Liz Cambage and Alice Kunek both picked in Opals squad ahead of Rio Olympics

IN the wake of the “blackface” controversy, Opals coach Brendan Joyce says he is confident of uniting the national team before the Rio Olympics.

AUSTRALIAN Opals coach Brendan Joyce says he is confident of uniting the national team before the Rio Olympics after naming star Liz Cambage in his 27-player squad on Thursday night.

That number will later be cut to 20 players to participate in four selection camps from March to July, from which the final squad for Rio will be named.

The first camp will be held in Canberra in late March, where Cambage is set to come face-to-face with selected teammate Alice Kunek for the first time since last week’s social media controversy.

Kunek was subjected to strong backlash, including from Cambage, when she posted a photo of herself on Instagram in “blackface”, apparently dressed as rapper Kanye West.

The photo, which was taken at a Melbourne Boomers’ WNBL post-season dress-up party, was soon deleted with Kunek offering a full apology.

Cambage already had issues with Basketball Australia before the incident, with the 24-year-old upset with her omission from last year’s Olympic qualifying series after she attended a music festival instead of a training camp.

Joyce said he looked forward to getting the squad on the same page with an Olympic gold medal on the line in August.

“Our culture has never been stronger and our team chemistry has never been stronger,” Joyce said.

“(BA high performance manager) Jan Stirling and I this week had a meeting with Mitch Catlin, who is Liz Cambage’s agent.

Liz Cambage expressed slammed fellow Boomer Alice Kunek for “blackface” fancy dress outfit. Picture: Norm Oorloff

“We won’t go into the details of that meeting, but I can say it was very positive and productive.

“I can’t do anything until I get them all together, but in five weeks’ time we will working to get that team chemistry back on track.”

A stack of WNBL players have been named in the squad, including Sara Blicavs (Dandenong), Stephanie Cumming (Dandenong), Kelsey Griffin (Bendigo), Tess Madgen (Melbourne Boomers) and Victorian Rachel Jarry (SEQ Stars).

Alice Kunek apologised for painting herself brown to dress up as Kanye West.

WNBA star Penny Taylor has been named, and so has veteran Lauren Jackson despite her long documented injury woes.

“We needed every month we could to try and assist her (Jackson) with her rehabilitation, and that last setback probably set her back another six weeks,” Joyce said.

“Honestly, and I don’t think Lauren will mind me saying this, it will be a huge bonus if she recovered but there’s a chance.”

Originally published as Liz Cambage and Alice Kunek both picked in Opals squad ahead of Rio Olympics