WNBL free agency 2024: Latest roster and signing news
Mercedes Russell led Southside to the WNBL grand final and won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year gong in 2020. But the pandemic scotched hopes for a return — until now.
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It’s a return three years in the making but two-time WNBA champion Mercedes Russell is back in the Southside aqua.
The towering 198cm interior monster was the 2019-20 WNBL Defensive Player of the Year who helped lead Southside to the grand final in their inaugural season as the Flyers.
In talks to return in 2020-21, Covid put paid to the hopes of both club and player.
“I am looking forward to coming back to Australia and to be playing with the Flyers again, it has taken longer than I wanted to be able to be part of the Flyers again,” Russell said.
“I really enjoyed my time with the team in 2019-20 and look forward to playing in front of the Flyers fans again.”
Russell dominated the WNBL in her lone season with the Flyers, averaging a near double-double with 16.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game to go with better than a steal and block, helping lead Southside to a 17-4 record, before they fell short against the Canberra Capitals in the grand final series.
Fast forward to today and the Seattle star returns Down Under with serious winning pedigree — in 2020 she added a second WNBA title to the 2018 Storm chip.
The Oregon product’s signature is a huge boost for coach Cheryl Chambers’ roster revamp and she’s expecting more of the same from her two-way giant.
“Mercedes was fantastic for us when she was here in our first season and has been keen to come back,” Chambers said.
“We are really looking forward to her return.
“She will be awesome inside, and her WNBA experience will be invaluable for the team.”
Russell will land in Melbourne to join a Flyers side which fell to Townsville in last season’s grand final and has undergone significant off-season change.
Gone are mainstays Sara Blicavs, Kayla Thornton, Mon Conti, Abby Bishop and former captain Aimie Rocci.
Young point guard Dallas Loughridge gets her chance to back up Opal Maddy Rocci as she returns from a knee reconstruction, while teen sensation Nyadiew Puoch will get the opportunity to spread her wings.
Veteran scoring machine Bec Cole has also re-signed, as has tall forward Carley Ernst and Chambers is targeting a second import, for the first time since the club’s rebrand.
The Flyers and legend Lauren Jackson remain in contact as she recovers from dual surgeries but it is unclear what role, if any, she will play with Southside in WNBL24.
Club memberships will launch next weeks, with the Flyers set to unveil another addition to their roster
Former All Star seals Boomers’ roster rejuvenation
Melbourne Boomers have locked in a former WNBA All-Star, completing the roster they hope will take them to a second WNBL title in three seasons.
Veteran Cleveland-born tall Jantel Lavender is taking her power-packed game to the Boom Box for WNBL24. She’ll be joined in the purple and gold by history-making Tall Ferns wing Tera Reed in a double strike for the Boomers.
Lavender, 34, is among the world’s most-experienced players, having navigated the rigours of a pro basketball career that began back in 2011 as a top-five WNBA draft pick for the LA Sparks and includes multiple stops in Turkey, Poland, Italy and back in the US.
The 193cm tower is a well-versed admirer of Aussie basketball culture, playing alongside several from the Land Down Under throughout her career, including a rookie season in LA with Opals captain Jenna O’Hea and, most recently, mentored emerging Aussie star Ezi Magbegor – a former Boomer – at Seattle Storm.
“I love the people that are from there, all the Australian players that I’ve played with in The W and overseas, I’ve just really had great connections with them and I think Australians just work extremely hard,” Lavender, who was part of the Sparks team that won the 2016 WNBA championship, said.
“I’ve never been to Australia, that’s going to be definitely crazy for me to know that it’s the heart of winter in America and I’m in the sun – they’re going to be so jealous.”
Lavender is the second import signing for the Boomers this month, arriving in the wake of star Sparks playmaker Jordin Canada’s commitment to the club.
“Super excited to work with Jordin Canada, I’m super excited to work with Kristy Wallace,” she said.
“I have a savviness for the game, I understand it on another level. I love to watch the game be played in poetry. I love to play the game fast and obviously that’s what our goal is.”
Fellow new-arrival Reed, along with Boomers teammate Penina Davidson, was part of the Tall Ferns’ historic run to fourth place at last month’s FIBA Asia Cup in Sydney.
