Too easy for Bendigo...
Sydney should ditch Molloy asap.

Dominant performance from start to garbage time.
Out to 30+ before the foot came off the pedal.
Game 1 of a double-header with the Kings ... not going to win over many NBL fans with that.

so, um, I guess Nat Hurst wasn't the problem in Adelaide.

That or Ninnis wasn't the answer.

Adelaide Lightning are wildly inconsistent & can't be trusted whatsoever, Talbot was absolutely putrid tonight & appears completely disinterested in basketball. Whilst Bourne & Borlase put up some strong numbers offensively & individually you wouldn’t call either of them players that make their teammates significantly better...

Nice to see the caps grind out and play enough basketball (although, not quite 40 mins) to get a win.

Nothing has changed with the Adelaide team. Ninnis still runs no more than 7 players & by the last quarter they're stuffed & can't compete at all.

Well done to the Capitals at least their coach ran the bench, didn't run run one of the starter's at the end because she had played woefully.

I stated when Ninnis was given the job that he doesn't know enough about the women's game to coach at this level. It's clear he can't make the tough call of sitting a starter who isn't playing up to standard.

Same old Adelaide basketball problems that for some reason they don't employ smart administrators.

Refs are doing their best to ruin this game, smh

Abbey Ellis FTW!

Abbey Ellis would be my pick for this season's Breakout Player award- she seems so much more composed than most of the other younger players (sometimes if I squint I think Steph Reid is still playing for the Fire!)

For anyone who attended- wondering if Southside stayed around for photos and autographs this time?!

Agree DMc, Reid 2.0, looks good for breakout player imo too

Did Sharp play at all in Europe? Seems to be very out of form.

Is it time that Chris Lucas is put out to pasture & retired from the WNBL? I really haven't seen any real progression with Geelong United this year & Jaz Shelley hasn’t delivered form wise under his coaching tutelage. Surely there must be some young & fresh Coaches at NBL1 level that are patiently biding their time to get an opportunity at WNBL level instead of recycling old has been Coaches like Lucas & Molloy?

Time to go for sure.

There are so many things I'm hoping can be improved in the overhaul leading up to the 25/26 season. Some fresh blood in the coaching ranks is one of them for sure.
Very underwhelming performance by Geelong again today.

looking forward to the 25/26 season.

Paul Flynn for next season

Young coaches at NBL1 level aren't necessarily going to be a better option. People complain about recycling old coaches, but simultaneously get frustrated with anyone who is new e.g. Hurst, Veal, Harrower etc.
Honestly just think the level of talent in the league is very low this year, and coaches like Molloy and Lucas are used to having the players.

Hurst and Veal were not new.
Hurst had 2.5 seasons and veal had 2, both with appalling records.

Harrower gets a free pass because it's her first season.

I'd hardly call 2 seasons veteran or experienced territory

That's not the only experience they have, both have been HC of nbl1 teams for a few years.

Especially when it's 2 seasons with poor rosters

The only WNBL-ready coaches out there are recycled old heads, or former players with a couple of years of NBL1 HC experience?

Seriously?

Molloy & Lucas aren't development Coaches that make young players better, their only success has come when their rosters are stacked with talent & have deep benches. I’d much rather see a young upcoming Coach with innovative ideas around basketball that prioritises development of players.

Should the league really be "development" though? Is that not what NBL1/college etc are for? I'm not into this concept of it always being about young ones who aren't good enough yet. Of course you need to have some up and coming players in every squad, but I don't think it should be the coach's priority.

@WNBL

Huge news out of Townsville this evening!

The Townsville Fire have signed Atlanta Dream forward Nia Coffey, for the remainder of the 24/25 WNBL Season.

Make up of each team should consist of

Core(6-8) - Bulk minutes
2 High level Imports (WNBA or Top tier Euro)
2 or more Vets (Current/Fringe Opals or long term pro exp)
2 or more established players (3+ seasons in wnbl)

Developing athletes or Elite level prospects(4-6) - Limited minutes
2 or more College returnees or Nbl1 players (with wnbl promise)
2 or more U19 players (best juniors, sapphires + gems level)

TBH with the absence of really elite talent in the WNBL this season some games this season has resembled almost NBL1 standard, so development or fast tracking of players skill set is required by WNBL Coaches...

I was just looking at the WNBL attendance numbers ... some pretty healthy crowds over the holiday period!

Link

I'm not sure how legit these numbers are, or how many of these people actually paid for their tickets, but it has been nice to see a lot of people in the stands for these past 2 Lynx games at HBF Stadium - now known as Perth High Performance Centre.

This season was always going to have a decent number of top tier locals overseas.

Firstly because it's the first year of the new fiba cycle. 3rd year when the WC is on more locals come and 4th year when the Olympics are on even more stay home for possible selection. Only the locks stay overseas.

Secondly because everyone new this was the last year of the current ownership structure.

We'll have more locals next year and every year up until 2028.

That said. Crowd numbers have been decent. And the top 4 particularly have put on some very entertaining games

Magbegor + Smith are on some big coin.
Reid, Bibby, Aokuso also getting a bigger salary.

Might return?
Garrick
Whittle
Garbin
Scherf

Retired
Bishop

Cant see that many returning and we have hardly any top tier seniors in college that would fill spots.

Yeah, I feel like the first stage of change will be to get the league healthy at the admin level and stem the bleeding of teams losing money.
I doubt we'll see game-changing salary increases any time soon, to cause any significant shift in where our top players go. (Hope I'm wrong of course, but it feels like we're a long way from that atm)

Garbin, Whittle and Scherf also getting some good coin in Europe, comparable to Reid, and Aokuso too. My understanding is that Bibby is on very good $.

