The U18 asia women's tournament looks to be held earlier.
It starts June 24-June 30.

The U17 womens WC is July 13, might be hard to play back to back tournaments for 07/08s.


The U18 camp appears to have 19 players
hard to know for sure... but looks to be

Bond 06
Lehmann 07
Harvey 06
Bessell 06?
Deas 06
Bobongie 06
Brennan 06?
Shiels 06
Russell 07
Fuller 06
Bird 06
Fagan 08
Hanson 07?
Clarke 06?
Williams 06
Waite 06?
Crook 07
Portlock 06

Dakic 07
Taylor 07
Metcalfe 06
Another guard but can't tell from pics.


Dart, Puoch and Akot you would think should be in camp.

Mens best 12 ?

Renfree
Honeyman
Daniels
Brogan
Fennell
Furphy
Beauchamp
Siulepa
Malual
Nyuon
Maker
Zikarsky

U18 Gems squad was just announced by BA.

Opal Bird (NSW)
Monique Bobongie (QLD)
Teyahna Bond (QLD)
Jade Crook (NSW)
Emilija Dakic (VIC)
Bonnie Deas (VIC)
Hilary Fuller (QLD)
Sienna Harvey (VIC)
Zara Russell (ACT)
Saffron Shiels (NSW)
Lara Somfai (SA)
Monique Williams (WA)

Head Coach: Kristen Veal
Assistant Coaches: Renae Garlepp, Katherine McPhail

So far from the best available.
Doubling up on somfai, Russell, crook and dakic? Prior to u17 WC.

Is Fagan injured or deemed under performing at Nationals?

Injured. As are a number of those named in the team.

Why wouldn't they double up and pick Hall, who is far superior to Dakic? CoE athlete over non CoE athlete?

100% Dakic was pretty poor at Nationals too

Not a bad squad, no guarantee we medal.

Harvey - Bond
Deas - Bobongie - Dakic
Shiels - Russell
Somfai - Fuller - Bird
Williams - Crook

Those at Coe definitely got the nod over those outside, for sure...


Hall obviously missing
06s that could have filled in perhaps for those WC players.
Dart g/f - playing well in nbl1 north
Akot pf - has improved quite alot in the last year n a half
Clarke pf/c - mia but good player
Puoch c - holding her own in nbl1 south
Waite c - solid in nbl1 west

Girls u18 Asia champs, 5 days out. Rosters complete.

China starting C 7'3-7’4 2007

Is it streamed anywhere?

@weedy- Was Hall a non-selection? She gave COE team a bath last week in NBL1

And is Perkins too young for this group?

Games will be on YouTube Massive.

Hall.. She was very very good. By far the best in the age group imo.

Yeah I dunno, some u17 players made both teams. Pretty silly because it would have helped to get some gametime in prior to the WC. Maybe it was another Coe guarantee.

Hopefully we can win u18 asia without our best.

Veal is the HC with Garlepp and Mcphail as AC.

Mcphail is a surprise inclusion as an assistant coach tbh.

I keep hearing she'll be moved on as SAM U18 head coach. Issues at AJC with lack of in-game adjustments, coaching staff at loggerheads with one another, athletes being forced to play with serious injuries, all under her watch.

Will be a real test for Ranford, new to the HP role, is she willing to make the tough call?

agree @Blues76

"Veal is the HC with Garlepp and Mcphail as AC."

Thought old Vealy was injured and couldn't Coach !!!!


https://www.facebook.com/abccanberra/posts/kristen-veal-has-stood-down-as-head-coach-of-the-canberra-capitals-due-to-compli/974383127683262/

spot on Blues, McPhails appointment is terrible however it may have been made prior to AJCs?

KM is a solid pick. deserves hr chance. has won multiple titles for SA. alwys unhappy parents moaning about a coach or just people with a grudge. who else is better suited?

had her chance been in the system for years and made a mess of it this year

How much of these titles does the coach deserve credit for when she had the likes of Borlase and Somfai at her disposal?

