“Like Lauren or Penny”: Issie Bourne’s overlooked and underappreciated rookie WNBL season

Issie Bourne quietly put together the best rookie season in recent history. Why is there no award to recognise it?

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Let’s say you’ve been promoted to the GM of a WNBL franchise. Congratulations! It’s the offseason, and you’re building a roster from scratch. And for the sake of this bizarre exercise, you need to blindly pick a player solely based on statistics:

Player A: 31 minutes a night, 13.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.5 apg, shooting 43.2% from the field and 32.0% from three.

Player B: 31 minutes a night, 15.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, shooting 41.7% from the field and 27.5% from three.

You’ve probably realised one of these players is Issie Bourne. She’s Player A. But you might be surprised to know that Player B is Izzy Borlase.

While one’s just been an MVP finalist, Opals debutant and WNBA draftee, the other continues to be the WNBL’s best kept secret, with an outstanding rookie season that’s merely a footnote in the league’s history books. And their stats are almost identical.

Bourne averaged more points per game than Cayla George, Keely Froling, Anneli Maley and Zitina Aokuso, a quartet of the WNBL’s premier bigs, who are all currently ahead of her in the Opals hierarchy. As a rookie, she started every game she played, and in a team full of fledgling stars, was arguably the Lightning’s most consistent performer. Everyone – including Bourne – agrees her rebounding numbers (3.1 per game) could improve, but keep in mind, she did share a frontcourt with the league leader (13.8 per game!) in Breanna Turner. All up, the 22-year-old exceeded all expectations during her first professional season.

Ultimately though, those efforts were largely overlooked, based on the unusual parameters the of the WNBL’s award system. The Rookie of the Year award turned into the Youth Player of the Year in 2020, before transitioning into the Breakout Player of the Year in 2023. It initially rewarded the best rookie, then the best player under 23, and now functions to recognise the player who’s improved the most from the previous season. Which could be anyone! And while the WNBL’s best breakout candidate is undoubtedly worth recognising, it’s frankly bizarre to overlook the league’s best rookie, especially considering just how difficult the transition into professional sport can be.

So, exactly how good was her rookie season? According to Bourne’s NBL1 coach at Keilor, Opals legend Kristi Harrower, she thinks the rookie was in rare company.

“I reckon the only ones I can probably think of, when I was around, would be people like Lauren and Penny.”

Yes, you read that right. Lauren Jackson and Penny Taylor.

It begs two questions.

Firstly, should the WNBL reintroduce a Rookie of the Year award?

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly: just how high is Issie Bourne’s ceiling?