It will depend on the TV agreement they have made, but frankly the fact they get just one game a week and the men get an entire season is pretty pathetic, it's like they have thrown them a token bone while the men get the meat and the carcass

Also the distribution of the games within the WNBL league is so unbalanced, seems this season has been made "all about thebBoo ears" with Cambage as the draw card In reality she's begin the joker so far,so lets hope Boomers deliver the goods with their big budget line up..(amazing how the year before the rest of the league had to carry them by cuts to their budgets just to keep them in the competition.)

Are the games going to be shown live, or will they be pretaped so they can then show a condensed version with cut backs showing ads to the men's game, they did this with worlds, every intermission was about men's basketball, even missing parts of women's games just to get a highlight ad in for the men.
Got to love equality

They should couple the WNBL with the NBL on NBL.tv and stagger start times so all games can be shown live in NBL.tv

Ideally for a TV production point of view they should have WNBL games on before NBL games at the same venues. NBL and WNBL should merge into one entity to allow this is occur.

In terms of equality, having a men's league and a women's league isn't equality. If they want to promote equality they should just have one league open to all men and women. That is equality.

I wouldn't be surprised if Melbourne dropped both games this weekend with Tomlinson out for a couple of weeks with a fractured finger and Cambage stating on the WNBL show that she'll be playing roughly 15 mins. Not ideal in a season like this, but looking forward to it beginning nonetheless.

Very tough round to tip, I honestly think every game this round could go either way. Hopefully clubs who aren't being broadcast are cleared to do their own youtube streams as per past seasons, it'd be a shame to hardly see a team during the season like Townsville who I'd tip to be playoffs bound.

Definitely, taking Tomlinson out when Cambage is on limited minutes leaves them looking very light on - especially against a team like Townsville who've got quality bigs even on their bench. It'll be interesting to see what Purcell is made of because she'll certainly be pushed into the deep end early in the season. Past Purcell though they've only really got Duever who has only played BigV level but does look like she has a strong build - perhaps similar to Keane last season. While I haven't seen much of Ash Grant play IMO she doesn't quite have the build to go up against Suzy/Cayla, I'd see her more as a SF.

Definitely agree re. Ash Grant, I thought she was by far the stand out over the pre-season games. Surprised that she got let go of by the Lynx to be honest, but glad she's seems to be getting a good opportunity now.

I liked the original Ranger Youtube streams without commentary, just the stadium sounds. Buy a coffee & chips from the Milkbar and it was just like being there.

BTW, is there a spot for betting discussion around here, otherwise can anyone recommend one (to participate, not to get tips)?

According to the Boomers WNBL Wednesday show on their facebook page, Aimie Clydesdale has been put on the injury list clause so they've placed Colleen Planeta on their roster to replace her.

Has anyone got any word on whether tonights game will be streamed via youtube or similar by the Rangers? Unfortunately I'm working tonight and will miss the whole game :(

Wow, can't even start the season without dick swinging in the round thread.

No sign of a stream. Boomers absolutely dominating the Rangers. 46-33 atm

Cambage 11/4/1
Cole 7/4/1

Sa.Blicavs 13/1/0
St.Blicavs 7/4/5

Agree with the anon above - Nelson is a strange guy

Shame there was no stream, judging by the live stats and the snippets the WNBL have posted it was a great game. Hopefully clubs/the WNBL youtube accounts are allowed to put games up on delay like Townsville did in previous seasons. You'd think if teams were allowed to livestream that a team like Dandy who are known for their youtube channel streaming would be the ones to do it though.

Just judging by the stats but it seems Dandenong are way too reliant on both Blicavs and Pedersen. Mijovic as she showed in that first half is a very streaky shooter and when she's out of form she's really out of form. Very little in terms of scoring power coming off their bench too - perhaps this will change when Palau is ready to play. I know it's only one game in but I'm almost re-considering tipping them to be in the top 4 come the end of the season.

I honestly didn't think Melbourne would win that coming into the round, so I'm pretty impressed with that - also with the spread of minutes they had going on there. They definitely weren't as reliant on players as Dandenong were, O'Hea lead their minutes with 34 then Garrick with 28 and plenty of time was given to the bench players.

