Can't see Bendigo winning tonight and against a red-hot Sydney with Kelsey out it could be an ugly scoreline.

Sydney v Melbourne is the Fox game this week but I think both Adelaide games should be the best to watch and toughest to predict this round. They'll be wanting to bounce back from a bad week.

Hard job for the Lightning to come away from Vic with two wins, but they're good enough to do it.

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/act-sport/wnbl-canberra-capitals-forward-rachel-jarry-to-miss-a-month-with-concussion-20171109-gzhqy4.html

Jarry has had her second concussion in as many weeks so will miss the next month. Also Hurst may miss against Perth due to an ear infection.. Such bad luck for Jarry, I feel she really needed a consistent run at it to really prove herself as an Opals contender. She's had quite a few concussions now throughout her career, which is quite worrying to be honest.

Can't see the Caps coming away with a win in Perth, even if they had their full strength lineup.

I really can't see much going right for Bendigo without Griffin, I'd comfortably say it's now a 6-team race to the top 4.

I'd tip Adelaide to come out absolutely fired up after last weekend and sweep their weekend - though I think we will learn a lot about them in the way they react to last weekend. I would be surprised if Melbourne could salvage a split - that's a tough weekend for them, but hopefully they get O'Hea back in some capacity for at least one of their games.

Wow, that sucks for Jarry. She's having a rotten run of luck with health.

But the Lynx are going to tear Canberra to pieces this weekend with or without her, so she might as well avoid the pain of that ;)

I agree that the Adelaide games should be interesting. After being knocked off the #1 spot last round they won't want to drop another 2.
Sydney-Melbourne could be good too if Jenna is back. Hamson is in some good form lately. If she can stay out of foul trouble then it's going to be hard work for the Boomers to get that one.

Bendigo competing really well with Sydney so far and scores are tied mid-way through 3rd quarter. They should be pleased with this performance.

Banham is a quality import. The Minnesotan can shoot.

Well you jinxed them very nicely didn't ya

It's a gift

Sydney crack 100 points. So sorry Bendigo, probably could have kept it respectable without my help. :(

Flames such a formidable side. Hamson-Taylor the best import tandem in the league?

Insane game from Boag!

Someone was putting her down a couple of weeks ago. She can contribute. Has before, did again.
+32 in 19 minutes tonight 18 points @ 7/9, 7 boards, 3 steals. Talk about playing a role.

Carly Boag was an excellent contributor off the bench for them last year.

Is anyone out for Adelaide tonight? The books have this line at +7.5 but I don't understand why because Adelaide apart from last weekend vs Townsville have been playing great.

Great news that the Rangers will be partnering with Fox Sports to stream their home games, starting tonight with their game against Adelaide. At least now we should be able to see at least 2 if not 3 games a week either streamed or on the TV.

Haven't heard of anyone out for Adelaide, perhaps people are tipping Adelaide to go back into their shell a bit after the Townsville loss?

Great news about the Rangers live stream!

Hoops, I think this will be a good test to see where these two are really at, with both up on their toes in responce from botchups.

My opinion is that Adelaide's recent stint at the top of table was on the back of a block of well rested home games, as well as assisted by Syd & Perth who weren't firing at the time. A travel weary Rangers got them in OT a week ago, but a wierd game of sesawing margins, so I suspect that result combined with their big loss at Townsville, plus some cumulative travel load, has led to the market making the home team such a short favorite.

Personally I think Rangers are the slightly better team but definitly no reason why Lightning can't respond in a manner such as when they polaxed Bendigo (no Laney) away.

For some strange reason I decided not to touch it unless I saw +8 but bets I stay off do have a habit of usually getting up.

Great win by Adelaide, halts their run of losses. Dandenong are the ultimate hot/cold team this year. Can win against anyone or lose randomly.

But it was a tough night. Hoping Sara Blicavs is ok and not a serious injury.

Hoping Sara B's OK, she's a real personality in the League.
I dunno W2L, wins at home are one thing, my view is that if you really want to win a championship it's the away wins that are the critical ones. Go to Townsville and get a win, thats a fair-dinkum measure of how far a team might be able to go.

Really hope Sara's injury isn't bad, but it didn't look good when she did it and then didn't make it back out of the rooms for the rest of the game. Obviously you would never want to have to go to a plan B due to injury in the first place, but I think Dandenong are in a really tough position given their only genuine SF depth comes in the form of Rowe and perhaps Pizzey - whom would be lucky to have been on court for 10 mins combined all season. It certainly will be interesting to see how they go about it if she does have to miss games..

I can't help but think Adelaide got a bit lucky in that one.. Pedersen uncharacteristically went 1/8 FTs, so if she'd have gone 7/8 then that's a tied game and regardless it probably would've been a quite different final scoreline had Blicavs not been injured. Nonetheless it was great to have a look at Adelaide finally - I was impressed by their ball movement and tempo.

Rangers did seem very stilted to me, without taking anything away from Adelaide's D, so no surprise with the FT numbers (rest of team were 5/5) & 36-45FG%'s. Adelaide definitly looked the hunter tonight.

