will need to play every game like it's a medal game - Nigeria are good and have been improving steadily

Does our medaling depend on Jade Melbourne staying healthy and not being over-used?
-Yes, need Whitcomb, Wallace, Madgen and Borlase all firing + Melbourne to medal.

Will Borlase get much game time?
-She should get 20mins a game, unlikely under sandy.

Will our injury-hit players actually be able to contribute much on the court?
-Talbot and Borlase will, not a guarantee Wallace or Madgen can.

Will our 'golden oldies' leave as heroes or zeroes?
-Both

Will this be Sandy’s last hurrah?
-Soneone else’s turn after 7 years if we fail to medal.

Yes Opals 2024 is heavy on old legs/wise heads, perhaps a new coach may have selected more youth. Sandy has gone with core team from successful 22 WC.

(Prior to Bec Allen being ruled out) Team looks stronger than 22 WC squad.

UPs:
- Ezi now at WNBA all star level, in running for DPOY
- Smith not far behind Ezi
- Jackson fitter and more confident with her game
- Melbourne & Borlase, no fear young guns. Think this is gain from Marley/Blicavs - better guard/wing to post team balance

DOWNs:
- Talbot returning from ACL, but finding form since promoted to starting 5 @LASparks since June
- Madgen recent injuries
- Wallace form
- Whitcombe shooting %, but still playing decent WNBA minutes & has been shooting well in warm up games
- George & Tolo past prime,
However, George has shot clutch 3s in OQT in Brazil. Tolo steady head as 5th big when needed

Opals need Talbot to be healthy and plays mostly 3 instead usual 2, covering for Allen at 3 both O & D - like 22 WC. Maybe Borlase to get key minutes at 2 spot off bench.

Nigeria dangerous but clearly 4th in group. Opals should have Canada covered especially with our bigs, warm up game gave away 8pt lead with brain fade. France will be tough to decide top of table.

QF onwards anything can happen. Shoot well and gold medal match, or shooting yips as per recent Olympics will be knocked out.

Squad know each other well and are united and confident.

Let's go Opals!

Go opals, hopefully a good game with a good result.

These effin' turnovers!

Wow turnovers galore right now.

We old as fk.

Our ballhandlers struggling.

Don't Panic!!

Nigeria's scrambling defence causing trouble for the Opals

I REALLY wanted to be proved wrong, but CANNOT understand selection of George over Garbin or Madgen over anyone.... Hope everyone settles down

I haven't followed the Opals since the WC. They look real ordinary through that first quarter. What's the go - was Nigeria expected to be tough, are we unexpectedly sucking, something else?

You need a non affiliated selector.

The officiating is atrocious.

Our girls playing like chooks without heads but this is playground shit

Absolutely right, Big Ads.
We're playing weak basketball and deserve to be trailing atm, but the refs need to keep a lid on this. It's getting nasty out there.

They despise australia since the Cambage BS.

worst guards in 40 years?

Steph Reid wondering why she is watching from home.

predictable Smith with 2 dumb early fouls.

I do not think you can blame the refs for the appalling turnovers. This is amateur stuff.

Jeez, that #20 is 'athletic'

Calm down Opals, need some steady heads.. LJ!!!

Nigeria coach seems pretty lively, looks to be a great motivator.

We look pretty scared atm tbh... afraid of contact, getting blocked and the physicality + pressure.

This is under 12 type turnovers, is that 7 turnovers in the backcourt? Nigerias spread offense has us stuck in the mud, our offense is clogged up

God... I don't get to watch many Opals games, are we normally this bad at handling pressure??

worst half i have seen the Opals play.

this is what happens without a point guard or wing defender

Jesus ... this is nightmarishly awful ...

Geebus I post 7 TOs in the back court then they commit another 2 bonehead plays.

This is downright embarrassing. Australia was literally paying $1.01.

Weedy Slug said it, we look scared af out there. Eesh.

George lol.

Rat, don't get me wrong, the Opals play is embarrassing, they are playing like they just got off the plane, but the officiating in the 1st qtr let too much obvious shit go un-whistled too.

Good teams adjust but Nigeria are outplaying the Opals by a mile and getting generous treatment from the officials.

Nigeria are super physical and we can't handle it ATM.

Really poor at both ends. Not much more to be said.

Our offense is trash, play 4/5 out and get moving

Why do we not know how to dribble the ball up the court and protect it. 16 turnovers!

The positive at half time is that it is not possible to play any worse.

This juggling guy is crazy good!!

I agree some of the calls have been dodgy but we've been absolutely terrible and I’m being polite. Toughen up girls and play some D. Opals look like they have just met for first time, some of the knowledgeable punters around here thought this might happen. 16 turnovers resulted in 19 points. Still a chance but it’s a long shot now.

