I'm finding it hard to pick the teams to go to the grand finals.. I think if Perth can beat Melbourne tomorrow night, then they'll sweep their series, but if Melbourne win tomorrow night I'd be tossing a coin for a winner. For Sydney and Townsville really depends on who shows up on the night, if Sydney can get their perimeter shooting firing up then I think they'll overpower the Fire.

I can't pick it either. Any of those 4 could be champions without me being at all surprised. Before the season started I thought Fire would finished first but Boomers would be champs, however the Flames have title experience and have dealt really well with the loss of Mitchell & Tupaea, and with Perth having home court through the playoffs they would no longer be a shock either. I think the odds being offered are further evidence of how wide open this race is.
Pleasing to read today that Bec Cole is officially good to go, and hoping for some similarly positive news tomorrow for Whitcomb & Dowe.

Star Perth Lynx duo Sami Whitcomb, Amanda Dowe declared fit for WNBL finals; https://thewest.com.au/sport/basketball/perth-lynx-co-captain-toni-farnworth-says-wnbl-there-for-the-taking-ng-b88703364z

Good news on Sami and Dowe. I want to see who wins with everyone on deck

Yeah tough matchups. I'll still back Perth and Sydney to win but could see the other two in the finals as well.

My money is on the Boomers today.
Hopefully I'm poorer about 100 minutes from now.

Garrick and Smart torching the Lynx, not looking good midway thru term 2

Raining threes for Melbourne and Perth shooting is cold. Game could be over already.

Williams in struggle town

Boomers just raining the buckets down on us that half. They're more than coping with Liz's foul trouble.

Yeah she's forcing too much.

Yes, Williams looks weary out there.

Lynx 13 Oboards have done well there. Dowe with five of those.

o-board, miss, o-board, miss, o-board, miss, boomers get it & go for 2...

williams needs to play better defence. she is so slow and is always chasing her player

time for Williams to start passing it off to her more effective and efficient teammates

Bec Cole has come up big at both ends.

11-2 run...

make that 15-2. Well, who's heading to Bendat BC on Friday? Could be the last we see of the Lynx

Ughh... this is awful by Perth. Just not smart basketball.

Brutal last round for the Lynx rearing its ugly head here in this game

A couple of ex Lynx bigs really stepping up to cover for Cambage.How is Burton still playing at this level?

Fatigued team down 24. Why are our overworked starters still out there?
It's over, Andy. We got a game in 48 hours!

This ref is great value. Well done on micing him up.

a mere 11 points so far this half, garbage basketball

Andy "No Plan B" Stewart. Could be curtains for Perth on Friday

Not a WNBL fan but man I love seeing Perth go down. Let's hope this is a precursor to the NBL GF.

Down with Perth!

You also got to wonder about the recruiting of Thompson as well over a young up and coming player like Grant especially as Stewart has developed her from juniors.

on to BBC everybody

Stay classy, Liz

Anyone but cambage she is horrible for this sport- not saying she can't play but her attitude stinks and want anyone and everyone to beat Melb.
We got out played today no doubt about it and I hope we come back hard on Friday and take it to 3.
How this is an advantage to the top team I don’t know this schedule does really suck. Should we make the gf we will have to travel to Townsville or Sydney while the lower team stays home and waits, have the disadvantage of not having home court and then travel back home along with the lower placed team. That is a joke - got to get there first I know but seriously!!!

Liz Cambage once again you play the victim card. For a player who is skill wise on par with Lauren Jackson you constant whining of the refs is hurting your reputation. Everyone of your fouls bar 1 was 100% correct and I expected the president of the Liz Cambage fan club (Lauren Jackson) when interviewing to suck up to her. I hope in private she tells her how here behaviour is turning the public against her.

Can players in basketball get fined or suspended for critising refs in the media like in AFL.Think Lizzie might get a please explain after that interview.

Boomers were excellent. When they hit their perimeter shots they're almost impossible to beat. When they play D like that as well? Wow. They really attacked at that end too, led by Cole.
They keep that up then it's hard to see anyone stopping them.

What'd Cambage do? I zoned out the last couple of minutes and switched over as soon as the buzzer went.

Her complaining about that call where she threw the Lynx player halfway across the court was hilarious.

Had a big ol' sook in the post game interview about the refs not letting her play.

Terrible loss from Perth really. Hope their shooting picks up and theyre able to play defence next game or it's a short finals campaign.

Schedule been absurd but they have the quality, should bounce back.

Whitcomb 36 minutes, Williams 35, is borderline negligence by Andy IMO.
It's going to be 5 games in 10 days if we're to get through, and running the 2 key players into the ground doesn't help that occur.

How come the highest finishing team does'nt get home court game first.Whats good for NBL is for the WNBL especially in this era of equality.Obviously the FOX or QANTAS sponsorships didnt stretch enough for this especially when you only have one Melbourne based team in finals.

Boomers won't shoot like that in Perth. Perth will be better at home but need to get better ball movement and make the extra pass! Perth in 3.

I hope you are right and I tend to agree with you get back home and let's get this done in 3.
Cambage doesn’t deserve a championship after her whinging year. They played much better without her.

Perth need more out of Standish and Farnworth. No point Farnworth hitting shots when the game is over!

She's extremely skilled/coordinated for such a big player. LJ played a slightly different game (PF position) so it's not quite apples-for-apples in terms of skill set, but I think it's a fair statement.
But heart & mind are a big part of being elite, and that's where the obvious difference is. LJ was a true competitor, at both ends of the floor, whose #1 focus was getting her team the win.

Cambage sooks it up all the time. Michael Jordan widely acknowleged as the GOAT was targeted physically at the peak of his powers. The Pistons even designed the Jordan rules to try and curb his abilities. He just sucked it up and got on with it. Do you know how many times he was ejected over his long career?? ONCE only. Cambage has been ejected 3 times this season alone.

