Writing and photographs by Dean Andrews

A month ago on Sunday 17 March the Jayco Southside Flyers defeated Perth Lynx 115-81 in game 3 of the Grand Final at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville to win the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL championship in convincing fashion. Southside’s 115 points in game 3 of the Grand Final set a new record for the highest score of all-time in a WNBL final, the Flyers 34 point victory broke the record for biggest winning margin in a WNBL Grand Final game.

Jayco Flyers celebrating after they defeated Perth Lynx in game 3 of the 2023/24 Grand Final at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

Whilst Southside were dominant in the deciding game of the Grand Final they were well and truly tested during both the semi final series against Melbourne Boomers and opposed to Perth Lynx in the Grand Final with each series going to three games. Southside’s six games in the 2023/24 finals is the most finals a team has ever played in a WNBL season. In each finals series Southside suffered a loss by more than 20 points, having a 21 point loss to Melbourne in game 2 of the semi final series and were outplayed by Perth in game 1 of the Grand Final series at home, being defeated by 22 points. One of the Jayco Flyers greatest strengths in 2023/24 was the ability to respond strongly when their backs were against the wall and this was again the case during the finals. After each finals loss a frontcourt starter played a pivotal role in the Flyers winning their next game. In game 3 of the semi final series against Melbourne Lauren Jackson was incredible, scoring a season-high and game-high 38 points at 68.2% from the field and took a game-high 11 rebounds in a 93-77 Southside victory. On the road in game 2 of the Grand Final against Perth Mercedes Russell made a fade away jump shot from just outside the key in the last second of the fourth quarter to give the Jayco Flyers a two point victory to send the series to a third and deciding game. Russell finished game 2 against Perth with a double-double comprised of 18 points at 57.1% from the field along with a game-high and equal season-high 17 rebounds.

When the 2023/24 WNBL championship was on the line in game 3 of the Grand Final Southside delivered a magnificent team performance with each of the seven Flyers that played at least 12 minutes court time scoring at least 12 points in the home game against Perth. In a consistent team performance no Southside player reached 20 points with Jasmine Dickey off the bench scoring a team-high 19 points shooting at 85.7% from the field. Joining Dickey in double figures were Southside captain Bec Cole (17 points), vice captain Maddison Rocci (15), Carley Ernst (15), Leilani Mitchell (14), Mercedes Russell (13) and Lauren Jackson (12). Russell averaged a double-double comprised of 14.3 points and 12.7 rebounds per game in the Grand Final series against Perth and was rewarded for her phenomenal performance by winning the Rachael Sporn Medal for being the Grand Final Most Valuable Player.

Southside Flyers in a team huddle after they defeated Perth Lynx in game 3 of the 2023/24 Grand Final at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

In a post-game interview on ESPN after game 3 of the 2023/24 Grand Final Megan Hustwaite commented “Cheryl Chambers Southside Flyers are the first team to take a semi final series to three and then win a Grand Final series two-one, this is a special group.” Southside Head Coach Chambers responded “It is a special group and we have gone to war it feels like in the past three weeks because we have done three games before we hit the finals then three (semi final) games and three (grand final) games now, I wouldn’t choose to do it any other way.” Hustwaite asked “How special are the group, you have got mums with babies, teenagers and everything in between.” Chambers answered “They are a great group, absolutely awesome group, they wanted it and I know we had a rough start to the year so it is so great to see that we were able to come together and get over the line.” On winning a WNBL Championship Chambers commented “You go on a journey with a group of girls who are really special, I am just rapt for them and for us and for our families and our supporters that we were able to get over the line.”

The journey for many people involved with the Southside Flyers commenced before the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season. The club has competed in the WNBL for 33 consecutive seasons, 28 seasons as the Dandenong Rangers from 1992 to 2018/19 followed by five seasons as the Southside Flyers from 2019/20 to 2023/24 after being rebranded in July 2019. In 1975 Gerry Ryan founded Jayco, a business that designs, manufacturers and distributes recreational vehicles including caravans and motorhomes. From 1997 to 2018/19 Jayco was the naming rights sponsor of the Dandenong Rangers. The Rangers competed in six WNBL Grand Finals, winning three championships – 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2011/12 and were runners up three times – 1992, 2005/06 and 2016/17.

In July 2019 the Dandenong Rangers WNBL license was transferred from the Dandenong Basketball Association to Gerry Ryan and the club was rebranded as the Southside Flyers. The Southside Flyers have finished in the top two at the end of the regular season in four of their five seasons from 2019/20 onwards. In each of these four seasons the Jayco Flyers made the Grand Final, winning the championship twice – 2020 and 2023/24 and being runners-up twice – 2019/20 and 2022/23. Two constants in Southside’s five WNBL seasons from 2019/20 to 2023/24 were Cheryl Chambers as Head Coach and current captain Bec Cole as a player. It was fitting that Chambers and Cole were the duo that got to raise the WNBL championship trophy for the club after Southside won the 2023/24 Grand Final series two games to one against Perth. Cole and Mitchell are the only two players that have played in both of Southside’s championships, this guard duo also played one season each for Dandenong Rangers, Cole in 2018/19 and Mitchell in 2013/14.

Above – Southside Head Coach Cheryl Chambers and captain Bec Cole holding the WNBL Championship trophy at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

Below – Chambers and Cole raising the WNBL Championship trophy

Six members of Southside’s 2023/24 Championship winning team played in their first championship with the club and had been on the roster for one of the club’s two Grand Final losses. Ernst, Jackson, Loughridge, Puoch and Rocci were all on the Southside roster that was defeated by Townsville two games to nil in the 2022/23 Grand Final. Mercedes Russell was a starter on Southside’s team that was beaten by the University of Canberra Capitals in two close games in the 2019/20 Grand Final. Three members of Southside’s 11 player main roster for 2023/24 won a championship in their first season with the club – Dickey, Lou Brown and Klara Wischer.

Below Milestones and Misses covers the:    

• Club’s history in the WNBL, as the Dandenong Rangers from 1992 to 2019 and as the Southside Flyers from 2019 to now.

• Construction of Southside’s 2023/24 roster.

• Southside’s incredible championship winning 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season.

Dandenong Rangers history in the WNBL from 1992 to 2018/19

The Dandenong Rangers first season competing in the WNBL was 1992 with Alex Palazzolo as Head Coach and Tracey Browning as captain. In the lead up to the Rangers 25^th anniversary celebrations at Dandenong Stadium on 14 January 2017 Browning was interviewed by Megan Hustwaite for an article published in the Greater Dandenong Leader. On the inception of the Rangers WNBL program Browning told Hustwaite “The operating costs were really high back then to run an association. Nunawading couldn’t afford to run the team anymore so they decided to sell it to Dandenong who had been knocking on the WNBL’s door for a few years. Dandenong had won three CBA (equivalent to NBL1 South) titles in a row and had applied several times for a licence before, but there wasn’t the room because there was three Melbourne teams at the time.”1 David Kelly was the President of the Dandenong Basketball Association in 1992 and played a pivotal role in the Dandenong Rangers acquiring the license from the Nunawading Spectres and joining the WNBL.

From left to right, Gerry Ryan, Penny Taylor, Tracey Browning and Alex Palazzolo at the Jayco Rangers 25^th anniversary celebrations at Dandenong Stadium on 14 January 2017

From 1983 to 1991 Nunawading made seven WNBL Grand Finals, winning six Championships and were runners-up in 1991, being defeated 64-67 by the Hobart Islanders. Nunawading won back-to-back WNBL Championships in 1983 and 1984 and a league record four consecutive titles from 1986 to 1989. Browning and several other members of Nunawading’s 1991 Grand Final team joined the Dandenong Rangers for the club’s inaugural WNBL season in 1992.

Dandenong had 14 wins and six losses during the 1992 regular season to finish third on the ladder, three wins behind minor premiers, Perth Breakers. Dandenong won their first two WNBL finals, defeating Canberra 67-65 in the minor semi final and had a 67-57 preliminary final victory against Melbourne Tigers. The Rangers finished runners-up in 1992, being defeated 54-58 in the Grand Final by the Perth Breakers. In 1993 Samantha Thornton became the first Rangers player to earn selection in the WNBL’s All-Star five. In the Rangers first four WNBL seasons from 1992 to 1995 Palazzolo was the Head Coach and Browning was the captain.

From 1996 to 1998 Stephen Barr was the Head Coach of the Dandenong Rangers. Dandenong made a semi final in 1993 and only made the finals once in seven seasons from 1994 to 1999/2000, being defeated in an elimination final in 1997. Jayco owned by Gerry Ryan commenced as the naming rights sponsor of the Dandenong Rangers in 1997. Jayco, is a business that designs, manufacturers and distributes recreational vehicles including caravans and motorhomes. Mark Wright was appointed Head Coach of the Rangers in 1998/99, becoming the third person to hold the role, following Palazzolo and Barr.

From 2000/01 to 2007/08 the Jayco Rangers made the finals seven times in eight seasons with the only exception being 2002/03. 19 year old Penny Taylor in her second season with the Jayco Rangers in 2000/01 took her game to another stratosphere to win the WNBL’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Teammates of Taylor on the Rangers 2000/01 team included Jessica Bibby, Allie Douglas, Emily McInerney and Alison Downie in her debut season in the league. Playing 23 games for the Dandenong Rangers in 2000/01 including two finals Taylor averaged 24.9 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 2.5 steals and 0.9 blocked shots per game. During the regular season Taylor led the league in points per game and steals and was ranked third for rebounds. Dandenong finished the 2000/01 season fourth on the ladder with 15 wins and six losses, only two games behind ladder leaders Canberra and an amazing eight games ahead of the fifth placed team, the AIS. After winning their semi-final on the road against Adelaide 83 to 71 Dandenong lost to Sydney 78 to 72 in the preliminary final. Wright was named the WNBL’s Coach of the Year in 1999/2000 and 2000/01.

Dandenong finished third on the ladder in 2001/02, again with a record of 15 wins and six losses and lost their semi-final to Sydney by 13 points 98-85. Taylor won her second consecutive WNBL MVP award in 2001/02. Playing 21 games for the Jayco Rangers including one final Taylor averaged 27.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.9 blocked shots per game. Taylor ranked third in the league for steals and fourth for rebounds.

Gary Fox was appointed the head coach of the Dandenong Rangers for the 2002/03 season. The Jayco Rangers finished fifth on the ladder in 2002/03 season to narrowly miss out on a finals position, one win behind Adelaide. Several Dandenong Rangers players from 2002/03 suited up for the club again in the 2003/04 season including Carly Wilson, Emily McInerney, captain Allie Douglas, Samantha Richards and Alison Downie. Wilson had been selected in the 2002/03 WNBL All-Star five and McInerney had been named the WNBL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2000/2001 and 2001/02. Three players that had represented the Jayco Rangers previously and returned to the club in 2003/04 were front court player Jacinta Kennedy (nee Hamilton) and guards Jess Bibby and Caitlin Ryan.  

During the 2003/04 regular season the Rangers were the standout team in the league, finishing first on the ladder with 17 wins, four losses and a percentage of 123.8. The teams that finished second, third and fourth, Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra all had 13 wins, Dandenong were the only team in the league to have a percentage above 112. Emily McInerney won the Robyn Maher Defensive Player of the Year Award for the fifth time of her career in 2003/04 and played a crucial role in the Rangers being the best defensive team in the league, conceding 56.7 points per game in the regular season. Dandenong Head Coach Gary Fox was named the WNBL’s Coach of the Year. Kennedy averaged 15.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game to earn selection in the WNBL’s All-Star five.  Dandenong defeated Sydney 85-68 in the major semi-final to progress to the Grand Final. In a low scoring Grand Final at Dandenong Stadium scores were level, 46 points apiece at three quarter time. The Jayco Rangers outscored Sydney 17-7 in the fourth quarter to have a victory by 10 points, 63 to 53 to win Dandenong’s first WNBL Championship. Emily McInerney won the Grand final MVP Award and teammate Kennedy scored a team-high 18 points. Four players averaged more than 27.0 minutes per game for Dandenong in 2003/04 – McInerney, Wilson, Kennedy and Douglas. Another six Rangers averaged between 10.0 and 20.0 minutes per game – Ryan, Richards, Deanne Ranford, Bibby, Demelza Waixel and Downie.

From a win-loss perspective the Dandenong Rangers were even more dominant in 2004/05, having 19 wins and two losses during the regular season, three wins ahead of Bulleen and Sydney in second and third place respectively. Sydney had the league’s highest percentage (121.0), narrowly ahead of Dandenong (117.6) and Bulleen (117.4). Dandenong remained the number one ranked defence in 2004/05 with their opponents averaging 62.2 points per game, just ahead of the Bulleen Boomers who conceded 63.6 points per game. The two teams met in the major semi-final with the Jayco Rangers getting a narrow victory over Bulleen 63-59. For the second season in a row Dandenong hosted the Grand Final against Sydney at Dandenong Stadium in 2004/05. In a low scoring game the Jayco Rangers prevailed by five points, defeating Sydney 52-47 to win back-to-back WNBL Championships. With scoring at an absolute premium during the Grand Final Kennedy dominated to make nine of 14 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 64.3%, scored a game-high 23 points and took 12 rebounds to win the Grand Final MVP award. The second highest scorer in the game was Sydney’s Trish Fallon with 14 points. Five players on the Rangers roster played at least 20 games for the season and averaged more than 7.5 points per game – Kennedy, Bibby, Wilson, Richards and Ryan. Another five players played at least 20 games and averaged more than 8.0 minutes per game for the Rangers – Douglas, Ranford, Emma McDonald (nee Randall), McInerney and Downie. Douglas was the captain of the Jayco Rangers back-to-back WNBL championship winning teams is 2003/04 and 2004/05.

Several players from the Rangers 2004/05 championship winning team returned in 2005/06 however captain Allie Douglas was a critical departure. After being the top two Rangers for minutes played in the club’s back-to-back Championship winning seasons in 2003/04 and 2004/05 McInerney and Wilson were the Rangers co-captains in 2005/06. Dandenong finished 2005/06 as the minor premiers for the third season in a row, however their rivals had significantly reduced the gap. Dandenong were one of three teams along with Adelaide and Canberra to have a record of 14 wins and seven losses. In an eight club league amazingly only two games separated first and sixth, Bulleen and Sydney both had 13 wins and eight losses followed by sixth placed Townsville with 12 wins and nine losses. Rangers Head Coach Gary Fox was named the WNBL’s Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons. McInerney won the WNBL’s Defensive Player of the Year for the third consecutive season. Kennedy averaged 16.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game to earn selection in the WNBL’s All-Star five for the second time in three seasons.

