WNBL Imports: the rollercoaster continues
We're just one month into the WNBL season and import storylines are changing every day. It's time to check in with each team after the first third of the 2025-26 season.
Photo credit: Clarissa Veneziani / @top_spot_sports_photography
The WNBL import class has had it all. Whether it’s leading the league in scoring, mutually parting ways on the eve of the season, duking it out at the top of the blocks leader board, job sharing, or even (sadly) getting injured, it’s been a rollercoaster.
We last spoke on the 13th of October.
Within a day, that discussion was already out of date. Within a week, totally irrelevant. Following the league’s imports has been a whirlwind through the first third of the season, so why don’t we see how each team is faring?
Perth Lynx
The most prescient situation is with the Perth Lynx as Brianna Turner is job sharing with Han Xu. The handover is set to lapse after Perth’s most recent game against the Bendigo Spirit, and all eyes will be on the Lynx.
Turner has been fulfilling centre duties alongside import Yemiyah Morris, who have both been duking it out with Lauren Cox atop the block tally. The two bigs on the west coast have been formidable, steering the Lynx to a league leading six blocks per night and less than two rebounds shy of first place with 43.2. Perth are sitting third on the ladder with a 5-3 record, yet have been eking out wins as they currently hold a percentage of 95.2%.
They’ve had glaring shortcomings in the playmaking department, despite Ally Wilson currently sitting fourth in the WNBL for assists per game at five. The team as a whole are dead last, dishing out just 15.4 a game. This issue will compound with Turner’s departure, accounting for 20% of Perth’s assists. Alex Ciabattoni has been used in the position of primary ball handler when Wilson has been on the bench, with Steph Gorman jumping in to bring the ball up every once in a while.
None of the players listed are primarily playmakers and when they’re playing the point it inherently takes them away from their comfort zones. Through the first third of the season, they’ve navigated the playmaking waters by committee. The 5-3 record approach would suggest that that’s the case, but the 95.2% perspective might be more foreshadowing.
It feels kitschy to be so critical of such a strong team so to end on a positive let’s go down the other end of the court. Defensively, the Perth Lynx are doing Perth Lynx things. They have zero weaknesses on that end of the floor who all work in flawless symbiosis, something fans have come accustomed to over the past three seasons.
Morris has been a force on the inside, swatting everything away. Turner leaves the league at second in blocks per game, trailing only teammate Morris. It somewhat gets lost in the sauce of Turner’s defensive acumen. She has a dynamism at the five position we’ve rarely seen in the WNBL, quintessentially tying together any four player permutation head coach Ryan Petrik wants to surround her with. The two can play at the same time or rotate for each other. In either scenario, Perth are able to dictate the terms of the game from the defensive end. That hypothesis is proven correct every night.
That feels better.
Adelaide Lightning
A quick 28-hour drive down the Nullarbor finds us knocking on the door of the Adelaide Lightning. Our preseason preview was quite apprehensive for Sania Feagin and Serena Sundell, but they weren’t waiting for anyone.
Feagin has been a silky, excellent target for Dallas Loughridge and Steph Talbot. At 17.1 points, seven rebounds and 1.4 blocks on 60% shooting from the field, she’s one of the premier bigs in the league. She knows exactly when to get in or out of the way and commands the inside offensively. Kerryn Mitchell has a lot to be proud of in the way her team works as a unit to find points. There’s a fluidity and fluency that they flow in and out of, with that 40-minute consistency being a team-wide issue.
They can be a sieve defensively, which Feagin unfortunately finds herself in the middle of. The team oscillates between their very best basketball to their very worst from quarter to quarter within the same game. Having just lost Sundell for the season, the Lightning are faced with even more adversity.
She settled into more of a scoring role in Adelaide as her college career showcased formidable playmaking. After an anticlimactic season opener, she quickly became a weapon in Mitchell’s offence. In both of her wins with the Lightning, Sundell provided efficient scoring and a combined nine steals. She exited the matchup against the Sydney Flames early in the fourth quarter after rupturing her ACL. The game would nestle into its conclusion with an Adelaide win and Sundell still the top scorer at 20.
It feels like there could be unfinished business for Sundell in the WNBL.
The Lightning have silenced the preseason noise about them. Their recent win against Geelong placed them in the top half of the standings, even if it was for a day, and they find themselves at the precipice of postseason play. Retaining their star in Talbot, attracting Aussie talent in Loughridge and bringing in two quality imports was terrific roster construction. The way Mitchell has used those pieces has only elevated what’s building in Adelaide.
Geelong Venom
I guess we’ll keep driving along the south coast.