Cambage is not close to the all round player LJ was and she never will be. She is not in the class of LJ and PT, she is just a very big good player with a terrible attitude something thenother two never had.

After watching last nights game I saw the interview that Lauren had with Liz, and I'm thinking Liz will be fined for the comments about the referees.
I bet she doesn't even get a reprimand.
She should go back to being a disc jockey. She threw Thompson on the floor for Christ sake, and complained that it wasn't a foul.
Even her great fan Laurel said it was clearly a foul, and if she saying it, it must have clearly been one.

This player is a plight on women's basketball in this country, she continually complains about EVERY foul she is given. Does she think that because she is so big that she can PUSH her weight around and NOT get a foul. There is no other player in the league that complains that much!!!!!!!!!!
Get rid of this player from the league!!!!!!!!

IMO it will be extremely hard for Melbourne to get near that shooting %. Teams don't shoot near 60% game after game.

Did I watch a different game to Anonymous, because Alice was Perth's best defensive player, she did not stop all game.

I'm tipping Courtney won't have two poor games in a row. Bring on Friday night.

It's probably not wise, and I agree that she's an ordinary commentator with a limited grasp of what's happening in the league outside of her own club, but with regards to bias in her commentary I didn't think she did a bad job. She wasn't barracking for her team, nor did she hesitate to point out calls that went the Boomers' way. Just called it as she saw it, so respect to her for that.

Give me John Casey or Warren Smith + Carly Wilson every time though.

Cambage haters - don't use exclamation marks.
It's like laughing at your own jokes.

Yeah Right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cambage is big....that's where her similarities to LJ finish,
She can’t run, she can’t play defence, she can’t dribble, and she does not move well at all. Her best attribute after being big is she can shoot sometimes.
Her attitude is an absolute disgrace, her effort is non existent if she’s left behind down one end, the limp wrist running is hilarious.

It’s actually insulting to LJ to say she’s on par.

As for LJ doing the commentating on boomers games, it’s so obviously biased that it’s cringe worthy at times LOL, but it’s better than nothing. Just wish she would look more professional in her appearance for National TV .
the WNBL needs a good shake up, especially the female coaches, these baggy shirts and tracky dacks just don’t give a great image

Pardon my ignorance but what's the relationship between Jackson and the Boomers? I’m aware of the fact she’s been in their corner for the last year or so but just never bothered to find out why ..

but with regards to bias in her commentary I didn't think she did a bad job.

Molley gets into the heads of players, and not in a good way.
I'm not a betting person, but I bet you Cole will not be at Melbourne next season.

Molley told her "your not a point guard because you can't dribble with both hands"

I mean what coach would say that just before a season starts. And, who's fault is it if she couldn't, Molley's fault, remember he is a development coach, yeah right. Name one player that he has had and gone onto bigger and better.

Pickem, LJ is PAID be the Boomers.She is there mouth piece. Do you expect her to say anything bad about what's going on there with Liz.

Eeks. A Fire home win was always on the cards but I didn't expect an even bigger blowout than last night.
2 nights into the playoffs and the top 2 teams are on the ropes.

Talking about letting good up and coming players from WA go to other WNBL clubs, how did Stewart not sign up Darcee Garbin for the Lynx initial squad.She was let go to Townsville after playing for the Waves and he signed up the likes of Tomlinson and Mijovic who both have gone back to Melbourne clubs.Guess who the winner is?

It's something I've always wondered, yeah. Such little WA talent reaching the main rotations of WNBL teams and Perth lets a good prospect slip. I don't know if it was the Lynx not wanting her, the shabby treatment by the Waves, the uncertainty of the transition period, or something else, but it is now in the history books as a big blunder.

In fairness Garbin's form is a quantum leap on what it was of recent seasons.

Courtney Williams looked like the energizer bunny last night in comparison to how Sydney moved about tonight. Has anyone heard the reasons why Asia Taylor & Alex Wilson were out tonight?

Darcee's last 6 months have been pretty impressive, but her talent & potential were always evident. Waves fans were frequently left wondering why she was given so few opportunities off the bench - remembering that back then our starters weren't exactly world-beaters.

Not sure what you mean about Taylor & Wilson?

I guess we'll see how much of an 'advantage' the top two teams get when they're back on their home courts - because looking at it now the lower ranked teams have absolutely all of the momentum leading into these second games. Hopefully both Sydney and Perth can bounce back and take it to three.

Double Dribble - I'm not sure what you think the role of a coach is but sugar coating and be their best mate isn't it.
Cole is blatantly right handed and it isn't the job of the professional coach to fix it. She's had plenty of time to work on her own left hand. You can't do it all for them.

In regards to an earlier comments, Williams is extremely talented and a fantastic player.. however I disagree her three ball looks good. Definitely not her go-to. And yes it's the offence which isn't set up around basket cuts and screening..... that's why she isn't doing it. It's more based around receiver spots.

Jeez what on earth went wrong for Sydney? No way they should have been that bad.

Regardless of what happens next, clubs should be demanding this finals scheduling be changed next season. And maybe don't have the season so compact because a tv company said so. Lots to do for next head of the league.

If Perth had their time again they'd probably want Grant back after the Schwagmeyer gamble backfired, lucky lack of depth hasn't affected them in the season until now. Risk you take. Still not sure how they got away with just 9 on their roster, league probably counting Fejo.

I agree, Williams 3 shot isn't that great, sure she can nail them when she's on, but no point forcing them up like Sami and Kunek can - Williams' strength is her mid range shot.

