‘I’ve done everything in my power to make that team’: Opals future star on brink of Olympic dream
Young Opal Jade Melbourne says she has left everything out on the court ahead of Olympic team selection. The fan favourite opens up on the ‘sisterhood,’ the Paris dream and experiencing her first WNBA trade.
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Rising Opals ace Jade Melbourne says she’s left everything on the court in her quest for an Olympics berth as she opened up on World Cup disappointment, the Lauren Jackson GOAT factor and a last-minute trade that kept alive her WNBA career.
Melbourne, who has long been touted as a future star of the Opals, has been on the brink of several major tournaments but is yet to crack the big time.
Despite an impressive resume that includes four WNBL seasons at the UC Capitals- which will extend to a fifth after Melbourne committed to return to Canberra, resigning for the 2024/25 season- and relishing her second WNBA campaign, Melbourne only has one thing on her mind: Paris.
After an Opals debut at the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup, Melbourne narrowly missed selection for the 2022 Women’s World Cup team in Sydney.
Since then she has been part of the Opals’ Olympic qualifying teams and two years later is tantalisingly close to booking a ticket to Paris.
“I feel confident,” Melbourne said. “I’m in a position now where I’ve done everything in my power to make that team.
“I had a great WNBL season, my best to date over my four years. I’m playing in the league (WNBA) now, playing some great minutes and a great role here with Washington.
“I also feel like I did a great job at the Olympic qualifiers in Brazil in February, so I’ve put myself in a great position to be selected for the Olympics.”
ððŽð“ in Melbourne's house! 🙅#FIBAOQT 🇦🇺 @BasketballAuspic.twitter.com/juX39kcU5f
— FIBA (@FIBA) February 11, 2024
Representing the Opals is the pinnacle of Australian women’s basketball and the young guard said making the team was a lifelong dream.
With Melbourne and fellow WNBA-playing Opals ruled out of the pre-Paris exhibition matches at John Cain Arena this week, the 21-year-old has exhausted all opportunities to show the selectors what she can do.
“It’s been a goal of mine since I was in prep,” Melbourne said from Washington.
“They ask you what you want to do and I wanted to play for the Opals.
“If I’m to be named in the team, it’ll be a dream come true.
“I’ve done everything within my power and ultimately it’s up to the coaches and the team and hopefully they see me as a piece in that puzzle.”
Bonjour, Paris!!! 🎟ï¸âœˆï¸
— Basketball Australia (@BasketballAus) February 10, 2024
After defeating Germany in game two of the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the Opals have secured their spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics, marking their 10th Olympic appearance in Opals #Paris2024.
Read more âž¡ï¸ https://t.co/mqhMkKj6mj… pic.twitter.com/4sDQ2U8IUl
Opals coach Sandy Brondello will announce the final 12 soon after the exhibition games against China wrap on Friday night.
The squad will then have an Olympic training camp in Spain from July 16.
“It’s so close now,” Melbourne said. “It’s so exciting but for me, until I see my name on that final roster, I can’t get too excited.”
As the Opals seek redemption for a dramatic Tokyo campaign that resulted in their worst Olympic finish, Melbourne has seen first hand the work that’s gone into team culture.
She said the senior Opals had led the charge in creating the “sisterhood”.
“I came into the Opals program at a really special time,” Melbourne said.
“Things didn’t go as planned in Tokyo but three months later I was lucky enough to get an opportunity to go to the Asia Cup.
“Since then I’ve been named in squads and kind of been on the brink of teams and I’ve seen the culture go from not really having an identity to now the sisterhood.
“We have our motto and everyone lives and breathes the pillars of being an Opal.
“It’s been amazing seeing that be built from the ground up and be surrounded by leaders like Sami (Sami Whitcomb), Madge (Tess Madgen), Cayla (Cayla George), Tolo (Marianna Tolo), the list goes on.”
It’s a list topped by the GOAT of Australian basketball Lauren Jackson and the Traralgon-born Melbourne said she wasn’t fully aware of the “LJ” greatness until she saw the star power with her own eyes.
“I had only heard about how good LJ was because I was so young, I didn’t really understand it,” Melbourne said.
“But seeing what she is doing now, we were all in that building when she had 30 against Canada and was like ‘yeah, you really are the GOAT’.
“When she talks you just listen because you’re going to learn something.
“I remember being on the bench at the qualifiers and she’s like ‘look for this and this’ she’s so willing to take people under her wing.”
After the disappointment of not making the 2022 Women’s World Cup team, Melbourne had two choices: to go home and watch from afar or take the opportunity to stay within the four walls and absorb all she could. She opted for the latter.
“I got to be with them until three days before the World Cup and that was something I could have said no to as I didn’t make that team,” she said.
“But being part of that, I felt like one of them because of how special that group is.
“It’s a great group to be in. Every time I’m part of it, I want more.
“I want to continue to grow and be someone who can be a leader and be a future player for the program because I’ve seen it built from the ground up and I want to continue that legacy.
Away from the national team program, Melbourne is solidifying her spot on the Washington Mystics roster, having joined the team in a last-minute trade from Seattle Storm on the eve of the season.
She said the trade was “all a blur” and unlike anything she had experienced.
“I got called into the office (at Seattle Storm) at 11am on a Saturday,’’ Melbourne said.
“By 12pm, I’m on call with Washington and they’re like ‘can you be on a flight at 7.30am tomorrow?’”
“Reality hit me when I got to the new apartment on Sunday in Washington and I was like ‘oh, I have to set this up, unpack my bags and this is my new place’.
“Everything was sinking in but it all happened so quickly. Then on Monday I met all my new teammates and on Tuesday was game one.
“It was so crazy but it’s the reality of how it works over here, I had been told.
“Then pretty much 24 hours later I was in a new city, walking into a new locker room, pulling on a new jersey and was just like ‘how does this even happen’.
“That’s the business side of it and I’ve experienced it first-hand now.”
Another look at this play because Jade is too smooooth. @jade_melbournepic.twitter.com/M209ooaGiA
— Washington Mystics (@WashMystics) June 29, 2024
Despite the impromptu lifestyle adjustment, Melbourne is hitting her straps at the Mystics.
She is averaging 6.1 points and 12 minutes in 14 games this season (up from 2.6 ppg, 10.6 minutes in 2023) and the team has won following a string of losses to open the season.
Drafted in 2022 as a 19-year-old, Melbourne opted to put the WNBA dream on hold to remain in the WNBL for an extra season to further develop her game.
The decision was supported by Seattle and is one she still stands by.
“It was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made for my basketball career,” Melbourne said.
“Going over as a 19-year-old would have been crazy and I don’t think I would be in the league right now if I went over two years ago.
“I was a third-round pick and not many third-rounders survive in the league, so I think holding off a year, then getting a season under my belt last year, has done me wonders.
“I’m so grateful that Seattle was able to trade me and I wasn’t just cut, and I was able to find another opportunity in the league.
“I’m still the youngest in the league so I couldn’t imagine doing it as a 19-year-old.”
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