In the 2005/06 major semi-final Dandenong defeated Adelaide by five points in overtime, 75 to 70 to progress to their third straight Grand Final. In another low scoring Grand Final Canberra defeated Dandenong by 13 points 68 to 55 at Dandenong Stadium. In 2005/06 Kennedy won her third consecutive Rangers MVP Award, a phenomenal performance. Kennedy was one of three Rangers to average more than 29.0 minutes per game along with McInerney and Wilson. In all three seasons that the Rangers made the Grand Final from 2003/04 to 2005/06 McInerney won the WNBL’s Robyn Maher Defensive Player of the Year Award. At the end of 2005/06 McInerney had won the DPOTY Award seven times including five time with the Rangers, setting a new record for the most times a player had won the award. Six Rangers averaged between 12.0 and 23.0 minutes per game in 2005/06 – Kathleen MacLeod, Ryan, Richards, McDonald, Downie and Jenna O’Hea. 

Caitlin Ryan and Samantha Richards were the Jayco Rangers co-captains in 2006/07. The Dandenong Rangers had 12 wins and nine losses in 2006/07 to make the top four, finishing in fourth place, three wins behind third placed Adelaide. The Jayco Rangers lost a semi final to Adelaide 61-66 in 2006/07.

For three consecutive seasons from 2007/08 to 2009/10 guard Caitlin Ryan was the sole captain of the Rangers. Caitlin’s father Charles Ryan was inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame in 2013 for his contribution to basketball. In his biography on australia.basketball it states “Charles Ryan is perhaps best remembered for his role as a founding father of the National Wheelchair Basketball League. As President of the Dandenong Basketball Association he oversaw the expansion of Dandenong Stadium into one of the premier indoor sport facilities in Australia.”2 In recognition of his contribution to the Dandenong Basketball Association the show court at Dandenong Stadium was named the Charles Ryan Show Court.

In Dale Walters first season as Head coach the Rangers were defeated in a preliminary final by Adelaide 74-64 in 2007/08. McInerney won the WNBL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2006/07 and 2007/08. In her career McInerney won the league’s DPOTY Award an incredible nine times, all in an 11 season span from 1998 to 2007/08, winning the award playing for the Melbourne Tigers twice and the Jayco Rangers seven times.

On 8 February 2008 the Dandenong Rangers named a squad of 20 players for their Jayco Rangers Team of the Decade, celebrating a 10 year partnership with naming-rights sponsor Jayco. The 20 player Jayco Rangers Team of the Decade was announced during half-time of the Dandenong Rangers home game against Perth at Dandenong Stadium. At the Rangers 2007/08 MVP night a 10 player Jayco Rangers Team of the Decade was announced, the team is listed below:

Jayco Rangers Team of the Decade 1997-2008

Starting Five: Allie Douglas (captain), Jessica Bibby, Jacinta Kennedy (nee Hamilton), Emily McInerney, Penny Taylor

Bench Players: Lucille Baillie (nee Hamilton), Emma McDonald (nee Randall), Samantha Richards, Catlin Ryan, Carly Wilson

Coach: Gary Fox

The Rangers missed the finals in 2008/09 and early in the 2009/10 season Dale Walters was replaced as coach by Dean Kinsman. The Rangers had six wins in 2009/10 and missed the finals. Jayco Rangers captain Caitlin Ryan retired at the end of the 2009/10 WNBL season. In her final WNBL season Ryan ranked second for the Rangers with 9.8 points per game, behind Steph Blicavs (nee Cumming) with 11.1 points per game.

Mark Wright commenced his second stint as the Head Coach of the Jayco Rangers in 2010/11 having previously performed the role from 1998/99 to 2001/02. On the appointment of Wright as Jayco Rangers Head Coach Dandenong Basketball Association president Charles Ryan commented “In making this appointment, we reflected on the history of the Dandenong Rangers. And Mark has been responsible for recruiting three of our best players in Penny Taylor, Emily McInerny and Carly Wilson.”3 After his appointment Wright said “Dandenong will be a force again. And the sooner the better. “They’ll be a tough, hard and gritty group, and one that you’ll be proud of, no matter what the result.”4

Five Dandenong Rangers players averaged more than 8.0 points per game for the club in 2010/11 – Kathleen MacLeod, Abby Bishop, Steph Blicavs, Jess Foley and Tracey Gahan. Dandenong returned to the finals, having 12 wins and 10 losses during the regular season to finish fourth with the same record as the fifth placed Logan Thunder. In a home elimination final at Dandenong Stadium the Rangers were defeated by Logan 73-83. Point guard MacLeod was selected in the 2010/11 WNBL All-Star five. MacLeod played 20 games for the Rangers in 2010/11 and averaged 15.4 points (ranked 5^th in the WNBL) and 5.5 assists (2^nd) per game. 

MacLeod and Blicavs were the only two Dandenong Rangers starters from 2010/11 that returned to the club in 2011/12. They were joined in the Rangers 2011/12 starting line-up by Jenna O’Hea, Canadian import centre Krista Phillips and long-term Ranger forward Alison Downie who played a more prominent role for Dandenong in 2011/12 after averaging 12.7 minutes per game in 2010/11. Other members of the Rangers 12 player roster were Tegan Cunningham, Sam Woosnam, Louella Tomlinson, Clare Papavs, Hope Terdich, American import Brittany Wilkins and development player Aimie Rocci (nee Clydesdale). Two thirds of the way through the 2011/12 season the Rangers looked to be a middle of the road team personified with a record of eight wins and eight losses. Late in the season the Rangers turned their form around in dramatic fashion to win their last six regular season games, having an average winning margin of 31 points during this time. The Jayco Rangers finished third on the WNBL ladder in 2011/12 with 14 wins and eight losses, four games behind minor premiers, Adelaide Lightning and one win behind the second placed Bulleen Boomers. Townsville and Sydney finished in fourth and fifth place respectively with records of 13 wins and nine losses to complete the final five.

In a 2011/12 home semi final at Dandenong Stadium the Rangers trailed Townsville 58-65 with just over seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Dandenong dominated from that point on to go on a 19-1 run and won 77 points to 66. On the road in a preliminary final at Adelaide 36ers Arena Dandenong trailed Adelaide by 13 points a minute into the third quarter. As they had done so frequently in the concluding stages of the season the Rangers got on a roll and overpowered their opponent to defeat Adelaide by 13 points, 91-78. In a phenomenal all-round game O’Hea scored a team-high 28 points at 61.5% from the field, took nine rebounds and made a game-high eight assists. Sixth woman Cunningham was instrumental in the Rangers gaining the ascendancy in the third quarter and finished the game with 18 points at 72.7% from the field and took six rebounds. 

On 3 September 2011 Charles Ryan passed away after a two year battle with lymphoma. On the Tuesday before the 2011/12 WNBL Grand Final Charles’ daughter, former Rangers captain and two-time WNBL Championship player Caitlin called Jayco Rangers Head Coach Mark Wright and during an emotional conversation passed on a message from her late father. In an article written by Roy Ward and published on Grand Final day, 11 March 2012 Wright told The Sydney Morning Herald that “She said Charles had told her ‘when Mark takes the girls to the grand final, make sure you tell him that I’m with him’. She made it very clear he didn’t say ‘if’, he said ‘when’. She promised she would pass that on.” Wright went on to say “For a man who was dying, to think about what our relationship meant; it means the world to me. That’s a big part of my motivation to win this, because of all the people at Dandenong who have supported the team and me, even when we haven’t been doing well.”5

The 2011/12 WNBL Grand Final between the Bulleen Boomers and the Dandenong Rangers was the first all-Victorian Grand Final since 1987 when Nunawading defeated Coburg. Bulleen made the Grand Final for the third season in a row in 2011/12. Only four of the 12 players from the Boomers 2010/11 Championship winning side remained at the club in 2011/12 –  Liz Cambage, Rachel Jarry, Amelia Todhunter and Alice Kunek. Most of the Bulleen departures were due to retirement including 2010/11 Grand Final MVP Sharin Milner. After playing for the Boomers in the 2009/10 and 2010/11 Grand Finals O’Hea was playing for the Rangers against the Boomers in 2011/12. Dandenong had a long losing streak against Bulleen including losing all three games during the 2011/12 regular season by five points, six points in overtime and 10 points. During Dandenong’s training session on the Tuesday night of Grand Final week point guard MacLeod suffered a calf tear.

In the 2011/12 WNBL Grand Final on 11 March at the Cage (now known as Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville) MacLeod took her place in the Rangers starting five but wasn’t sure how she would fare with her calf during the game. The Bulleen Boomers had the better start to lead 11 points to four, three and a half minutes into the opening quarter. The Dandenong Rangers scored the next 12 points to gain the ascendancy and went on a 30 points to six run to lead by 17 points, 34 to 17 with six and a half minutes remaining in the first half.

MacLeod had some issues with her calf during the game, in particular when she tried to push off her right leg. With adrenaline going MacLeod was able to push through the pain and played more than 35 minutes game time and played a phenomenal game. Whilst Bulleen reduced the lead to a low single figure margin for several minutes early in the third quarter Dandenong were able to respond, retaining their composure to extend their lead. The Jayco Rangers recorded a convincing victory by 24 points, 94 points to 70 to extend their winning streak to nine games to win the club’s third WNBL championship. Rangers captain MacLeod scored 22 points at 66.7% from the field, made nine assists and took four rebounds to win the Grand Final MVP award. O’Hea scored 20 points and took seven rebounds. Another three Rangers were in double figures for scoring – Steph Blicavs (19 points), Cunningham (12) and Phillips (11). The Rangers 24 point win against Bulleen was the equal third biggest Grand Final winning margin in WNBL history. Nunawading Spectres held the record, having defeated North Adelaide Rockets by 28 points in the 1988 Grand Final, 71-43.

On the Rangers turning their form around in dramatic fashion to win the 2011/12 WNBL Championship MacLeod commented in the Round 14, 2012/13 edition of Spotlight official game program “We knew we had trained so well and everyone had worked so hard, we knew we had a good team and we hadn’t got the best out of ourselves to that point. I think we all had a belief that it was going to come and Mark (Wright, Rangers coach) did such a great job of being the leader and instilling that belief in us all. It is still hard to believe we won and how we won 9 games in a row, and how I wasn’t sure if I was going to play – it was something I’ll never forget.”6

Point guard MacLeod was selected in the 2011/12 WNBL All-Star five. Among players that played at least five games for the season MacLeod ranked fifth with 16.7 points per game and led the league with 7.4 assists per game. O’Hea averaged 16.3 points (ranked 8^th in the WNBL) and 4.5 assists (3^rd) per game. Six Rangers players averaged more than 21.0 minutes and at least 6.0 points per game in 2011/12, the other four players in this category were Steph Blicavs (13.6 points per game), Krista Phillips (11.2), Cunningham (9.8) and Downie (6.0). Forward Downie has the distinction of being the only player to play in all three of the Rangers WNBL championship winning teams – 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2011/12.

The Jayco Rangers retained just over half of their WNBL Championship winning roster for the 2012/13 season with the starting five of MacLeod, O’Hea, Steph Blicavs, Downie and Phillips along with sixth woman Cunningham and young back-up point guard Rocci all returning. Dandenong recruited two teenagers from the AIS – Sara Blicavs and Carly Ernst (nee Mijovic). During the 2012/13 season the Rangers recruited American import Monica Wright which increased their depth even further.

The Dandenong Rangers always looked assured of making the 2012/13 finals and until late in the season they had the measure of every rival club in the WNBL other than the Bendigo Spirit. The Rangers won 16 of their first 19 games of the season, with all three losses being to Bendigo by in order 12, two and seven points. Dandenong lost two late season games to Adelaide to finish the regular season in second spot on the ladder with 19 wins and five losses, two games behind minor premiers Bendigo Spirit, one game ahead of third placed Adelaide and six games ahead of the Townsville Fire who completed the top four. Dandenong lost the major semi-final on the road to Bendigo 78 points to 71. The Jayco Rangers were upset by Townsville Fire in the preliminary final at Dandenong Stadium, being defeated 78 points to 64. MacLeod and O’Hea were both selected in the WNBL All-Star five, it was the third consecutive season that MacLeod had been selected in the team playing for the Rangers. In 2012/13 MacLeod played 26 games for the Rangers and averaged 16.2 points (ranked 4^th in the WNBL) and 6.2 assists (2^nd) per game. O’Hea played 24 games for Dandenong in 2012/13 and averaged 14.5 points (ranked 8^th in the WNBL) and 6.0 assists (3^rd) per game.

MacLeod missed the 2013/14 WNBL season to have her son Jaxson and the Rangers recruited another elite point guard in current Southside Flyers player Leilani Mitchell. Joining O’Hea and Mitchell in the Rangers starting line-up were American import duo Kayla Pedersen and Natalie Novosel along with Alice Kunek. The Rangers had 16 wins and eight losses during the 2013/14 regular season to finish second, six games behind minor premiers Bendigo and level with third placed Townsville Fire. Dandenong were defeated in a semi final on the road against Bendigo 62-71. O’Hea led the Rangers in scoring with 16 points. The Rangers lost a close home preliminary final to Townsville 71-74. O’Hea scored a game-high 27 points, took four rebounds and made four assists  against Townsville.

Five players played at least 24 of the Rangers 26 games in 2013/14 and averaged more than 24.0 minutes and 9.5 points per game – O’Hea, Mitchell, Kunek and American import duo Pedersen and Novosel. Another five Rangers played at least 15 games and averaged between 9.0 and 17.0 minutes per game – Brigitte Ardossi, Downie, Rosie Moult and Rocci. O’Hea averaged 20.7 points per game and won the WNBL’s Leading Scorer Award, becoming the first Dandenong player to win the award since her idol Penny Taylor won the award in consecutive seasons in 2000/01 and 2001/02. O’Hea ranked sixth in the WNBL with 4.3 assists per game and was one of two Rangers selected in the 2013/14 WNBL All-Star five along with point guard Mitchell who was in her debut WNBL season. In 2013/14 Mitchell ranked third in the league with 5.4 assists per game and averaged 11.9 points.

After playing three consecutive WNBL seasons for the Jayco Rangers from 2011/12 to 2013/14 O’Hea returned to Europe to play in France in 2014/15. The Rangers starting line-up early in the 2014/15 season was MacLeod, Kunek, Tegan Cunningham and American imports Cappie Pondexter and Annalise Pickrel. 10 players on the Rangers roster at the start of the season played at least 10 games for club in 2014/15 with the early season starters being joined in this category by Rocci, Lauren Scherf, Amanda Meinking, Tenaya Phillips and Chloe Bibby. 