I was put off by cambage's antics. She acted like a petulant child and received two techs and was sent packing. It was disgraceful and embarrassing and if that’s the type of performance we can expect from her then I certainly won’t be watching boomers games. Looks like the boomers made a deal with the devil and their PR Department is in for a long season. She’s out of control. Sour spot that took away from a half decent win. Dandenong just wasn’t up to it on the night.

Will the Perth games be streamed? If any team's games will be streamed surely it'll be Perth since they are cashed up.

At the game last night , Dandenong hasca terrible shooting game that's for sure, Cummings(now Blicavs) looked to not have her head in the game, made costly errors, and Lavey and Mijovic are just too slow for the Rangers usual run and gun game, they actually played better when both of those were sitting on the bench, hopefully for rangers sake they can improve their momentum but if they persist with Lavey running the point that speed it will be a long season.

Over heard Rangers have had several players out with injury basically most of their guards for the past couple of weeks Toddhunter was seen in a boot the day before, so also may explain the slow start.

On to Cambage, as a Boomers supporter I would be totally embarrassed by her behaviour, she was disgraceful, not so much in getting two tech fouls for basically spitting the dummy ( lots of players can loose it at times) but her behaviour as she was escorted out, waving to the crowd giving a "royal" wave, smiling laughing and shouting "bye" as she sauntered off while people were clapping her, thing is most were clapping because she was going NOT because she was there. She just did not give a dam.

Agree with Flow, Bommers have made a deal with the devil, she will do more harm than good with behaviour like that.

She returned to the crt after the game was finished announcing" is it ok I'm here" and laughing, think she expected to be stampeded with kids wanting autographs, every one just ignored her, and the kids were busy getting autographs and photos with the rangers and some of the other Boomers. She walked back out after a few mins
Reality check .........she's supposed to be a role model , someone kids can look up too and not just because she's tall, she's supposed to be the Boomers biggest attraction, the leader of their leadership group, well I hope they are getting their monies worth, because they lost a lot of respect that night from her behaviour from many areas.
Very sad when you think how hard Boomers have worked over the last 18months to get the Melbourne Boomers brand out there.

It's not a good look for WNBL that's for sure

Certainly will be interesting to see whether someone will have a word with her to keep the acting up to a minimum for the televised game on Saturday. To be honest I was surprised that she was named in the leadership group, perhaps it was more a PR exercise to put her in there as opposed to being actually voted in or however they decide those things.

Interesting re Lavey being too slow, IMO she'd have the ability to fit in with the Rangers style quite well being a quick runner. Just needs to make decisions quicker instead of holding up the play.

I wonder if Foxsports will be hoping she does act up?

@WNBL 1hr ago
Replying to @TheGrenade09 @FOXSportsAUS

Clubs are allowed and will be streaming as of next week.

***

No idea why they wouldn't start this week but good news.

True that AshT - perhaps Boomers will hope not, but FS would love the drama.

Fantastic news on streaming - weird it's not streamed this week though. Perhaps to build the excitement and get fans in the door for round one and hope they'll return in consequent rounds? Either that or they were never going to but realised people were getting annoyed they couldn't watch last nights game.

That is fantastic news!

M.conti due to apparently flopping when Sara bilicav ran into her in the charge circle after she just passed it, I think??
I believe it was an automatic tech as boomers had already been warned.

Quarter time Caps 22 - Spirit 12.
Wehrung 6pts, 2 ast
Hooper 5 pts, 2 reb
Magbegor 4 pts, 4 reb, 1 stl in 4.50 mins

Griffin 7 pts, 1 reb.

Unfortunately I think there will be a few more of these type scorelines for Spirit fans this season. Had Banham, Oliver, Laney, Griffin & Payne starting.

Quarter time Lightning 33 - Flames 19
Seekamp 14 pts @ 100%
Novosel in line for triple double with 5 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast
Hamblin 9 pts, 3 reb

Wilson 10 pts, 1 ast, 2 stl

Surprised with this one to be honest, didn't expect the lightning to come away so far so quickly.

Novosel finished on 21 pts, 8 reb, 9 ast, 3 stl.. what a game by her! Lightning def Flames 91-80

Wow, Adelaide put the rest of the league on notice. My under-the-radar player to do well this season, Seekamp, started and big impact. Not so sure on my top 4 predictions for Dandenong or Sydney though, shaky starts.