A modern day, elite coach at national level needs to be a great communicator who is approachable. She always gave me the impression of an old school coach.

The lack of in-game adjustments at the last AJC was very noticeable so hopefully she gives some value to Veal, tactically. On Veal, this will test out her so called injury that stopped her coaching the Caps. Nothing like a game per day for multiple days in a row.

Of course you need good players to win but you still have to win.stand by my opinion and think mistakesgive chance for growth.

Fair enough @massive. Point taken. Let's hope for growth, need more elite female coaches in the system

HT
AUS 64-13 MALAYSIA

cant really take much from this game, Malaysia won't be in DIV 1 for long with the new system.

S5
PG Shiels
SG Deas
SF Bobongie
PF Somfai
C Williams
+
PG Bond
SG Harvey
SF Russell
PF Bird
C Crook
+
G Dakic
F Fuller

FT 124-38

Somfai - 28pts
Deas - 17pts / 6 stls
Shiels - 16pts / 12 rbds

For as good as Australia was, Malaysia were just as bad.

Another comfortable win vs Korea. 85-52.
3 clear standouts on this team in Somfai, Deas and Shiels.
Taipei up next, a win gets us a WC spot next year.

Against China-Nothing really can be done when we face 7'3 zhang except to try and deny her from receiving the lob pass.

Probably should change the lineup soon to prepare for the quickness of japan.
Shiels and Bobongie in the backcourt, not a good combination on the defensive side.

Eg
Harvey
Deas
Shiels
Somfai
Williams
+
Bond
Bobongie / Dakic
Russell
Bird / Fuller
Crook

Agree the best players have been Shiels, Somfai, Deas. Also think Bobongie has been playing well. Then you the middle lot who haven't played bad but not set the world on fire. Then there is definitely a bottom 3 who seem to struggle with the international game in Fuller, Bond and Dakic. Against Korea they seem to not be able to finish or make plays which will be a factor against China and Japan and the worlds next year for U19.

I disagree that denying the big from China is the only thing to do as that will only cause minor disruption as she has good hands and can operate from the high post...…and is so tall she will still get the catch!!!

They really need to pressure the guards or deny the better pass to the better positioned guard so no easy passes to the post or have to make high lob passes and use our athletic wings to shoot the lane. Also the quicker we push the ball up the floor the better as she is slow getting down the floor. The only issue is China usually play fast as well with good shooters. Im sure Veal, Garlepp and Co have already one eye on Japan and China.

You want her at the high post... get her away from the basket where she has a fg % of 86.2

Changes maybe...

Hall > Dakic
Perkins or Bond(hasn't really got much time)
Clarke/Akot > Bird/Fuller
Puoch/Waite > Crook
Russell probably not a lock either. BA enamoured with Ryan so maybe a triple bottom ager.

Hall for Dakic.

I just haven't seen anything from Dakic as yet at the NBL1, national or international level.

With Bond and Fuller it’s replaced with whatever they need. Funnily enough Portlock would have beneficial as a 12th player for the China game.

I doubt Portlock would have helped despite being 6'8.

Hinder a much better option at 6'7.

She gets 5 fouls to use!! And you could probably front the post a little better with 6'8 rather than 6’4 bigs.

Not saying will be a game changer but gives them a different look for stretches to mix things up.

Don't know much about Hinder so can’t comment.

She just got an offer from Oregon class of 2026.

Australia and China get 2 rest days, both qualified for the 2025 u19 WC and through to a semi final.

For the other 2 semi spots.
Japan vs Chinese Taipei
Korea vs NZ

Terrible first half.

Third not much better.

Why Veal coaching, did she not stop at Canberra due to knee problem?

Lonergan > Herbert > Veal, Need to get rid of all 3.

Why don't we shoot 3’s?

shiels going to complain every time down the floor?

3 years at Coe and we still see players bringing the ball down to waist height for it to get snatched. I count about 20 times this game.