Garbin & Grant are on multi-year contracts, iirc. IMO Garbin will be in that Fire starting lineup at least by the end of her contract. Suzy and Cayla won't be on that team forever, and as soon as one of them leave I'd say Garbin takes their starting spot.

Does anyone know if the A-H-H format will be followed through to the grand final series? I read an article that alluded to it being a semi final only thing, but haven't seen anything official to confirm.

Darcee's last 6 months have been pretty impressive, but her talent & potential were always evident. Waves fans were frequently left wondering why she was given so few opportunities off the bench - remembering that back then our starters weren't exactly world-beaters.


But isn't that the case with so many players, Lavey sat on the bench fir years with Be dogs, until Joyce decided to make her his super star, and look where she is now, she left Perth after being in the shadow of Whitcomb most likely

I'm going to disagree here with a couple of posts.
Lavey hasn't set the world on fire since leaving Perth. 6.4 PPG and 2.8 APG is not going to win you too many games.That would be why Perth did not resign her.You need to get at least 14-17 PPG from a starting point guard.

Also Sami & Kunek forcing up 3 pointers, quoting Melbfan, give me a player that shoots close to 40% on threes any day of the week.

We will see what happens tonight in Perth. Williams & Kayla had an off game, that happens some time.
We'll see if Melbourne and keep up their shooting % that was 60% during the last game.I don't think so.

Darcee Garmin is at the fire until 2020. Probably one of the few contracts of that length in the league

Not sure how many new fans would have been drawn to following the league after viewing those first two finals - non contests plus Flames in a white strip!! I thought it was a good move though to integrate an NBL commentator. Trigger did a good job winging it.

Don't agree with all point guards having to average 14-17 ppg but certainly 10 ppg would be good along with 5+ assists and 3+ steals.

Definitely not using the term forcing three pointers up negatively in terms of Whitcomb and Kunek, Not Quite Right - they're both excellent three point shooters, and if anything I'd say Kunek is a bit underrated for her role in that side. In context to what I was replying to, I meant that Williams shouldn't be (and isn't) trying to emulate the three point dominance that both Sami and Alice have. Her bread and butter are those mid range shots, not three pointers.

I agree, Lavey needs to be putting up better numbers as starting PG. IMO I'd happily compromise on a lower PPG average if the player is averaging 5 or so APG and a couple of steals, but all of these stats have been pretty ordinary this season for her.

I'd be very surprised if Perth don't come away with the win tonight.

17 PPG puts you in the top 5 scorers in the league, so I don't think that's a sensible benchmark to be one of the 8 starting point guards in the league. Nat Hurst had a superb season while averaging just under 10 points.
I don't know if it was Perth or Tessa's decision to part ways. Her first season here was very good, but she wasn't as effective in her 2nd. Solid defender, pretty quick, but can't finish at the rim, and not really a creator either, so she has her limitations, and I'm not seeing much evidence of improvement in her game.

I agree with NQR to an extent. I don't consider the Boomers to be good shooters. O'Hea - deadly, but in general the idea of the others bombing away doesn't scare me. The Boomers talent has never been in dispute, but you've got to give up something, and Garrick taking threes is something I can live with. But we were giving up wide open shots, they were dropping, and then we gave up more wide open shots. The Lynx D was uncharacteristically bad. That's where we most need to get our shit together by tonight. That is very achievable. The X factor is Cambage though.

It has been a month since a WNBL game on Fox was remotely close, so fingers crossed that we get a good one tonight. (I think we will)

I enjoyed Trigger too, btw. The other thing I enjoyed was the lead ref being mic'ed up in the Boomers-Lynx game. I thought he was good value, both the way he reffed, and for entertainment factor as well.

It seemed to take Taylor a game or two to find her feet wearing glasses off the eye injury, then had 35pts (FT11/14) in Rd12OT before what looks like strong numbers in the final round. I don't know but I suspect her performance last night was a team effort, with everone just standing around and throwing up bricks all night. It looked to me like complacency got them but other possible causes could have been the travel (Bendigo, Townsville) plus the humid weather.

I thought Taylor looked a bit sluggish in her movement early - it probably didn't help in that she missed her first 10 or so shots, or that she copped that heavy heavy head knock against Batkovic. I was surprised the game panned out the way it did especially after the way Sydney started. Perhaps fatigue is catching up with them because they just didn't seem to be thinking straight after the first quarter. It was a pretty impressive turn around by the Fire though given what happened last weekend.

Taylor is the key to Sydney success. Can't see them winning when she plays a bad game as they have no depth.

Williams has got to stop jacking up those garbage contested shots when they're clearly not falling and look for her teammates if the Lynx want to win this one.. Yikes

Lynx look frantic af. Need to slow it down and move the ball around a bit more instead of chucking up contested long 2s

Can't help but think this absolutely nuts pace is tactical though - they don't seem the type of group to go off the rails like that. Perhaps tire Melbourne out and steamroll them in the second half. Great to see the Lynx come out like this in the second.

Williams has it going now. Turning into an entertaining game

Down with Perth!

Must say, the A-H-H format is peculiar. Obviously understandable (money), but puts the higher-ranked team under a pressure they shouldn't really be put under.

Geez that was just a shattering loss to watch, I really feel for those Lynx players, staff & fans they definitely didn't deserve to end their season like that. They just went through stages where shots were going in from everywhere and then it all just ground to a halt. Kudos to the Boomers, it looked like a tough atmosphere to get the win in from the noise that was coming through the coverage.

Maybe a few things the league can take away from this season - don't schedule double road trips in the last round especially if finals are starting three days after the last regular season game. I wouldn't have a clue why they didn't go with a thursday-friday-saturday final round given there were no Sunday games the prior week - I get this was probably due to Christmas, but they're professional athletes. IMO this could be slightly remedied with a floating final round fixture similar to the AFL - i.e. exact dates of games are decided closer to the time with ladder positions taken into consideration, so higher ranked teams get a greater break coming into playoffs.