Planeta played too. We knew she was with the team but it's so random they didn't even announce it all. So she's clearly got her naturalisation sorted.

Good win by Canberra. Magbegor's rookie award to lose. Feel like it's going to be a long season for Bendigo but hopefully they find their feet soon.

I wouldn't be too shocked if Magbegor takes either Froling or Scherf's starting spot for their next game - she and Bass certainly seemed to perform well tonight. Though in saying that, Bendigo IMO isn't really an accurate test for Magbegor, that will come when they're playing a side with a true center like Hamblin on Sunday.

Early days. Don't expect Asia Taylor to shoot that badly all season. And not every game will feature Adelaide refs.

It seemed of no surprise Bendigo were cold last night after local press plus a twitter exchange I spotted both talked up Spirit's shooting prowess.

Where will all this streaming of games come from? WNBL.tv ?

Well, the first game back on tv wasn't quite the blockbuster it could have been, with Cambage poorly utilised, Batkovic playing a shocker, and the Boomers generally looking quite out of sync and putting up a heap of bricks.
Cayla George more than did her bit though. Awesome game with 18 points & 21 boards.

George v O'Hea is an impressive matchup by itself. Great to see them both play well. Even if the MVP favourites weren't quite the showdown we were expecting.

As for 9-team comp, definitely think there's the talent for another 10 players in the league. There's no way the likes of Adelaide can hold onto all its players next season anyway.

There's definitely talent in the league, but is there another viable city? I certainly wouldn't be going back to Brisbane in a hurry. What's next - Newcastle?

Courtney doing what I expected. Absolutely killing it.

WNBL site isn't working for me now either.. Apparently it's 40-46 at HT, Courtney Williams scored at least 8 points in the first quarter, and Kunek had 10 to QT.

Livestats up for me now.. For Perth, Williams has 18 pts, 7 reb to HT, Kunek next best with 12 pts, then Whitcomb with 4 pts. For Sydney Snell with 12, then Taylor with 10 & 5 reb

Why would Adelaide not hold onto all its players next season, most have signed for two years anyway?

As for Boomers not utilising Cambage, it was more a case of Cambage not able to,sustain anything, if all Boomers game is going to consist of is lobbing it into big Liz, they won't have much after the first five mins as that's basically all she has in the tank.
Nice to see Ohea looking better out n the crt, was beginning to think she had lost her touch, think she's hampered when Cambage is on the floor.

Canberra are doing a good job in the first two games, though Froling is barely playing and Sherfs on bench minutes. Thought moving to Canberra was to get a better share of crt time, not much use being a starter if your relegated back to the bench on less minutes than before.

Did FOXs coverage meet everyones expectations? I thought it was pretty good, and an interesting contest between Boomers and Fire. It's a positive sign for the Fire that they could get the win off the back of players other than Suzy. For the Boomers I think depth is going to be the question for them but, Liz is going to be getting them so many wins this season, maybe depth won't come into it.

Caps are the team of the moment for mine. With Magbegor and Bass also in the squad I think they're getting the minutes right for Scherf. Great to see Jarry get through the double-header so well.

Flames resuming normal service against the Lynx earlier today means they split the round but since it's the dreaded western road trip you have to query whether they will suffer the normal 'hang-over' in next weeks game against Rangers when they apparently will be unfurling the Championship banner.

I was happy enough with Fox's coverage. I don't really rate LJ as a commentator who is knowledgeable about the league, but she's extremely well known so fair enough. Production was good overall I thought.

Just got home from the Lynx game and it was pretty much as I expected. We will probably have some sizeable wins and also some sizeable losses this season. Sydney played it very smart and just picked our defence apart at will. We can score in bunches but unless we can stop opponents it isn't going to translate into many wins. Clearly a lack of cohesion today too, so hopefully both ends will run more smoothly after a couple more games together. That's something the Flames did not suffer from at all. They were impressive.
The Sami & Courtney backcourt was every bit as fun to watch as I had hoped, so I'll be entertained this season regardless of the results. Such a bugger about losing Toni Farnworth.

Good call above about the Caps. They're in very good hands with Hurst at the helm, and if Jarry can stay healthy then there's no reason they can't go places. If Wehrung keeps hitting at a solid clip then that's a very potent 1-2-3 with Hooper.

