Rule of thumb for TV coverage:
Every round starts with a Wednesday ESPN game, with the rest of the round being streamed on 9Now.

Round 8 (Dec 28th) is the only slight variation to the rule.


WNBL TV Schedule

I assume that is international ESPN coverage ? Could friends in the states view ? Southside v Adelaide would have been a good game for them.

Why would you assume that?

Highly unlikely I would've thought. The ESPN we get here is for the Australian & NZ market so doubt NBL games or now WNBL games get shown any further than that.

The NBL games definitely don't. Very much doubt the WNBL would.

Basket Case podcast:
Link

The WNBL Show podcast:
Link

So the Lightning are playing at the same time as the Adelaide 36ers.

Lightning are in Melbourne though

Feed quality, not good.

Maybe start with a FTA game so you can iron out the bugs before the showcase match. This is garbage. Clock and scores just changing or blanking out at random. Whole thing has an awful color filter on it.

The commentating hub changes volume constantly.
Very poor to start off like this, maybe make sure everything is ready and working properly first....

Wallace, Whitcomb, Mitchell, Atwell, Scherf all been good in the first 1/2.

Do broadcasters still receive federal funding for airing women's sports?

KR, Pretty sure that colour filter was just the uniforms. Who decided pink vs pink with Pink refs was a good idea.

Nope, the Lynx were wearing red:

For all the doubters ;) We were pretty in red <3

Game Night Snaps

Credit: @sportsimageryau #perthlynx #wnbl23 pic.twitter.com/UWaIXolUL9

— Perth Lynx (@PerthLynx) November 2, 2022

Production values of the broadcast was hilarious. The WNBL is using a new TV game production company this season but it's the same company as the NBL's so it shouldn't be that bad.

Nice to have a high scoring game first up but Perth's defence was especially bad.

Game was great, broadcast was not.

The Boomers are gonna rely heavily on Mitchell, Wallace and George this season, especially until Madgen comes back. They were great in this one, but will need some more help for games where any of those 3 are off.

I was really surprised with how good Wallace was offensively. I think this is going to be a really fun team to watch this season.

Madgen is out for 4 weeks, if the boomers don't lose many games over the next month, they’ll easily make final 4. Getting Scanlon back will help a lot too.

No Garbin, young or mabrey for Perth...
Ryan, Atwell and Bibby won’t get them into top 4. 6-8 finish.
Whitcomb won’t be able to keep scoring at the same rate all season either.

Hard to recognise the players with the pale broadcast.
Mitchell - faark. some kinda supa player.

Nice to have a high scoring game first up but Perth's defence was especially bad.

Getting rid of Ryan and getting a wnba calibre pg should be the goal or else they have no hope this season.


Spend a little more money, scout a bit better outside wa and get a few people back, could have had...


Import - Gandini/Burrows
Whitcomb - Gould
Atwell - Sharp
Garbin - Bibby
Scherf - Allen


Pay garbin her worth
Get just 1 high level import
Scout better, Gould not picked up for wnbl, highest ppg in wbbl england.

Yeah I'm hoping for a breakout season for Wallace. She has all the tools to be a top tier guard but has only started to put it all together in the last couple of years because of injuries. If she can score more consistently and efficiently, she'll be fantastic. She'll get the opportunities in Lucas' system.

I am a bit puzzled why Perth haven't spent that much this season on their roster compared to last season. Even if they couldn't get Young to re-sign, surely that money could have been spent on other equivalent players? Trading in two WNBA starter imports and an Opal for two Aussie college grads and an NBL1 level import is a massive downgrade. They can't or won't spend the money which is a real shame.

Weedly Slug
scout a bit better outside wa / Scout better, Gould not picked up for wnbl, highest ppg in wbbl england.
They're not allowed to, owned by basketball WA. Mandated they must take x number of WA based players as that's what's funding the program. Petrik's hands are tied

That doesn't mean contracted have to be mostly wa, it means dp in which they have done.

All Wa
Foster
Tharp
Forster
Kelle
Vlahov
Davis


With Ciabs(baby) out, they needed a sg or combo that can handle and shoot, they didn’t bring one in, atwell imo is not a sg, she’s a sf. A 3 pt shooting/rebounder, too similar too sharp. Clarke was the same type also.

From wnbl

We apologise to our fans, clubs and players for the technical difficulties experienced during the broadcast of our first WNBL game last night.

Our production partner JAM TV have acknowledged that what was provided by their technical supplier was not acceptable and have sought and received assurances that it will be rectified.

That doesn't mean contracted have to be mostly wa, it means dp in which they have done.

False. have to be contracted. 10 of their 12 this year are wa born or wa based, plus all their training players.