28 TO seems a lot , is this normal at this level in this age group ?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Certainly did not deserve that win. Very poor all round.

amazing that this is a national team? such a poor performance about plus 40 on rebounds and barely fell over the line.
Shiels is not a point guard, talented player (Joe Ingles wing/point) but very poor body language as commented above, Somfai passes the ball like an u12, so many extremely poor passes and defensive efforts from her. Some of it certainly coaching, who is handling the ball, who is passing it in, spacing on offence and so on.
hopefully there are some lessons learnt from that effort.

Nothing has been rectified since the last u19 WC debacle. Same development coaches.

Watched the replay. That was hard to watch. China will be tougher.

Should be a better matchup for aus imo.
Zhang is the only real threat.

I had expected our girls to beat Japan and was looking decidedly wrong in the third quarter. But they rallied - good on them.
In today's final, the relativity that will determine the outcome is (a) The amount of protection the refs give Zhang at both ends of the floor? and (b) just how efficient will Aust be in offense transition?
Without Zhang, I believe we are more likely to beat China than lose. The partisan, vocal crowd will be a challenge for us. Early on I expect Saffron/Somfai will be dribble penetraing and coming at Zhang, mostly to pick up early fouls on her. Saffron is fairly tall and she plays long, and she will demand that Zhang move laterally to block her - the question then becomes - will the refs - facing that crowd pressure - call the fouls? And at the other end, with Zhang posting up, will the refs give her undue protection when she pushes her defender back at the mid/low block - will they call offense charges and travels her? I anticipate Williams will get a lot of minutes early, and will get the main defensive assignment on Zhang - if the refs want to engage in charity, let the fouls pile up on Williams, not Somfai, as Somfai gives us so much in offense. It's going to be a fascinating game.

Doubt veal will change things now which means Williams will matchup with zhang.
Would have liked to see Puoch, Waite or Hinder over crook and Clarke/Akot over Bird/Fuller

Weedy - what time is the game on v china and where abouts do I find it please ?

All good Weedy appears like I've found it

Some really stupid bball being played.

Stupid how? I would like to see a but more pressure on the passes in to the big from China and some more 3 point looks from us, but so far doing OK?

I think they are playing fine and playing out of the high post is working well.

Too little ball movement, zhang can't run fast rim to rim so it’s always 5 on 4 for us.

I think they are playing fine and playing out of the high post is working well.

Why would you not front zhang? Standing behind her with your hands up does absolutely nothing to stop her.

Agreed about at least trying to front her... or double… or are they just accepting that she will score when she is on, then make up points when she is off as she isnt very fit??

Also, on what grounds isnt Saff Sheils a PG? Skills, length and IQ like hers is what we would hope for in our PGs

Not sure fronting with a 40kg+ weight disadvantage would help.
I'd go with stop everyone else let her get 50

Shiels outstanding tonight!

Trying to perfectly lob a ball over a 6'3 player is tough.

Congratz to the u18 gems. Lots to work on for sure.
Shiels in the last 1/4 with her exp made the difference.

Great win in the end. Girls clock management down the stretch was a lot better than the boys, hope the boys get better at that real quick

Great result for the girls, and Shiels was outstanding

Saffron Shiels take a bow. One of the great all time junior NT performances.

Some players really stepped up in the last 14 minutes.

Congrats team.

A lot harder than it needed to be, maybe veal hasn't read that playbook.
A stupid call not fronting zhang who scored 42 and 14 in just 25 mins.

Really well scouted and coached to take advantage of lack of mobility of zhang. Shiels incredible. Bobongie class
Congratulations

@Weedy Slug - I've read a lot of your posts in recent times. A smattering of positives but generally pretty negative views on a range of coaches and selections of players and teams at national and state levels.

Did you put your hand up to coach the next cycle for the girls? If not you, who would you like to see coaching that group? U15 Oceania isn't that far away...

U15 level Seebohm.

