local guard, maybe a dp.

JFC.

Southside now showing ernst and young prospects Loughridge and Puoch have signed

And they've just taken it down....

Probably just editing it because ernst and young are just called EY these days

Cayla George just announcing her pregnancy on Instagram!

So no World Cup....

Wonder who would replace her? Could Kelsey Griffin finally get another crack at the international scene?

She won't replace Whitcomb.

Surely Darcee Garbin replaces George?

George ain't carrying the baby. She’ll be at the WC. just put it up on her Insta story

I enjoyed the jumping of the conclusions

Bec Cole > Flyers

Maddy Allen > Flames


(Not to be confused with Maddie Allen)

"Maddy Allen > Flames"

How many point guards is Heal going to sign this year. Little Heal will play 35 minutes a game (just because) and cant play without the ball in her hands i.e. she needs to be bringing the ball up the court or she will never see it.

Going to be interesting to see what he does.

He Iikes small and mobile with lots of players that can handle the ball which is no problem but he needed one more mobile forward.


5'6 Mangakahia-5’8 Panousis-5’6 Rotunno(dp)
5’6 Heal-5’8 Allen-5’11 Bowyer(dp)
6’0 Willoughby(I)-6’1 Clarke
6’2 Froling-6’0 Rowe
6’3 Sjerven(I)-6’2 Purcell

Sara Blicavs (confirmed) > Flyers

Maddi Rocci (confirmed) > Flyers

Lachy mentioned at the end of the news tonight that LJ will be playing for Southside

Wonder as a backup to bishop at c or
bishop at the 4, Blicavs at the 3, jackson 5

Just a guess

5'6 MRocci-5’10 ARocci-5’6 Loughridge
5’10 Cole-5’8 Nakkasoglu?
6’2 Blicavs-6’2 Puoch
6’3 Bishop-6’2 Payne?
6’5 Jackson-6’5 Ernst


Probably better off as

5’6 Rocci-5’10 Rocci-5’6 Loughridge
5’10 Cole-5’8 Nakkasoglu?
(I)?-6’2 Puoch
6’2 Blicavs-6’5 Ernst
6’3 Bishop-6’5 Jackson

Don’t see Jackson playing big minutes

LJ confirmed

stoked about LJ. Will definitely try to get to the Boomers V Flyers games with my kid so she has a chance to see the GOAT

May as well hand southside the title ...

Don't think it’ll be that easy, same squad as last year + Jackson, ernst and 2 young dandenong/Coe juniors won’t win them the title imo.

I think the fire, spirit, boomers are in the mix, depending on import 4 for Melbourne.

Think Shane heal will struggle again with flames.

Canberra very young with some ok vets. Melbourne and the imports will have to be great, good young players in Swain and potter.

Adelaide will be competitive, depth might be an issue.

Perth pretty much flown the white flag, doubtful they’ll make top 4. 3 big losses.

Lets see how Jackson comes out of the World Cup before building the whole WNBL season around her.

While it's great for the comp, and I have every respect for her ability, I just hope she lasts the season.

I'm getting MJ with the wizards vibes. 2 seasons of a great basketball player playing at their best but half of what they were. How we still better than half the competition!

The other centres LJ is up against

Adelaide-Monroe(I) + Brook
Bendigo-Mckay + Locandro
Canberra-Bunton + Harmon
Melbourne-George + Davidson
Perth-Scherf + Edwards
Sydney-Sjerven(I) + Purcell
Townsville-Ruef + Aokuso


Gone Abroad
Garbin
Smith
Magbegor
Tolo

The rest of the opals frontcourt lineup.... Except George.

Wehrung > Spirit (confirmed)

Sherrie Calleia > Caps

"How many point guards is Heal going to sign this year. Little Heal will play 35 minutes a game (just because) and cant play without the ball in her hands i.e. she needs to be bringing the ball up the court or she will never see it."

They are training fodder to get his daughter up to speed , her games gone backwards since she left Townsville and Seebohms influence ...…Naggasoglou was way better than Shyla last year, proved that when she finally hit the court, Mangakahia and Pannousiss both play PG, neither will see much court time, that's a guarantee, and any other potential PG won’t see any at all.

They will have another tough season, especially with the roster he’s put together

Mangakahia will see a ton of time. Heal is really a SG in the body of a PG anyway, so the 2 of them should make a very offensively formidable backcourt tandem.
I don't think it's the best combo to prepare Heal for higher level basketball - so from that POV I'm kind of surprised that the roster was constructed that way - but I expect them to do plenty of damage at WNBL level.

Will Shane like tiana outplaying shyla like in nbl1?

A.Rocci > Flyers (confirmed)

Rae Burrell (#9 WNBA draft pick this year -> LA Sparks) -> UC Capitals

Megan Mckay - Spirit (confirmed)

That should be the Canberra roster pretty much done.

5'10 Melbourne-5’9 Tupaea-5’8 Calleia
5’10 Smart-5’10 Swain
6’2 Burrell(I)-6’1 Potter
6’2 Cohen(I)-6’3 Pizzey
6’5 Bunton-6’3 Harmon

Better players outthere in nbl1 than Calleia, Pizzey and harmon imo.
Certainly not as deep as other teams, potter first wnbl season and swain seldom used under Goriss.