Five games into the 2014/15 season the Rangers were on the bottom of the ladder with a record of one win and four losses. In a massive boost Penny Taylor signed with the Jayco Rangers early in the season and made her WNBL return in the Rangers sixth game of 2014/15. In a press conference just after Taylor had joined the Jayco Rangers for the 2014/15 WNBL season Penny commented on her return to the Rangers, “Dandenong is a great option, it’s where I started, and after quite a long time I get to come back here and play for a great club, and a great coach who I really respect so it couldn’t have worked out better for me.” Taylor went on to say “I always knew that if I was going to play in Australia it would be for Dandenong, this is as I said where I started, for me Melbourne (the city) was the only option (to be close to family) and Dandenong sets such a good standard in the WNBL.” With Taylor starting for Dandenong Cunningham became the team’s sixth woman. In Taylor’s return game on 8 November 2014 at Dandenong Stadium the Jayco Rangers had a 79-72 victory against a top of the table Townsville Fire team featuring front court duo Suzy Batkovic and Cayla George. Despite being unwell on gameday Taylor scored game-high 21 points, took five rebounds, made four assists and shot the ball at a superb 54% from the field, making seven of her 13 shots in a brilliant all-round game.

At the mid-season break the Dandenong Rangers were sixth on the ladder with a record of six wins and seven losses, however they quickly rose up the ladder in the new year. With Taylor leading the way the Rangers were the form team of the WNBL in January, winning all six games that they played, increasing their winning streak to eight games and in the process jumped up to third on the WNBL ladder, a remarkable turn-around. Despite losing their last three games of the season the Dandenong Rangers concluded the regular season with 12 wins and 10 losses to finish third on the ladder and hosted a sudden death semi final against Sydney at Dandenong Basketball Stadium. Dandenong looked to be in control, leading by 13 points at half-time. Early in the third quarter when going for a lay-up Taylor injured her left ankle when she stepped on Sydney centre Paris Johnson’s foot. Taylor had to be assisted from the court and was unable to take any further part in the game. With Taylor sidelined momentum shifted and Sydney overran Dandenong in the second half to win by nine points, 89 to 80, ending the Rangers season.

All five Rangers starters Taylor, Pondexter, Kunek, MacLeod and Pickrel averaged more than 11.0 points per game. Dandenong were the only club to have multiple players ranked in the top seven of the WNBL for assists per game, with three – MacLeod (5^th), Pondexter (6^th) and Taylor (7^th). In 2014/15 Taylor averaged 19.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocked shots per game, setting new WNBL career-bests for assists and blocked shots. Highlighting her exceptional all-round game Taylor was the only player ranked in the WNBL top 11 during the 2014/15 regular season for average per game in all five of the following categories: points (2nd), assists (7th), rebounds (11th), steals (3rd) & blocked shots (3rd). Despite missing five games of the 22 game regular season Taylor finished fourth in the 2014/15 WNBL MVP award and was selected in the WNBL All-Star five – the third selection of her career, all with the Jayco Rangers.   

In March 2015 long-time Dandenong Rangers South East Australian Basketball league (SEABL) head coach Larissa Anderson was appointed the Jayco Rangers WNBL Head Coach for 2015/16. At the time of her appointment as the Rangers WNBL Head Coach Anderson had coached Dandenong to three SEABL championships, won in consecutive seasons from 2010 to 2012 and had been named the SEABL coach of the year three times – 2004, 2010 and 2011. Three players averaged more than 30.0 minutes and 13.0 points per game for the Rangers in 2015/16 – Steph Blicavs, Annalise Pickrel and Sara Blicavs. 11 Rangers played at least 10 games and averaged more than 5.0 minutes per game with the other players in this category being Jacinta Kennedy, Alex Bunton, Amelia Todhunter, Lauren Scherf, Rocci, Tenaya Phillips, Downie and Cunningham. Steph Blicavs and Aimie Rocci who both grew up in Endeavour Hills and played their junior basketball with the Dandenong Rangers were appointed co-captains of the Jayco Rangers for the 2015/16 WNBL season.

Jacinta Kennedy made her return to the WNBL playing for the Jayco Rangers against the Canberra Capitals on 10 October 2015, nine and a half years after her previous game in the league, the 2005/06 Grand Final playing for Dandenong against the same opponent, Canberra. Jacinta didn’t play basketball at any level for seven years due to starting a family with her husband Josh. After having three children and spending several years living overseas supporting Josh’s soccer career Jacinta made her basketball return with the Dandenong Rangers in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) in March 2014. After two seasons in this league including earning selection on the 2015 All-SEABL team Kennedy made her return to the WNBL in 2015/16. On Friday 22 January 2016 at Dandenong Basketball Stadium Dandenong Rangers forward/centre Jacinta Kennedy played her 150^th WNBL game against Adelaide, 11 seasons after reaching 100 games during the 2004/05 season.

Jacinta Kennedy shooting a free throw for Dandenong Rangers against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 25 January 2016

The Dandenong Rangers finished third on the WNBL ladder with a record of 15 wins and nine losses in 2015/16, two wins behind minor premiers, Townsville Fire and one win behind the second placed Perth Lynx. The fourth placed SEQ Stars also finished with 15 wins and nine losses but lost the tie-breaker due to Dandenong having the better head-to-head record, winning two of the three games between the clubs. A key reason in Dandenong making the WNBL finals was their remarkable record in close games. Of their 14 games decided by eight points or less during the 2015/16 regular season the Rangers won 12 and lost only two. In a semi final at Dandenong Stadium on 27 February 2016 the trend of winning close games didn’t continue, the Rangers had an 82-86 loss to the SEQ Stars. Sara Blicavs was phenomenal, playing one of the all-time great WNBL finals games to score a game-high and then career-high 38 points on 14 of 26 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 54%, took a team-high nine rebounds and make an equal team-high four assists. In 2015/16 Steph Blicavs ranked eighth in the league with 15.9 points per game, won the WNBL’s Robyn Maher Defensive Player of the Year Award and won the Rangers Most Valuable Player award.

Steph Blicavs playing for Dandenong Rangers against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 25 January 2016

Six of the seven Dandenong players that played at least 300 minutes court-time in 2015/16 returned for the 2016/17 season – Steph Blicavs, Sara Blicavs, Kennedy, Todhunter, Scherf and Rocci. The Rangers recruited three players for the 2016/17 season, American imports Natalie Novosel and Ally Malott along with Victorian Rosie Fadljevic who played limited minutes in nine games for the Rangers in 2012/13.

At the time of the Christmas break Dandenong were on top of the WNBL ladder with a record of 11 wins and four losses, however in their first game of 2017 on 8 January the Rangers were defeated by the bottom of the ladder Adelaide Lightning 73-80 at Dandenong Stadium.

Sara Blicavs playing for Dandenong Rangers against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 31 October 2016

On Saturday afternoon 14 January 2017 the Jayco Dandenong Rangers celebrated their 25^th Anniversary of joining the WNBL by having a function at Dandenong Stadium before the Rangers home game against cross-town rivals the Melbourne Boomers. The Jayco Rangers 25^th Anniversary function featured several guest speakers including the Rangers greatest ever player Penny Taylor and honoured the club’s 25 greatest WNBL players.

Taylor is the only Jayco Rangers player to have the won WNBL’s Most Valuable Player Award, having achieved the feat in back-to-back seasons in 2000/01 and 2001/02. Taylor also earnt selection in the WNBL All-Star Five (now known as the All-WNBL first team) playing her final season in the WNBL with Dandenong in 2014/15. At the Rangers 25^th Anniversary function Taylor commented on playing in the WNBL for Dandenong and the appreciation she has for Gerry Ryan supporting women’s basketball, saying “I feel so lucky to have been part of an amazing organisation with a leader in Gerry Ryan who loves women’s basketball and has shown consistent passion and support. I was able to begin my WNBL career in an environment that encouraged me to work hard, focus on my dreams and be surrounded by people who love the game. I’ll be forever grateful to Gerry and the Dandenong Rangers organisation.”7

Penny Taylor being interviewed by Nathan Strempel at the Jayco Rangers 25^th anniversary celebrations at Dandenong Stadium on 14 January 2017

The players selected in the Jayco Dandenong Rangers top 25 players at the club’s 25^th Anniversary were:

Larissa Anderson, Lucille Baillie (nee Hamilton), Jessica Bibby, Steph Blicavs (nee Cumming), Michelle Brogan, Tracey Browning, Shelley Burston, Regina Days, Allie Douglas, Alison Downie, Shelley Gorman, Michelle Gubbels, Jacinta Kennedy (nee Hamilton), Emily McInerny, Kathleen MacLeod, Jenna O’Hea, Sally Phillips, Cappie Pondexter, Samantha Richards, Caitlin Ryan, Penny Taylor, Samantha Thornton, Allison Tranquill (nee Cook), Carly Wilson and Monica Wright.

Sally Phillips being interviewed by Nathan Strempel at the Jayco Rangers 25^th anniversary celebrations at Dandenong Stadium on 14 January 2017

After the function at Dandenong Stadium the Jayco Rangers played an afternoon home game against cross-town rivals, Melbourne Boomers. For the game the Rangers wore uniforms celebrating the club’s 25^th anniversary, featuring the name of every player that had represented the Rangers in the WNBL.

The Jayco Rangers starting five from left to right – Sara Blicavs, Lauren Scherf, Steph Blicavs, Ally Malott and Aimie Rocci in a huddle before the Rangers 25th anniversary game at Dandenong Stadium on 14 January 2017 against Melbourne Boomers

Highlighting the depth of the Dandenong Rangers roster the most important minute played by a Ranger in the 2016/17 regular season was from a player that rarely started, import guard Natalie Novosel. In the Round 14 game against the Melbourne Boomers on January 14 Dandenong trailed by five points with less than a minute to play in the fourth quarter, however five points from Novosel, firstly with a three pointer and then with a lay-up sent the game into overtime tied at 56 points apiece. Steph Bicavs took over during the first three minutes of overtime to make a lay-up and two three-pointers to give the Jayco Rangers a 10 point lead. Dandenong went on to win the game celebrating their 25^th anniversary by 12 points in overtime 73-61.  

Above – Natalie Novosel shooting a free throw during the Rangers 25th anniversary game at Dandenong Stadium on 14 January 2017 against Melbourne Boomers

Below – Steph Blicavs’ (nee Cumming) singlet from the Rangers 25th anniversary game on 14 January 2017

Dandenong’s brilliant pre-Christmas form together with some favourable results in non-Rangers matches late in the season resulted in the Rangers finishing second on the ladder, earning them home-court advantage for the best of three semi final series against Perth. The Jayco Rangers and Perth Lynx both finished the regular season with a record of 15 wins and nine losses, however the Rangers won the tie-break due to winning the season series between the two clubs 3-1. The Sydney Uni Flames won the minor premiership three games ahead of their nearest rivals, recording 18 wins and six losses. A best of three game series was introduced for the WNBL Grand Final in 2015/16. The semi final’s in 2016/17 also became a best of three game series. The home side won the first two games of the semi final series with the Rangers having a 73-66 victory in game 1 at Dandenong Stadium and being defeated by Perth Lynx 71-91 in game 2 at Bendat Basketball Centre. The Rangers victory in game 1 of the 2016/17 semi final series was the club’s first victory in a final since the 2011/12 Grand Final. The Jayco Rangers had a blistering start to game 3 at Dandenong Stadium to lead 26-12 at quarter time. Perth reduced the margin to six points at three quarter time. When the stakes were at their highest the Dandenong defence was exceptional, restricting Perth to just nine points in the final quarter whilst scoring 21 points themselves to defeat the Lynx 81-63. In the game three victory Steph Blicavs scored a game-high 22 points, took seven rebounds and had a team-high four assists.

Above – Steph Blicavs playing defense for Dandenong Rangers against Perth Lynx in game 3 of the semi final at Dandenong Stadium on 5 March 2017

Below – Jayco Rangers post-game after defeating Perth Lynx in game 3 of the semi final at Dandenong Stadium on 5 March 2017

The Jayco Dandenong Rangers played minor premiers Sydney Flames in the 2016/17 Grand Final. The Flames Head Coach was current Southside HC Cheryl Chambers and the Flames starting point guard was current Flyers player Leilani Mitchell. Very little separated the Rangers and Flames for most of game 1 at Brydens Stadium. With just five minutes remaining the scores were locked at 74 points apiece, however Sydney displayed greater composure when the game was on the line to defeat the Jayco Rangers 91-82. Steph Blicavs became the first player to score 2,000 points for the Jayco Rangers in the WNBL when she made her fourth field goal of game 1.  

After an arm wrestle for the first two and a half quarters of game 2 of the Grand Final at Dandenong Stadium Sydney gained the ascendancy. Scores were level at 45 points apiece with six minutes remaining in the third quarter, however from that point Sydney controlled the game to record a 13 point victory 75-62 to win the 2016/17 WNBL Championship. Steph Blicavs and Sara Blicavs were joint winners of the Jayco Rangers 2016/17 MVP Award. Steph ranked fifth in the league with 17.5 points per game and Sara ranked eighth with 15.5 points. Days after the Rangers 2016/17 WNBL Awards Steph married Sara’s oldest brother Kris.

The Dandenong Rangers team in the pre-game introductions before their game against Sydney Flames at Dandenong Stadium on 29 October 2017

Six Australians on the Jayco Rangers 2017/18 roster each had more than 100 games WNBL experience before the start of the season – Steph Blicavs, Sara Blicavs, Tessa Lavey, Carly Ernst, Amelia Todhunter and Tayla Roberts. Aimie Rocci joined Adelaide Lightning in the off-season and Steph Blicavs was the Rangers sole captain for the 2017/18 season. The Rangers two imports were American power forward/centre Kayla Pedersen and Spanish point guard Laia Palau. Early in the season the Rangers core rotation was comprised of these eight players. In a home game against the Adelaide Lightning on 10 November Sara Blicavs suffered a season ending knee injury. After Blicavs’ injury first-year player Kiera Rowe was moved into the Rangers core rotation.

The Dandenong Rangers finished seventh on the ladder in 2017/18 with a record of seven wins and 14 losses. Four Rangers players averaged more than 27.0 minutes and 11.0 points per game – Steph Blicavs, Sara Blicavs, Ernst and Pedersen. Steph Blicavs ranked eighth in the WNBL in 2017/18 with 15.1 points per game and won the Jayco Rangers MVP Award for the fourth time in her career. Pedersen won the WNBL’s Robyn Maher Defensive Player of the Year Award, becoming the third Rangers player to achieve this feat, joining Emily McInerney and Steph Blicavs.  

Kayla Pedersen playing defense for Dandenong Rangers against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 6 November 2017

Eight members of the Rangers 2017/18 roster that returned to the club for the 2018/19 season –  Sara Blicavs, Ernst, Lavey, Todhunter, Pedersen, Roberts, Rowe and Rebecca Pizzey. Steph Blicavs joined Aimie Rocci at Adelaide Lightning for the 2018/19 season. New additions to the Rangers line-up for 2018/19 were shooting guard Bec Cole, two-time Opals Olympian guard/forward Rachel Jarry and American guard/forward Betnijah Laney. Todhunter was appointed the Jayco Rangers captain for 2018/19.

