Melbourne boomers have signed Lelani Mitchell. According to the article on the wnbl site, she is eligible for finals because she is replacing madgen who was injured in international play.

Seems dodgy as they have also signed Goodchild and Ortlepp mid season and Tess only played one game. How come the club gets to designate which signing replaces Tess. Another rule the wnbl needs to look at!

I agree the minimum games finals eligibility rule should apply across the board, regardless of who you are allegedly replacing. Good pickup for Melbourne though - L Mitchell can provide a bit of steadiness in the backcourt, given that Wallace and T Mitchell can be very wild at times. She doesn't even have to play a lot.

Very handy pickup. Feels pretty dodgy to me though.

Dodgy AF.

WNBL dodgier by the day.

9Now commentator (not Chizik but the other one) starting the coverage by pronouncing Anneli's surname as 'Mar-Lee' rather than 'May-Lee'. I mean, she's the reigning league MVP. Can we please pronounce her name correctly. Embarrassing!

Someone must've got in her ear as she started pronouncing it correctly after a few false starts.

The 3 they botch the most

Marlee
Pooch
Mangikahere

Whoever was calling one of the Fire games a week or two back kept calling Leger-Walker, Leeger-Walker. Like not saying Leger as Ledger. Some of them call Blicavs "Blickarvs" as well.

Chizik drove me crazy last night, if she had said "you know" one more time, I was going to scream. She's a shocker for using it as filler all the time as it is, but last night she took it to another level. She also calls Megan McKay, "Maegan."

It's a proud Australian tradition to mispronounce non-Anglo Saxon surnames though mispronouncing 'Maley' is especially hilarious. Serves the players right for not being Jacksons and Taylors.

re: surnames, the thing that has annoyed me most throughout the season so far is the graphics on the broadcast have consistently displayed Puoch's surname as 'Pouch'. It's only five letters - IT'S NOT THAT HARD.

Respect to Kelsey Griffin for questioning the dodginess on Twitter:

Link

collier really seems to struggle running the league by herself.

Imagine Larry Kestelman running a league by himself...

STATEMENT FROM THE SYDNEY FLAMES ON SHANE HEAL

In early January 2023 multiple Sydney Flames players separately approached club officials with allegations of bullying by the Head Coach of the Sydney Flames, Shane Heal.

After consideration of the allegations and the risk to the health and safety of players and the club's obligations under the Work Health and Safety Act (2011), as well as the obligations we have under the Basketball Australia Member Protection Policy, it was determined by the Sydney Flames to carry out an independent, factual investigation of the allegations made and that Shane Heal be suspended whilst the investigation took place.

Several players subsequently approached the Australian Basketball Players Association (ABPA) who have provided counselling and support to the players concerned, for which the Club remains grateful.

The Club has remained resolute in allowing due process to be followed including limiting public comment to avoid any repercussions for the individuals involved. It will continue to adopt that approach.

The Sydney Flames has since been provided with the factual findings of the investigation.
The Sydney Flames maintain the current legal proceedings instigated by Mr Heal are simply an effort to delay or block the Sydney Flames from bringing its current process to a conclusion.

What sits at the heart of this matter is player safety and welfare. That is our sole concern at this time, and we will always maintain focus on that. The Sydney Flames see no merit in Mr Heal’s current legal manoeuvrings and will defend Mr Heal’s Court proceedings vigorously and to its full extent.
The Sydney Flames has issued this media release in circumstances where a number of media organisations have now obtained access to Court documents filed on behalf of Mr Heal in his proceedings or have asked Sydney Flames to comment on those proceedings.

No further comment will be made by The Sydney Flames at this time.

Good press release, calling out Heal's desperate tactics, apart from the has instead of have bits.

I actually liked the has instead of have bits.

I like the release

I actually liked the has instead of have bits.

Fire's impressive winning streak continues with a 2OT win over the Boomers.

Was a great game.

Entertaining double OT game. A shame the game ended with the Boomers rolling over in the last two minutes but it's understandable. The number of slippages during the game was concerning.

Karlie Samuelson is very good at what she does but I am surprised WNBL teams aren't smarter about defending her. At times, they're making her look like peak Diana Taurasi which she isn't lol. At least run her off the three point line more.

The Wallace and Mitchell turnover show surely is a concern for the Boomers. It was an especially bad game for them and I'd say it was the game deciding factor. This is where the Boomers miss somebody like Allen who played with more poise.

Shyla's twitter response to the Sydney saga was a little unhinged.

Good to see little Heal playing in a role that matches her level of ability. I though she was the difference in that game last night, made some crucial shots. It really shows what a cluster that whole setup was in Sydney , you only had to watch the NBL1 North games with Heal and Tiana to see that that the strategy he was planning was flawed from the outset. Neither can play without the ball in their hands and their styles do not compliment each other at all.

Also am i right in thinking that

1. Goodchild replaces Madgen
2. Madgen Plays and breaks down again
3. Ortlepp replaces Madgen

4. Mitchell replaces Madgen again , plays 4 games and qualifies for the playoffs because Madgen got hurt in a tournament that pre dates the season , but also was fit enough to come back and play .

Strange days indeed .

Shyla's twitter response to the Sydney saga was a little unhinged.


^This is not at all surprising. Both she and her father appear to be nutters, nasty ones at that.

Not quite the bridge burning level of someone we know, but not helpful for her career (club or country) one would think.

Another Heal who thinks they're bigger than the game. (Yawn)

For us non twitter punters, what was the gist of the tweets.

Basically suck it up princesses eventhough she has no clue who went to management.

Did she delete it? I can't see anything untoward.