Don't know what to say with Opals. 16 turnovers, they can’t even bring the ball up. Will be done losing to Nigeria. Credit to them, good ball pressure and they’re making the most of their shots. Sandy needs the door, the WNBA doesn’t help with training. Would prefer the Opals team that competed in Melbourne, this is so embarrassing. How are we ranked 3 in the rankings?

After this Olympics we have to move on from Whitcomb, Wallace, Madgen, George, Tolo, Jackson + Brondello.

The new team will need to be given alot of time to develop before the next WC/Olympics.

Big Ads, I haven't seen ball handling this bad since my USA Div 4 team played against the Southern Tigers at Morphet Vale 15 years ago!

"Come on call that shit!" Haha.

Finally showing some smarts & composure out there. Much better.

I would be playing Smith at the 3, with LJ on with Ezi

Talbot being over played.

Sandy finally using some bad language.

"Finally showing some smarts & composure out there. Much better."

Not really. Just lucky Smith decided to throw everyone on her back.

Play a bit D and woe and behold we back close. Whitcomb shown some toughness as Talbot has, it helps

Musa got bigger shoulders than Schwarzenegger.

Gotta make use of our bigs Smith, Ezi & LJ before taking chances with outside shooting.

Who's the female commentator on 9?

Jenna O'Hea

Just started watching the replay. We are playing terrible but these refs are next level bad. Had better refs at our U12 VJBL game on Friday night.
We had better ball handlers too.

If we lose, got to keep it close. Third spot might come into play.

LJ a bit of a defensive liability in her age

Wallace shooting % has plummeted over the last year.

Smith again.

They in foul trouble, hopefully we can capitalise.

wow, 47% free throw shooting certainly isn't capitalising

We shooting under 40% ft.

This is so ridiculously ugly for the Opals

We love killing our own momentum don't we
:/

guy on the nigeria bench on his phone laying some bets

These turnovers wouldn't even be made by under 12s

Can't remember the Opals playing this bad in 30 years.

Wallace has shown some grit and D, to many passengers on the bench

Wake up call for sure.
got to keep it close....

Sandy needs to be given the flick now.
She takes Amy over Kunek cause she's a better shooter then doesn’t play her.
Our defence is terrible.

A few odd calls by the Refs but simply a pathetic effort by the Opals. No point guard to control the offence and bring the ball down the court, dismal foul shooting, no organised offence at all are only a few of the issues. Then the turnovers - either from over dribbling or poor passing.

Hopefully a few long overdue changes will now be made following the Olympics.

Poor coaching as well - same players on the court making the same mistakes but nothing different tried by the coach. Just 2 hours of my life I will not get back.

the decision to take George and Tolo just startling.

even out of the time out, put atwell and jackson in as 3 point shooter.

whitcomb destroyed them early with her 2/10 from downtown and poor passing

Another Tokyo?
Or worse?

I'm done with Opals, two Olympics in a row.
Pack your bags girls!

Dumb fouls, dumb coach with points diff coming into play.

As bad as the Opals were, a ton of credit to Nigeria. They were superb.

This is a pretty embarrassing performance. I haven't really followed the Opals lately, but I had no idea they were this bad.

Waitin for the cambage tweet or Insta post.

Hard to see where we can go from here. Looks to be a failed campaign already.

Hard to see where we can go from here. Looks to be a failed campaign already.

Out muscled, out hustled, outplayed. Opals no composure to adjust to physicality and how refs were calling. Terrible free shooting down stretch!

Ok reset - can't get any worse. Bounce back as you did in 22 WC.

What was with all the fouls at the end there? Seemed really dumb. We just kept gifting them free throws even when the game was over. I thought points differential was important.

But wow. That free throw shooting, those turnovers, our passing... That was just shockingly inept.

Poor all round, had chance to tie it and missed four free throws in a row, just garbage. Fiba refs let a lot more physicality than in the nbl or WNBL, I enjoy it. The fat lady is tuning up on this vintage team.

Jeez that was putrid. Nigeria weren't good either but they at least hit their free throws when it mattered and Opals didn’t.

Atwell should have played and Melbourne at least was able to score. To many players out there who are not scorers. and everyone needs to look after ball better. That was embarrasing.

Have to win the next two now?

Madgen played 16 minutes and had zero impact.

This is Sandy's ride or die team & she got what she deserved for picking this half injured, clearly past their best form side! Can’t see Opals beating Canada or France in our remaining pool games. Madgen, Francis, Tolo & Jackson offered nothing in that game & at times they were liabilities when on court.

This is Sandy's ride or die team & she got what she deserved for picking this half injured, clearly past their best form side! Can’t see Opals beating Canada or France in our remaining pool games. Madgen, Francis, Tolo & Jackson offered nothing in that game & at times they were liabilities when on court.

I thought Tolo fought hard when she was out there for her 3 minutes to be honest.

Result shows that Sandy should've selected Thybulle. Smh.

Madgen played 16 minutes and had zero impact.