In terms of A-H-H, I'm definitely thinking it's a bust, but some of what happened to the Lynx definitely should be attributed to their injuries and schedule leading in. I hope the Flames don't suffer the same fate tomorrow night - the top two teams should be the ones in the grand final, that first game home crowd momentum and travel schedules should not be playing into it.

Down the stretch Liz Cambage dominated. That's what champion players do. Great work boomers bad luck haters.

Well played, Boomers. That's why they were my pre season title pick. They've got quality and lots of it. There's the obvious talent of O'Hea & Cambage, and the fringe Opals, but how good a get was Kalani Purcell for them. Needs more recognition for what she contributes IMO.

I couldn't be prouder of the Lynx though. Such an enjoyable team to watch. I'll always be angry that the WNBL robbed itself of showcasing this team at its best with this shitty scheduling, but from a selfish point of view at least I got to watch them do their thing all season. The fatigue was already showing in the 2nd quarter but they fought on and gave it a hell of a shake.

Even in the final minute they had probably 8-10 terrific looks at the bucket and none of them dropped.

they're professional athletes.

Perth were up 5 with 5 min to go and made bad decisions down the stretch to lose the game. But that's what you get playing that style of game with finals pressure.

Heartbreaking for the girls to lose like that and season over. Unfortunately all the things went right during the season and went wrong at the wrong time. There are no excuses just reasons and had they happened in the middle of the season wouldn't have had much impact except stoping a club record winning streak.
There is no denying having two horrible away games in the last weekend of the comp were you can’t get direct flights or even on the same flight together and have to play three games in 6 games away one of which is first game of finals. Losing both games before the finals, having two injury scares and then this new format is terrible. Seriously we play away get our backs to the wall as the top team then fly back home with the other team and lose game over we shouldn’t have felt that pressure boomers should have had the pressure of playing here first, hopefully losing then travelling back again. It certainly wasn’t set up for Perth to win it this year with the finals scehdule ( not saying they would have I know they lost) had they won they fly again to s lower finishing teams home while they stay at home and wait, not have any advantage of winning and then travel with that team Home again its a joke.
The girls didn’t deserve the wheels to fall off like that I actually thought they played better then Melb last night but what had been going in consistently all season just wasn’t. We failed to put them away when up by 9 in the third and it cost us. Hurts a lot less to have this happen during the season and you finish third instead or something , he’ll you would have been one up in the finals at home as well!
Great season deserved more - go townsville

Alive Kunek was terrible in those last 5 min a terrible turnover and another fumble under the basket and a missed open inside shot.
Unlucky lynx feel for you

Being realistic, the roster was constructed to play one way only, and everyone acknowledged that from before the season even started. Small ball is inherently unstable. Some nights even good looks are not going to drop, because that's what happens when you rely on jump shots. Also, the truth of the 14 game streak is that there was some luck involved in it, which I acknowledged at the time. We were fortunate to catch some teams at the right time, and a couple of other games we won without playing all that well. That speaks to how much heart these players have that they still found ways to win when maybe they shouldn't have, but it also perhaps artificially inflates the expectations for later. (But thank you, Sportsbet, for your last 8 day$$$)

Last night we blew a lot of basic shots, Kunek had a nightmare shooting game, and yet it still came down to a couple of critical possessions in the dying minutes, so despite all the "realistic" factors, I still think that series goes to a game 3 with a more sensible schedule. I'm not claiming we would have won it, but I know it would have been a better series, without game 1 being awful. I said last round that Stewart was borderline negligent in the way he (mis)managed our playing time over those 2 games, and I definitely think it contributed to our being swept so I'm not blaming the schedule for that. But teams shouldn't be put in the position of having to compromise the way they play. We don't want to end up with a farce round like the AFL did in 2016.

Please, WNBL, either don't start the playoffs so soon next season, or - maybe better - just don't make anyone play twice in the last round. (and also, if the schedule is tight, surely the top team should get the extra day? Why did the Perth series start first? Even one extra day makes a difference when you've just gone Perth -> Canberra -> Townsville -> Perth -> Melbourne)

Anyway, here's hoping for another good one today.

Agreed Luuuc, I guess the trade off with Perth getting the first semi is that they'd (hypothetically) get a day longer than the winner of the second semi leading into the grand final.

I'm assuming the pace they went at in the first quarter was deliberate as Stewart said in his half time interview that they had the tempo they wanted which meant he didn't mind that the shots weren't dropping. I feel that was their undoing though, all those bad shots they put up lost their confidence - those two air balls by Kunek (which IMO weren't horrible looks for her, just the pace of the game made them way too rushed) early on looked to make her hesitate to shoot later in the game and consequently just about nothing went in for her. The shots Williams was putting up weren't great, and yeah some pretty impressive ones went in, but it almost seemed as if she wanted to do it all herself instead of drawing the defender/s and then finding someone else open. They just didn't seem the same team as I'd seen previously in the season, there were stages where that team was there but then that panicked version crept back in. Whether that be the backs against the wall situation they found themselves in getting to the better of them or not, I can't tell.

Tonight certainly will be interesting. I hope Sydney can take it to three, but I can't see Townsville giving up without a fight and I really do fear it'll be straight sets in that series as well. I reckon Suzy will come out fired up (as usual to be honest), but who shows up for Sydney will make or break them.

Regarding Courtney, she's still young and developing her game. That was as good a season as any import has had in the WNBL, and she's still on the rise. She'll learn a lot from her time here, and hopefully expand her game. Getting herself to the basket/free throw line should be priority #1, and extending her range out to the 3 point line #2. In her real career as a WNBA player she won't be expected to carry the kind of load she did for Perth, but having done so will serve her well down the track if she's ambitious.
She's 5'8 and pulled down 12 boards last night, so just let that sink in for a moment.
Hell of a season she just had.