Yeah, I think Shyla Heal has altered her Twitter timeline after her tweets were reported in the media.

Looks like pre-Covid Bibby has returned.
5 threes in the 2nd quarter to get Perth in front.

Anyone know why Brook & Borlase are out?

Basically labelled the rest of the team has a bunch of losers who were not hard enough for her to play with (or for her daddy to coach properly) so she will obviously never play in Sydney again and I doubt any of those players will want to be on a roster with her when they move somewhere else.

Both injured, apparently.

Adelaide look very different without Borlase.

What is with Prehistoric Chizik & her borderline obsessive admiration for Alex Sharp? It's starting to get beyond creepy & very uncomfortable to constantly listen to! In the infamous words of Jack Dyer I find Sharp just a 'good ordinary player’ personally.

Adelaide better think about some defensive upgrades for next season. They'll certainly want better defence from their imports. Mansfield, Borlase and Talbot are a solid starting perimeter trio but they'll want some grit in their frontcourt.

Perth and Bendigo both on the road this weekend against top 3 teams. It's going to be a tight race to the finals.

Bendigo with no griffin of late have been abysmal.
Perth beat Southside next, race for finals will get very interesting.

9Now hasn't bothered to upload last night's game. The only round 14 content is Bendigo vs Southside from November 22. Bendigo don't play Southside in round 14 and there were no WNBL games at all on November 22.

We start off the season with no triple doubles since 2012 and suddenly two in one season. Great effort from Melbourne especially in the 4th quarter where she was driving and dishing at will. Unfortunately Canberra couldn't get defensive stops when they needed them and Burrell had a bad case of importitis in this game - forcing offence when she didn't need to and lots of bad shots. For Adelaide, Whittle filled Borlase's role of hyper efficient offence and she's had a great round overall.

It's good to know that Borlase was out with back soreness but Julia Montesano could have told us that upfront instead of waiting till the 4th quarter. I don't usually complain about commentary but she is noticeably *bad*. She babbles too much and needs to play closer attention to the play by play action.

She's bloody shocking. Every game I tune in for and hear/see she's commentating, I groan, ask WHY, and immediately hit mute.

Fantastic all around game from Jade. Possibly the youngest ever to get a triple double. Hopefully the WNBL socials throw her some love.

Many players have spoken out this week about wanting to wear their Indigenous uniforms more often - caps wear there's, and have Ngunnawal Country on the back every game. All the clubs that have done a shirt and shorts combo look great, and I hope they become the standard uniforms for all teams next season.

WNBL has socials?

Bendigo need to beat Perth in their next game (in Perth) if they want to make finals but I think it's more likely they lose both their remaining games. Their record is 4-7 in 2023 and they're lucky to have played the Flames three times in 2022 when they were crappier. Their defence has been the thing that has let them down - they've given up 85 points or more in six of their seven losses this year.

Zitina Aokuso had a great game, especially defensively. I'd love to see her play more minutes in a different team - her production seems to have plateaued in Townsville and it would be great to see what she could do elsewhere. We really need to develop her because the Opals have sh*t all bigs.

I thought the Lynx may have blown it when we dropped both our recent home games to the Fire, but it turns out that losing to them is cool enough for everybody to be doing it.
Winning streak now at 9.

I didn't get to see any of the game but it's an interesting boxscore with the Spirit at -1 in Lavey's 22 minutes, and -27 in the 18 minutes that she sat.

Heal is a significant addition that they barely even needed (but would be very happy with), and now they've also got Aokuso starting to find her touch. It's looking a pretty solid bench now with more good options than minutes to go around.
Exciting times up north.

(* -25 in the 18 minutes she sat, not -27)

I wonder if Lavey is on minutes restrictions? Without looking at the stats, they are visibly better when she's on.

I hate the fact that Shyla gets to sail off into the sunset straight to the best team in the comp. Seems very wrong. Fire are looking to have the title all but locked in (2 WNBA imports plus 4 Opals squad members, must’ve spent up big this season).

The Fire are hardly locks to win the championship. They're playing well atm obviously, but we have seen how quickly form can change. They have an injury concerns too which could play a role down the stretch.

^^ Nicholson?

Nicholson and Reid - they've both missed games this year.

Perth have looked lacklustre against fellow finals contenders in the last couple of rounds. Wrong end of the season to be losing focus.

I still don't know what Puoch's role in Southside's offence is and I don't think Chambers does either. I hope she figures it out next season because Puoch isn't merely a defensive specialist and needs the opportunity to develop offensive skills. Or Puoch should move to a team that will give her a role on offence.

No one develops under chambers. She gets the $$$ from Ryan and buys opals.
Play for Seebohm to develop, next best option veal.

No sign of the Lynx game on 9Now. Second time this round.

Basket case.

It usually takes a number of hours for the games to be uploaded.

Strong rumour circulating that Steph Talbot has done her ACL in the Canberra game, if true extremely sad & disappointing for Steph.

Steph left the game after an awkward landing. Was able to lightly weight bare and returned to bench with ice to the rear of knee. It didn't give ACL vibes (as per poor Gemma Potter... Happened in almost the same spot on court), but definitely serious and I don't know if we would see Steph again this season give Adelaide is out of contention.

Another possibility is a MCL injury, which has a shorter recovery time (4-8 weeks usually for the worst grade of injury). Hopefully Talbot's injury is not serious and she's able to recover in time for her next gig in the WNBA.

Jade Melbourne arguably snubbed from Player of the Round...

And Adelaide have confirmed it was an ACL injury for Steph Talbot. Such a shame. Was looking forward to her tearing it up in LA. Three ACLs (2 in season, 1 pre season) is too many