Mackenzie Holmes is the early frontrunner for MVP. She leads the league in scoring as she’s averaging nigh on a double double, at 24 points and 9.8 rebounds. She’s been a shining light as the Venom started the season with Shyla Heal and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard injured. Fellow import Alissa Pili was injured just five minutes into her season, giving Geelong one of the most talented inactive lists in league history.
Holmes has been stunningly consistent, breaking the 20 point barrier in all games aside from the season opener, where she had 18. She’s had two games shooting below 54% from the field, both of which have ended up in losses, and is also shooting 33% from deep on low volume. Her shot profile is textbook and she has wasted no time in making her mark on the league.
Geelong have come out of the first third of the season with a 3-5 record, with only one loss being a blowout. Holmes has been the best player in the league while the team has manoeuvred a period of poor health. Her numbers will likely drop slightly with so much talent returning to the floor, yet the extra playmaking and space could increase her efficiency.
Their resilience has been second to none. During a stretch that could have torn the team apart, they galvanised. Pili is nearing a return herself and this team could be mere weeks away from playing a lineup of Jaz Shelley, Shyla Heal, Alissa Pili, Alex Sharp and Mackenzie Holmes. Once they get a few games into that unit, the dynamic of the league could shift.
Southside Melbourne Flyers
Port Phillip Bay can count as coastline for the purposes of this article.
The news of Haley Peters signing with the Southside Flyers was announced a handful of days before her team tipped off WNBL26. The team is still optimising its best five player lineup yet looks like it may have settled on a huge unit, with Tera Reed playing the two.
This was the spot that import Makenna Marisa was poised to inherit. Her backcourt fit with Maddy Rocci is ideal on paper, but after getting benched in her two starts to kick off the season, she has moved into a role off the bench. 4.8 points and 0.8 assists are hardly a pass mark for an import guard, but her production isn’t the issue. That ideal fit statement could not have been more inaccurate and Marisa has yet to find a flow within the team.
Peters petered out the cobwebs and is quickly becoming a steady veteran presence for the Flyers. Her 10 points, seven rebounds and 3.2 assists per night land her in the top five in each category for Southside. That’s the perfectly unremarkable solid output you want from a WNBA journeywoman turned WNBL connective tissue. She complements Isabelle Bourne and Cayla George in the frontcourt and provides a great target for Rocci. Polar opposite to Marisa, Peters joined a team who effectively have two other players in her mould (Bourne and Reed) and the fit has been ideal.
Southside has had an unconventional start to the season but they’ve already begun to make strides in the right direction with their play in the paint. Their starting frontcourt are all averaging double figures in scoring, as well as point guard Rocci. She’s also third in the league for assists per game, with co-captain George second in rebounds.
After a slow jump out of the gates against an understaffed Canberra Capitals outfit, they’ve started to clean things up and solidify a play style. The team’s backcourt play might be the next domino to fall while they continue to make adjustments on the fly, so it might be a case of ‘watch this space’ for Marisa. She cuts through the dynamic of any basketball team or game and if the Flyers can harness that power, they’d have an X-factor unique to the league.
Bendigo Spirit
Let’s gun it inland, shall we?
It looks like the Bendigo Spirit are going to stay with their single import signing in Megan McConnell. They’ve been a model of stability over the past few years, with this year looking like the next chapter in that.
McConnell hasn’t had the production pundits might have had for the WNBA player, but her impact has been immeasurable while backcourt mate Isobel Borlase battles with Mackenzie Holmes for MVP.
College star Megan McConnell looks to elevate her game with the Bendigo Spirit
Individual production might come for McConnell —or it might not— but her role at the point of attack can be better attributed to team success. She’s a tone setter on both the offensive and defensive end. Here, she undertakes a complex plan in picking up Jade Melbourne full court. The play also results in a steal that isn’t credited to McConnell, but is heavily influenced by her on the league’s best playmaker.
It’s a prime example of McConnell’s impact on the Spirit. It’s subtle, it doesn’t get credited in the stat sheet, but it’s omnipresent. Final score lines have all been right in Bendigo’s range. Win or loss, the game is played at their speed and one of the main functions of a point guard is to dictate pace.
Her success can be measured qualitatively rather than quantitatively and the eye test has looked great so far. Even with that being the case, McConnell is near the top of all major stat categories, while supplementing other players being there with her.
Canberra Capitals
Uh oh, we’re making our way closer to a coastline!
Kadi Sissoko and Nicole Munger have matched expectations for the Canberra Capitals. Sissoko has been as advertised, although slightly more efficient from the field in the early season. Her variability on the defensive end has been critical as the team continues to understand the absence of Zitina Aokuso. Whether Sissoko is filling in at the five or substituting Teige Morrell, she has provided this team with exactly what it has needed as they’ve been adjusting to life without Z.