And Allen retired, scouting

6/10

Contracted
Gandini - wa
Burrows - wa
Ryan - usa
Whitcomb - wa
Atwell - wa
Sharp - vic
Bibby - vic
Hoycard - wa
Edwards - wa
Scherf - vic


Playing once or twice before in nbl1 west doesn't mean squat.

8/10

wa born or wa based

Doesn't have to mean squat to you if you ain’t paying the bills. Their bills, their rules

They should have signed German international Fiebich and Canadian international Hamblin earlier then if they are 'wa' players long before they were picked up by overseas clubs.


So desperate to keep wa talent they let go of Garbin and Clarke and Mckay because
1. they didn’t want to fork out the doe
2. they made decisions early on that they wouldn’t be any good long term

Couldn’t even afford 1 of the star imports from last year.

Now they are claiming players who have played just 1 season in nbl1 west as contracted western Australian players? BS.

We apologise to our fans, clubs and players for the technical difficulties experienced during the broadcast of our first WNBL game last night.

Our production partner JAM TV have acknowledged that what was provided by their technical supplier was not acceptable and have sought and received assurances that it will be rectified.

Wnbls fault for not seeking nbl/nbl1 help.

Tharp is a Lynx DP? Oh my.

Tp - training player

Eddie McGuires jam tv apologises meanwhile perth based production company who has done quite a few,sports with no problems overlooked

Paused feed every 20 seconds, unwatchable.

If you have a VPN, you can watch it on FIBA's Youtube channel (which is what I'm doing)

Yep had to give it away, stop start rubbish. Disappointing to say the least.

Buidling on the momentum from the world cup BA take over the WNBL and it turns to shit on the first week. The coverage is just pathetic. Disappointing but not surprising.

AJC streams are better than this

Hopefully potter has not done her acl

9Now broadcast problems aside, the production of the broadcast is hilariously second-rate. Strange lighting, funny camera angles, no foul count and shot clock in the in game screen display and the commentators reading out ads during timeouts?! Allegedly the WNBL uses the same media production company as the NBL so unsure why the broadcast experience is so different.

Who are the 2 male commentators ?

Production company is Eddie macguires jam tv, worse than nbl1 quality.

Same company different teams.

One of the male commentators is Tom Garlepp, ex-NBL player and current Sydney Flames assistant coach. I've heard the other male commentator before but no idea who it is.

Thanks SP. The voices are boring to listen to whether or not what they say may be sensible. Why no high profile female commentators like Michele Timms?

Canberra D , woeful.

I think they're saving the high profile commentators for the ESPN games of the week. These Channel 9 broadcasts are clearly done on the cheap. I agree the commentators could be better.

Yeah Canberra's D is bad, but Bendigo do look very sharp. There's a clear talent difference between Bendigo and Canberra. I like the Melbourne and Swain backcourt for Canberra though, fun to watch even with their inexperience and turnovers.

Melbourne and Swain are good young players who will be opals for sometime.
Tonks and Pizzey though, hard to see them lasting in the wnbl.

Kereama what r u doing, from 20 to 10 deficit and you throw on dunlop.

^ winning by 20 by the looks of it

I meant Canberra was down by 20, got it back to 11 and then Kereama added dunlop only to come straight off for griffin to come back in.

Solid start to the season by Bendigo. They're not a deep team but I like their mix, and that front court rotation should keep them in plenty of games just through their effort levels alone.

Catching up this morning with 9Now's stream ... pretty disappointing quality, and that's without the bugs that it sounds like most people copped watching it live. Major step down from what Kayo produced last season.
Fingers crossed that there's improvement to come.

Any word on potter?

Eddie McGuires jam tv apologises meanwhile perth based production company who has done quite a few,sports with no problems overlooked

Not sounding good for Potter

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7970081/capitals-suffer-heartbreaking-injury-blow-in-season-opening-loss/

ACL rupture + MCL strain confirmed, unfortunately

Dam, just like Wallace, back 2 back. They say the second acl you should rehab longer. We may not see her until nbl1 2024.

I wonder if veal can reinvigorate another young career if potter is out for sometime. A once highly rated junior who will be available at the end of aflw like Jasmine Simmons or Paige Price. Wouldn't want Canberra to just pickup a vet nbl1 player or local. Maybe a Coe forward is willing to come out early and skip college to be contracted but they have to be born 2004 or earlier which only 1 remains at Coe,

How unfortunate for Potter especially with her injury history. Hope all goes well with her rehab.

I can't see Canberra picking up a good replacement for Potter. I don't think picking up Price or Simmons for half a season would be all that useful, especially if they're not intending on playing basketball at WNBL level in the long term.