Not sure what kind of $ Heal may be on in Turkey.

Taylah Simmons is performing well in Germany for Halle, but is on nowhere near the same coin (Kate Oliver is there too).

Possibly...

Amoore
Woolley
Henderson
Poa
Emma-Nnopu
Pollerd
Morgan
Palmer from last season
Hollingsworth from last season
Rose-Deegan from last season

And also other seniors could be back, including:

Amelia Hasset / Kentucky
Sharn Hayward / Stonehill
Mia Jacobs / Fresno State
Kelsey Rees / Oregon State
Sharna Ayres / Northwestern State

Hassett is a jnr.
Jacobs and Rees probably get a shot because the wnbl is low on bigs.
Not sold on Hayward or Ayres, maybe via nbl1.

I'm not sold on Ayres - definite NBL1 player.
I think Hayward's three-point shooting will get her looks.
Agree on bigs getting a shot.

Player like Hall who cost you nothing should be in hot demand.

Other 06 or 07 athletes would already be headed over to college prior to 25/26 season so I doubt we see many amateurs like Deas or contracted juniors like Shiels or Bobongie.

Just on Hall (07), does anyone know what her plans are for 2025? Is she heading off to college or maybe joining a WNBL squad next season? Such a good young talent, but haven't heard much lately about what path she may take.

Most of the 06 and 07s are 2025 class, just a few are class of 2026 including Hall.
Wanted to go to college, I'm not sure if that has changed.
I’m sure Sydney will put an offer forward prior...

Others

COE

Left
Lehmann 07 - 2026
Harvey 06 - Signed Washington 2025/26
Deas 06 - Sydney amateur 2024 - Signed Arkansas 2025/26
Bobongie 06 - Canberra contract 2024/25
Shiels 06 - Townsville contract 2024/25
Bird 06 - Bendigo amateur 2024 - Signed Wake Forest 2025/26
Somfai 07 - Signed Stanford 2025/26
Williams 06 - Signed Vanderbilt 2025/26
Portlock 06 - Southside amateur 2024 - Signed TCU 2025/26

Remain
Dakic 07 - Signed Florida 2025/26
Taylor 07 - 2026/27
Russell 07 - 2026/27
Crook 07 - Signed Colorado 2025/26
Fagan 08 - 2026/27 > Already with several high major offers

Newcomers
Sherrington 09
Smith 09
Olechnowicz 09
Crase 08
Smith 08
Manyok 09

WNBL bench
Fotu 07
Corasaniti 07
Notoa 07
Reisinger 07
Nightingale 06
Waite 06
Puoch 06
1 or 2 more I can’t remember

Quite a few others are already in college, have offers or have signed for nbl1 teams.

I'm thought Crook signed with Mississippi State?

https://wbbblog.com/2025-womens-basketball-commitments/3/

Hey all. Been reading posts for a few years and thought I should sign up to comment. The Nia Coffey signing by Townsville has similar season-changer vibes to their Shyla Heal signing at a similar point 2 seasons ago.

The lack of impact by Jaz Shelley has been a strange one. She's quick and has a lot of decent aspects to her game especially defence and running plays. I do notice she passes ball off and rarely does it come back to her. There's a few black holes on Geelong team which is probably indicative of their biggest hurdle, having the confidence in their team structures to work for better shots.

As for Lucas' coaching, some very puzzling decisions around how he is using his guards especially yesterday v Caps. He started Conti and Shelley on bench. Hence they looked a bit rudderless against a team helmed by Jade Melbourne. Conti came on around 5 min mark and in total played 12 minutes for 1 point on 0/4 shooting. Shelley hit floor 1 min prior to 1/4 time. 2 nice perimeter swishes in Q2 showed what she is capable of. In my opinion, her offensive game is lacking the ability to finish around basket through contact and a consistent pull-up jumper in the lane. I can see considerable upside, just surprised that she didn't have these elements of her game in place already.

Based on previous seasons, Alex Sharp has a lot of upside. Surprised by how out of form she has seemed in her first 3 games. Averaging 24 min for 4/26 FG and just under 5 rebounds per game.

They have Flyers on Wed night and with a 2-0 head to head record thus far can take some confidence into this one. Flyers though will be deperate to win to stay in touch with Top 4. Plus they have the kick in the guts from that Conti last gasp shot defeat a few weeks back. Been in reasonable form against good opposition and playing at home they should win.

Not sure how match fit Coffey will be when she plays this weekend but her addition will make Townsville very competitive in the back end of the Season. I think they see her as someone that can defend Whitcombe when the time comes and any extra offence she brings will be helpful . If she fits into the Seebohm style of play (unlike Cooke) they are going to be contenders.

Comments on the standard of the League this year are interesting , I think the standard of the Imports is lower , I believe there are no WNBA players who start whereas before the Imports have been legit WNBA Players , the Australian Starters are probably about the same standard wise but the big drop is the bench strength. There are players on Rosters that are no better than good NBL1 players . Maybe the players leaving for $$ in Europe , the NZ league took a lot of fringe players who wanted to play regular Minutes and so on.

The WNBL has been largely fun to watch this season, but overall is definitely donw on top-tier talent with so many stars playing in Europe/Asia.

The WNBL has been largely fun to watch this season, but overall is definitely donw on top-tier talent with so many stars playing in Europe/Asia.

(but less fun to watch on TV due to low quality definition of vision)