Great news for the Boomers, O'Hea is back and into the starting lineup today. Hopefully it should be a good game on tv!

Shocking game from Flames. Too much fatigue?

Flames were in a letdown spot after a massive game vs Spirit. Zig zag theory in full effect also.. Spirit beat Boomers, Flames beat Spirit and then Boomers beat Flames.

Next game, Fire vs Spirit. Spirit were ok in the first half vs the Flames but then fell apart second half. Fire at home sitting pretty all week. Is this a blowout? I don't think so. I actually think Bendigo can compete in this game. I don't think they will win but the books have the line at +15.5 which is pretty crazy. I think the blowout happens in the late game but I could be completely wrong.

I agree and think that game by Sydney was due to fatigue... Their defence was so horrendous, leaving players open all the time and players getting caught in no-man's land. There was absolutely no need for Snell, Ebzery and Wilson to have played 33 mins against Bendigo when they won by 30 points. It looks like both Sydney's and Dandenong's reliance on their stars is starting to burn them out.

Dare I say it, a good point by Wang Whipper.

I'm worried for Bendigo. They may not win more than a couple of games without Griffin.

Good contest in Perth, until Courtney Williams engaged beast mode in the 4th.

I'm worried about Bendigo too, to be honest I'd be surprised if they could win even one game without Griffin.

8 losses in a row now for the Caps.. looked like a Courtney Williams masterclass in the last quarter

Well done Lynx and Williams. She's really proving her WNBA class. If they can get Sami shooting back to her high standard they should definitely be considered for finals. Farnworth back at end of month should help with depth too.

Cambage is destroying Adelaide by herself right now. (cue her going cold straight after this)

Melbourne up 10 at the half, but will the silly scheduling catch up with them in the 2nd?
A road-home back-to-back is bad enough, but even worse when your game 2 opponent is better rested than you are. Way to minimise the home court advantage :/

Liz 23 & 8 at the main break.

Eh, I think it balances out. Boomers caught Sydney when they were tired after Bendigo game.

Seems like poor time management to have starters playing 33+ minutes in a blowout win.
Not sure I buy fatigue as an excuse for coming out flat from the start of a game either.

I'd say Townsville are the best at their roster management at the moment - no player played more than 22 mins against Bendigo and no one more than 26 mins against Adelaide.

With a bench like Sydney's which seems to be one of the more shallow benches in the league I'd be wanting to give as many minutes as possible to them in those blowout wins which are a luxury in this league. Experience is invaluable and it certainly wouldn't hurt to let them get their confidence up like Boag did in the off chance they were required to stand up to play more minutes due to injury/foul trouble in the future. Not much point having someone who's picking splinters out their backside being thrown in with 2 minutes to go in a see-sawing game - good luck with that!

In Sydney's defence, that was a competitive game for a good proportion of it so I was probably being overly harsh above. The Fire game was a blowout right from the start so rotating the whole list was a much easier call.

Scores tied now late in the 3rd. This is when the fatigue factor really kicks in. Gut check time for the Boomers.

So fatigue can be an excuse for Boomers but not Flames? I'm not following the argument there.

Sydney came off a days break to play a team that was rested for 5 whereas here Melbourne are having a back to back versus the Lightning on a days break. It should be a factor for both teams.

It's a factor for both teams, yes.
But my opinion is that 1) Sydney's games were 2 days apart. Melbourne's are consecutive days. That's a significant difference. 2) You shouldn't start a game with zero energy, even if you did just play the night before. Sydney's score worm went in the downward direction from the start.

Can agree to disagree.

Liz just about single-handedly drags her team past Adelaide. 44 & 12. That's massive.

Some sort of a game there by Liz!! Though I'm scared about what would happen if god forbid Liz misses a game. No one aside from O'Hea is having a half decent shooting year.

I'm a little surprised she got let off the chain so much though against players like Hamblin & Bishop..

Of course some teams will be more tired than others when they're playing on different amounts of rest but is 1 compared to 2 days between games worse than 2 compared 5 days between games?

I'm not really sure, it couldn't be that much if at all and I'd be inclined to say the more rest the better even if a back to back is more of an extreme.

It's something I've been trying to track too. Right now the 3 teams this season who've had a back to back have won all their matches. Those playing with a day break are at 8-14 (by my rough calcs) which was compounded by all of Sydney, Bendigo, Adelaide losing this round.



On the match, amazing game by Liz. Really showing what she's capable of here when she's on her game. There goes Courtney Williams chance of POTW.

We've got a clear top 4 now, a gap to the two chasers, and then the bottom dwellers. It's still early but be interesting to see how this will change by seasons end. I imagine teams going on form during the closing rounds could streak ahead if it stays relatively close.

I'd say it will be an entertaining end to the season given there is virtually nothing in it between the top 6. Hopefully the Caps can pull themselves together and find a few more wins but I really doubt Bendigo will get another win. It'll be interesting to see how Dandenong are able to cope without Sara Blicavs as well.

