Jade Crook (NSW) * Sienna Lehmann (SA) *
Emilija Dakic (VIC) * Prasayus Notoa (QLD)
Sitaya Fagan (VIC) * Ruby Perkins (NSW)
Erica Finney (NSW) Zara Russell (ACT) *
Jessie-May Hall (NSW) Madison Ryan (VIC)
Zoe Jackson (NSW) Lara Somfai (SA)


Coe* but of course.

Taylor injured. Aherne dropped.
Dakic over Hodges is just not right...
I reckon backcourt going to struggle mightily bar Hall.
Apart from Finney, very few capable shooters.

Agree with everything you said Weedy.

Hodges miles better than Dakic. CoE / BA 100% trying to justify their jobs

Lehmann has probably played 5 games in the past 12 months and still gets a spot, has been constantly injured. She's a talent, no doubt, but surely not an ideal preparation for the best in the world!

Madison Ryan? Really?

COE = waste of money.

I don't get Dakic getting selected in both when she is yet to look anywhere near as good as she was prior to her knee injury. And, I agree that the Ryan selection is unnecessary, she's got a lot of potential but what has she been selected as? Similar to Fagan last year, she's a big who doesn't have any inside presence. It's almost as though the NSW coach is doing the NSW U16's a favour by weakening the Vic Metro team for the 2nd year in a row.

U17 WC Team selected
5'7 Perkins PG
5’8 Lehmann SG/PG - inj
5’8 Hall SG/PG
5’9 Dakic SG/PG
6’0 Notoa PG/SF
6’0 Finney SF
6’1 Russell SF/PF
6’2 Ryan PF/SF
6’3 Somfai PF/C
6’3 Fagan PF/C
6’3 Crook C
6’4 Jackson C

Those that did not make it
5’9 Seumanutafa - inj
5’10 Hodges
6’0 Aherne - inj
6’1 Taylor - inj
6’1 Petrie - inj
6’2 Gardiner
6’2 Hanson

3 very unlucky imo in Hodges and Gardiner. Thompson also.
If they are taking 09s, Olechnowicz would have helped slashing and on D.
Unfortunate that auto COE selections can change a team dramatically.
Those overseas also don’t get a look in.

Having 5 NSW Athletes in the team is interesting but 1 of them is lucky to be there and only because the coach is her Association Rep coach as well.

She plays the 5 spot for her Association and NSW State teams and personally I think she is over rated.There are better 5's out there than her who have missed out.

She struggles to finish off inside the key in comparison to others and has not improved in that area.

Finney is a player who has stepped up and deserves her position.

Croc of shit. Bias beyond belief.

We came 5th in 2022 with quite a solid team, time will tell if the quality of our National Championships has deteriorated when we see how this group goes. Not sure how much zone will be played.

Group stage puts us up against

Puerto Rico
USA
Croatia

Usa obviously stacked and croatia have the best big in the world in this age group.
Half the euro teams and both North American teams might be too good for us. Possibly even Mali.
Top 5 = pass, medal = fantastic job, outside top 5 = fail.

In that case Croatia is a major problem other than Somfai, are bigs are long but not strong. No Isla Juffermans's in this lot.

Canada very strong this year with 3 top 25 players.
France + Spain always very good.

I haven't seen Somfai play for a while, but on past form her and Hall will be carrying a heavy load. Our other bigs (lack strength and finishing) and shooting concern me ... Finney has an opportunity to shine if she can stay on top of her defensive duties and earn good game time.
It's frustrating that the COE golden ticket is in effect, but tbh I don't think any of the better alternatives (that I know of) would be game changing.

I think the COE golden ticket was more abused in the women's U18 Asia cup team, and especially disappointing to see players that performed badly at nationals and haven't shown any improvement since. It would be refreshing to have a selection process without the baggage of COE entitlement.... I'm sure that would do wonders to motivate players and their coaches across the country.

Sorry for the rant, but if players who have been at the COE for a while and clearly still aren't going to be Opals/Boomers calibre (isn't that the goal?), then stop renewing their scholarship. I feel like we're just subsidising their efforts to get college scholarships, and at the expense of other talented players who miss out on junior national teams.

100% agree with Retired on his comments. Jessie May the best combo guard for her age and Somfai the best forward. If these two stay healthy they will lead this team to a top four finish possibly a medal as well. Jessie May was outstanding at the nationals and she will do the same at the World Cup. I thought NSW Metro girls were over coached. They had the best line up in the country. I'm predicting Australia will go deep at the world cup.

Lehmann hopefully gets lots of gametime prior to the WC.
Both Dakic and Somfai are also playing a few weeks beforehand at the u18 asia champs.