Alicia Froling > Spirit

A.Rocci's back is rooted. Waste of a signing for Flyers. Will hardly play if at all

Spirit assembling a pretty solid roster this season. Good to see.

Probably one of the favourites if they don't lose alot early on with laveys absence.

Backup sf, pf, c could have been better.
Goulding is injured, so atm it looks like Mahady, Froling and Locandro are the backup options.

The people running the wnbl website keep prematurely showing the completed rosters

https://wnbl.basketball/team/

Not a good sign for the new folks running the show.

Fixtures have been released, along with the announcement that the WNBL has a new 2 season broadcast deal with ESPN & Nine.

Across the 22-23 and 23-24 WNBL seasons, fans will once again be able to catch all 84 regular season games plus Finals live, with 68 games on Nine's free streaming service 9Now, and 16 on leading sports network ESPN.

For the first time, ESPN will air WNBL games, with a featured Game of The Week live every Wednesday night, exclusively.

ESPN will also air the WNBL Finals in full, with selected matches also available on 9Now.

that's great - may well mean international TV exposure if on ESPN

Primary home location

Adelaide Lightning - Adelaide arena
Bendigo Spirit - Red energy centre
Canberra Capitals - National convention centre
Melbourne Boomers - Melbourne sports centre
Perth Lynx - Bendat basketball centre
Southside Flyers - State basketball centre
Sydney Flames - Quay centre
Townsville Fire - Townsville entertainment centre



All good except for the capitals...

Hopefully we see tasmania or brisbane or both expansion teams next season.

The Lightning playing out of the Rena has never worked. That is not a good situation.

Even if somehow they manage to 500 to a game that's a lot of empty seats and space. Zero atmosphere.

Lavey > Spirit (confirmed)

New WNBL website seems to be live ?

Was hoping for something more though, seems to be just a bit of an improvement and not a complete overhaul.

Nice to see we have Cygnett on board as a naming rights sponsor for 3 seasons

What is it with the Lynx and signing 27-year-old Willetton players as DPs?

Cassidy McLean > Spirit

Sydney Flames hit with 'boys club' lawsuit

Management of the Sydney Flames women's basketball team is alleged to have engaged in a "boys club" culture before dismissing a CEO.
In a lawsuit filed in the Federal Court earlier this month, Karen Dalton claims she was discriminated against because of her age, gender and disability after complaining about the lack of resources given to the Flames compared to the Sydney Kings men's team.

Boy's club culture under Smith and Heal. Well der!

Nothing new about a "boys club" when it comes to basketball

The UC Capitals advise that player Tahlia Tupaea has been granted leave from the club due to personal and family reasons, and will not be taking part in the 2022/23 WNBL season.

The team supports Tahlia's decision and ask that her privacy be respected at this time

Need to find a local pg.

Hope all is well with Tupaea.

I guess we'll get to see more of Melbourne at the point.

They only have Melbourne and Calleia as the pg options.
Smart and swain are sgs.

are all the imports here ?

Not yet

Looking at wnbl photos, looks like nelson ododa has signed with the boomers.

Nelson-Ododa said in her L.A Sparks exit interview that she was signing in Australia. Guess she finally did.

She fills a need for the Boomers, though a definite downgrade from Magbegor. As long as they don't expect her to score a lot, she'll be ok.

They've moved George back to pf from c, the way Lucas played her at Townsville beside Batkovic.
Not a good move Imo as ododa ain’t a great rebounder and George is not that mobile.
Would be better playing George at c and getting a quality stretch high scoring pf.
Bench for the boomers pretty bad, vet Murray ex Lucas player, Scanlon and Brewster limited gametime and 2 posts that also get small minutes in brown and Davidson.
Pretty good s5 but might not have enough depth to go back to back although lots of depleted rosters, players gone overseas and poor recruits this season. No clear favourites.

I thought the Boomers lack of depth was gonna do them in last season too, but that starting 5 was just so good. I don't think this year's starting five is as good though so need some of those young bench players to come on

George is a stretch power forward (and pretty decent at it too) so I don't think Melbourne is lacking in that department. Losing Magbegor means less interior defence and rim protection and these are areas where George is definitely lacking. I think Nelson-Ododa can contribute in these areas, but she does have her limitations. I don't think it's a great signing, but it's an understandable one.

I don't think you need a good bench to win championships. Sure it's useful (especially if you have injuries) but it's your star players who are going to win you games in the finals. It was the quality play of Melbourne's starting five last season that won it for them. Their bench played a few minutes but no significant contributions, especially in the finals. The two big questions for Melbourne this season IMO are 1) how well Wallace and Nelson-Ododa's contributions can replace Allen and Magbegor's and 2) how well they mesh with the new coach & system.

Southside beat Melbourne 83-73 in preseason.

Kayla Thornton -> Southside Flyers


Very nice late addition

Great signing for the Flyers. Thornton is so versatile defensively and can spread the floor with her shooting. Also less pressure on LJ and Bishop to produce.

Tess Madgen will miss first month of WNBL season after knee surgery. More Kristy Wallace at point guard, I suspect.