Chris Lucas is out of tonight's game v Townsville due to COVID protocols. Let's see what Harrower has got.

Wally and Coach Lucas out for Melbourne tonight. Congratulations to WNBL legend Kristi Harrower on her first wnbl game as head coach.

Kristi will handle it like a boss, should be a HC next season

ALL THE BEST TO CHRIS - HOPE HE IS NOT TOO CROOK - KH LIKE A BOSS 4 SURE

Wally hasn't got much time to prove herself before selection.

Lightning was completely hopeless & gave next to no effort this afternoon in Bendigo! They're limping towards the finish line & severely lack any real team cohesion, Willoughby shoots it every time she touches it & Turner is offensively anaemic & offers not much value at that end. Surely Nat Hurst’s coaching days at the WNBL level are numbered...

Take any teams marquee player out and they would struggle. She shouldn't be judged too harshly until Talbot is back in the lineup.

Cannot blame the listless effort on one missing player. I was at the game and it was so obvious the Lightning players were only switched on for half of one quarter. There were a number of glaring breakdowns on D that had me and my mate saying HTF did we get that easy a basket? I just hope the Spirit girls remove this afternoon from their memories for Sunday because I doubt the Caps will put in anywhere near that insipid of a performance (effort).

I didn't see today's (lack of) effort but Adelaide beat Sydney less than a week ago without Mansfield so it's not all doom & gloom for them.

Footloose - if & when Talbot plays she's not flying in with her Superwoman Cape on. She’ll be on a minutes restriction regime & her only focus will be Paris Olympics & getting physically ready for that. Resurrecting the Lightning’s pathetic Win/Loss record won’t even be a consideration for Stephanie...

Ofcl samcro, but her presence on the court will lift the group regardless

9Now is the absolute worst!

I'll be pissed if Melbourne doesn’t make Opals squad.

Sharp with 14 and 13 at the half.

Melbourne surely a lock

Caps take another scalp!

She takes some ill-advised shots, but she also just hit 2 big ones in a row when it matters most.
I don't see how she's not in the final 12. She's already good enough, and still getting better by the month.

Nice win Caps.

Very solid win. I thought they played the better basketball all game, even though the final score doesn't really reflect it.
Veal critics pretty quiet lately I notice.

Luuc - she does take some ill-advised shots, but some of those are actually at the end of the shot clock when they haven't executed the play, so unfortauntely as the PG she has the ball and has to take the shot. What a star though, has to be on the plane to Paris, without a doubt.

I would like to see Canberra recruit two USA imports next year, ideally with WNBA experience, or even just one if budget restrictions are in place.

Great game from the Caps! Can't see an opals team without Melbourne, but also wondering why Alex Sharp wasn’t included in the squad... her consistent double double has been a big part of the caps growth and success in the last few rounds.

She does have the worst win/loss record as a HC in history as it stands and they would probably fire her for Goriss if she's last again.

The flip side of this is she has recruited some of the best young talent and they have all shown growth. The team appears happy off the court with a good culture and the club has the highest number of members ever and played to a sell out crowd last night. Not bad for your second 'losing season'. If the core of the group is happy to stay another year with Vealy, I can’t see her going anywhere.

I find the discourse about firing the Adelaide or Canberra coaches perplexing a bit. The two obviously development teams being the bottom two shouldn't be a shock to anyone.

By all means, sack them if they think the development is not working internally, but the results are exactly as expected. There's been some good wins to work off too.

I like both Veal and Hurst, I see Veal as one of the next Opals FT assistants but pushing that aside.

How long is fair?

So far
1 year with a 5-10% win rate.
2 years with a 15-25% win rate.
3 years 60% fair? Mid table team?

It's a 8 team league...
Development league is nbl1. This is the big leagues.
if this was nbl… We would have 2 coaches fired already based on record.


Hopefully veal can win some games late and move up the table, Canberra probably keeps her for another season top 6, Hurst also. These 2 coaches chose these players from the beginning so no excuses.
At this level, Coaches are hired to win games, not just develop players.

Atm
Veal is 6W-28L
Hurst is 9W-28L

Should be noted that the caps have been a relatively healthy team with most available unlike most of the other teams.
Hopefully they can get on a run with Bendigo coming up and move into 6th spot.

If you sack them, who's getting the job? Unless the new candidates can convince the Aussie talent overseas to come home (Magbegor, Smith, Heal, Bibby etc), I’m not sure others would be significantly more successful with the current rosters.

You would think Goriss is the favourite if veal is moved on.
The Lightning could go with anyone, sa have some good coaches.

Jackson's most impactful game this season for sure...

How about those Flyers! Certainly responded after a disconnected game against a high energy and in sync caps last week.

Boom! Beatdown alert.
I didn't get to see this one. Did Harrower coach again?

Nah, Lucas was back tonight. The whole game was a non-event after Zahui B went down.

Upsetting to see both Zahui B and Davidson injured in tonight's game.

Season possibly on the line for the Lynx in today's Pink Hoops game in Sydney.
Team is capable of doing some damage in the playoffs if Aari is back, but need to get there first and can't afford an 0-2 road trip. Expecting some high intensity today.

Flames backs are to the wall too, so could be a cracker!

Bloody good effort, but Sydney too good. Some disappointing execution & decision errors down the stretch were costly for Perth.

Allowing Richards to take medium/long jumpers is the correct scout, but today she defied the odds and nailed them.

Hope the day raises plenty of $$$
Well done to Sydney for making this a thing for Tiana.

Zahui B , I am hearing that its a torn calf , not Achilles , will be a couple of weeks hopefully.

Great to hear about AZB! A big sigh of relief for Tville if that is the case.

Zoe Carr has been a welcome addition to the commentary team!

Yeah, Zoe & Liam are a good combo.

Very good news about AZB!

Much better game from George..

Place ya bets..
Is brondello going to cut Madgen, Jackson, both or none?

Does Melbourne make it?

Do injured Talbot and Eallace make opals?

A better discussion for an opals thread IMO, because it's going to be an ongoing question for quite a while yet.

3 weeks and the tournament begins... selections are very soon.

Much to Weedy Slug's disappointment Bendigo make a mess of the red hot Capitals!

Nice weekend for the Spirit! 2 wins, by a combined 50 points.

Not really what I want to see from them as a Lynx fan with the Spirit as our next opponent.

With just a 5 rounds to go, looks like Capitals and the Lightning are not going to make the finals.

4.
Townsville - Kunek Feb
Melbourne - Wallace next round
Perth - McDonald Feb
1 of Southside, Sydney or Bendigo.

I'm not sure that I’d have a McDonaldless Perth as a lock for the 4 over Southside

Free general admission tickets are available on Ticketek for tomorrow's Lightning @ Flames clash.