Simmons keeps getting omitted by the crows and price was delisted by the saints.
Simmons I believe is already a training player for the lightning.
Brazel another good 2004 option, just a dp in Adelaide. Maybe can poach. Won't get many minutes this season, too many infront of her.
Burrows a dp at boomers and Ananiev a dp at spirit already signed to colleges.

Lol this is hilarious, no commentators to start and worse than yesterdays feed.

My stream looks like it was optimised for a 56kbps modem

Seriously, how can it be this bad?. A parent at a vjbl div 4 game does a better job.

The bitrate on 9Now is atrocious. I watched a bit of one of the NRL games when the deal was announced, to make sure I could get everything up and running, and it was atrocious.

Audio 2 seconds out of sync. Even NBL1 broadcasts were better than this.

Collier could be fired after just 1 round.

Southside would be red hot favourites for the title - so many talls

coverage was pixelating badly early but has settled now - my problem or other ? now running HD fine and we have very good cable connection.

I have the fixtures synced to my calendar and they say tipoff is still five minutes away.

And 9Now doesn't have any way to rewind or start from the beginning.

And they're mispronouncing Borlase.

I have it forced to 720p and still getting SD.

Pathetic.

Borlase has been solid

Are you getting SD, or HD with atrocious bitrate? They're not the same thing.

The highest bitrate 9Now is capable of sending will always look like trash. The awful camera settings aren't helping.

Borlase very, very good and only going to get better

Lightning is very impressive with their structure

if these 2 teams play like this every week both will be top 4

I actually had a good looking HD picture for a moment when first loading up the stream but it didn't last long.

Yes, it looks like a faded/bleached out HD picture due to low bitrate.

Only 1/2 the squad playing D. 57 vs 50 at the 1/2

Does 9Now always suck *this* hard or have they made a special effort for the WNBL?

Comments from when it first aired all courts of the Australian Open (January 2020):

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/3qqyp4y3

So I'm going to go with always.

Nbl1 quality on kayo should be the minimum goal.
Jam tv should not be paid for this production.

You know you have a big problem when there is more discussion around the poor standard of broadcast quality than the game itself.

6 players scored in double figures for the Flyers in LJ's return to the WNBL as they held off Adelaide to win by 8 points.

WNBL's broadcast partner is Jam TV - the same company that looks after the NBL. Jam TV have subcontracted the production to Cluch TV who are self described as being "a live and on-demand streaming network dedicated 
to community sport."

Was at the game tonight. Considered staying home and watching it on 9now but after how bad it was last night, decided to go as I live not too far from the SBC. Seems I definitely made the right decision.

Was a good game! Agree with a few others and said to my partner who was with me, Borlase is a very good player for 18.

Ah good ole subcontracting, that explains it. The WNBL better demand more from their production partners.

The scoring onslaught has surprised me so far and I'm sure all the coaches are concerned about defence. Borlase was definitely the highlight - love her craftiness off the dribble and her finishing. Southside look in the same category as Bendigo - top tier title contenders.

What time is the Townsville game? YouTube says 1200, my phone calendar says 1300.

Meanwhile the Lynx game isn't on YouTube, it's just a waiting screen.

Townsville game is 1500 according to WNBL website (AEDT I assume)

Sorry times are local so that's 3 pm Queensland time.

Should have moved Bendigo license to Tassie before the season before the renewal, 200-300 people vs potentially 2,000-3,000 a game.

Get allthese teams aligned with nbl locations.
Good to see they moved Southside to sbc and boomers to msac.

I think 1000-1500 a game would be realistic for Tassie, and that would be excellent.

A lot more imo, they have nothing else to go to if no cricket home game.

Boomers are at Parkville

Yeah that's the one.

"A lot more imo, they have nothing else to go to if no cricket home game."

I'm living down here ATM. There is more to do in Tassie than anywhere else I've lived if you like the outdoors, which most Tassie folks do. Sports in Tas generally get poor attendances, the JackJumpers being the exception at the moment because they are doing a hell of a job on and off the court.

Getting 1000-1500 to the WNBL games would be an awesome crowd here, trust me.

I can disagree.

Demolition atm, 41-16 1/4 time

Harmon, Pizzey, tonks nbl1 level imo.

Reid > Rocci/Heal
Clearly front runner for new opals pg addition.

Good comeback by the caps.

Caps Thrashed after the half, and now a few players down

Ouch. That was brutal. Great stuff from the Fire.
Hopefully Melbourne is back soon. Looked to me like a fairly standard land-on-another-foot ankle sprain.

Lynx need to get some more consistent effort & discipline into their game. Seemed to me like there was a lot of going through the motions rather than doing things with real intent. That stuff is the difference between buckets and stops at both ends.
Burrows looking healthier than last year, which is good because there are certainly PG minutes up for grabs this season.