Madgen has offered nothing seasons.

In Tokyo the Opals won 1 of 3 and still made the knockouts thanks to goal difference after beating Peurto Rico by 25.

Losing by 13 tonight was the worst possible outcome. Basically Opals will need win either both games or win one by 20-odd points to make up points difference from 2 losses (assuming their 2nd loss isn't a blow out).

The posts didnt offer much as the guards couldnt make an even half decent pass inside.

Once a big had to step out to defend a shot we were undersized underneath and therefore had to battle to get a reboud and essentially meant zero transition opportunities.

Need to play Smith, Jackson, Ezi and have a size advantage on rebounding and use Jackson and Smith's 3 point shooting which is vastly more accurate than Whitcomb or Talbot shooting the ball. It would also have allow them to mix and match who to post up and who to step out.

If she wants going to play Atwell, should have taken Kunek to play the back up 3 (backing up Smith).

This was exactly an exmaple why I would have picked Reid over Whitcomb. Whitcomb nearly destroyed us in Brazil.

The closing group of Talbot, Ezi and Wallace gave no outside game at all.

This is what happens when you pick a team of injured or out of form players and have no practice games.

Must be the worst performance since the 80s?

Ben Lol.

Wanted for next game - a centre - both were missing in action

Allen would have helped, sucks for her.
Said a bunch of times... think Swain (a wnba player) should have been taken.
A Rocci or Reid needed.
A more mobile combo forward or pf than can shoot, rebound and defend.



Next crop I reckon…

Reid
Amoore
Heal
Rocci
Shelley
Melbourne
Rocci
Swain
Borlase
Atwell
Potter
Talbot
Allen
Puoch
Bourne
Garbin
Smith
Magbegor
Aokuso
Scherf

Dvlp youth - camp invites
Hall 07
Deas 06
Olechnowicz 09
Shiels 06
Crawshaw 04
Somfai 07
Fagan 08

This Opals Olympic campaign might end up being more disappointing than the Boomers 1986 World Championships results.

Not even the Angola win over the Boomers at the 2014 World Championships was as frustrating to watch as this evening's match.

The team looked badly under prepared.

Agree with all the comments. And I feel like Sandy has potentially destroyed Jade's confidence for the rest of the tournament by benching her. Yes she was terribly loose with the ball, but she's the closest thing to a true PG the team has and I don't think the team is/was going anywhere without her playing a big role, so may as well have given her the opportunity to turn things around and play herself into form.

Atwell definately got the CG43 role, but we need more shooting they always say.

It's weird to have her available when you're down 10 with 75 seconds or whatever left in the game, and not bother using her.

As for fouling when the game is lost and thereby increasing the points differential in a tough group - smh.

I wonder if that was Sandy falling back into WNBA mode?

Germany giving Belgium a lesson right now.

Mismatch, no speed for Belgium without allemand.
Plethora of mobile German bigs in which Belgium has just 1 centre.

Peterson got German citizenship real quick.

Germany playing very well, the look like they know how to play fiba competition even though the two sisters are in the nba. Belgium been ok, can't buy a bucket, partly because of the German D. Still a quality game, got great coverage.

Sabally knocked out, does the game change here. Belgium in foul trouble and Germans playing to fast, Belgium getting back into it.

Up hill battle now for Belgium, one of the favourites in the power rankings to win a medal.
USA + japan in the same group, could be out early.
Harder if nyara has to sit out 1 game.

This is downright embarrassing. Australia was literally paying $1.01.

Maybe Nigeria get a forefit for using a phone on the bench, anyone know the FIBA Olympic rules. Highly illegal in many sports.

Imagine the shit-eating grin on Cambage's face right now.

Germany v Belgium a very good game as was last nights Spain v China. I love the way these refs adjudicate the game, it flows so much better, the single commentator is also up to my liking. As in the mens game it's probably USA then daylight but overall a great competition, obviously and hopefully the opals can improve. The crowds have been great, basketball the world game.

"Imagine the shit-eating grin on Cambage's face right now."

Not sure she'd be that stoked Nigeria won...

Not sure if this affected the 9Now feed, but watching on Stan Sports it seemed like they had sideline mics turned up very loud and it was really annoying, especially from the Nigerian bench who were yelling and screaming almost to an obnoxious degree at times.

Did this irritate anyone else or was it just me?

Hey Dunkman. Can you please look up when to use to or too. You get it wrong every time.

'To' is short for towards, ‘too’ = as well as.

Simples

Hey AussiePride, can you please not shame someone for something that may be somewhat out of their control (e.g. lower education level, learning difficulty such as dyslexia, etc.) and in the grand scheme of things doesn't really matter?
Fair enough if you want to have a go at published journalists and authors for these kind of things (I know I do), but this is just a web forum and it's not like you can't understand what they're meaning to say.

@ DMc, I agree, spelling never been a strong point I'm afraid.