S5?
Perkins
Hall
Russell
Somfai
Crook
+
Notoa/Lehmann
Dakic
Finney
Fagan/Ryan
Jackson

Reserves appear to be
CG Hodges
G/F Aherne
SF Petrie
PF Gardiner
C Hanson

Once again odd that one of the best performers in asia and in the S5 (Hodges) did not make the team.
Gardiner one of the top performers at u18 ajcs could not beat out a double bottom ager.
Thompson could not even make the camp list.

Agree with Steed re scholarship renewals, a couple girls stay and don't play or improve for that matter.

Not convinced Finney can create her own shot. Most successful against long close outs.

Although in saying that deserves a chance.

Add to your comment on Ryan vs Gardiner

Gardiner is a very young 2008, December born, so pretty much the same age as Ryan and has been a standout at the past 2 AJC's.

State bias? Fagan and Ryan getting a dream run

Seems like some states get a better run than others.

Where are the Queensland players other than Notoa? The U18 tournament leading scorer, Bond, couldn't get an invite to camp? The defensive player of the tournament Smith from Tassie wasn't invited to camp?

Not saying that they wouldn't have been selected in the final team but odd indeed.

There have been a number of threads on here about players having to sign up to programs before they will be selected for state teams, kind of thing.

Is it possible that BA puts some conditions on camp attendees which they reject and so don't get selected?

Can Weedy or anyone assure me this isn’t the case? Otherwise, apart from injury, why do so many good young players miss camp? Do the players not get selected, or decline camp invitations, or are they badly timed, or ??

COE selection is bewildering at best. Granted, there are some truly talented players in the women's roster- but it's the exception rather than the rule.

National team selection should be open to all and not just existing COE (or potential COE) players.

This reeks of COE trying to justify their selections and existence and so are given preferential treatment.

COE is a biased pathway - once you're a favourite, your path is set.

There are some many good players that get overlooked by the state and BA system and will never get a look in.


On another note, noticed a few new players in the COE NBL1 women's roster- have new scholarships been given??

I think they're bringing in replacement players due to so many players out injured Eagle80, not permanent scholarship holders.

Yep
Lomu, Nousis, Juffermans, Jackson are only at the Coe for a limited time.

Wouldn't surprise me if both Nousis and Juffermans end up getting a spot in the future as they are looking at 08s to replace 06s leaving.

The player I was talking about above who I consider is overated was invited to play for the COE from 16-5-24 to 27-5-24 so she played last weekend and did not do much at all in 11.minutes 45 seconds.

She will also play for them this weekend as well so will be interesting to see how she plays.

As Eagle 80 mentioned the COE players are basically assured of playing in the junior Australian sides but they are not always the best Athletes who who get selected to the COE.

There are some better athletes out there who choose not to take up a scholarship offer.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9BoKlByxou/?hl=en

looks like Hall may be out of the team!

would be terrible

Petrie added.
Hard to see us as medal contenders without Hall.

Hall carried us in the Gold medal game last time, we're in trouble without her. Do we know why she’s out?

She played 30mins last week in nbl1, so a bit strange, but a big loss for the team if she's out

Anyone know why?

might be referencing NBL1 and trying to get on a WNBL roster?

Lots of reasons why from
Injury, family loss, money, location of tournament(associated risks), anxiety, fear of flying.
I'm sure someone from nsw has the answer.

Surprised though it’s another forward chosen and not a guard.

wow also surprised would replace a quick guard with a forward. A forward who had been injured since u18 Nationals up until about 4 weeks ago with her leg/foot in a boot, and has been pretty uninspiring at NBL1 level shooting at less than 30% and not really doing to much else, probably still better than a couple of other selections though. Some strange selections overall in that squad. Hall was certainly a point of difference and the guards are certainly going to be very busy now.

You would have though Hodges but clearly not favoured by garlepp and co eventhough was one of the better performers in asia.

Canada with 4 top 30 players look strong.
USA always the favourite.
Spain and France will be good again.
Mali always compete hard.
Other teams not that impressive.

Im not sure beating NZ is a guarantee who have added several good players on last year.

Huge blow if true. Petrie not a bad addition - not a direct replacement for Hall, but she's better than some already in the team.

Will be good to know what happened.

Playing nbl1 currently. Very odd to skip a WC. Wonder what the issue is...

U17 women WC starts Sunday

FIBA Power rankings

1-USA
2-France
3-Australia
4-Canada
5-Spain
6-Japan
7-Italy
8-Finland
9-Croatia
10-Mali
11-Nz
12-Egypt
13-Argentina
14-Chinese Taipei
15-Puerto Rico
16-Mexico


3rd would be a fantastic achievement.