.. cambage numbers seem pretty good ...while those with enmity would like melbourne to cut her , i've read here.....

Bad news for Blicavs and Rangers. No need for panic stations and play your rookies. Others such as Lavey and Mijovic need to consistently step up.

That really sucks for Dandenong and poor Blicavs, all the best with her recovery.

Others may know more on how it compares to other seasons but the injuries so far proving the condensed season a failure I think.

Rangers aren't the Caps so they should still win games but it's going to make finals almost impossible now.

Agree, the condensed season is a failure. The quality of some games are very poor due to fatigue. The Top 4 looks a lock now.

The players are now playing the same amount of games in less than half the amount of time , they still keep the same training regime as before so work load on bodies is heavier than they have been accustomed too......and when coaches stick to their old format of running with predominantly the same 6 or 7 players with the bulk of the minutes going to starting5 it's not rocket science that they will have a higher incidence of injuries and tired players, especially when those players give it all they have at training and games.

The ones that will last the distance will likely be those who expend the least amount of energy, or are the ones sitting game after game on the bench collecting splinters, coaches need to have some faith in what they choose , if they are good enough to train, they should at least be worthy of some minutes to ease the work load of the starters, if not why have them. A team ideally should run minimum 10 deep.

Tough loss for Dandenong, but I'm sure they will find their feet, but may be too late now

Rotating 10 players in a 40 min game can do more harm than good.

The bench has gone to AFL, so the coach's can't put those one's on.

Rotating 10 players in a 40min game should not be hard , they don't all need to play the same amount of time, a good coach will use their bench to rest their starters at key moments

Will the Rangers find a replacement for Blicavs? Madgen or Bunton available? What about Penny Taylor coming out of retirement?

The bench has gone to AFL, so the coach's can't put those one's on.

So shattered for Blicavs.. The timing of it would just about rule out the World Cup as well which based on her form she'd be very very close if not on that team for mine. Hopefully she comes out the other side of this an even better player than she already is, which I don't really doubt will happen as she does seem like the type to want to make the best out of any situation.

The Rangers could even look to bring someone like Fadjlevic back in, though that could be a bit weird/awkward given that they obviously didn't offer her a contract this season. Madgen's still recovering from her own ACL injury and Bunton was meant to go to Europe this season, but didn't so I'm assuming she's still struggling with the knee? issue that ruled her out of the Asia Cup.

I think the teams - or most at least, have adapted their training schedules to suit this new condensed structure. Most are doing fewer and lower intensity sessions with a greater focus on recovery. I agree the standard has decreased in some games which is probably due to that fatigue factor - though in saying that I think if teams were smart about their rotations and didn't rely so heavily on starters then this may become a lesser factor. I still don't think Sydney will make the playoffs due to this - they rely too heavily on their starters - those cracks will show (as they did against Melbourne) and once that fatigue sets in it's very easy for it to start spiralling out of control in a season like this.

Rangers have Roberts to come in, plus Pizzey, they don't develop sitting on the bench , they also have Rowe who can play the 3 , so they would be stupid to be bringing in anyone else at this stage, seasons half done, they need to concentrate on what they have and find a better strategy

WNBL is a professional league so developing players in this league is not a good strategy.

looks like a lazy 60 by cambage at the weekend....... ...while our former boss , kristina keneally is running for federal politics....

Rangers will need to get more out of Lavey and Palau if they are any chance this season.

"...while our former boss , kristina keneally is running for federal politics...."

Kinda weird how she is a chance of taking the seat as a result of being more aussie than John Alexander

Reply #657379
re: WNBL Round 6
Rangers are done, but that doesn't mean they should just send their lambs (DPs) to the slaughter. Pizzey is NOWHERE near ready to play at this level. She'll need several more SEABL seasons before she's ready to contribute.


If Rangers are done by the loss of just one player then it doesn't say much for the rest of the team does it lol

And if your bench players are not even capable of a few mins a game then really they shouldn't be sitting on that bench.....by the way Pizzey isn't a DP, in fact non on the bench are DPs

Yikes, wasn't just the ACL for Blicavs, she also tore her meniscus and fractured her knee :(

That's some injury, hope she has a good recovery.

The teams don't want to pay for decent players to come off the bench. There are a number of players in the SEABL and BigV that could chip in a quality 10-15 minutes over the bench players that don’t see the floor. But I see the clubs wanting young players to "develop" them and then they don’t even use them!

Not to get ahead of the current season but I can't help but wonder about new teams. Anybody heard whispers of where the new teams will be located for the future seasons?

No need to get ahead of yourself on that score, worrying though it is. Do we have any idea if they had to remove fragments of the patella?

Just says a fracture of the knee in addition to a ruptured ACL and torn Miniscus

I'm sure she will bounce back

Settle down anon, Pizzey is a great prospect.

Rookies in their 1st WNBL year that still need developing should appreciate the experi nice. Maybe start complaining in their 3rd year!