Opals to choose WNBL preparation for Commonwealth Games
The 2005/06 ‘Price Attack’ Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) season is set to tip-off on September 30
with the full regular season draw revealed today.
Excitement surrounds the build-up to the new season with plenty of ‘Price Attack’ Opals players considering
the WNBL as preparation for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Lauren Jackson will once again be the League’s biggest drawcard, returning to the Capitals after missing
last season due to ankle surgery. Jackson will be joined by 19 fellow Opals squad members including Natalie
Porter, Laura Summerton and Hollie Grima. It is hoped that players such as Suzy Batkovic and Alicia Poto will
also choose to prepare for the Melbourne Games in Australia rather than returning to Europe where they have
been playing for the past few years.
The league celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, following on from another Olympic silver medal
winning performance by the Opals in Athens. Four Opals returned to the WNBL following Athens with captain
Trish Fallon starring for the Sydney Uni Flames and being named in her fourth All-Star team.
Fallon was also named in the 25th anniversary team in January. The star-studded team was led by Lauren
Jackson, the overwhelming favourite for all-time League MVP, and included past greats such as Robyn Maher and
Michele Timms and more recent stars like Penny Taylor and Rachael Sporn.
Fallon returns to the Flames this season and will play on opening night when her team travels to Melbourne
to play Bulleen Melbourne and then back up with a grand final rematch against the Dandenong Rangers on
Saturday night.
It’s a blockbuster opening round with the highlight being the Sydney Uni vs Dandenong match up. But no one
will want to miss Townsville Fire’s opening assault on Adelaide, last year’s fourth place getters. Despite
losing Natalie Porter to Sydney Uni, the Fire have added plenty of power to their line-up after a
disappointing season in 2004/05. Kelly Wilson, Jennifer Crouse and Rohanee Cox will look to dull the impact of
Porter’s departure on the Nth Queenslanders.
Reigning back-to-back champions, the Dandenong Rangers, will have an advantage over their opponents in the
early stages of the competition. The team have been training for the Final Round of the FIBA Women's World
League Championship to be played in October in Samara, Russia. The team won the right to represent Australia
in the tournament by defeating the Sydney Uni Flames in the grand final in February. They went on to the
preliminary round of the competition in Seoul in May and had an unblemished record throughout their three
games to qualify for the final round.
The WNBL schedule has been tailored to accommodate the five-day tournament, but coach Gary Fox will need to
manage fatigue and injury on his team’s return.
The draw for 2005/06 will see all teams play 21 home and away regular season games.
Round 16 (January 13-15) sees the return of the ‘double-header’ weekend bonanza. Canberra and Melbourne
will host four games each over the weekend. Like last season, the increased number of games over the weekend
should make for a festival-like atmosphere surrounding the matches.
Some other notable dates on the new schedule include:
2 October 2005 – the Perth Lynx test out their new coach and a largely unknown line-up.
8-9 October 2005 – last year’s last and second last placegetters, the Lynx and the AIS, tussle in a
double-header weekend at the AIS. New AIS women’s head coach Dean Kinsman will show us what he’s got.
8 December 2005 – the AIS and Canberra make their annual trip to the country, playing a match at the
National Schools Basketball Tournament in Albury, Lauren Jackson’s hometown.
17 December 2005 and 25 January 2006 – the Boomers play home games at the Knox Basketball Stadium in
an effort to take the game to other parts of Melbourne.
The regular season is scheduled to conclude on January 29, with the Finals Series due to start on
February 3. The Grand Final will be played on February 18.
2005/06 WNBL schedule
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