I really hope Williams comes back next season, she was by far my favourite player to watch. A shame we didn't get to see more of her on the television, but I'm sure we'll be seeing her suiting up for USA in the future.

I hope so too. Normally I'd say she'll definitely be in Europe next season, but the shorter season keeps it a possibility I think. A bit of competition around the league for her signature might push her price up a bit too, making it even more attractive for her.

When Williams attacked the paint drew defenders then dished out the Perth side looked a bomb. I thought they would have persisted with a similar offensive attack. Relying on pressured jump shots can't be an effective offensive game. Just my thoughts.

Just watched that first quarter again ... man ... nothing dropped for us. So many good looks. Could easily have ended that with a lead.
That's basketball for ya. Just going to watch the 2nd quarter and then I'll move on :p

I reckon the Lynx will keep the core of their roster together next season. Wasn't Whitcomb re-signed on a multi-year, Standish's fiance is on a multi year with the Wildcats so I doubt she'd leave if she had the opportunity to stay. Kunek from all I've seen/read loves playing in Perth so I doubt she'd leave unless for Europe, Burton was going to go to Europe this season but she hasn't really played her way into recruiters eyes IMO and Farnworth I can't see leaving either. I wouldn't be surprised if the group staying together would pull Williams over the line to come back.

I didn't think Dowe was terrible, she was great on the glass, not a scorer, but then the other four starters are more than capable in that department. I was skeptical pre-season on her, but I thought late in the season she was impressive and showed what she was capable of. Realistically the only other big in the league I could see fitting into the Lynx style and bettering Dowe's output would be Magbegor. Perhaps Ciabattoni/Thompson may look for greater court time elsewhere.

Dowe is not ideally what you'd want from an import. She's so limited. That missed layup in the 2nd quarter was almost the end of what little hair I have left. But yeah she is a good rebounder for her size and we almost managed to make it work with her. I suspect that too many mistakes on D will cost her though. She fit the team work ethic that's for sure. I can never be mad about players who give 100%.

I can see why the Lynx gave Thompson a try. She had her moments, too. But this team relies on everyone playing to the system, and I feel like she just never quite got it. As a result, she was on a short leash for a lot of the season.

Ciabattoni is an interesting one. I really like what she gave us and would love to keep her, but I get the vibe that maybe Andy is not as big a fan - but I might be totally wrong on that. Her court time was limited once Farnworth returned from injury, so yeah if she is after more minutes then a move might be on the cards. I don't get why Adelaide didn't sign her this season. Maybe they've come to their senses and will try to get her home.

Ciabattoni and Thompson are both Adelaide girls, so I reckon the Lightning would be nuts not to look at them. I agree on Ciabattoni, she really impressed me especially early in the season when she was getting up double digit scores and making an impact in her time on court. She probably went back into her shell a bit when Farnworth came back hence the drop off and mistakes creeping into her game. She's a pretty good three point shooter though, I just don't think there's room in that roster to get her those few more minutes which she deserved.

Had it not been for Perth's brutal lead-in I doubt the series would be any worse than 1-1 and the talk about A-H-H momentum advantage would be almost out the window. Perhaps something like Perth hunting down the home team in Gm1, then just as Lynx think it's in the bag a fired up Melbourne do the same in Gm2, only to leave the top team in the box seat with home advantage in the decider??

I fear travel fatigue might also catch out Flames today.

Loved that game last night - give me a tactical defensive scrap with floorboard scraps for loose balls, anytime! I suspect we'll see another tight one today.

O'Hea was my MVP from last nights game. She was the blue-collar skipper that kept them alive from very start to finish and her guarding of Williams was a factor.

Would have to think whitcomb will be a one club player can't see her going anywhere with her and her fiancé Kate having just built a house and with her time already away with Seattle. Standish I agree looks set to stay hopefully Kunek as well but after that it becomes abit more unknown. Not too concerned from there to be honest except for the dream of getting Williams back. If anyone could afford her you would think it would be Perth just have to hope she doesn’t want to just not play in the off season.
Not sure about Andy however would like to see a change there not saying he did a bad job or anything just think we might need abit more to get us over the line we have been at for the last three years.
Does anyone know how long Jack Bendat has the team for? Hopefully no plans to give them back to basketball wa on the cards.

The A-H-H format isn't ideal, but neither is H-A-H when the schedule is tight and the travel distances involved are so large, and of course travel budgets are limited in the WNBL too.
So yeah, AshT, I agree with you. Just adjust the timing of the schedule, and suddenly that first away game isn't the killer that it was this season.

If Sydney get knocked out tonight then huge questions will be asked and it will be a shadow over the whole finals.

Credit to the Boomers for executing their own gameplan. We knew coming into the season they have their ability to be the best side when they get it all together. They did.

Perth just couldn't do what was needed and were really cold. Circumstances with injuries, travel and schedule don't help. Great season but disappointed by the ending.

Hope Williams comes back, it's a dream though. Not often a chance to get a young WNBA starter comes along. Stars have to align.

On the subject of a perfect import C, why would Hamson not fit well at Perth? She's put up superb rebounding numbers this season and can shoot. Done well for Sydney and even if she wouldn't get the rock as much, she'd still be another option for defence to cover.

I've come around a bit on Dowe, she was a good scouting find because she fit the role the coach wanted even if her ceiling is not as high as other imports. If they can't find anyone else next season (not like proper C's are abundant here anyway) wouldn't be adverse to her coming back, she'd be better for the familiarity under the same system.

As for the other players, I hope they can keep most of the team together again, but they mustn't lose Sami.