The 25-year-old is a talented wing who averaged 8.5 points and 6.2 rebounds as New Zealand made the final four for the first time at a major tournament.
The Boomers backed up their 2021 title run by taking Southside to three games in last season’s WNBL semi-finals before the winds of change blew through. Only two players from last season’s roster have returned, with the likes of reigning WNBL MVP Cayla George and Opals captain Tess Madgen switching to Sydney and the league’s leading scorer Tiffany Mitchell signing a lucrative deal in Europe.
But the club, under Chris Lucas, has acted swiftly in replenishing its talent, adding a host of big local names, headlined by bronzed Opals Sara Blicavs and Keely Froling and dual-sport starlet Mon Conti. It’s a roster that, on paper, is among the deepest in the WNBL.
“I’m extremely pleased with where our team is at, but it’s going to be essential for this new look group to establish its own identity as a team early,” Lucas said.
“The chemistry and how we jell at the start of the season will be telling for the new look Boomers.
“There’s no reason why this team can’t come together, play some great team basketball that is exciting to watch, and have a successful season.
It gives Lucas a high degree of certainty in his planning, still two months out from the beginning of the Boomers’ pre-season.
FLYERS TALK JACKSON FUTURE AS TWO STARS RETURN
Lauren Jackson is ahead in her recovery from a pair of surgeries that prematurely ended her WNBL comeback as Southside coach Cheryl Chambers eased outside concerns over the club’s quiet free agency period.
As the Flyers unveiled the return of Opals Asia Cup bronze medallist Maddy Rocci and experienced scoring machine Bec Cole, Jackson, at 42, is yet to make a call on whether she’ll return to the court as she recovers from a ruptured right Achilles and fractured left foot.
But Chambers said talks were ongoing with Australia’s greatest player and, regardless of her decision, the coach wants her involved in some way at the club.
“Her rehab is going really well, physically she’s feeling good and she’s well ahead of where you would expect her to be from those two injuries,” Chambers told Code Sports.
“There’s still some discussions about if she has the desire to come back and they are ongoing.
“We both mutually respect each other and we’d love to still have her around.”
The Flyers’ post-grand final roster now stands at four, with young guns Nyadiew Puoch and Dallas Loughridge, who has just been cleared for contact after suffering a torn ACL, under contract.
Rivals Melbourne Boomers poached three Flyers in Sara Blicavs, Monique Conti and Aimie Rocci and have announced eight of their 10 players for WNBL24, sparking a little unrest among Southside fans.
But Chambers said work had been done to rejuvenate her roster with a more youthful focus and revealed two imports were on the way — the club is set to announce a power forward and centre.
“It’s been a change of direction from the club, we’ve had a similar core for about four years and it’s time to reinvent, get a little bit more energy and see if we can take a step further and win the thing,” Chambers said.
“Maddy (Rocci, 25), Nards (Puoch, 19) and Dallas (Loughridge, 19) are all young. We want to put more development into Nards and really see how far we can push her ceiling.
“We’ll have two imports this season, both American, and it’s the first time we’ve had two as the Flyers.”
Cole, 31, signed a two-year deal and has redemption on her mind after she exploded for 20 and 26 points in the grand final losses to Townsville.
She said many Flyers fans had approached her with questions about the makeup of the team.
“I find it so sweet, some of them come to Waverley Falcons games to support and they’re like ‘what’s going on, what’s happening with the Flyers’,” Cole said.
“So it’s good to know we still have lots of supporters in our corner and they’re just as interested and excited for this season as we are.”
With Blicavs gone, Cole is expected to shoulder a bigger scoring load, while Rocci will be handed the keys at the point after being buoyed by her rose gold experience with the Opals in Sydney.
“Playing international basketball, you gain a lot of experience and to learn from the likes of Tess Madgen, who is someone who I really admire, I’m really excited to take that back to the WNBL season,” Rocci said.
The Flyers pre-season officially tips off on September 10.
14 points in 5 minutes grabs gold: Next Gen Opals revealed
Is Australian women’s basketball on the verge of another golden era?
The future of Australian women’s basketball is in great hands with a bevy of next-gen Opals taking over the world stage.
The Australian Sapphires qualified for the FIBA U17 World Cup by storming to a third consecutive U16 Asian Championship gold medal.