Dandenong’s starting line-up at the start of the 2018/19 season was comprised of Lavey and Cole in the back-court along with Jarry and American imports Laney and Pedersen in the front-court. Other members of the Rangers core rotation that played at least 18 games for the season and averaged more than 9.0 minutes per game were Ernst, Todhunter, Rowe and Roberts. The Rangers finished fifth on the ladder in 2018/19 with nine wins and 12 losses. Four players averaged more than 27.0 minutes per game – Laney, Cole, Lavey and Pedersen. Shooting guard Cole played all 21 games for the Rangers and averaged 19.4 points (ranked 2^nd in the WNBL), 3.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists (9^th) and 2.1 steals (2^nd) per game. Cole finished runner-up in the WNBL’s MVP Award and was selected in the All-WNBL first team.

Bec Cole shooting a free throw for Dandenong Rangers against Melbourne Boomers at Dandenong Stadium on 2 November 2018

Southside Flyers history from 2019/20 to 2022/23

In July 2019 the Dandenong Rangers WNBL license was transferred from the Dandenong Basketball Association to Gerry Ryan. In 1975 Ryan founded Jayco and from 1997 to 2019 Jayco were the naming rights sponsor of the Dandenong Rangers WNBL team. The Southside Flyers respect the history of the Dandenong Rangers and in their first three seasons after the rebranding continued to play their home games at Dandenong Stadium as the Jayco Rangers had.

After the announcement of the license transfer and the establishment of the Southside Flyers Ryan commented “The Southside name reflects our commitment to create a team with support from the beachside suburbs of Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula through to the Dandenong Ranges, Gippsland and beyond. The Flyers hopefully will describe the style of play and success of the team within the WNBL. Our vision is to significantly broaden the support for the new team and to get the whole basketball community involved. The name Southside Flyers reflects this vision.”8

In an article published on the Southside Flyers website on 29 July 2019 Ryan commented “Having been involved with the Dandenong Rangers and Dandenong Basketball Association for a long time, becoming the owner of the team is a natural progression. I am passionate about women’s sport and this is a personal investment in women’s basketball.”9

On 30 July 2019 the Southside Flyers announced that three-time WNBL Coach of the Year Cheryl Chambers had been appointed as the inaugural head coach of the club. Southside Flyers owner Gerry Ryan commented “We are delighted that our team will be led by one of the most successful and respected coaches in Australian basketball. Cheryl not only understands the game; she is passionate about the sport and developing role models both on and off the court. Cheryl is respected, has credibility and will bring success and immediate recognition to our program.”10 

Chambers commenced a second stint as an Australian Opals Assistant Coach in May 2017, shortly after Sandy Brondello was appointed as the Opals Head Coach. Chambers had two stints as a WNBL Head Coach before joining Southside – with the Bulleen (now Melbourne) Boomers for eight seasons from 2001/02 to 2008/09 and with the Sydney Uni Flames for three seasons from 2016/17 to 2018/19. Chambers was the Head Coach of the Sydney Flames team that won the 2016/17 WNBL Championship, defeating Dandenong 2-0 in the Grand Final series. Chambers played 267 WNBL games for Nunawading, Coburg, Bulleen and Melbourne Tigers to receive WNBL Life membership in 1997. Early in her WNBL playing career Chambers was a member of Nunawading’s 1984 WNBL Championship winning team.

On 1 August 2019 the Southside Flyers announced Jenna O’Hea as their first player signing. O’Hea commented “When I heard Gerry Ryan was behind the new team and Cheryl Chambers was the coach, I was very keen to be involved. I know Cheryl well and Gerry has been a great supporter of women’s basketball, so it is a real privilege to be involved in the team he is building. This is a unique opportunity, to be part of a new team, to develop a culture that will ensure the Southside Flyers enjoy sustained success on and off the court. It is something I just had to be part of and am very excited about what we can achieve together.”11

Six players on the Southside Flyers 2019/20 roster played for the Jayco Dandenong Rangers in the 2018/19 WNBL season – Bec Cole, Sara Blicavs, Kiera Rowe, Rebecca Pizzey, Taylah Giliam and Steph Reid. Another four players on the Flyers 2019/20 main roster had played for the Jayco Rangers in the WNBL previously – Jenna O’Hea, Leilani Mitchell, Aimie Rocci (nee Clydesdale) and Louella Tomlinson. Two members of the Flyers 2019/20 core rotation that hadn’t represented the Rangers in the WNBL previously were Anneli Maley who played for the Dandenong Rangers SEABL team in 2017 and American import Mercedes Russell. Southside’s 15 player roster for 2019/20 was completed by development players Saraid Taylor, Jacqueline Trotto and Amy O’Neill. Australian Opals captain Jenna O’Hea was appointed as the Southside Flyers inaugural captain.

Southside Flyers during the pre-game introductions for their pre-season game against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 5 October 2019

Two of the key players from Sydney’s 2016/17 Championship winning team joined Chambers at Southside – point guard Mitchell who won the 2016/17 Grand Final Most Valuable Player Award and Belinda Snell who retired as a WNBL player at the end of the 2018/19 season and joined the Flyers as an Assistant coach. At the end of a decorated WNBL career Snell ranked fourth on the league’s all-time list for career assists and for career points. Snell was selected in the WNBL All-Star five four times, won three Olympic medals and was a member of the Australian Opals team that won the gold medal at the 2006 World Championships in Rio. Jenni James was Southside’s team manager, a role she had previous experience in at WNBL level with the Melbourne Boomers.

The Southside Flyers played their inaugural WNBL game against the Townsville Fire at Dandenong Stadium on 12 October 2019. The Flyers full strength starting line-up throughout the 2019/20 season was Leilani Mitchell and Bec Cole in the backcourt whilst Sara Blicavs, Jenna O’Hea and Mercedes Russell started in the front-court. Russell won the opening tip against Darcee Garbin and 11 seconds into the first quarter made a lay up to record the Southside Flyers first points in the WNBL. All five Flyers starters reached double figures in scoring in Southside’s 81-72 victory against Townsville. 

Southside Flyers in a team huddle after the victory against Townsville Fire on 12 October 2019 at Dandenong Stadium

The Flyers maintained a high standard in the first three months of the season however they were more reliant on their starting five than the other teams in the top four with all five starters Cole, Russell, Mitchell, O’Hea and Blicavs ranking in the top 20 of the league for scoring. One of the queries experts had about the Flyers roster was how they would fare without one of their starters for an extended time. This scenario eventuated in Round 13 with Flyers captain Jenn O’Hea suffering a broken wrist against the Melbourne Boomers and faced an extended time on the sidelines. Guard Aimie Rocci was brought into Southside’s starting line-up to replace O’Hea.

Bec Cole playing for the Southside Flyers against UC Capitals at Dandenong Stadium on 7 November 2019

The Southside Flyers recorded 17 wins and four losses during the 2019/20 regular season to finish on top of the ladder, two wins ahead of the University of Canberra Capitals and Melbourne Boomers who finished second and third respectively, followed by the Adelaide Lightning in fourth position on 12 wins. Southside won a close semi final series against Adelaide, having a 68-65 win in game 1 at home at Dandenong Stadium. On the road at Adelaide 36ers Arena in game 2 the Flyers had an 82-79 victory to make the WNBL Grand Final.

In the 2019/20 Grand final Southside played reigning WNBL champions, University of Canberra Capitals. Five of the six players that averaged more than 25.0 minutes per game for the Capitals in 2019/20 were members of the club’s 2018/19 Championship winning team – co-captains Kelsey Griffin and Marianna Tolo along with current Southside Flyers guard Maddison Rocci, Keely Froling and Canadian import Kia Nurse. The only player that averaged more than 25 minutes per game for the Caps in 2019/20 and didn’t play for the club in the previous season was French guard Olivia Epoupa.

Southside Flyers captain Jenna O’Hea returned from injury for the Grand Final series but started game 1 on the bench with guard Aimie Rocci retaining her position in the starting line-up. After the Capitals scored the first five points of game 1 of the Grand Final series at Dandenong Stadium on 1 March a Flyers 27-21 second quarter set up a 47-43 half-time lead. Southside extended their lead to six points 71-65 with eight minutes and 48 seconds remaining in the game, however were outscored 9-17 from that point to be defeated by two points. Capitals guard Olivia Epoupa scored the final basket of the game with one minute and 20 seconds remaining to break a tie and give the Capitals a two lead, 82-80.

Leilani Mitchell in action playing for the Southside Flyers against the University of Canberra Capitals in Game 1 of the 2019/20 Grand Final at Dandenong Stadium on 1 March 2020

Southside captain O’Hea returned to the Flyers starting line-up for game 2 at the AIS Arena on 4 March replacing Rocci. The Flyers looked to be strongly placed holding a 45-31 lead with one minute and 19 seconds remaining in the first half. University of Canberra Capitals responded strongly to go on a 15-0 run to lead 46-45 with five minutes and five seconds remaining in the third term. The Flyers were outscored 9-25 in the third quarter and trailed by two points, 54-56 at the final change. The Flyers fought back to lead 68-67 with two minutes and six seconds remaining. 2019/20 WNBL MVP Kia Nurse made a three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining to give the Capitals a two point lead. The Capitals defeated the Flyers 71-68 in game 2 to win the WNBL championship. The UC Capitals having greater continuity with their roster from 2018/19 to 2019/20 than Southside and being able to draw on the experience of playing finals together previously proved critical in the dying minutes of both Grand Final games.

Jenna O’Hea shooting a jump shot for the Southside Flyers in game 1 of the 2019/20 WNBL Grand Final against the University of Canberra Capitals on 1 March 2020 at Dandenong Stadium

On how close the 2019/20 Grand Final series between Southside and the Capitals was O’Hea told Gibbo goes One on One “Game 1 was two points and game 2 was three points so a total of five points.” Jenna went on to say “I know you ask the questions but I want to ask you a question. Would you prefer to lose by one or two or to lose by twenty?” Gibbo replied “It is a great question, I think by 20.” O’Hea responded “Right, I think about literally every single play from game 1 and 2, what I could do better, but if you lose by 20 you just go OK, that team is better.”

Sara Blicavs shooting a free-throw for Southside Flyers against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 4 November 2019

The Flyers had a potent starting line-up in 2019/20 with all five players averaging more than 28.0 minutes and 13.0 points per game to rank in the league’s top 20 players in scoring. Cole led Southside with 17.3 points per game to rank third in the league and was followed by Russell (16.5 points per game – 5^th in the WNBL), Mitchell (15.7 – 8th), O’Hea (13.7 – 18th) and Blicavs (13.4 – 19th). Another four Southside players averaged more than 8.0 minutes per game and played more than 20 games for the season  – Aimie Rocci, Anneli Maley, Kiera Rowe and Louella Tomlinson. Among players that played at least five games Russell ranked fourth in the league with 9.8 rebounds per game and Blicavs was 12^th with 7.0 rebounds per game. Three Southside players ranked in the top 15 for assists per game, Mitchell (fourth in the WNBL with 5.2 assists per game), Cole (4.0 assists per game – 13^th) and O’Hea (3.9 assists – 14^th).

Southside led the league in 2019/20 with 82.3 points per game, 2.3 points per game ahead of the second ranked UC Capitals. The Flyers field goal accuracy of 49.0% ranked second in the WNBL behind Melbourne Boomers (50.0%). Four Southside Flyers earnt selection on an All-WNBL team for the 2019/20 season with captain O’Hea and Mitchell being selected in the first team, shooting guard Cole joined centre Russell in the second team. It was the second time that O’Hea and Mitchell playing as teammates in the WNBL had been selected in the All-WNBL first team, having previously achieved this feat playing for the Dandenong Rangers in 2013/14. Before game 1 of the 2019/20 WNBL Grand Final series between the Flyers and Capitals at Dandenong Stadium the four Flyers who earned 2019/20 All-WNBL selection and Capitals import Kia Nurse who won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award and was selected in the All-WNBL first team were recognised for their achievements. Russell won the WNBL’s 2019/20 Robyn Maher Defensive Player of the Year Award. Mitchell won the Southside Flyers 2019/20 MVP Award with Cole and O’Hea finishing in equal second place.

Mercedes Russell playing defense for Southside Flyers against Kelsey Griffin in the game against UC Capitals at Dandenong Stadium on 7 November 2019

During the 2019/20 WNBL season Southside Head Coach Cheryl Chambers reached 250 games as a Head Coach in the WNBL, joining a select group of people that have achieved this significant milestone as both a player and a Head Coach. On the eve of Chambers reaching 250 games as a WNBL Head Coach Bec Cole told WNBL Media “Cheryl is the best player’s coach I’ve had. This season she’s improved my game but also when I’ve had things happening in my personal life she’s been an incredible support and really been there for me and my family.”12

After a successful 2019/20 season with Southside Russell had planned to return to the club for the 2020/21 WNBL season however changes to the structure of the season due to COVID-19 put an end to those plans. Due to the impact of COVID-19 imports weren’t eligible to play in the WNBL during the 2020 season. All eight WNBL clubs were located in North Queensland for the duration of the 2020 WNBL season which was played at three locations, Townsville, Cairns and Mackay. The regular season was condensed to five rounds commencing 11 November and each team played 13 regular season games, down from 21 games in the 2019/20 season.

Five of the six Flyers players that averaged more than 13 minutes per game during the 2019/20 season suited up for the Flyers again in 2020 with players in this category being Cole, Aimie Rocci, O’Hea, Blicavs and Mitchell. Southside’s recruits for the 2020 WNBL season included Australian Opals centre Liz Cambage and two veterans returning to the WNBL after not playing during 2019/20 in forward Rachel Jarry and shooting guard Steph Blicavs. Throughout the 2020 WNBL season the Southside Flyers had 10 players that played every game they were available for including eight players who averaged more than 16 minutes per game. Starters Mitchell, Cole, O’Hea, Sara Blicavs and Cambage all averaged between 23 and 29 minutes per game whilst a trio of experienced players in Rocci, Steph Blicavs and Jarry averaged between 16 and 21.5 minutes per game. Bec Pizzey and Monique Conti played all 15 games and averaged 7.5 and 6.6 minutes per game respectively. Southside had three development players who each played at least five games in 2020 – Saraid Taylor, Taylah Giliam and Amy O’Neill.

