on behalf of Perth.... go Townsville!

Maley has got to have a better understanding of what constitutes a good shot Vs bad shot! If you watch Maley closely her defensive efforts are quite subpar & often leave her teammates on an island & vulnerable.

Like I said in the other thread, she's not right. Her focus and desire has disappeared in the last month or so.

Rumour is Kereama & Maley haven't seen eye to eye over the last half of the season around her shot selection & subpar defensive efforts.

Well, Perth are through to the finals.
Congratz, they wanted it more than Bendigo.

A Bendigo win would've kept Southside alive and given Perth something to play for, but that would be interesting and we can't have that.

re: Bendigo signings, I'm surprised the commentating pair didn't mention an obvious solution and that is sign an import or two. Maybe their domestic signings have left no budget for imports.

The way Bendigo ended their season has to be the big concern - have looked flat in 2023 with little to no fight. I agree that Maley has looked off for whatever reason and it should be interesting to see what changes are made during the offseason. There's some kind of systemic problem there because *everybody* has looked pretty bad.

I did not see such a collapse happening, effort has been piss poor. The last few games, it has been very noticeable that they couldn't give a toss. Very unprofessional.

On an entirely different note, Jade Melbourne needs to dish out at least 9 assists in her final game against Perth to become the league leader in assists per game. She's also going for her fourth consecutive points/assists double double, which I hope she gets.

It has been suggested that a significant share of the Spirits budget had already been spent on some veteran players before the coach was appointed.

Borlase out again. Hope this injury doesn't affect her international commitments in the offseason.

Borlase missing opals camp potentially but should be right for u19.
Brazel doesn't look like she will be ready either, probably why she wasn’t selected for u19

Lynx sure love giving up leads.

Back to the comments about Bendigo... sounds like Maley, Griffin and Kelly Wilson are all on very generous deals. Maley as reigning MVP should be able to make her own price in the pre season. However, signing veterans with injury histories for multi year deals just isn't good business. No doubt Griffin is quality person and has been pure winner over the years, but thinking she could provide same benefit as a current WNBA player in an import spot is wishful thinking. Hope they rebuild and bring in quality imports to bolster ranks of up and coming players.

Best they can probably do

Lavey
Garrick - was here the previous year and did well
Maley
Griffin
Import - a good U.S or euro Center, not a rookie wnba out of college

Wilson
Wehrung
Wilson
Horvat - maybe an affordable option backing up griffin
Froling

Some cheap pickups that could turn out to be good contracts
Gould, playing well in england league
Reed(nz), best player in the Finnish league

Some senior ncaa DPs you might go after
Hurst - from Bendigo, can play both guard positions
Whittaker(nz) - a strong determined 6'3 rebounding big


Move elsewhere or cut or keep as dp
Simpson(dp)
Mclean
Bandilovska(dp)
Porter(dp)
Dunlop
Locandro
Mckay - sort after as a backup somewhere, Lightning or Lynx maybe

Bendigo coach is one of their issues, but they just lost their mojo , the team chemistry just wasn't flowing, Maley seems to be running her own game, and it’s time for Kelly Wilson to hand the baton over, and KG23 is far too injury prone sadly, absolutely love her commentary though, she’s such a good human all round but think it may be time to give those boots a well deserved rest

Southside absolutely destroyed by Fire tonight! Southside aren't nearly as arrogant & cocky when they’re being demolished. A few of their players could & should show some more humility instead of arrogance i.e. Rocci, Thornton & Bishop.

The Victorian teams really rolled over to Townsville this round. Disappointing. The Sydney Flames put up a much better fight.

Townsville swept Southside in the regular season while having three entertaining games against Melbourne with Melbourne winning 2-1. But Melbourne were swept by Southside in their regular season series which means they'd have to do the unlikely to reach the grand final series. I'd probably like Perth to win it all, but they were also swept by Townsville in their regular season series. All this probably means we end up with Townsville sweeping Southside to win the WNBL championship. Please prove me wrong, WNBL semi finalists!

Another good game from swain and starting to see her name mentioned alot more before the draft.

Hard to argue against Reid being the front runner for the Opals PG spot. Led the Fire superbly last night.

Sandy ain't going to replace Whitcomb or Wallace anytime soon, hard to see her ditching Madgen too. She was captain.

Cut imo before Paris
1 Madgen for Reid, Rocci or Melbourne
2 Garbin for Smith
3 Maley hanging on but would prefer another guard. Will be safe this year though with Talbot injured.

I don't know whether Reid would be that effective at the international level given her lack of size and poor outside shooting. She's in the mix for sure but I think Melbourne is the better option with her size and athleticism advantage. You could even include both of them on the team but that kind of thinking might be too radical for Brondello.