Is that who'd you’d like or is that who it is ?

If someone new then Tim hill probably derserves a shot after wining titles with nsw m.

So pleased for the girls with all who played making a contribution. China had no answer to Saffron, who moved beautifully. Also I forgot what a good 3 shooter is Bonbongie, who hit shots in Q3 as we fell behind. We were the best team.
Can I say, I think the playing experience provided in the NBL1 - playing weekly against quality, older women really helps harden the group.

Be careful what you call stupid from the peanut gallery. Maybe they should just jump in a zone since the points were scored in the paint too?

Armchair analysis. If you front the post there is now no one to contest when the pass inevitably gets through with a foot height disadvantage and it compromises your ability to box out when someone else shoots meaning more O boards for the big girl.

It also means you need a low girl behind the fronter and they wouldve either killed us with hi-lo or by exploiting the downsides of having two people on Zhang (3's, long clseouts, etc.).

While Australia could've pressured the ball more to make the pass a little harder this is easy to say from my couch and they did an excellent job getting the win against the biggest girl in the world.

The plan was clearly just to wall up, take everyone else away and run them off the floor which they did since as you pointed out, Zhang played 25 minutes. Veal did an amazing job not complaining about three second calls, that were never called, or about soft fouls visibly being what her team needed her to be when shit wasnt going Australias way. Well done Australaia.

Seebohm teaches the basics and is a tactician, that's who I would pick for the younger agers.
Veal is a councillor, Herbert is a motivator, brondello is a bit of both with lots of exp but has a poor eye for talent and a bias towards veteran players. Just my opinion, others may think differently.

Rank imo across the tournament.

#1 Shiels (18 / 11.6 / 3.8)
#2 Somfai (17.6 / 10.8 / 2.2)
#3 Deas (13.8 / 6 / 2.4)
#4 Bobongie (10.4 / 4.8 / 3)
#5 Harvey (7.8 / 3 / 2.6)
#6 Williams (7 / 4 / 0.8)
#7 Crook (7 / 6.2 / 1.6)
#8 Bird (4 / 2.2 / 1.4)
#9 Dakic (2.4 / 1 / 0.4)
#10 Russell (2.2 / 4 / 0.4)
#11 Bond (1.3 / 2.3 / 0.3)
#12 Fuller (2 / 1.8 / 0.3)



Somfai, Crook, Russell, Dakic now focus on the u17 WC which starts in less than 2 weeks.

"Seebohm teaches the basics and is a tactician, that's who I would pick for the younger agers.
Veal is a councillor, Herbert is a motivator, brondello is a bit of both with lots of exp but has a poor eye for talent and a bias towards veteran players. Just my opinion, others may think differently."

It's a development pathway for the athletes (history suggests only a handful of each group if that will represent at the senior level), shouldn't it also be a development pathway for coaches? The tournament in Guam each year could be coached by anyone, why aren't we using those types of tournaments to introduce more coaches into the pathway? Imo it's great to see new up and coming coaches on these benches, whether we agree with every decision they make or not.

Outside of fiba tournaments I would agree with you, the tour of China and japan as an example is good time to give people some exp but maybe not so close to a major tournament like the Olympics.

When it comes to majors, nothing short of the best available. Includes coaches, players and the rest of the staff.

The coach that is selected goes through a 3 year cycle, having a different coach every year from oceanias to asia to WC would not be beneficial.

Seebohm can coach at any level and would be a good Opals coach, exceptional juniors coach. Already has a World Cup gold.

Well done Gems! You found a way, Shiels terrific against the Chinese size, with her craftiness.

Hill good suggestion but needs to be an assistant before getting a HC gig at international level. Interesting that has not happened, maybe he is too busy.

How about Harrower? If interested in Juniors.

Was not interested in juniors, expect mcphail, garlepp, Martin or graham to get a shot for future teams. It's Tom garlepp this coming u17 WC and veal next years u19 WC. This year new cycle could be Tom’s again, probably up to him.