I don't think there was much doubt anyway, but Sami is contracted for another season
Sami Whitcomb commits to Perth Lynx for two more seasons ahead of WNBA trial

Tupaea listed in the live stats for today's game.. Great to finally see her back, but I would've thought the league would have some sort of eligibility rule for finals??

Luuuc, I suspect the reason why Perth were scheduled to play first in the semis was so that potentially they'd have the rest advantage over the lower ranked team in the Grand Final series.

^ Must admit I haven't checked the GF schedule so that might be fair enough if that is crammed as well.


Flames look to be swimming upstream this game. Not sure where the improvement is going to come from. Maybe Hamson? Fire with a lot of options.

Good to see Tupaea back healthy enough to play. Better late than never.

Well, the first game of the GF series is not until next Saturday (according to my schedule), which for balance sake does not really help Perth enough but I suspect that's why they did it anyway.

As someone hoping for a game 3 this is hard to watch. Fire choking like crazy, and the Flames somehow managing to out-choke them

Belinda Snell looks like Voldemort. Has that comparison been made before? I don't follow WNBL

Wish I could help, but I don't follow Harry Potter!

Congrats to the Fire. That was an intense game.
Could be an interesting series with the Fire having home court.

I feel like Batkovic didn't do nearly enough sooking in the post-game interview. Should have learned from Cambage, so advantage Liz in that battle.

When are the award winners announced? Is it before the GF series? Because this could be the top 2 in the MVP race clashing in the GF.

I like Sydney Wiese, girl got swag.

This is the first time I've watched WNBL since the one-piece era. Crazy

I like Sydney Wiese, girl got swag.

This is the first time I've watched WNBL since the one-piece era. Crazy

IMO Andy didn't have an answer for Melbourne's defence, once their plays for Sami & Courtney did not work.
Yeah Kunek didn't have great game, but played well the previous game.
Perth need a dominate centre to win everything. I'm not sure that Courtney would come back, but hoping she does.

Why did Sydney jack up a 3 when they were only down 1 with 18 sec to go in the game after a timeout? Not the smartest thing to do?

Both teams bowing out in straight sets showed the schedule was a stuff up. Melbourne v Townsville will still be a good gf matchup but sorry, thats completely overshadowed now.

I'm not saying those that won didn't deserve it, or that there is just one factor that goes into why a team played the way they did but clearly if both top teams knocked out in straight sets having to play away first then the scheduling had some impact when it really shouldn't have and that takes away from the spectacle next week.

The GF schedule is far more sensible and should have been instituted for the Semis too. Strange that it was not really,

I agree with Waves. Melbourne and Townsville played better and deserved to advance to the GF, but clearly the AHH scheduling played a part in the results and should be farked off for next season.

That's rubbish that the lynx got out played and were out of it by the 3rd quarter did you even watch the game? The lynx got out to 9 pts in the third and were up by 5 with 5min to go in the game.
The issue with them is they are a run and gun team with perimeter shooters and no inside player. That is fine when you aren’t tired but it is a killed when you are, you have no legs you hit air balls and you can’t run and gun.
That is part schedule and part Andy not resting them when he should have but 7 flights in 8 days and away for a week has to take a toll that it didn’t take on anyone else.
That isn’t the sole reason we lost Melb played great defence and have a rounded team I am not going to take that away from them and sometimes when you are outside shooters you have off nighters and that’s basketball we take that.
We relied no more on our main players than anyone else in the top 4 Sydney,fire and boomers all rely on their starters and we had good starters but they were tired and it showed our game plan doesn’t allow us to be tired.
It’s ok for the wildcats to say after their game today that they were tired after a game two days ago on the road then imagine how the lynx felt you can’t deny it played a role.

It's not just the AHH schedule it’s playing two games in the last round, having no break for a week before starting finals or something similar. Instead they put doubles on the last weekend and finals to start half a week later and then next game 48 hours later plus the AHH schedule which is stupid!

Hahaha at that salty Perth fan. Yeh you really outplayed the Boomers, they just had more points

Changing the subject, I actually went back and looked at all the regular season games and did my own MVP count. Thanks whoever suggested that a few weeks ago. I did it in a 5-4-3-2-1 format and 3-2-1 as well for comparison.

I realise it's limited because it's an entirely subjective assessment based on nothing more than a boxscore, but I think it can be used a general guide on performances and who's likely to come out on top. For instance I hadn't realised how well the rest of the Sydney team did over the season which limits Taylor's scope to score well. Bishop as well was in around that elite group of talent that wasn't talked about as much.

Anyway here are the leaderboards for top 15 in each

5-vote format
S. Batkovic 84
E. Cambage 76
C. Williams 74
A. Taylor 62
S. Whitcomb 62
A. Bishop 60
C. George 49
J. Hamson 47
St. Blicavs 43
B. Snell 40
J. O'Hea 39
N. Seekamp 36
K. Pedersen 36
B. Laney 33
A. Kunek 31


3-vote format
S. Batkovic 46
E. Cambage 40
C. Williams 36
A. Taylor 32
S. Whitcomb 29
A. Bishop 25
J. Hamson 24
C. George 20
St. Blicavs 19
J. O'Hea 16
B. Snell 15
N. Seekamp 13
N. Novosel 13
B. Laney 11
J. Hooper 11
D. Garbin 11

Basically expect either Liz or Suzy to win, so lines up with the GF haha.

Hey wang whipper it's called shooting a better percentage and notbtravelling!

Geez, it's funny to look back at that televised Adelaide vs Melbourne game around a month ago - the one with the controversial Liz travel buzzer beater for the win. That shot gets called a travel instead and if Adelaide took it in OT, the Boomers wouldn't even be in the playoffs yet here they are in the grand final. Sport is bloody fickle, but I love it.