Borlase keeps that level up and she will be drafted to WNBA

Dont think wnba level but a future opal for sure if she can get a consistant 3 pt shot.
Not sure she has enough tools for the wnba.

I'd have said the same about Talbot at the same age Weedy & I think Borlase compares favourably to her at the same age.

If she likes basketball enough I think she is a WNBA talent.

Talbot has legit size as a sf at 188cm and a very good defender.

Borlase is 5'11 04 SG and is not comparable to Talbot imo. Different positions.
As a potential future international, she’s competing against other sgs of similar age.
Quite a few around born 2000-2006. Eg Shelley, Melbourne, Swain etc etc

If Borlase can keep up this form, she will definitely be drafted to the WNBA. The question is whether she'll make a final roster. She has good size and decent athleticism so I don't think that's the issue. She can hit outside jumpers but clearly prefers to go inside. She'll need to demonstrate she can score from the outside consistently if she wants to make a final WNBA roster. I think it's possible - she's not eligible for the draft till 2024 and there's a lot of development to go.

Canberra must be disappointed with their weekend and the injuries on top of that - yipes. Not surprising given what they've lost, but it's definitely a rebuild season for them. The three Victorian teams plus Townsville look like an early solid bet for the top four.

Drafted sure, just like Melbourne but atwell was drafted, Tupaea was drafted, Mijovic was drafted.

Beyond pick 5 in the wnba, the chances of a long term wnba career are slim.

2023 draft mocks

Highest I've seen

Shelley #12
Swain #28

If they enter...
I don’t think Shelley is going anywhere near #12, more second/third round and I think swain will be one of the last few picked but could boost stock if she has a good wnbl season.

Borlase's athleticism is well on the way to elite level (like Talbot) she is taller than Erin (2 x wnba titles). So if her results are of this level regularly I'd expect her to drafted - whether anything eventuates time will tell. Is there a minimal draft age in the wnba ?

She'll be an opal but not sure how anyone sees her having elite level athleticism, the COE records should show that.

Poise and basketball IQ, yes, very savy at her age.
Strength, endurance and desire, above average.
Vertical leap, lateral quickness, speed and explosiveness, no special attributes.

International players can get drafted in the WNBA in the year they turn 20. Borlase was born in 2004 so she'll be eligible to be drafted in 2024. She will almost certainly be drafted - WNBA teams are keen to pick up foreign prospects in the second and three rounds and worse WNBL prospects have been drafted. I would also expect Nyadiew Puoch to get a good look from WNBA teams for the 2024 draft.

Borlase and Puoch yes, wnba drafted, long term pro players + opals.
Loughridge, undrafted, long term pro, potential opal.


Other current non contracted 2004 born WNBL Players

Long wnbl career? yes/no

Pg Rotunno no
Sg Tharpe no
Sf Brazel yes
Sf Burrows yes
Sf Ananiev yes
Sf Vlahov no
Pf Crawshaw yes
C Griffiths no

I would say her physical & athletic attributes are well ahead of her poise & IQ. Perhaps why we view her differently as a prospect.

Yeah I am not sure the Talbot/Borlase comparison is that useful. Talbot is playing in the WNBA due to her defensive versatility. If Borlase is going to make the WNBA, it's due to her offensive skills.

The results are clear though, they have been recorded both at Coe and by sa basketball.
Eye test vs actual records.

Weedy - read up in this thread where you mention Borlase is not and will not be WNBA level.

Didn't you say I said she wouldn’t be drafted?

1-0 Weedy.

I still think your assessment here under sells her potential.

I said she would be a long term pro and an opal. wnba drafted, yes, wnba level player, no.
Might get a shot like Heal, Atwell or Maley but playing year in, year out in the wnba, imo I don't think so.

Doesn't seem unfair. It's only a guess after all.
Tonnes of young players show potential. Not many achieve continuity on a WNBA roster. So many factors at play, especially for a non-American.
Doesn't mean we aren't all hoping for the best for her.

If Borlase's ability to get to the rim and finish translates to the WNBA at all, I think she will find a regular spot there. She has great finishing touch for a guard and good court vision too. Her outside shooting and pick and roll play needs work but they will improve with more experience and games.

Magbegor the only one who is u23 that looks like she will have a 5-10 year wnba career.

Highest chance of getting wnba contract from wnbl youth imo.

Melbourne > Swain > Puoch > Borlase

I would say Puoch > Borlase > Melbourne > Swain.

As someone said above, none of us are rooting against any of them making it.

I think Borlase and Puoch have more definable potential WNBA skills and roles than Swain and Melbourne do. One could argue that Melbourne has the biggest upside but I don't think anybody knows yet what's the best role for her in the pros.