Go Aus!

3rd would be a great result. as weve seen with the boys though it can all fall apart with a poor performance or result.

Not a good sign edging Finland in the warm up 60-54.


https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-u17-womens-basketball-world-cup-2024/teams/australia#roster


G Perkins 5'8 (07)
G Lehmann 5’8 (07)
G Dakic 5’10 (07)
G/F Notoa 6’0 (07)
G/F Finney 6’1 (07)
F Russell 6’1 (07)
F Petrie 6’1 (07)
F Ryan 6’1 (09)
F Fagan 6’2 (08)
C Crook 6’3 (07)
C Somfai 6’4 (07)
C Jackson 6’4 (07)

Good start vs u.s I thought, helter skelter.
Odd lineup of Perkins and 4 forwards.

Getting killed on the boards. Highlights a culture failure IMO - Aust junior basketball just does not value and develop great rebounders and teams with a strong rebounding ethos. Rather the focus is on ensuring defenders stay in front of drivers, and our girls are doing that well, resulting in a lot of US missed shots. But the second tier rebound effort is really poor and we are getting found out.

We have some, BA don't even know they exist.

Mexico have screwed up the streaming, lots of games laggin...

Got ugly real quick. Down by 30+ with 1/4 to go.

USA 82-Aus 55

only watched a few minutes but no inside / outside game from australia - so many shots for both teams contested in the paint. Lot of 1 v 1 dribble entries to shoot - very little kick out.

How do the coaches get decided? Who do the 2 AC's coach?

Stayed in it for the first half, out of gas in the 2nd.
We short a couple of scorers, better defenders and rebounding bigs.
Somfai, Perkins + Fagan todays best.
I think somewhere between 4th - 7th is likely where we will place.

Pity
No - Hall
Inj - Seumanutafa
Overlooked - Thompson + Hinder
After ajcs, Olechnowicz would have come in handy for those much needed attributes above.

Croatia up next, rebounding gonna be an huge issue.

Hodges another to miss who was great in nbl1 recently.

from what I saw our game style v USA did not break their D down - need to do that more to get open shots

We are really struggling first half.
Croatia up 38-31.

Coming back in the third, any doubts people had about fagan being in the team surely have been quashed.

Big shots by somfai, Perkins and Finney in the third.
Not alot of backup help for Perkins at the point who is playing huge minutes.

72-64 Aus lead.

yeah Fagan was so poor at Nationals being played on the perimeter. Fast forward 3 months and playing as a forward, she looks like she is All World. Might say something about the coaches. Perkins got a bit work load ahead of her. Lehmann doesnt look completely fit, but doing what she does best.
They might want to stay a bit closer to Gazic #12, shooting lights out.

Big shots by Somfai...
Big step up for Ryan, clearly not use to this pace.

Great 2nd half, love the passion.

Aus win 96-87

Somfai + Perkins 23+ each.
Fagan good in the post against the much fancied Vukosa.

A win against PR puts us up against Taipei or Egypt in the rd of 16.
A win in the rd of 16 and its Spain or japan in the 1/4s.

Ryan given the job on the tough Croatian Guard.
Did a good job plus hit a big 3 when needed.

Aus finish 2nd in group C.

67-46 win vs PR, not a good game...
Fagan todays best, Finney with a bunch of 3s.

Taipei or Egypt up next.

Aus beat Chinese Taipei in the rd of 16. 89-45.
Reduced minutes for the starters prior to the 1/4 final matchup vs Spain(most likely).
Fins beat nz unfortunately.

Business end of the tournament coming up today for Australia vs Spain.
Nice to see the two largely maligned players in Fagan and Ryan doing their job and holding their own, despite the early negative comments based around their inclusion in this thread. Bottom age and double bottom age players respectively.

At this point, the selectors look to have done a pretty good job?

Tough game ahead today though, massive test.

Over achieve if they win today. Heavily reliant on 2 players, more contribution needed from Russell, Notoa, Petrie and Dakic if we are to beat Spain, all avg just 2-4 pts a game but playing 15+ mins each.
Okeke will be a test, the rest are hit and miss for Spain so far this tournament.

Anyone know why Hall did not end up going despite being healthy and playing in nbl1?

15-11 to Spain 1st qtr.

Somfai in foul trouble early.

Turnovers killing us in the third.

By far the worst game we have played this tournament. Extremely poor all round, Struggling just to get the ball inbounds.
Surprised we are not seeing Finney play more, Russell has not had a great tournament.