At the start of the 2020 WNBL season the Flyers were the favourites to win the championship. In their first six games Southside had four wins and one loss to each of the two teams considered to be their biggest rivals for the title. The Flyers lost to the Melbourne Boomers 72-89 in their second game of the season and were defeated by the University of Canberra Capitals 72-95 in their first game of Round 3. During the Southside Flyers penultimate game of the regular season they fought back from a nine point deficit against the Sydney Uni Flames with under three minutes remaining to win 81-77 at Townsville Stadium. Captain O’Hea suffered a knee injury in the final minute of the game and had to be substituted out. Due to a grade two Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) tear of her knee O’Hea was expected to miss the rest of the 2020 WNBL season, as happened late in the 2019/20 season Rocci was brought into the Flyers starting line-up in place of her injured captain.

Southside won their last seven games of the 2020 regular season to finish on top of the WNBL ladder with a record of 11 wins and two losses, two games ahead of the teams that finished second to fourth – Townsville Fire, University of Canberra Capitals and Melbourne Boomers. In a major semi final at Townsville Stadium on Wednesday 16 December Southside defeated Townsville Fire 106-93 to record the second highest score in a WNBL final, behind Sydney Flames 111 in semi final game 1 in 2016/17 against Townsville. Three players scored at least 19 points for Southside in their major semi final victory against Townsville – Cambage scored 31 points and took 18 rebounds to set game-highs in both categories, Cole scored 22 points and Mitchell recorded a double-double comprised of 19 points and a game-high 10 assists.

For the second season in a row Southside Flyers captain O’Hea was able to recover quicker than expected from a late season injury to play in the WNBL Grand Final. As with game one of the 2019/20 Grand Final O’Hea started on the bench and Rocci remained in the starting line-up, joining Mitchell, Cole, Sara Blicavs and Cambage in the Flyers starting five. Townsville Fire head coach Shannon Seebohm won the WNBL’s Coach of the Year Award in 2020. Townsville’s starting five for the Grand Final was Shyla Heal, Lauren Nicholson, Mia Murray, Nadeen Payne and Megan McKay. In the Grand Final on 20 December at Townsville Stadium point guard Mitchell scored an incredible 21 points in the first half to surpass her previous season-high of 20 points in a game and was instrumental in the Jayco Flyers having a narrow 48-46 lead at half-time. Southside gained the ascendancy in the second half, steadily increased their lead and had a 99-82 victory to win the WNBL championship. In the Grand Final Mitchell used on-ball screens superbly, scored a game-high 31 points, took four rebounds and made a team-high five assists to win the Rachael Sporn medal for being Grand Final MVP. Mitchell fell one point shy of Ranae Garlepp’s (nee Camino) Grand Final scoring record of 32 points set playing for Adelaide Lightning in 2008. Cole was Southside’s second leading scorer with 22 points. Southside made 10 of 24 three-pointers at an accuracy of 41.7% with Mitchell being the leader in this category, making five of seven three-pointers at an accuracy of 71.4%.

Three members of the Southside Flyers 2020 Championship winning team had also played in the Dandenong Rangers 2011/12 Championship – O’Hea, Steph Blicavs and Aimie Rocci. Each member of this trio was a starter in one of the Grand Final victories and commenced the other Grand Final win on the bench. Southside’s 2020 title was the third time that O’Hea played in a WNBL Championship. Three members of Southside’s championship winning team won their first WNBL title as teammates at the Bomers in 2010/11 – O’Hea, Cambage and Jarry. O’Hea was captain of the Jayco Rangers for one season in 2013/14. With Southside in 2020 O’Hea became the third player to captain the club to a WNBL championship, joining two players who achieved the feat with the Dandenong Rangers in Allie Douglas (2003/04 and 2004/05) and Kathleen MacLeod (2011/12).

After Southside defeated Townsville in the 2020 Grand Final to win the WNBL Championship O’Hea commented “It’s a little bit indescribable right now, it’s been a long time between drinks to win a championship and we got so close last season. Until today 2020 has been a roller coaster for everyone so to finish this way with this group of girls, there’s no better feeling.”13

With Southside in 2020 Cole played in her first WNBL championship. After the Flyers Grand Final victory against Townsville Cole commented “It feels like I’ve been waiting 20 years to do this and I’m just so proud to do it with these girls, representing Southside Flyers and have our family and sponsors here. I’m pretty speechless. It means the world. It means that in 2020 with all the blood, sweat and tears that we went through down in Victoria was worth it all. We are so emotional, and it just shows this creates friendships and memories to last a lifetime.”14

All members of Southside’s full-strength starting line-up – Cambage, Cole, Sara Blicavs, Mitchell and O’Hea averaged at least 11.0 points per game in 2020. Two Southside players were named in an All-WNBL team with Cambage named in the first team and Sara Blicavs selected in the second team. Cambage led the WNBL with 23.2 points per game and took 8.5 rebounds (5^th) per game. Sara Blicavs averaged 13.5 points (ranked 15^th in the WNBL) and 7.3 rebounds (9^th) per game. Mitchell led the league with 6.7 assists per game, fellow Flyers guard Cole ranked fifth with 4.3 assists per game.  Southside were the dominant team of the 2020 WNBL season and during their 15 games including finals the Flyers averaged a league-high 97.4 points per game, 20% more than Townsville Fire ranked second with 80.9 points per game. Southside ranked first for field goal accuracy (50.9%) and three-point accuracy (43.0%) and led the league with 25.7 assists and 9.9 steals per game. Southside ranked first in the WNBL with 10.8 three-pointers made per game. Among players that attempted at least 10 three-pointers for the season four Southside players ranked in the WNBL’s top eight for three-point accuracy – Cole (three point accuracy of 54.3% – ranked 2^nd in the WNBL), Sara Blicavs (50% – ranked 4^th), Mitchell (48.6% -5^th) and O’Hea (44.8% – 8^th). This quartet all ranked in the league’s top 15 for three-pointers made per game – Mitchell (2.3 three-pointers made per game – 2^nd), O’Hea (2.0 – 5^th), Sara Blicavs and Cole (both 1.7 – equal 11^th).

Five of the eight Southside Flyers players that averaged more than 15 minutes court-time per game in 2020 returned in 2021/22. The Southside players in this category were Aimie Rocci, O’Hea, Sara Blicavs, Cole and Jarry, these five players had more than 1,000 games WNBL experience between them. The five off-season recruits who were on the Flyers main roster for 2021/22 were Madison Rocci, Abby Bishop, Kristy Wallace, Kate Gaze and Emilee Harmon.

Southside Flyers team huddle after the five point victory against Townsville Fire in Bec Cole’s 200th WNBL game at Dandenong Stadium on 23 December 2021

During their 2020 WNBL Championship winning season the Southside Flyers were unable to play at home in front of their fans with the entire season being played in a hub in North Queensland. Before their opening game of the season against Bendigo Spirit on 4 December at Dandenong Stadium the Southside Flyers unfurled their 2020 WNBL Championship banner.

Above – The Southside Flyers 2020 Championship Banner being unfurled on 4 December 2021 before the game against Bendigo Spirit at Dandenong Stadium

Below – Bec Cole playing for the Southside Flyers against the Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres Parkville on 11 December, 2021

Southside’s five starters for the opening game of the 2021/22 season- Maddison Rocci, Cole, Blicavs, O’Hea and Bishop all averaged more than 29.0 minutes and 10.0 points per game. Due to a combination of injuries and COVID-19 the Flyers rarely had their entire starting five all playing in the same game. The Flyers finished the 2021/22 season in seventh place with five wins and 12 losses. Late in the season Southside Flyers captain Jenna O’Hea announced her retirement. In Southside’s final regular season game against Adelaide Lightning on 19 March 2022 at the Lights Community and Sports Centre the club had an 87-79 victory in the 299^th and final game of O’Hea’s illustrious WNBL career. Cole won Southside’s 2021/22 Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award and averaged 16.7 points per game (ranked 5^th in the WNBL) to average more than 15.0 points per game for a fourth consecutive season.  Wallace won the WNBL’s Sixth Woman of the Year Award, averaging 8.2 points per game and 22.8 minutes per game off the bench.

Jenna O’Hea shooting a three-pointer for the Southside Flyers on Thursday 10 March 2022 against the Sydney Uni Flames at Dandenong Stadium in her final home game

On 3 March 2023 Milestones and Misses published an article comprehensively covering Jenna O’Hea’s incredible basketball career in the WNBL, WNBA, Europe and with the Australian Opals. A link to this article is below:

Jenna O’Hea’s significant legacy both on and off the basketball court

Southside Flyers head coach Cheryl Chambers wearing the number 4 O’Hea warm-up top during O’Hea’s final home game for the Southside Flyers on Thursday 10 March 2022 against the Sydney Uni Flames at Dandenong Stadium

Five members of the Flyers 2021/22 main roster with 100 WNBL games plus experience returned to the club for the 2022/23 Cygnett WNBL season, Cole, Bishop, Sara Blicavs, Aimie Rocci and Maddison Rocci. In the off-season the Flyers recruited two front-court players that had each played more than 150 WNBL games – Lauren Jackson and Carley Ernst. Four-time Olympic games medallist Jackson was making a WNBL return at 41 years of age. In her basketball return with Albury Wodonga Bandits in the 2022 NBL1 East season Jackson won the regular season MVP Award and was a member of the Bandits championship winning team. Ernst had a son Kylan in September 2021 and seven months later was part of the Melbourne Boomers WNBL Championship winning team in April 2022. Aimie Rocci was appointed Southside’s captain for the 2022/23 season.

Aimie Rocci playing for Southside Flyers against Sydney Flames at the State Basketball Centre on 1 December 2022

On 11 October 2022 the Southside Flyers announced that they had appointed Kerryn Mitchell and Hannah Lowe as Assistant Coaches. On the appointments Southside Head Coach Chambers said “We are delighted to welcome two quality people to the Flyers, two experienced coaches who really know the game and will provide great assistance and support to the playing group and play an important role in our training and game days.”15

During her basketball career Kerryn Mitchell played in the WNBL and in Europe. Mitchell has coached Victorian under 20 Women’s teams and is the current Head Coach of the Sandringham Sabres Women’s team in NBL1 South. Lowe played NCAA Division 1 college basketball in the USA and has experience as the Head Coach of the Kilsyth Cobras women’s team in NBL1 South.  

The Jayco Southside Flyers 10 player main roster was completed by three players who didn’t have previous WNBL experience. American import forward Kayla Thornton who had played 194 WNBA regular season games and two members of the Australian Gems silver medal winning team at the 2021 FIBA Women’s Under 19 World Cup – forward Nyadiew Puoch and point guard Dallas Loughridge. At the 2022 Australian Under 20 Championships a Victorian Metro team with Kerryn Mitchell as the Head Coach along with Puoch and Loughridge as players won the gold medal. Puoch was named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament, averaging 16 points and seven rebounds per game.

Southside Flyers team huddle at a practice game against New Zealand at the State Basketball Centre on 15 October 2022

During the 2022/23 WNBL season the Southside Flyers commenced playing their home games at the State Basketball Centre in Wantirna South, having previously played home games at Dandenong Stadium. In a Southside Flyers practice game against Bendigo Spirit on 22 October Loughridge injured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) which forced her to miss the entire 2022/23 season. Snell stepped away from her role as an Assistant Coach of Southside. Monique Conti was signed to Southside’s main roster early in the season and had been a member of the Flyers 2020 WNBL Championship winning team.

Southside’s full-strength starting line-up in 2022/23 was Maddy Rocci and Cole in the back court along with Thornton, Blicavs and Jackson in the front court. 10 players averaged more than 12.0 minutes per game for Southside with the five starters being joined in this category by Bishop, Puoch, Aimie Rocci, Conti and Ernst.

Lauren Jackson playing for Southside Flyers against Bendigo Spirit at the State Basketball Centre on 6 January 2023

After their first seven games of 2022/23 Southside had a record of four wins and three losses. In the middle of the season Southside won five consecutive games from 18 December to 6 January. Southside captain Aimie Rocci played seven games in 2022 but due to a back injury was on the sidelines for the 2023 portion of the season. With Rocci out Cole was the Flyers acting captain.

Sara Blicavs making a free-throw for Southside Flyers game against Melbourne Boomers on 4 January 2023 at Melbourne Sports Centres Parkville

On Saturday night 4 February the Southside Flyers hosted the Sydney Flames in the first ever WNBL game at John Cain Arena. One of the reasons for playing at the larger venue was to celebrate the incredible career of Lauren Jackson. Things did not go to plan on court and unfortunately in the opening minute of the game Jackson suffered a season-ending Achilles injury. A WNBL all-time record crowd of 7,681 fans watched a thrilling contest with Sydney prevailing to defeat Southside by one point 68-67. The crowd at the Southside vs Sydney game surpassed “the league’s previous attendance record from 1995, when 7,500 fans packed into Adelaide 36ers Arena for the Grand Final matchup between Adelaide Lightning and the Melbourne Tigers.”16

Abby Bishop playing for Southside Flyers against Townsville Fire at the State Basketball Centre on 4 March 2023

The Southside Flyers finished second on the WNBL ladder at the end of the 2022/23 regular season with 15 wins and six losses, the same record as cross-town rivals the Melbourne Boomers. Due to winning the season series between the two clubs three games to nil Southside won the tie-breaker which enabled them to finish higher on the ladder. Townsville Fire finished on top of the ladder with 17 wins and four losses and Perth Lynx finished fourth with 13 wins and eight losses.   

Bec Cole shooting a jump shot for Southside Flyers against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on 19 February 2023

The home team won the first two games of the semi final series with Southside having a 84-76 victory at the State Basketball Centre in game 1 and the Boomers having a 96-77 win in game 2 at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville. Momentum ebbed and flowed between the cross-town rivals in game 3 at the State Basketball Centre. Southside trailed 66-69 with two minutes and 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Maddison Rocci scored the next five points of the game comprised of two free throws and a three-pointer to give Southside a 71-69 lead with 54 seconds remaining. Cayla George struck back with a three-pointer to regain the lead for Melbourne 72-71 with 42 seconds left. On the next possession Kayla Thornton made a lay up to give Southside a 73-72 lead with 28 seconds left, this was the final score of the game and Southside won by a point to advance to the Grand Final.

Maddison Rocci playing for Southside Flyers against Melbourne Boomers in game 3 of the semi final series at the State Basketball Centre on 15 March 2023

Townsville Fire defeated Perth Lynx two games to nil in a semi final series and entered the 2023/24 Grand Final against Southside on a 14 game winning streak. In game 1 of the Grand Final Townsville outscored Southside 28-14 in the first quarter to lead by 14 points at quarter time. Townsville went on to have a convincing 94-63 victory against Southside to set a new record for the biggest winning margin in a WNBL Grand Final. Southside acting captain Cole scored a team-high 20 points at 75% from the field. In game two of the Grand Final series at the State Basketball Centre on 22 March Southside led Townsville 64-59 with seven minutes and 25 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. For the rest of the game Townsville outplayed Southside, going on a 23-5 run to have an 82-69 victory and won the Grand Final series two games to nil. Cole made 11 of 16 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 68.8% and scored a game-high 26 points.