And a host of WNBL and Centre of Excellence starlets are attempting to emulate their younger counterparts as part of the Gems line-up at this week’s FIBA U19 World Cup.
After the 80-74 win over Japan, Sapphires coach Tom Garlepp said the professionalism and commitment to get better among the very elite at the age group had produced increasingly skilled athletes, which bodes well for the future.
“I do think there are some special futures in this team and the age group at large and it’s really exciting to see them compete on an international stage at a young age as they scratch the surface of what are going to be some exciting careers,” Garlepp told Code Sports, from Jordan.
“They are a very uniquely competitive group and the team has a lot of girls that put in countless hours of extra work to be the best they can be.
“That culture within the age group is lifting the 12 girls that were a part of this team, but also pushing the girls back home that are around the mark who want to break in.”
“The team had a lot of sickness and injury across the week and to be able to get over the top of a really talented Japanese side was a proud moment.”
SA wing Sienna Lehmann, 16, was crowned MVP of the tournament, averaging 11.8 points, 4.2 rebounds 4.8 assists and 2.8 steals and was joined in the All Star Five by NSW guard Ruby Perkins.
Lehmann poured in 20 points on a series of pretty floaters in the gold medal game against Japan to keep the Sapphires afloat, before a stunning fourth quarter explosion from tough-as-nails NSW guard Jesse-May Hall.
Down five with 7.46 left in the game, Hall poured in 14 points in a five-minute stretch, finishing with 21 in the win. The Sapphires have won every game they’ve played at the tournament — a perfect 18-0 since their 2017 inception.
A little over 3500kms away in Madrid, Spain, the Gems atoned for a horror 83-68 tournament-opening loss to the hosts with a bounce back 85-45 hammering of Argentina.
WNBL starlets Isobel Borlase and Nyadiew Puoch are leading the Gems’ charge. Borlase, just 18 and already a fully-rostered player with Adelaide Lightning, drained a remarkable eight-of-10 three pointers on her way to 26 points.
Hotter than a day in Spain 🔥
— NextGen Hoops (@NextGenHoops) July 16, 2023
🇦🇺 Isabel Borlase caught fire against Argentina, going 8/10 from behind the arc! 🎯#FIBAU19pic.twitter.com/t3glIXStlu
Meanwhile Southside Flyer Puoch had 17 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. U20 National Championships MVP Isla Juffermans, who led NSW to gold at the January tournament in Geelong, stood tall in the middle with an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double, adding 2 blocks.
There is a host of WNBL faces in the team, including scoring machine Jayda Clark, who has signed with Canberra Capitals, Borlase’s Lightning teammate Tayla Brazel, Melbourne Boomer Paige Burrows and new Townsville Fire acquisition Saffron Shiels.
Daughter-of-a-gun Rubi Vlahov, who brings the toughness of famous Boomer dad Andrew, was a development player at Perth Lynx last season.
Former Boomers’ development players Sophie Burrows — no relation to Paige — and Tess Heal — niece of Aussie hoops legend Shane Heal and cousin of Opals Asia Cup bronze medallist Shyla Heal — are part of the squad.
Also on show is reigning U20s Nationals defensive player of the tournament Jess Petrie — whose father is former NBL Rookie of the Year Anthony Petrie — and poised point guard Rubi Gray (Tasmania).
SAPPHIRES FIBA U16 WOMEN’S ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP GOLD MEDAL-WINNING TEAM
Coach: Tom Garlepp
Assistants: Sarah Graham, Nic Martin
Team: Lucy Aherne, Jessie-May Hall, Jade Crook, Zoe Jackson, Ruby Perkins, Sitaya Fagan, Sophie Taylor, Coco Hodges, Sienna Lehmann, Prasayus Notoa, Zara Russell, Lara Somfai
GEMS FIBA U19 WORLD CUP TEAM
Coach: David Herbert
Assistants: Keegan Crawford, Zoe Carr
Team: Paige Burrows, Isobel Borlase, Tayla Brazel, Sophie Burrows, Jayda Clark, Rubi Gray, Tess Heal, Isla Juffermans, Jessica Petrie, Nyadiew Puoch, Saffron Shiels, Ruby Vlahov
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Originally published as WNBL free agency 2024: Latest roster and signing news
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