Half time, Spain pulling away 36-25.

It would be good to see Fagan back in working with Petrie/Notoa.
Turnovers are hurting and we are reliant on Perkins taking control. Nice hit from Ryan to take in to the second half.

We have no offence playing 5 out getting to end of the shot clock and girls just passing off because they don't want to make a move. Only one real confident ball handler some others just look really slow.

Garlepp doesn't seem to have a big playbook, wish he would change it up.
This is a beatable spain team, it’s only okeke that is a handful.

Disturbing viewing, probably one of the worst games ever played by an Australian jnr n.t.

Would be an ugly ugly win if we can comeback in the 4th and win it.

3/4 time

Spain up 51-42.

Credit to perkins, driving at every opportunity in the 4th.

Okeke, another great Spanish prospect off the production line.
Fam/Okeke future Spanish frontcourt.

Well, that was hard to watch. Still looked winnable throughout though.

FT
Spain win 71-58
Somfai shot just 9%.

BA need to do alot more with development...


Perkins/Somfai future u19(25) team
Fagan future u18(26)/u19(27) team
Ryan future u15(24)/u16(25)/u18(26)/u19(27) team
IMO, The rest probably shouldn't make future teams.

21 turnovers
2PT FG 27%
3PT FG 23%

Somfai 1/11 9%

IDK what to say!!!!

Aus will probably face Finland next.
A win = Japan or Italy for 5th or 6th place.
A loss = 7th or 8th.

I think this puts a big question about the COE. THINGS NEED TO CHANGE. Majority of the team is from COE.

Agree with JJ, fundamentals really not good and the selections are way off.

Hall fair enough, did not go.
Seumanutafa injured.

But
Thompson
Olechnowicz
Hodges
Gardiner
Hinder

Also Petrie not originally in the team but I feel she has done very well as the tournament has gone on. Hall a big miss for this tournament; question is why? 3 point shoot horrible. Questions need to be asked with BA.

Why exactly did Hall not go?

What could have been if Jessie-May was in the team.

Must be very personal reasons, unfortunately

In this particular game, was it mainly the players or the coaching that contributed to the loss?

Both

Garlepp's use of timeouts in the 1st half killed them. When Spain actually went on a run in the 2nd quarter, he had no recourse other than mass subbing.

Defensively for the most part they were solid, but Okeke is one hell of a player. It's tough with limited prep, but they had nothing to go to offensively apart from Perkins running the pick and roll.

The non-CoE kids have generally been better than their counterparts: Perkins brilliant, Somfai decent in spite of today, Finney and Petrie solid. Nobody else has made significant contributions apart from maybe Fagan. Missing Hall as well who would've featured heavily really paints a damning picture of BA's player development.

What exactly do they teach at the CoE aside from jungleball?

Aus 78 - Finland 61
Somfai + Perkins + Ryan the standouts today.

Australia will play Japan for 5th place. Beat them in Asia last year but our team was a bit different, hopefully we can keep up with the pace of play.

France with the potential upset over usa with 1/4 to go.

Nope, thrashed in the last 1/4. USA vs Canada or Spain final once again.

i see a few of the team was selected for NBA without borders. what is that exactly? is it based on there performacne at the WC or are they nominated by coe?

Another tight win vs japan 67-64.
Ryan with a monster game.

Aus finish 5th, same as last campaign(2022).
A step behind the big 4 atm, hopefully we can remain in the mix going forward.

We desperately need some shooting in our junior national teams.

We need everything... more ball handlers, defenders and rebounders + shooting.

Agreed.
Shooting. Shooting. Shooting.
Ball handlers with an ability to handle on-ball pressure. Turnovers have been horrendously high.
Need some legitimate size in the paint and rebounding.

We had those players, they either didn't show or were not even on BAs radar.

Two points:
1) Wonder how many of the people who knocked Maddi Ryan's (and maybe Sitaya Fagan's) selection will now apologise. At the same time, I agree that others could have been selected.
2) To the larger issue of scoring ability- maybe this is a systemic issue. If we stopped worrying about winning state titles, national champs, classics etc, and put in conditions to allow athletes to progressively develop their individual scoring techniques, then maybe we could compete better when up against the best (and I would note that neither of the two losses were particularly bad but we just struggled to create and make shots against Spain and the US).

The COE should be a top tier developer of players. It is clear that it is not doing a good enough job.

Like Jayhoops said, Most of the best performers in the age group and in this tournament...
Perkins, Somfai, Ryan, Finney, (Hall). Majority of development has gone through training providers like ausa hoops, transition sports/starling, hoop city etc.