Kayla Thornton playing for Southside Flyers against Sydney Flame at the State Basketball Centre on 1 December 2022

Five Southside players averaged more than 10.5 points per game in 2022/23, Thornton, Jackson, Rocci, Blicavs and Cole. Thornton averaged 15.7 points (ranked 9^th in the WNBL) and 6.8 rebounds (11^th) per game and was selected in the All-WNBL first team. Maddison Rocci averaged 13.5 points and 4.9 assists (7^th) per game and won Southside’s MVP Award. Southside’s 81.8 points per game in 2022/23 ranked fourth in the league, 5.1 points per game behind Perth who led the league with 86.9 points per game. The Flyers led the league with 8.7 steals per game and ranked second with 19.6 assists, 0.5 assists per game behind Adelaide Lightning who ranked first in this category.

Construction of the Southside Flyers roster for the 2023/24 season

Halfway through July 2023 the Southside Flyers were yet to announce any of their player signings for the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season. Every other club in the league had announced multiple signings and several clubs had announced most of their 2023/24 players by mid-July 2023. Some WNBL fans were concerned about how much roster turnover Southside would have for the 2023/24 season. By the end of July Southside had announced that five players from their 2022/23 main roster would be suiting up for the club again in 2023/24 – guards Maddison Rocci, Bec Cole and Dallas Loughridge along with forwards Carley Ernst and Nyadiew Puoch. Southside’s final signing for 2023/24 in early October was a sixth returning player – Lauren Jackson. Having six players from their 2022/23 roster suiting up for the club in 2023/24 ranked Southside equal first in the WNBL along with Bendigo and the University of Canberra Capitals.

Nyadiew Puoch shooting a three-pointer for Southside Flyers against Bendigo Spirit at the State Basketball Centre on 6 January 2023

During the off-season three players from the Southside Flyers 2022/23 main roster joined a rival WNBL team and the Flyers recruited two players from another WNBL team, in all five instances the other team involved in the player move was cross-town rivals the Melbourne Boomers. Forward Sara Blicavs and guards Aimie Rocci and Monique Conti left the Flyers and joined the Boomers whilst guard Leilani Mitchell and forward Lou Brown moved in the opposite direction from Melbourne to Southside. Seven players on Southside’s 2023/24 roster had played in the WNBL in 2022/23 comprised of five players for Southside and two players for Melbourne.

2023/24 was Cheryl Chambers fifth season as Head Coach of the Jayco Flyers. Kerryn Mitchell and Hannah Lowe were each in their second season as a Southside Assistant Coach.

Southside Head Coach Cheryl Chambers providing instructions to the Southside Flyers team at half time of a practice game against New Zealand at the State Basketball Centre on 15 October 2022

Two constants for the Southside Flyers from their inaugural 2019/20 season through to the 2023/24 season were Cheryl Chambers as the Head Coach and guard Bec Cole as a player. In the off-season Southside recruited a duo that were teammates at the Flyers in the club’s inaugural 2019/20 season and both earned All-WNBL selection – point guard Mitchell and American import centre Mercedes Russell.

Leilani Mitchell playing for Southside Flyers against University of Canberra Capitals at Dandenong Stadium on 7 November 2019, current Flyers player Maddison Rocci is playing defense

In the first half of September Southside announced that they had signed American import guard Jasmine Dickey and forward Klara Wischer. Two of the players on Southside’s 11 player main roster made their WNBL debut in 2023/24, guards Dickey and Loughridge. Two frontcourt Flyers returned to the WNBL – Russell and Klara Wischer.

Southside Flyers 2023/24 main roster – 11 players

Returned (6):   Bec Cole, Carley Ernst, Lauren Jackson, Dallas Loughridge, Nyadiew Puoch, Maddison Rocci

Arrived (5):  Lou Brown (Melbourne Boomers), Jasmine Dickey (Dallas Wings – WNBA | Mainland Pouākai – Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa New Zealand), Leiliani Mitchell (Melbourne Boomers), Mercedes Russell* (Seattle Storm – WNBA), Klara Wischer (Sandringham Sabres – NBL1 South)

Departed (5):  Abby Bishop (CB Jairis – Spain), Sara Blicavs (Melbourne Boomers), Monique Conti (Melbourne Boomers), Aimie Rocci (Melbourne Boomers), Kayla Thornton*      

Head Coach:  Cheryl Chambers was in her fifth consecutive season as Head Coach of the Southside Flyers.

Assistant Coaches: Hannah Lowe and Kerryn Mitchell

* =Import

Development Players (5): Georgia Booth, Emily Fisher, Isis Lopes, Emma Nankervis, Nikita Young                                                                   

Southside announced on 20 July that Cole had signed with the club for 2023/24, Flyers Head Coach Cheryl Chambers commented “Bec continues to drive the standards at training and in games and her passion on the court is something our fans love to see. Her performances in the Grand Final series highlighted her desire and commitment to the team and why our fans love watching her play. She certainly leaves it all on the court.”17

After winning Southside’s 2021/22 MVP award guard Bec Cole had a different role on the Flyers 2022/23 team which resulted in her scoring output dropping to 10.7 points per game – ranked fifth for Southside. Cole is a proven big game performer and this came to the fore again during the 2022/23 Grand Final series against Townsville when she led all scorers with a total of 46 points in the two game series and shot the ball proficiently to make 20 of 28 field goal attempts at a superb accuracy of 71.4%. Cole was one of only four players in the league that were on the same WNBL team’s roster in each of the five seasons from 2019/20 to 2023/24 along with Zitina Aokuso (Townsville Fire), Penina Davidson (Melbourne Boomers) and Steph Talbot (Adelaide Lightning).

Bec Cole playing for Southside Flyers against Bendigo Spirit at the State Basketball Centre on 6 January 2023

Maddison Rocci joined the Southside Flyers in 2021/22 and was teammates with sister-in-law Aimie Rocci. With Southside in 2021/22 Maddison Rocci ranked sixth in the WNBL for assists per game. In her second season with the Southside Flyers in 2022/23 point guard Rocci played all 26 games and averaged 13.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, a career-high 4.9 assists (ranked 7^th in the WNBL), 1.6 steals (equal 11^th) and 28.8 minutes per game to win Southside’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. As a member of the Australian Opals bronze medal winning team at FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2023 held in Sydney Rocci impressed to lead the Opals for assists and steals per game, ranked third for minutes and fourth for points.

Maddison Rocci playing for Southside Flyers against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on 19 February 2023

In her debut WNBL season playing off the bench for Southside in 2022/23 Nyadiew Puoch averaged 5.8 points, 0.6 blocked shots (ranked equal 10^th in the WNBL), and 18.9 minutes per game to be nominated for the WNBL’s Sixth Woman of the Year Award and the Betty Watson Breakout Player of the Year Award. During the 2023 NBL1 South season Puoch excelled in 17 games for the Dandenong Rangers to average 24.5 points (ranked 4^th in NBL1 South) and 7.9 rebounds per game to win the conference’s Youth Player of the Year award. Puoch made her Australian Opals debut on the five game tour against the Chinese National women’s team in late August and early September 2023 with Southside Head Coach Chambers as the Opals Head Coach.

Nyadiew Puoch playing for Southside Flyers against Bendigo Spirit at the State Basketball Centre on 6 January 2023

After the Australian Opals tour of China Chambers commented on Puoch “Any time you play international you learn a lot about different types of gameplay, so she learned a lot about what to add to her game and she showed that she belongs there. She’ll definitely bring a lot of confidence out of it and also probably knows some things that she could probably work on and be better at.”18

Dallas Loughridge and Flyers teammate Nyadiew Puoch have been teammates at under—age level for the Dandenong Rangers, Victoria in the under 20’s and Australia as well as at senior level with the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence in NBL1. At the 2021 FIBA Women’s Under 19 World Cup held in Hungary from 7-15 August Loughridge was a member of the Australian Gems silver medal winning team alongside Puoch. Loughridge played all seven games at the tournament and ranked fifth for the Gems in scoring. Loughridge played 16 games for the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence during the 2022 NBL1 season in wildcard games. In four games Loughridge scored more than 19 points.

Dallas Loughridge playing for the Southside Flyers in a practice game against New Zealand at the State Basketball Centre on 15 October 2022

In a Southside Flyers practice game against Bendigo Spirit on 22 October 2022 Loughridge injured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) which forced her to miss the entire WNBL season. She Hoops followed Loughridge’s journey in her recovery after suffering the ACL injury. In Episode 3 – Back From the Brink published on 28 July Loughridge was interviewed by Megan Hustwaite and commented on where she was at in the rehabilitation process, saying “Now I am back doing controlled contact and next week I start one on one which is super exciting. I have been in the gym getting strong so I can lower that risk and be ready for contact. I think I am now on the home stretch and hopefully this will now start to speed up. I just can’t wait to be back playing so this is another step that brings me closer to that.” Loughridge’s progress in her rehabilitation continued in the following months and 51 weeks after suffering her ACL injury Dallas made her basketball return in Southside’s pre-season game against Bendigo Spirit at Selkirk Stadium in Ballarat on 14 October 2023.

In the lead up to power forward/centre Carley Ernst’s 250th WNBL game late in the 2022/23 season Flyers Head Coach Chambers told wnbl.basketball “Carley can make an impact across all areas of the game and adds real depth to our team. She also brings valuable experience, including championship winning experience, both here and in Europe, adding to our leadership on and off the court.”19

Ernst and 2023/24 Southside teammate Bec Cole both made their WNBL debuts for the Australian Institute of Sport on 19 December 2009. Due to two major knee surgeries Ernst missed the entire 2010/11 WNBL season. Ernst was playing her 12^th consecutive WNBL season in 2023/24 and at the start of the season had played 262 games – ranked fourth among players on a 2023/24 roster behind Kelly Wilson (431 games), Cayla George (330) and Sara Blicavs (267). Ernst averaged at least 9.0 points per game in six consecutive seasons from 2015/16 to 2020.

Carly Ernst shooting a three-pointer for Melbourne Boomers against Sydney Flames on 20 February 2022 at the State Basketball Centre

On 8 September 2021 Ernst had her son Kylan. Four months later Ernst made her WNBL return with the Melbourne Boomers in January 2022 playing off the bench and went on to be a member of the Boomers team that won the 2021/22 WNBL Championship in April, defeating Perth Lynx two games to one in the Grand Final. Playing a role off the bench for Southside in 2022/23 Ernst made an impact to average 6.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 12.6 minutes court-time per game. Ernst made 28 of 67 three-pointers at an accuracy of 41.8%. Among players in the WNBL that averaged more than 4.5 points per game in 2022/23 Ernst played the least amount of court time per game. In the off-season Ernst played alongside Southside teammate Cole for Waverley Falcons and they were part of the team that made the NBL1 South Grand Final.  

Carly Ernst shooting a three-pointer for Southside Flyers against Melbourne Boomers on 22 February 2023 at the State Basketball Centre

From 20 July to 31 July Southside announced that five of their players from 2022/23 had re-signed with the club for 2023/24, Cole, Rocci, Loughridge, Ernst and Puoch. The Flyers first two off-season recruits – Mercedes Russell and Leilani Mitchell were both returning to the club. Russell and Mitchell had been teammates on the 2019/20 Southside team that made the Grand Final.

Mitchell played for Southside in the team’s first two WNBL seasons in 2019/20 and 2020 and returned to play her third season with the club in 2023/24. In the Flyers inaugural 2019/20 season Mitchell won the team’s MVP Award. Mitchell was a member of Southside’s 2020 WNBL championship winning team and scored a game-high 31 points in the Grand Final to win the Rachael Sporn medal for the second time in her career. Mitchell also won the Rachael Sporn medal in Sydney’s 2016/17 WNBL Championship winning season with Chambers as Head Coach. In each of Mitchell’s first seven WNBL seasons from 2013/14 to 2020 she averaged more than 5.0 assists per game and led the league in this category three times including the 2020 season with the Jayco Southside Flyers. During this time Mitchell was selected in the All-WNBL First team (previously known as the WNBL All-Star 5) four times – 2013/14, 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2019/20.

Leilani Mitchell playing for Sydney Flames against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 5 February 2017, current Southside captain Bec Cole is playing defense

Mitchell had a daughter Elle in 2022 and on 22 February 2023 returned to the WNBL, playing for Melbourne Boomers against Southside Flyers. It was Mitchell’s first WNBL game since playing for Bendigo Spirit in December 2021. Mitchell played a total of six games for Melbourne in 2022/23 including four games between the cross-town rivals with Southside defeating Melbourne two games to one in a thrilling semi final series. For the Boomers in 2022/23 Mitchell averaged 4.5 points, 2.7 assists and 20.6 minutes per game. Playing for Inner West Bulls during the 2023 NBL1 East season alongside partner Mikaela Dombkins, Mitchell averaged 19.9 points (ranked 8^th in NBL1 East), 5.6 rebounds and 6.5 assists (3^rd) per game.

Leilani Mitchell playing for Melbourne Boomers against Sydney Flames at Melbourne Sports Centres Parkville on 5 March 2023

On returning to play for Southside Mitchell said “I am excited to be back with the Flyers and to have the opportunity to be part of a very exciting team. I obviously have great memories of my time with the Flyers, not just winning the Championship but also the fun we have as a team. It is a great organisation that cares for the players and sets great standards on and off the court.”20

Flyers Head Coach Chambers commented to wnbl.basketball/southside on Mitchell returning to Southside “It is great to have Lei back. We all know how good she is, and it is her ability to make other players better. Her IQ is amazing, she is a real professional and sets great standards in all her work on and off the court. She will be an incredible role model, particularly for our younger players.”21

Playing for Southside in 2019/20 centre Mercedes Russell averaged 16.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game to rank in the league’s top five in both categories among players that played at least five games for the season. Russell won the WNBL’s 2019/20 Robyn Maher Defensive Player of the Year Award and was selected in the All-WNBL second team.

Mercedes Russell playing for Southside Flyers against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 12 January 2020

At the 2018 WNBA Draft Russell was selected by New York Liberty with pick 22. After playing two games for New York Russell was waived. Russell signed with Seattle Storm and has played six consecutive seasons for the club, playing a total of 150 regular season games for the Storm from 2018 to 2023. Russell was a member of Seattle’s 2018 and 2020 WNBA Championship winning teams. Russell played 37 regular season games for Seattle in 2023 and averaged 5.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 19.1 minutes per game.