Anyone know if there is a salary cap for WNBL? I can only assume both Townsville and Melbourne have bigger budgets with the talent they both have? Should there be one to ensure fairness and longevity to all teams?

You've been busy, Waves2Lynx.
Interesting conclusion though. Pretty much exactly what I said based on gut feel (i.e. based on Batkovic & Cambage being on winning teams without too many other vote-stealing players)

3-2-1 is the format, I believe.
Will be interesting to see how your numbers compare to the real ones. (Triple your numbers to account for 2 x coaches + referees, and then re-allocate a few Cambage votes to Jenna to simulate how the refs' votes will go ;)

Thanks Luuc. Thank goodness for only eight teams and short season haha. Was fairly easy to do over a week or so of input. I doubt it will match up very accurately but it did help contextualise, at least to me, those who are second or third tier that still had good seasons.

salary cap would help struggling teams like bendigo remain competitive and help teams stay in the league such as the previous SEQ team?

I think we had a big discussion about salary caps/minimum wages in one of the round threads a few weeks back.

I'm of the view that a salary cap at this point in time would be negative for the league - given it does have to be fair for those financially struggling clubs like Bendigo / SEQ if they were still in operation. Would we be seeing imports like Williams or Taylor if there was some sort of cap? Probably not. Would we be able to lure players to stay/come back from Europe/Asia such as O'Hea, Cambage, George and Bishop? Probably not. I think sure the league would be more even - but there was no cap this year and IMO it was pretty damn even - there's always going to be someone coming first and someone coming last, but just about anyone could beat anyone on any given night. In saying that though, there would be a definite compromise in quality in the league.

a salary cap restricts all those players going to the same team that's all. there's a reason why townsville have made 5 of the last 6 grand finals! Otherwise, it's the age old saying..the rich get richer.

agree. season has been compromised from the very start.

It looked like mental disadvantage of being 0-1 down was a factor yesterday, with a tight & over careful looking Flames.

Melb Fan, there was also Novosel going down at HT in that Adelaide - Melbourne game.

I'm fine with no salary cap, but the league needs to ensure it doesn't become lop sided in future as its no fun watching teams on TV getting smashed either.

038 Cambage for me is a drawcard. Great player emotional u have it all. Seems to be liked by her teammates especially O'hea. The fact that she argues every call I put aside and admire her skill set from a basketball pundits view. Just my opinion.

Cambage is what she is. She will win you ball games and maybe a championship but is no role model or good for club culture.

It's a conversation worth having I think.
Melbourne have a stacked team, I can only imagine what it's costing them, but they've also done a tremendous job of signing members & sponsors, and their crowds are always good. That's good for the WNBL, so it doesn't seem fair or wise to cut that back.
Townsville are in a similar category. Maybe less extreme, but again they are very well supported, and it allows them to assemble a quality roster.
Meanwhile I have to think that clubs like Perth & Adelaide are not living within their financial means as they try to compete with the top teams, and that's a concern. That's not Melbourne's fault though. It's also not much fun just making up the numbers, as the Lynx/Waves did for 15 years. That's not good for the comp either. If Jack Bendat stopped pouring his own money into the Lynx then it would be an instant return to that era, I expect.
Bendigo are a concern right now. They appear to be struggling. The great community support they used to get has noticeably diminished, and they're a small market anyway, so it's a really tough road back for them. I don't know what the answer is though.

Would a "soft cap" be of any benefit? (Like what the NBL originally claimed they were going to do, with luxury tax funds being redistributed to the have-nots). Probably not, IMO. I don't think there are any pockets deep enough to give that approach more positives than negatives.

What is the general feeling out there about the WNBL this season?
Has it gained any traction as a result of being on TV and having more star power?

In Perth I would have said probably not. This season has felt no different to the others, with the exception of the last 2 games, which actually had some people in the stands. So that gave me a little bit of optimism to finish the season off with.

They weren't the smart, composed team I'm used to seeing that's for sure. The Fire served up countless mistakes and opportunities for Sydney that game, but they failed to capitalise.
That's finals pressure I guess. That's all I can put it down to. And a bit of fatigue too, actually, which often contributes to poor decision-making.
I don't blame them for giving Tahlia a try though. I would have done the same.

The difference for Sydney this season was they missed Leilani.

Isnt Perth pretty cashed up i remember reading somewhere that they are the only team with all players playing basketball full time not needing other jobs, is that correct?
Also think it said they get their education and training or game day meals provided that is pretty next level on the professional scale for the WNBL.
Is my understanding also right that the wildcats own them, so while they might not make any money they fall under an umbrella that makes alot of money so its not like anyone is sinking money into a hole. Maybe just not making as much money as you would without them but dont think Jack bendat needs to make more money or cares as his age about things like that.
I actually didnt think the Lynx games were too bad in terms of a crowd i am a season ticket holder and while the other side of the stadium was not opened it was filled most weeks on the main side.

I don't get why that hasn't happened yet.
Back in the day, the Breakers playing before the Wildcats at the PEC is how I first became a fan, and here I still am.
Not really feasible for the Friday evening Cats games, but no reason not to do it for a weekend game. Make it a Saturday double-header on tv as well, stick the NBL Gametime show in the half hour gap.

Isnt Perth pretty cashed up i remember reading somewhere that they are the only team with all players playing basketball full time not needing other jobs, is that correct?
Also think it said they get their education and training or game day meals provided that is pretty next level on the professional scale for the WNBL.

Could they have slotted in the Syd-Town final as the curtain raiser to the Kings game Saturday? The time slots were already lined up. It surely would have given off a strong vibe.

