How Tess Madgen helped save the Opals

With eyes on the upcoming Olympics, the veteran guard has been a key component of the program's remarkable resurgence. She almost wasn't a part of it at all.

Credit: FIBA

Tess Madgen was ready to retire.

This was before that fateful knee injury; the one she thought might have prematurely ended her career.

Before the Opals captaincy, the drought-breaking WNBL title, and the unforgettable home World Cup bronze medal triumph.

It was 2021. Madgen was sitting alone in a tiny, one bedroom unit, isolating in hotel quarantine immediately after the Opals’ disastrous Tokyo Olympic campaign. As the seconds, minutes, and hours dragged on, with the walls feeling like they were closing in, she couldn’t help but feel like the time was right.

Those long, lonely, hours offered her the chance to reflect on the weeks, months, and years she’d spent within the national framework. As she did so, she sat at her laptop, and typed out an email that crystalised her feelings.

She’d done everything she’d ever wanted to do. She’d played in the WNBL, in Europe, and the WNBA. She’d been an Opal at both a World Cup and an Olympics. It was everything her younger self had ever set out to achieve.

Sitting in isolation, she drafted the message that would have closed out the final chapter in her international career.

“Thank you for everything, but I’m ready to retire from the national program.”

Much like Madgen as a player, it was direct, to the point, and effective.

The text sat on her screen. As she considered hitting send, she knew that would have been the end of the road. But she hesitated. Since then, Madgen has has been named Opals captain, emerged as the team’s spiritual leader, helped spearhead a cultural reset of the national program, stood on the podium at a World Cup, overcome a career threatening knee injury, and is now in line to captain Australia at the upcoming Olympics.

Back then, why hadn’t she hit send?