Mercedes Russell in the jump ball against Ezi Magbegor at the start of Southside Flyers game against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 4 November 2019

After Russell signed with Southside for the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season Head Coach Chambers commented “Mercedes was fantastic for us when she was here in our first season and has been keen to come back. We are really looking forward to her returning to the Flyers. She will be awesome inside, and her WNBA experience will be invaluable for the team.”22

Forward Lou Brown played for the Melbourne Boomers in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 WNBL seasons. In both of these seasons a current Flyers player joined the Boomers mid-season – Ernst in 2021/22 and Mitchell in 2022/23. Brown and Ernst were members on the Boomers 2021/22 WNBL Championship winning team, defeating Perth Lynx two games to one in the Grand Final. In the previous two NBL1 South seasons Brown ranked in the conference’s top five for rebounds per game playing for the Casey Cavaliers in 2022 followed by the 2023 season with the Frankston Blues. Brown played 23 games for Frankston as a starter in 2023 and averaged 16.6 points and 14.9 rebounds per game, recording a double-double in 21 games.

Lou Brown playing for Melbourne Boomers against Townsville Fire at the State Basketball Centre on 25 February 2022

2023/24 was the first time that Southside had two imports in a season, having signed American import point guard Jasmine Dickey. Dickey was selected by the Dallas Wings with pick 30 at the 2022 WNBA Draft and played a total of 34 regular season games across the 2022 and 2023 seasons before being waived on 28 June. Later in 2023 Dickey played 10 games for Mainland Pouākai during the 2023 Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa season in New Zealand and averaged 24.0 points (ranked 2^nd in the league), 8.0 rebounds (7^th) and 1.8 steals (4^th) per game.

Jasmine Dickey in her WNBL debut for Southside Flyers against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 4 November 2023

When Southside announced the signing of Dickey on 7 September Head Coach Chambers told Southside Flyers media “She’s athletic, quick, and has tenacious rebounding, so we’re really looking forward to bringing her in. She’s also great defender, so she should bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm to our group which will help us a lot.”23

After a break of eight seasons forward Klara Wischer returned to the WNBL with Southside in 2023/24 to play her second season in the league. In 2015/16 Wischer played 21 games as a member of the Perth Lynx team that made the WNBL Grand Final and was teammates with current Southside Flyers teammate Carley Ernst. Wischer has played at state league level in Western Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. During the 2023 NBL1 South season Wischer played 22 games for Sandringham Sabres and averaged 12.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.

Klara Wischer shooting a free throw for Southside Flyers against Melbourne Boomers in a pre-season game at Diamond Valley Sports and Fitness Centre on 7 October 2023

Lauren Jackson is Australia’s greatest ever basketball player and achieved just about everything you could possibly dream of in the WNBL, WNBA and with the Australian Opals from her WNBL debut with the Australian Institute of Sport in 1997 to her initial retirement on 31 March 2016 due to a knee injury. Jackson won the WNBL’s Grand Final MVP Award four times which is the league’s All-time record and won the WNBL’s regular season MVP Award four times – ranked second on the All-time list behind Suzy Batkovic (who the medal is now named after) with six.

During the 2022 NBL1 East season Jackson made an extremely successful return as a basketball player with the Albury Wodonga Bandits. The Bandits won the NBL1 East Grand Final and Jackson won the league’s regular season Most Valuable Player Award. Including finals Jackson played 14 games for the Bandits during the 2022 NBL1 East season, averaging 31.9 points and 12.6 rebounds per game.

In 2022/23 Jackson made her WNBL return with the Southside Flyers and started all 14 games that she played. In addition to Jackson’s on-court performances for the Southside Flyers in the 2022/23 Cygnett WNBL season her return to the league also generated more mainstream media coverage and was a huge hit with fans post-game. After Southside Flyers games, both at home and on the road there were been massive queues of fans post-game seeking an autograph and/or photo with Jackson.

Fans getting a photograph with Lauren Jackson after Southside Flyers game against Townsville Fire at the State Basketball Centre on 10 December 2022

In the opening minute of Southside Flyers home game at John Cain Arena on 4 February 2023 against Sydney Flames Jackson suffered a season-ending Achilles injury. Playing for Southside in 2022/23 Jackson averaged 13.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 21.7 minutes per game. Of all the players in the WNBL that averaged more than 9.0 points per game in 2022/23 Jackson played the least amount of game-time.

Lauren Jackson playing for Southside Flyers against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 9 November 2022

Due to her Achilles injury Jackson didn’t play in the WNBL off-season. On 2 October 2023 Jackson said “I’m not done yet” and signed with the Southside Flyers for the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season. Jackson is suiting up again for the Albury Wodonga Bandits during the 2024 NBL1 East season. In an article published on 13 October 2023 Jackson told nbl1.com.au “Someone asked me, ‘What’s the greatest thing in your career?’ and I said last year was. This whole comeback has been. Because I’ve had to work so hard for it and commit to a process, which is every single day. Regardless of how I’m feeling, if I’m sick, if the kids are sick. I’m not playing because I miss it, or I want to be doing it or creating some bigger legacy or something like that. I’m playing because I love being with my teammates and I know in 10 years’ time if I look back and regret it, I’ll be very mad. So I’m not going to.”24

Jackson was one of four players on Southside’s 2023/24 roster with WNBA experience along with fellow frontcourt player Mercedes Russell and guard duo Leilani Mitchell and Jasmine Dickey. Between them Jackson and Russell have played in all four of Seattle’s WNBA Championships. Jackson played in Seattle’s 2004 and 2010 titles, winning the finals Most Valuable Player Award in the latter season. Russell was a member of Seattle’s 2018 and 2020 WNBA Championship winning teams.

A Southside feisty backcourt starting duo were officially appointed to leadership roles for 2023/24 with Cole as captain and Maddison Rocci as vice-captain. After being announced as the Flyers captain Cole commented “This is a real honour, and I am very proud. I have been a Flyers since day one, I love this club and all the people involved and look forward to a great season. The Captaincy role is one amongst equals in this team, as we have such great leadership in our group.”25

On being appointed to a leadership role with the Flyers Rocci commented “This is fantastic, I am so pleased to be part of this team and to be announced as the Vice Captain is very special. I have continued to work, not just on my game, but on my leadership skills and support for teammates and this is an important role for me.”26

Three mothers were on Southside’s playing roster for the 2023/24 season, Jackson, Ernst and Mitchell. Jackson has two sons Harry and Lenny, Mitchell has two children son Kash and daughter Elle, and Ernst has one son Kylan. Southside Head coach Chambers has three children, two sons that are over 20 years of age – Zac and Sam and a teenage daughter Georgia. In an article written by Megan Hustwaite and published by ESPN on 21 December 2022 Chambers commented on Southside “We’re absolutely proud of our family environment and we value all of our families and whatever shape or size they are and that’s what you remember – the journey is about the people. We were together as a team recently and the girls were passing Kylan around, waiting their turn for a cuddle and helping so Carley could get the pram and a lady said to us ‘Isn’t it lovely he’s being brought up by a posse of strong females’. And I thought ‘isn’t that lovely?’ And, yeah, it is nice.”27

Six players who are over 194 centimetres tall were on the main roster of a WNBL club at the start of the 2023/24 WNBL season. Southside had three players in this category – Russell (198 centimetres tall), Ernst (196) and Jackson (195). Between them the other seven clubs in the league had three players in this category, Bendigo – Ruth Davis (198), University of Canberra Capitals – Alex Bunton (196) and Perth – Emily Potter (195). Four clubs didn’t have a player on their main roster that was over 194 centimetres tall – Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Townsville. Having adequate defensive match-ups for the height of Southside’s front court was going to be a difficult proposition for rival WNBL teams. On the flip side Southside’s size advantage did make them more vulnerable on the defensive end against teams that excelled in transition such as Perth Lynx. 

Experience was a strength of the Southside Flyers in 2023/24 with five of their players having more than 100 games experience in the WNBL at the start of the season – Ernst (262), Cole (237), Jackson (186), Mitchell (172) and Rocci (128). Across the league 25 players on a main roster had at least 100 games WNBL experience at the start of the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season with Southside, Bendigo and Melbourne ranking equal first with five players each in this category. Two players with less than 100 WNBL games experience on Southside’s 2023/24 roster had experience in the WNBA – Russell and Dickey. From 2018 to 2023 Russell had played a total of 152 WNBA regular season games and had been a member of two Seattle Storm WNBA Championship winning teams. 

On 28 October 2023 the Southside Flyers named their five Development Players for the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season – Georgia Booth, Emily Fisher, Isis Lopes, Emma Nankervis and Nikita Young. Southside Flyers Head Coach Chambers commented “The Development players are so important to our team, they not only have important roles in our training, they provide great support and are also ready to step up if and when we need them to. It is a great opportunity for Emma, Emily, Georgia, Isis, and Nikita, and I know they are not just looking forward to the season but are determined to make the most of this opportunity.”28 Bella Niven-Brown was a training player for the Southside Flyers in 2023/24

Southside Flyers bench and supporters applauding during the game against University of Canberra Capitals at the State Basketball Centre on 6 January 2024

2023/24 Cygnett WNBL regular season

In an article published on the Southside Flyers website on 6 September 2023 Head Coach Chambers commented “We want to not just make a grand final, we want to win one this year. We put a group together that brings us size and the versatility to get out front. So we’ll be working on both of those things. A two tempo game where we can push the ball and slow it down when we need to, to take advantage of some height as well.”29

During the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season eight Southside players averaged more than 15.0 minutes per game comprised of four guards – Maddison Rocci, Bec Cole, Leilani Mitchell and Jasmine Dickey along with four frontcourt players – Mercedes Russell, Lauren Jackson, Nyadiew Puoch and Carley Ernst. Three main roster players played more than 10 games and averaged between 3.5 and 6.0 minutes per game for Southside – forwards Klara Wischer and Lou Brown along with point guard Dallas Loughridge.

Southside Flyers at the end of a time out against Sydney Flames at the State Basketball Centre on 12 January 2024

Seven of the eight players that averaged more than 15.0 minutes per game for the Flyers in 2023/24 had played for Southside and had Cheryl Chambers as a Head Coach previously with American import Dickey being the only exception. Chambers having coached seven members of Southside’s core rotation for the Flyers previously made it easier for the club to build team chemistry, however individual roles needed to be adjusted based on the composition of the roster.

Southside Flyers team huddle after their victory against Sydney Flames at the State Basketball Centre on 12 January 2024

Due to suffering a season-ending Achilles injury on 4 February 2023 in the Southside Flyers home game at John Cain Arena Jackson didn’t play basketball in the WNBL off-season. Leilani Mitchell had a daughter Elle in 2022 and on 22 February 2023 returned to the WNBL, playing for Melbourne Boomers against Southside Flyers. As Mitchell and Jackson built their WNBL match conditioning they would be able to take on an increased role as the 2023/24 season progressed. Rocci and Mitchell had both won club MVP Awards at the Flyers as the dominant point guard and were teammates in 2023/24. Rocci and Mitchell were able to draw on their experience from being teammates on the University of Canberra Capitals 2018/19 WNBL Championship winning team.

For Southside’s opening game of the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on Saturday 4 November the starters were Rocci, Cole, Dickey, Puoch and Russell. With seven minutes and 55 seconds remaining in the second quarter Loughridge made her WNBL debut for Southside against Melbourne, being substituted into the game alongside close friend and fellow 19 year old Puoch. Loughridge was one of two Flyers that made their WNBL debut in the club’s opening game of the season along with fellow guard Dickey. In Southside’s second game of the season Jackson was brought into the starting line-up, replacing Dickey. Mitchell commenced the season off the bench for the Flyers and played between 17 and 26 minutes per game in each of the club’s first eight games of the season. Jackson played less than 24 minutes court time in each of the Flyers first eight games of the season.

Dallas Loughridge on WNBL debut for Southside Flyers against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 4 November 2023

Southside won two of their first four games of the season, having victories by 25 points against UC Capitals and by one point against Townsville Fire along with losses by seven points to Melbourne and 11 points to Adelaide. With three minutes and 25 seconds remaining in the Round 2 road game against Townsville on 11 November at Townsville Entertainment Centre Southside trailed by nine points, 62-71. Eight points from Puoch comprised of three lay ups and two free throws sparked a Southside 13-3 run, resulting in a one point Flyers victory 75-74. In the Round 3 road loss to Adelaide the transition game was a weakness with Southside losing the fast break points count 8-22. 

In the opening game of Round 4 the Southside Flyers hosted Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on Wednesday night 22 November in the game of the week broadcast on ESPN. After winning their first three games of the season at home Perth were on their first road trip of 2023/24 and were without three of their main roster players. Alex Ciabattoni and Ash Hannan were both out with COVID and Stephanie Gorman missed due to a foot injury. Perth’s full strength starting line-up of Aari McDonald, Miela Goodchild, Amy Atwell, Anneli Maley and Emily Potter all suited for the Lynx.

Perth led Southside by 21 points, 46-25 with four minutes and 52 seconds to play in the second term and Perth Centre Emily Potter had reached a double-double by half time to help the Lynx lead the rebound count 28-17 at the main break. In the second half Southside Flyers Head Coach Cheryl Chambers implemented a zone defense which played a critical role in changing the momentum of the game. At the other end of the court Southside were able to utilise their size advantage in the front court on offense. Southside made a comeback and drew level with Perth early in the last quarter but the Lynx responded with an 11-2 run to open up a nine point lead 84-75 with five minutes and 37 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Southside fought back again and a corner three-pointer from Southside captain Cole gave her team a 94-92 lead with 20 seconds remaining in the fourth term. Perth called back-to-back timeouts and worked on a plan to draw level or take the lead. In the final possession Southside played man to man defense. McDonald’s lay up was blocked by Russell with six seconds to play. McDonald got the ball back and attempted a jump shot, Potter got the offensive rebound but missed the put back attempt and Southside triumphed with an unlikely fightback two point win, 94-92. In the second half Southside won the rebound count 23-14 and had 20 assists to Perth’s 10. Southside and Perth each had five players that scored at least 12 points for the game. With three core rotation players missing Perth’s bench was outscored 8-26 which proved critical. Southside shot the ball efficiently to have a field goal accuracy of 51.4%, shot at 39.1% for three-pointers and 91.7% for free throws.

Above – Southside Flyers celebrating following their two point victory against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on 22 November 2023 

Below – Lauren Jackson shooting a jump shot for Southside Flyers against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on 22 November 2023

Two of Southside’s frontcourt starters fell just short of recording double-doubles, Russell with 19 points and nine rebounds along with Jackson – 15 points and nine rebounds. During the post-game press-conference a journalist asked Southside Head Coach Chambers “At times when you had Lauren Jackson and Mercedes Russell on the floor at the same time you guys looked really potent. (Perth Lynx Head Coach) Ryan Petrik actually called it bully-ball, you guys were just bullying them into really good looks, is that what you were trying to get out of your offense?” Chambers responded “Yeah, absolutely, we’ve got different teams that we can put out there, when we do have those two in we are going to slow it down, we are going to punch it in and really use that advantage. When we don’t have them then we can flow and get into it, so it is getting used to it. Not many teams have such size inside to play with so it does take some time and I think we are starting to learn that now.”