Really bad result for Perth. Want it to be close at least especially at home. Sydney looking formidable considering they must be tired having played already this weekend. Snell still has it, amazing. Taylor is awesome.

Williams was great for Perth in her debut. If that's a taste of things to come, watch out rest of league. Just need Sami firing too. Not sure why she had a bad game. Geez Perth's roster has no depth to it.

Just got home from the Lynx game and it was bad. Some great moments but alot of bad. You can see that once everyone fires up then it'll be a finals capable team, but play like they did tonight and it's cellar dwellers.

Only one game so alot to improve upon.

Don't know how the crowd can fathom that tickets are $10 each and parking $10 too. That's a rip off. Lucky I parked early in the morning so escape the parking attendants.

I reckon Standish has got to watch herself in terms of fouls - I'm fairly certain she fouled out in both of their preseason games too. As she showed today, she's capable of scoring well but she just needs to be out on the floor longer. From observing in Melbourne, Kunek will have the odd foul trouble game but generally she'll be fine. Pretty rare to have Sami 0/5 from beyond the arc, either Sydney defended her well or she just had a howler of a shooting night.. She hits 2 or 3 of them and that margin looks a lot more respectable. While Sydney did get that win, my main concern over them is still their bench. 7 bench points against Adelaide and 8 against Perth, Snell will likely get run into the ground playing 36+ mins per game this season.

Really impressed by Adelaide this round, they've got a starting five where any player could genuinely score 15+ on any given night. Panousis was impressive for mine in the first game of their weekend in particular.

Preach that, anonymous! Even looking at the stats on the website there's no way to sort them, they only come in the players' alphabetical order. The best we've got is the top 10 or so 'statistical leaders' page.. Previous seasons' were better where for example the ppg were shown in order from highest to lowest.

Planeta had her name on her jersey at their season launch, which was just a few days after Clydesdale would've returned from WUGs.. Certainly a convenient 'injury replacement'.

Round 1 Wrap - WNBL: Cayla George is back and on Fire

Some brilliant individual performances this round. Pity I only go to see 2 of them.
Novosel, George & Williams all automatic "Team of the Week" selections. Wehrung, Hurst, Steph Blicavs, Hooper, Snell, Hamson, Taylor all in the mix for the other spots.

"Williams was great for Perth in her debut. If that's a taste of things to come, watch out rest of league. Just need Sami firing too. Not sure why she had a bad game. Geez Perth's roster has no depth to it."

Unfortunately there is only so many shots possible to take in one game, and it's doubtful Williams will share her portion with Whitcomb......last season it was Sammi taking well over half of the shots each game, with the rest of the team having to share the left overs, be interesting to see how it pans out now.

have foxtel and love the coverage - no easy games this season every game will be a contest.

"Unfortunately there is only so many shots possible to take in one game, and it's doubtful Williams will share her portion with Whitcomb......last season it was Sammi taking well over half of the shots each game, with the rest of the team having to share the left overs, be interesting to see how it pans out now."

Pretty poor characterisation.
Whitcomb took less than 25% of the Lynx FGA last season.
Mijovic didn't take all that many fewer than Whitcomb, so that's already a lot of shots available for Williams.
Offence was not our problem today. In fact the way we're structured it's pretty important that plenty of players out there are able to score.
Need to fix up the D. Part of that was very obviously cohesion, and that is fixable. The other part was mismatches. That part is going to be interesting.

This is the link to the wnbl stats

http://wnbl.com.au/stats/?WHurl=%2Fstatistics%2Fplayer%3F

Splitting it up like that is bad, the whole site design is terrible to look at and navigate.

Why they couldn't leave up what they did last season I have no idea, that actually functioned.

Well, so much for my 3 "automatic" team of the week selections.
Somehow Courtney Williams missed out. WTF WNBL?
I know the Lynx lost, but she was awesome. I'm pretty sure the Flames coaches wouldn't argue because they were trying everything to slow her down. 12 boards from one of the smallest on the floor, along with 26 points and 4 assists.
Ripped off big time!!

None of the five in team of the week look out of place but Courtney's +/- took quite a hit (-17 & was higher at 3QT despite team trailing just seven). So I wonder if that influenced the judges in the end?

Williams certainly a strange omission. She was as good as I expected.

Robbed. Snell and Sydney, too big to ignore.