Mike, I'm definitely one who doesn't think either Ryan or Fagan should have been in that team and this tournament hasn't changed my mind at all. I don't doubt eithers ability, to me they are both the most promising players in their age groups, but neither is currently the best in their age group (albeit they are in the top few) and they are certainly not better than many of the 07 kids who either have never been provided the opportunity, or did previously (Hodges) but were ignored for this team. They were not the problem though, the COE auto selections were the real issue most of whom are neither at the top end in terms of current playing ability or talent.

Final Standings

1-USA - (Gold)
2-Canada - (Silver)
3-Spain - (Bronze)
4-France
-
5-Australia
6-Japan
7-Italy
8-Finland
-
9-Croatia
10-Egypt
11-Chinese Taipei
12-NZ
-
13-Mali
14-Puerto Rico
15-Mexico
16-Argentina

My mistake.

9-Croatia
10-Chinese Taipei
11-Egypt
12-NZ

interesting on the one hand, the COE gets slammed by some posters, and then on the other hand they say select this girl (only because) she is tall - just look at comments from the u16 nationals.

In my opinion Somfai hasnt improved since heading to the US system, was almost a liability at times in Mexico and Asia Cup, unable to elevate and finsh from an elbow rip, almost a black hole when she receives the ball it either goes up or a risky turnover pass, or poorly set screens leading to turnovers. Should have been able to dominate against a smaller Japanese team. Really just became a pick and pop, stretch 4.

Ryan really stepped up under the pressure. Fitness and work ethic elite.

Clearly they dont pick the best team available. Could pick a 2nd team that would be just as competitive.

Take a 5th. The team was spent, I dont think Coach could have pushed them anymore a few cracks were starting to show. Hard to know who is responisble for final team selections.

2 different things, selecting state and jnr n.t teams and the COE.
Any 09 or 10 is a year or 2 off from getting a scholarship.
Skill and potential early and those that have actually proved themselves when they are Coe eligible.

For mine, lowering the age of CoE athletes has gone away from what used to work.

The kids being sent are too young and not yet developed physically or emotionally, and once there, they become the 'anointed ones' and BA are almost obligated to play them as a result, despite there often being better players at clubs elsewhere. Kids develop at different rates and ages.

I personally think we need to go back to when the CoE was essentially a finishing school if the model is to remain (ie. just Year 11 and /or 12 kids). Otherwise, let's give control back to states to run their own programs, which means more kids get opportunities and we do not need to narrow it down so early - which for mine is causing the issues with our junior national teams.

We should be selecting the best possible kids to have the best balanced team for every national team we pull together, ensuring the best possible chance of international success. For mine, the kids repping Australia at U15/17 could look vastly different to what we sent at U19 given different rates of development of kids.

Maybe it's time to rethink COE /AIS.

NBA academy is here.

NBL is a vastly different beast to what it was in the early days of COE

NBL1 has arrived and growing rapidly, players choosing to follow the semi pro path.

Finishing school sounds like an idea, maybe the best under 21's in the NBL1 competition, as they are already playing against older stronger bodies, and they get picked because they are good as it is semi pro and coaches are mostly paid so are picking teams to win, not like state / National teams when bias comes into selections.

COE coaches maybe instead travel the country on a rotation basis and see the top 20 of each age group once a month in each state, this is the development side of things every 3-6 months the best 20 or 30 go to Canberra for an intensive 5 day program.

Maybe accept the COE coaches are not the best and work with the various academies around the country.

Maybe question why a number of players either turn down the offer or leave soon after accepting, or maybe that opens a can of worms we don't want to know about or choose to shut a blind eye.

Just need to think out the square perhaps.

quality shooting is rare in young players and way to many endless drivers who lay up all the time when there winning by 50 points. not enough correction early and biomechanics are really bad that are hard to undo. this is on the clubs not coe.

Why not have

NBL1 U19 COE made up from NPP/SPP

COE South (vic/tas)
COE East (nsw/act)
COE North (qld/nt)
COE Central (sa)
COE West (wa)

Most Players can remain at home and be with family/friends.
Others can simply play for the local nbl1 team.


Make COE in Canberra the National hub where we see alot more camps in every age group from juniors to seniors like the Spanish do.

Eg

5x5
U15/16/17/18/19/Future Opals-Boomers/Opals-Boomers

3x3
U16/18/Senior

good idea. fits structure. but doesnt it just mirror state national comps structure? reaplce coe south with vic m&c teams?!

too logical Weedy.

HAHA i was going to say the same LC. Problem with common sense is its not common enough