The secret behind Casey Samuel’s stunning breakout

The Bendigo veteran has come from nowhere to become the breakout star of the WNBL season. How exactly did she do it? By quite literally doing the impossible.

Photo credit: Mark Nolan / Getty Images

It’s the opening game of the WNBL season, and the Bendigo Spirit are up against it. They’re already without star forward Kelsey Griffin, and even at home, are being pushed to their limits by an Adelaide side without superstar Steph Talbot. While the two biggest signings of the season - Sami Whitcomb and Marianna Tolo - have looked every bit as good as advertised, the Spirit still haven’t been able to put the Lightning to the sword.

With a lead of seven points inside three minutes, and Lightning import Japreece Dean dominating in her debut, it’s still anyone’s game. That is at least until Casey Samuels decides it isn’t. She starts by setting a crushing screen for Kelly Wilson, who penetrates hard into the lane. With the trailing defender wiped out, Issie Bourne is left playing two on one. She’s naturally drawn to Wilson, who in turn whips a savvy bounce pass to the popping Samuels, now wide open in the corner. In one fluent motion, she sets her feet, drains the triple, and ices the game.

Adelaide takes a timeout, and the hosts eventually wrap up a fourteen-point win. It’s the first of six straight to open the season, and for Casey Samuels, the first of many big shots that seem to be closer to the rule, rather than the exception.

Fast-forward a few weeks and we’re now roughly a quarter of the way into the WNBL season, and Samuels might be one of the league’s biggest stories. She’s more than doubled her career scoring average, from six points all the way up to 15.8 per game. She’s shooting the lights out from deep, and currently sits inside the league’s top ten scorers. In fact, Bendigo’s big three of Samuels, Sami Whitcomb and Mariana Tolo are averaging an absurd 55.8 points per game. Did anyone see this coming? A veteran who’d never averaged double digits coming into their tenth season suddenly becoming not just one of the league’s best shooters, but a seamless fit alongside two superstar Opals? The kind of piece every team building a roster with championship aspirations covets?

Samuels is quick to deflect her own individual efforts in the context of a team, that so far, no-one has been able to crack this season.

“I definitely think it’s the composition of the team, and the way Kennedy (Kareama) allows us to play in his system, it’s quite free flowing. So were all able to create for each other, and not just be on the court, we’re all there backing each other, taking shots we practice day in day out, so having the composition of the team we have allows that.”

So perhaps instead of speculating if anyone predicted this kind of output, a better question might be this: How exactly did Casey Samuels become the WNBL’s breakout star?

Put simply? By willingly joining arguably Australia’s least successful women’s program.