I agree on Tupaea, she looked a bit rusty out there and having a player who hasn't played for the best part of a year thrown into a do or die game situation like that just seemed to me like poor management. Even more so when you've got someone like Graham getting only three minutes after being one of the few players looking like scoring in that first game.

On Perth, I'll admit I was surprised to see they didn't have sponsors on their jerseys for most of the season. Hopefully those crowds in attendance at the last two TV games will come back for you guys next season - it didn't look too full to me earlier in the season from the snippets of crowd shown in the highlights/play of the week that the league would put together.

AshT, IMO for a semi it wouldn't be the best idea to schedule the game at a venue the team has only played once at and probably has never trained on. It would've made the farce of a home court advantage even less of an advantage if even possible. If the Kings/Flames consistently had double headers at QBA, then sure but I think Bryden's was probably the best place for that game at this point in time.

Weighing in on this as to the exposure of the WNBL. In Melbourne Roy Ward and Megan Hustwaite in particular do a great job of covering the league.

Melbourne have a great game-day presentation and engagement with fans (and metro associations), hence their increased crowds.

Dandenong do a great job of live streaming all their home games (via Fox Sports platform this season).

One of my biggest concerns is the pay TV thing...

I doubt that Foxtel got a whole lot of new subscriptions as a result of broadcasting the WNBL.

Nobody I know who did not already have a Foxtel subscription bought one to watch the WNBL.

Foxtel/Fox Sports are a business. If they do not see financial return for the WNBL, I am not sure how long that they will persist. That is my greatest worry for the league.

It is great to be on TV again, but the overwhelming majority who have pay TV are not in it for watching the WNBL I am afraid. Plus it is a very small audience in comparison to FTA TV.

I personally think that the way of the future is the broadcast all games online - that will also reach a GLOBAL audience rather than just the audience within our shores.

My recollection is that the licence for the Perth Lynx was only for 3 years from 2015 so I wonder if the Wildcats/Bendat will want to go round again? Don't underestimate the competitiveness of Jack Bendat - he will not be happy that they haven't got a premiership yet.

My point is how long will that support, whether fed $ or Fox Sports last when the ROI (i.e. viewers) are not there?

My recollection is that the licence for the Perth Lynx was only for 3 years from 2015

I guess we'll see in the coming seasons whether this partnership with Fox Sports has been worth it. If we can get say two or three games a week televised next season and increased access via live stream to some of the non-televised games, I'd say it'd be a win. While it would be ideal for those two to three games to be televised live I'd be more than willing to compromise for the time being and have the standard 3pm Sat game live and any subsequent games shown on delay.

I haven't seen figures on the attendances/tv ratings for this season - if anyone has them, please do share. From what I have observed, attendances look to have increased from previous seasons - hopefully these people are tuning in to the coverage on Saturday afternoons as well.

I think Perth and Sydney have every reason to be salty! Perth are a outside shooting/jump shooting team and so are Sydney to a large extent. Being tired isnt going to be helpful. Even if you leave the finals the way they are (which i dont think they should be) atleast give some time between end of season and start of finals and no double headers, pretty simple really.

I agree. I think the A-H-H issue is the lesser problem, although it's still not ideal. It's not fair that the higher team does more travel in a series. But that is largely mitigated by spacing the games well apart, as they are in the GF series.

If Perth still had to travel first under an A-H-H format I would not have had a problem with it had the series just started on the weekend rather than Wednesday.
I don't care how deep a team is or what style they play, they're going to be disadvantaged by having the nutso schedule that the Lynx had. Everyone acknowledges this. And it will be rectified next season I'm sure.

Reply #665169

You mean that $30million that disappeared almost instantly into the Murdoch coffers that had no accountability or stipulations attached to it when the government passed media reform?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-19/fox-sports-foi-request-30-million-sports-deal/8722656

Anyway, think Sally Phillips organised that deal on her own, it was never mentioned iirc when the deal was done.


Agree with others, I enjoyed last season more than this one, mainly because last year you could watch more of it with the streams. This year you couldn't. Which is a shame because the teams were stacked this time round.

Condensed season and stupid scheduling need to be fixed too.

I'm thankful that the government parted ways with a good chunk of money for that cause, but the execution seems to be irresponsible at best, plain corrupt at worst.

It was all just downright dirty in my book...and further reinforces my concern.

However I am an optimist.

Re: WNBL games as curtain raiser to NBL games.

Melb Fan, fair point about actual home COURT advantage for the Sydney final. I personally think crowd support is possibly the biggest advantage and importantly, linking back to Luuuc's comment, "Breakers playing before the Wildcats at the PEC is how I first became a fan", I think to do it for a final would have an even bigger impact on potential fans and the league really should get seriously on this. TV alone might yet fail but the two startegies combined could well be the propultion the league is searching for.

Obviously how gate takings are affected for a final is perhaps a concern in the short term??

AshT, for sure - I think the league/teams should get behind double headers wherever practical. I'm surprised that Perth doesn't have a few games a season as double headers given they are literally run by the same management. I still think there is a fine line to tread though in that you wouldn't want the league to be seen as the 'pre game entertainment' so to speak for the NBL games. I reckon if the league continues with their 21 game / 3 games against each team format into the future a Melbourne Derby would be great as a double header at HiSense/MCA.

Not too sure on the impact on a double header in terms of a greater attendance as Melbourne doesn't do NBL doubles, but for those in Adelaide and Sydney who have attended both stand alone and double header games, are there many NBL oriented fans who come and watch the full WNBL game who otherwise probably wouldn't have attended a stand alone?

I'm thinking about the potential to catch fans for the long term (as per Luuuc's example). It may be wiser to fish in a pond that already contains basketball fans than hoping to increase interest randomly from the general public. Sydney have only done it from this year and Adelaide from last year (I think?), so it's really only been done to minimul extent thus far.