We know who Munger is, and she’ll keep getting better as the season progresses. Through the first stretch of games she has been a Swiss army knife off the bench who tracks to progress to the mean from the three-point line as Aokuso makes her return. The inside-outside potential with Aokuso on the roll and Munger on the perimeter is a match made in heaven, especially with Jade Melbourne at the point.
This team has an Aokuso sized hole. In her three minutes of court time (where the team was +12) we’ve seen just how good they can be. Here’s hoping they can find a healthy stretch of games with her because the fit is devastating. They would throw their hat in the ring for the best starting lineup in the league. Beyond that, they look like they have the best gamestyle and dynamic with Aokuso active. Every part of the floor on offence becomes a threat, even more so with Melbourne as the table setter.
Whether it be this season or in the past, both Sissoko and Munger have proven their fit with Melbourne. Add Aokuso and Sara Blicavs to the mix and you get headaches just thinking about how to guard them. Health will be the story through the second third of the season for Canberra.
Sydney Flames
And just like that, we’re on the east coast.
After having previewed Grace Berger’s faultless match with the Sydney Flames, the two parties mutually parted ways, two days before their season opener. It felt as if they were close to their best in that outing, and in many ways they were. A team that is built on selflessness, connection and intangibles showed just that, with Unique Thompson scoring 15 points on debut.
Per minute, she is one of the league’s most efficient scorers and rebounders. She’s second in points per game for the Flames, despite having come off the bench for most of the season. She leads the team in rebounds and it’s clear that head coach Guy Molloy sees her as an impact player who is at her best with the freedom of coming off the bench. Thompson has held up her end of the bargain in this deal and that partnership feels like a building block as the Flames bring up the rear in the standings.
Sydney leads the league in steals, with seven players averaging over a steal per game and Keely Froling narrowly missing this list at 0.9. Thompson is part of this cohort, along with new import Olivia Epoupa, who is picking things up on the fly. Epoupa is no stranger to the WNBL, having won a championship with the Canberra Capitals in 2020, averaging 15 points, 8 rebounds and 8.5 assists en route to a Finals MVP. Fans will remember her steady play throughout the season and delivering when the Caps needed it most.
Given the context and history, Epoupa has more than earned a grace period. Her individual season seems like it will parallel the success of the team. If they can keep their wins and losses close through the end of 2025 then their finals aspirations would stay alive. Unlike the last few years, they have had health and availability, yet were struck by a roster omission on the eve of the season.
As it stands, this team not only looks like a team who lost a starter two days before their first game, they also look like a team who signed a new starter after it. Their unselfish and defensive identity is clear, but the ability to capitalise on good stretches of play has been lacking. They haven’t been able to create much separation and ride the momentum they generate from the defensive end with the firepower that’s required in the WNBL.
Townsville Fire
This was never intended to be a road trip but for whatever reason, we’ve stuck with it.
The Townsville Fire are unwavering at the top of the table. Their team-first attitude is palpable, built on egalitarianism. Those properties are the Fire’s ignition and it often seems like they’re playing a different game out there. It’s looking like they’ll hold the top spot for the entire season.
Lauren Cox and Lucy Olsen have been illustrative of this team’s identity. They aren’t affected by the optics of coming off the bench, even with Olsen coming off a 41-game WNBA season. They have accepted their bench roles with a enthusiasm and been dominant in the process.
Cox was the Defensive Player of the Year last season, swatting away 73 shots through the finals. It’s been much of the same from her as she finds her way back to good health. She’s second in the league in blocks per game with less minutes compared to last year and no starts.
Olsen has been a joy to watch. She’s a high IQ and giving player with a mesmerising shooting stroke. She’s always making the team play and her passing and scoring are both outcomes Townsville seek. The ball carries an energy in Townsville’s possession, almost acting as a sixth offensive player and it’s up to the players to maintain it. Olsen has been on the same level as Courtney Woods at honouring that philosophy.
Olsen is tied with Abbey Ellis for second in both assists (3.1) and steals (1.4) for Townsville, while shooting 93% from the free throw line. Cox is second in rebounds with 6.3 and, of course, first in blocks at 2.1. It’s a cheat code that Townsville has these two players coming off the bench. They might be looking lonely at the top after the second third of the season.
Either this team wins the championship, or another team elevates their play so much that they beat the Fire. Whichever outcome is realised will leave WNBL fans spoiled.
After an accidental coastal trip around the island of Australia, we’ve stopped to refuel at each WNBL team. Our journey is only a third of the way through, yet we’ve learned a lot about all the ups and downs a visitor might face on their travels here.
The strength of the league is paramount this season, which goes beyond the imports, yet they have provided a lot of the league’s best play so far. There have been just two imports who have won an MVP in the history of the WNBL, but that number is looking like it might change after this season. Only time will tell.