Five way too early takeaways from the WNBL season so far
Some early observations as the 2024/25 WNBL season gets underway.
The 2024/25 WNBL season is underway, and we’ve already been treated to some great games as the storylines start to take shape. Some teams have sputtered out of the gates, while others have looked sharp right from the opening tip.
With that in mind, I’ll be diving into some early narratives from the first week and a half of the season.
1. Is this going to be Sami Whitcomb’s MVP season?
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Sami Whitcomb has been a superstar of the WNBL and the Australian Opals for a number of years now. While she hasn’t captured a WNBL MVP trophy yet, this season might just be the one.
She’s been part of great teams, highlighted by the 2021/22 Perth team that fell just short at the final hurdle against Melbourne in the Grand Final. That team boasted WNBA stars Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces) and Marina Mabrey (Connecticut Sun), as well as Aussie stars Darcee Garbin and Lauren Scherf.
Fast forward to now and Whitcomb is in Bendigo and with a strong squad around her, could this be the year that she leads the Spirit to the pointy end of the season, and in doing so claim MVP honours?
My short answer is yes.
Bendigo handled business against Adelaide in the opening round and Whitcomb produced a masterclass in her Spirit debut. Her 19-point first half set up the win as Adelaide simply couldn’t slow Whitcomb down and she finished the game with 27 points (6/11 3PT FG), seven rebounds, three steals and two assists.
On Friday night, Whitcomb’s brilliance was on full display as she led Bendigo to a win over Canberra, 99-83, once again with a dominant first-half performance of 17 points and seven assists at the main break. Finishing with a near triple-double of 25 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, Whitcomb was a on another level.
Having both Kelly Wilson (one of the best point guards the WNBL has ever seen) and import Veronica Burton on the roster is a point guard luxury most coaches could only dream of, and then adding Whitcomb to that mix too means coach Kennedy Kereama has three legitimate ball handlers to run the offence.
With those three capable of sharing the ball-handling duties, this allows Whitcomb the freedom to shift between operating as an off-ball wing and as the leading point guard throughout different stages of games.
The firepower and depth Bendigo possesses is among the best in the league, with the likes of Casey Samuels and Abbey Wehrung also starting the season strongly, not to mention Kelsey Griffin is still to be added to the equation when she returns from injury.
2. The Froling twins are lighting up the league
What a dominant start to the season it has been for the Froling twins! Both are in new environments, with Alicia in Townsville and Keely in Geelong, and both have made their presence known in the early stages of the season.
They went head-to-head in the season opener and their signature competitiveness was on full display. While Alicia (17 points, nine rebounds and four blocks) and Townsville came away with the chocolates, Keely (15 points and seven rebounds) did all she could for Geelong.
With Geelong lacking depth in the frontcourt, Keely takes on a huge role for the team, battling against the best bigs in the league night in, night out. In Geelong’s first ever win, Keely was a monster in the paint all night and finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 37 minutes of game time.
Not to be outdone, Alicia continued her fine form with one of the best games I’ve seen her play as she led Townsville to an impressive win over Perth. Her 25 points (11/13 FG), 10 rebounds and three steals don’t even tell the true story of just how influential she was on both ends of the court.
She set the tone early with 10 first quarter points, and continued to torch the Lynx all night long. Her off-ball movement and cutting to the basket were keys to Townsville’s offence having answers for the uptempo Lynx outfit.
The Froling twins are a joy to watch with the way they go about their basketball.
3. Townsville doing Townsville things
To say Townsville had to retool their roster over the offseason is an understatement. Just one rotation player, Courtney Woods, returned from season 2023/24, but they’ve already signalled to the rest of the league that they mean business.
Just as Townsville always seems to do, they have assembled a great squad and having one of the best coaches in the country in charge has them as competitive as ever. They’ve chalked up a pair of wins from their first two games, highlighted by a tough, grind-it-out win over the Lynx in Perth, 84-80.
While experienced players such as Sami Whitcomb, Alice Kunek, Steph Reid, Zitina Aokuso and Mikaela Ruef all departed Townsville over the offseason, coach Shannon Seebohm rebuilt his roster with a great mix of talent.
Courtney Woods has made the most of her larger role, while new recruits Alicia Froling and Lauren Cox have been exactly what Fire fans would have hoped for. In her first professional season after an impressive college career, Abbey Ellis has shown terrific signs of the player she could become in the WNBL, and the likes of Lauren Mansfield and Alex Fowler ensure the depth in the starting lineup keeps up with some of the best teams in the league.
Import guard Zia Cooke has had a roller coaster start to life in the WNBL. A strong debut against Geelong saw her score 15 points, before not troubling the scorers (0/6 FG) against Perth in 12 minutes of action. Most imports take time to find their footing in the league, and the talent (and speed) is most definitely there for Cooke to have a real presence on the WNBL.
4. Defence is the way forward for Geelong
History was made on Thursday night when Geelong United came up clutch against Southside to grab the franchise’s first ever win. It was a night to remember in Geelong as United clearly took learnings from their opening night trouncing at the hands of the Fire, and came out all guns blazing against the defending champions just over a week later.
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Obviously, Geelong’s debut in the league was far from ideal, scoring just 58 points and losing by 26 points to Townsville, but that just makes their win over Southside all the more impressive.
To be able to bounce back from that disappointment and put on a show against the Flyers was something to behold. The way they went about things gave a great look into how they will be able to create success this season, and it all starts on the defensive end.
The way United hawked the Flyers on the defensive side of the ball was ruthless and although at times that energy fell away, they were able to come up big when it mattered most and get stops. It’s certainly not easy to play with that dogged defensive energy for all 40 minutes, but the smaller those energy lapses are, the better Geelong will be.
You could see the confidence grow in real time with every deflection and defensive stop, and when that transferred to the offensive end, United looked like a different team to the one we saw against Townsville.
Buckets from import Haley Jones (19 points) at crucial points throughout the game were massive, while the work rate of Keely Froling is something that can lift the intensity of her teammates with her.
There are genuine reasons to be excited about this Geelong squad, and once Jaz Shelley’s shots start falling, the offence will flow that much better.
5. Laeticia Amihere is settling in nicely with the Lynx
Prior to the season I wrote about Laeticia Amihere’s fit with the Perth Lynx.
Three games into her Lynx career and Amihere has already shown great improvement and understanding of the league, while showcasing her incredibly athletic play. After a slow debut against Southside where she scored just six points, she has since bounced back with impressive outings against Townsville and Adelaide.
Against Townsville, despite the loss, Amihere provided an offensive punch with 19 points (and five rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists). She starred against Adelaide in a big win and was only slowed down by foul trouble as she fouled out with 17 points and three rebounds after a dominant first quarter where she was unstoppable with 11 points.
She has a myriad of paint moves in her arsenal and she’s not afraid to go to work and take her time, as the below two buckets demonstrate.
I can only imagine as she becomes more comfortable with the style of play and the way referees call the game in the WNBL, Amihere’s influence on games will skyrocket and hopefully the foul trouble is short-lived.
Perth is still playing that run and gun style that led them all the way to the Grand Final last season, but with no Aari McDonald to take control of the offence, the way they get into their offensive action is different. The ball handling duties are being shared around more, and on that note shout out to Ally Wilson who has started life in Perth on fire and might just be one of the most underrated players in the league.
With more variety on offence and Amihere proving to be a viable option, Perth looks well placed to be one of the top teams again this season, and in a worrying thought for the rest of the league, Opal Amy Atwell hasn’t even been unleashed yet.