Mercedes Russell shooting a jump shot for Southside Flyers against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on 22 November 2023, Emily Potter is playing defense     

In December Southside had two 25 points wins – at home against Bendigo on 9 December and on the road against Adelaide on 30 December. In between these two victories the Flyers suffered their biggest defeat of the regular season, having a 28 points loss, 77-105 to Townsville Fire at the State Basketball Centre on 14 December. In the loss Southside had a field goal accuracy of 47.6% but Townsville had incredible accuracy to shoot at 57.5% from the field, made 12 of 28 three-pointers at 42.9% and made all 17 free throws.

Players and the crowd react after Bec Cole made a buzzer beating three-pointer for the Flyers at the end of the first quarter against Bendigo Spirit at the State Basketball Centre on 9 December 2023

In the post-game press conference after the loss to Townsville Cheryl Chambers was asked “Tell me about the positives that you can take out of today’s game?” Chambers responded “Oh it is hard to go the positives straight away about five minutes later. I guess the positive is that we can learn from it and get better as a team because I feel pretty disappointed at the moment and I am sure the players feel the same. I guess the positive is that you don’t win every game but as long as you learn from those games it is OK.”

Mercedes Russell winning the jump ball for the Southside Flyers against Townsville Fire at the State Basketball Centre on 14 December 2023    

During the post-game press conference Leilani Mitchell commented “We just have to remind ourselves that that is not who we are, occasionally people have bad games, unfortunately it was kind of a team full of bad games, we all were out of sorts but that is on us. We have to be focussed, we have to bring the energy. We knew it was a big game, obviously Townsville is at the top and they have a tough team, maybe next game we need to be more physical and make them second guess because everything was too easy for them.” 

In early January Southside had back-to-back losses, 61-67 on the road against Melbourne Boomers on 3 January and 65-75 at home against the University of Canberra Capitals on 6 January.

Above – Lauren Jackson making a jump shot for Southside Flyers against University of Canberra Capitals at the State Basketball Centre on 6 January 2024

Below – Southside players meeting Flyers fans and signing autographs after the game against University of Canberra Capitals at the State Basketball Centre on 6 January 2024

After Round 10 Southside had a record of seven wins and six losses to be fourth on the WNBL ladder, just ahead of Sydney Flames who were in fifth place with seven wins and seven losses. In a Round 11 home game against Sydney Flames at the State Basketball Centre on 12 January Southside captain Bec Cole played the 250^th WNBL game of her career, earning WNBL Life Membership. In an article published by WNBL Media on 12 January 2024 Southside Flyers owner Gerry Ryan commented on Cole’s 250 game milestone “There is a reason why she is the captain, she’s a great leader, her passion and enthusiasm and the impact she has on everyone are a testament to her. What a milestone, a credit to herself, her family and the team around her.”30

Above – Bec Cole playing for Southside Flyers against Sydney Flames at the State Basketball Centre on 12 January 2024 with Lauren Nicholson playing defense

Below – Bec Cole blocking a shot by Lauren Nicholson in Southside Flyers game against Sydney Flames at the State Basketball Centre on 12 January 2024

On 25 January Cole achieved another significant milestone, scoring the 3,000th point of her WNBL career in a road game against Sydney Flames. To celebrate Cole reaching 250 WNBL games and 3,000 career points Milestones and Misses published an article comprehensively covering her career. A link to this article on Cole is below:

Bec Cole’s incredible journey to reach 250 WNBL games and 3,000 career points

Head Coach Chambers made a change to the Flyers starting line-up for the Round 11 home game against Sydney with guard Mitchell replacing forward Puoch. In the third quarter Southside trailed Sydney 47-55 with four minutes and 55 seconds remaining. Southside went on a 12-3 for the rest of the term and with the final score of the third quarter Southside hit the front to lead 59-58 at three quarter time. Cole made a pull up jump shot with 40 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to extend Southside’s lead to six points. Fittingly it was the final score of the game and Southside recorded a 79-73 victory to consolidate their place in the top four.

Above – Jasmine Dickey playing for Southside Flyers against Sydney Flames at the State Basketball Centre on 12 January 2024

Below – Jasmine Dickey shooting a jump shot for Southside Flyers against Sydney Flames

Against Sydney Jackson scored a game-high 28 points shooting at 71.4% from the field and made two of four three-pointers at 50% playing a then season-high 30 minutes and 31 seconds court time. It was the third time for the season that Jackson had played more than 25 minutes court time. In the post-game press conference Flyers Head Coach Chambers was asked “If LJ can play 25-30 minutes she is going to cause a lot of headaches because she got more and more aggressive the longer she was out there. Was that your decision or was that her decision, how did you go saying I am going to get LJ to play a bit more than what she has been able to play over the course of the season so far?” Chambers replied “I think that was always the aim from the start of the season, she came off the Achilles and the foot injury so we didn’t want to load her too quickly. We are down to the business end of the season now and she is a scorer, a focal point and a winner so we are just going to try and keep her ticking over as best we can.”

Above – Lauren Jackson playing for Southside Flyers against Sydney Flames at the State Basketball Centre on 12 January 2024

Below – Southside Flyers team huddle after their victory against Bendigo Spirit at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre on 17 January 2024

In Southside’s road game at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville against Melbourne Boomers on 21 January Jackson played the 200^th game of her incredible WNBL career, reaching the milestone at 42 years of age. Jackson and 38 year-old point guard Mitchell played pivotal roles in Southside defeating Melbourne Boomers 84-82 in LJ’s 200^th game. Jackson scored a team-high 20 points at 53.8% from the field. Mitchell scored 19 points at a field goal accuracy of 55.6% and made four assists. Only one other Flyers player reached double figures in scoring for the game, Russell with 13 points.

Above – Lauren Jackson in her 200th WNBL game shooting a free throw for Southside Flyers against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 21 January 2024

Below – Leilani Mitchell holding daughter Elle, and Cheryl Chambers during the post game press-conference after Southside Flyers victory against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 21 January 2024

From 12 January until 31 January Southside won four of their five games with the only loss being on the road to the Sydney Flames 81-102 at the Quaycentre on 25 January. An adjustment Southside Head Coach Chambers made during this time was elevating Mitchell into the Flyers starting line-up. In 12 games predominantly off the bench for Southside up until 6 January Mitchell played over 26 minutes in a game once and reached double figures in scoring twice. In five games as a Southside starter from 12 to 31 January Mitchell played more than 26 minutes court-time and reached double figures in scoring in each game. During this five game sequence Mitchell averaged 15.0 points and 3.8 assists per game and had a field goal accuracy of 50%. Across this five game stretch Mitchell shot the ball proficiently from long range to make 14 of 30 three-pointers at an accuracy of 46.7%.

Above – Leilani Mitchell shooting a three-pointer for Southside Flyers against Bendigo Spirit at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre on 17 January 2024

Below – The Southside Flyers team post-game after the victory against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on 31 January 2024

In a Round 13 home game on Wednesday 31 January at the State Basketball Centre Southside at full strength hosted Perth Lynx who were missing the league’s leading scorer – Aari McDonald with a knee injury and the WNBL’s second ranked rebounder Anneli Maley with an ankle injury. Southside defeated Perth Lynx 91-70 and for the first time in 2023/24 the Flyers had three players score at least 20 points in a game. Leilani Mitchell scored a team-high 22 points closely followed by Bec Cole and Mercedes Russell with 21 points each. Cole made seven assists and Russell took 10 rebounds to record a double-double. Maddison Rocci scored 13 points, made nine assists and nine steals to set game-highs in the latter two categories and fell one assist and one steal shy of reaching a triple double. Rocci set a new career-high with her nine steals, all other players in the game had eight steals between them which highlights how dominant the Flyers vice-captain was in this facet of the game. Lauren Jackson took an equal season-high 10 rebounds, Southside won the assist count 25-11 and made all nine free throws. 

Above – Maddison Rocci playing for Southside Flyers against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on 31 January 2024   

Below – Southside Flyers players with fans after the victory against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on 31 January 2024. From closest to furthest away from the camera the first five players are Jasmine Dickey, Lou Brown, Klara Wischer, Maddison Rocci and Nyadiew Puoch    

In the first half of February no WNBL games were played due to a FIBA window and during this time the Australian Opals competed in the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Belem, Brazil from 8 to 11 February. Jackson was a member of the Australian Opals team and Chambers was an Assistant Coach. The Opals won all three games against Germany, Serbia and host nation Brazil to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. At the Paris Olympics Australia are in Group B with Canada, Nigeria and host nation France. The women’s basketball tournament commences on Sunday 28 July and the Opals first game is against Nigeria on the following day, Monday 29 July.

Southside’s first game after the FIBA window was a Round 14 road game on 18 February against Sydney Flames at Qudos Bank Arena with the Flames hosting a ‘Thank You’ Lauren Jackson game recognising LJ’s contribution to New South Wales basketball. At the start of Round 14 Southside were second on the ladder with 11 wins and seven losses and Sydney were fourth on the ladder with 11 wins and eight losses. The winner of the Round 14 game between Sydney and Southside would win the head-to-head series between the two clubs two games to one. With five minutes and 45 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter Sydney led Southside 72-68. For the remainder of the game Southside went on a 13-6 run to defeat Sydney by three points, 81-78 to consolidate their place in the top two. During Southside’s match winning late surge Puoch scored five points and Rocci, Russell and Cole all scored a field goal.

Sydney’s Round 14 home game against Southside had a crowd of 6,834 people to set a Flames club record for a standalone game. In the post-game press conference Shooting the Breeze co-host Paul Camillos asked “What do you think having a crowd like this says about the future of the WNBL?” Chambers responded “It is such a great product, look at the imports we have, we have WNBA imports, it is like one of the best leagues in the world. I think the more people that come out and enjoy it the more it will spread. Women’s sport deserves to have those sort of people come out and watch us.” Camillos asked “Mercedes this is the first time that the Flames have played a standalone game at Qudos Bank Arena (Russell interjects “is it really, oh nice”) how does it feel to be playing in a game like that?” Russell responded “It feels amazing, I could feel the energy from the crowd from the beginning of the game to the end of the game. I am sure we gave them a good show, it was a really close game. It is good to just see that growth in women’s basketball so it was really awesome to see that today.”

With one round remaining in the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season only two teams had qualified for the finals, both of the 2022/23 Grand Finalists, Southside Flyers and Townsville Fire. Southside could finish anywhere from first to third on the ladder and Townsville had locked in a top two position. Entering the final round the teams from third to fifth on the ladder Bendigo, Sydney and Melbourne were all on 11 wins and nine losses. Perth were one win behind in sixth position with 10 wins, 10 losses and had a road game against Bendigo to finish their season. Bendigo Spirit and Sydney Flames would both make the finals if they won their Round 15 games against Perth Lynx and Townsville Fire respectively.

In the opening game of Round 15 on Wednesday night 21 February Southside had a road game against Townsville Fire who were on top of the ladder with 13 wins, one win ahead of Southside. The winner of the Round 15 game between Townsville and Southside would win the season series between the two clubs two games to one and would be on top of the WNBL ladder at the end of the game. Southside led 23-16 at quarter time, retained the lead for the rest of the game and won by seven points, 77-70. Southside shot at 50.2% from the field and won the assist count against Townsville 17-11. Russell scored a season-high 24 points at 69.2% from the field and took 14 rebounds to set game-highs in both categories to be the only player to record a double-double in the game.

During a post-game interview on ESPN Megan Hustwaite asked Russell “How is the view from the top of the ladder, the season split over Townsville?” Russell replied “It feels nice, this was obviously a really big game for us, not only in terms of the ladder but just having momentum for the last two games of the season so it was really, really good to win and I am proud of my team. Obviously a really good road trip for our team going home with two wins.”

During the post-game press-conference Chambers was asked “Two trips up to Townsville for two wins, does that give you confidence for potential finals?” Chambers laughed and responded “Well yeah, I mean it is not very often you do that to be quite honest with you. We are really thrilled but they are a quality team so once finals start the slate is open and it will start again so we are not getting ahead of ourselves.” Rocci was asked “What did you think of Mercedes performance, does it help having a player like that?” Rocci replied “Yeah definitely, I mean she is so hard to defend, she is super long, she can take players off the bounce, she gets rebounds. She is amazing and I think she is going to be super hard to defend.”  

Due to redevelopment works at the State Basketball Centre the Southside Flyers usual home court, the show court was not available for their Round 15 home game against Adelaide and for the finals. All of the Southside Flyers home games for the remainder of the 2023/24 season would be played at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville, the home court of cross-town rivals Melbourne Boomers. In their last game of the regular season Southside lost a home game to Adelaide Lightning 60-74 on Saturday 24 February at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville.

Maddison Rocci playing for Southside Flyers against Adelaide Lightning at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 24 February 2024    

During the penultimate game of the regular season Perth Lynx recovered from a 2-18 deficit in the first quarter to have a 93-74 road victory against Bendigo. In the final game of the regular season Townsville at home had a 90-78 victory against Sydney Flames on Sunday 25 February. Southside finished second on the ladder with 13 wins and eight losses, one win behind minor premiers Townsville and one win ahead of Melbourne Boomers in third place. Three teams, Perth Lynx, Sydney Flames and Bendigo Spirit were tied on 11 wins and 10 losses for fourth to sixth. In the head to games between the three clubs Perth had four wins and two losses, Sydney three wins and three losses and Bendigo had two wins and four losses. This resulted in Perth securing the fourth and final play-off berth, Sydney finishing fifth and Bendigo finishing sixth.

Lou Brown playing defense for Southside Flyers against University of Canberra Capitals at the State Basketball Centre on 6 January 2024

Southside averaged 79.0 points per game during the regular season, ranked third behind Perth Lynx (84.1 points per game) and Townsville Fire (79.5). The Flyers led the WNBL with 18.9 assists per game in the 2023/24 regular season and also led the league for shooting accuracy in general play with a field goal accuracy of 44.3% and a three-point accuracy of 36.1%. All eight Southside players that averaged more than 15.0 minutes and 7.0 points per game played at least 19 of the Flyers 21 regular season games. Five Flyers – Russell, Rocci, Dickey, Puoch and Ernst played all 21 Southside regular season games. Guards Cole and Mitchell played 20 games and Jackson played 19 games. This high degree of continuity was a stark contrast to the 2022/23 season when three players on Southside’s main roster suffered season ending injuries – Loughridge, then Southside captain Aimie Rocci and Jackson.

Leilani Mitchell playing for Southside Flyers against Adelaide Lightning at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 24 February 2024    

At the 2023/24 WNBL Awards two Southside Flyers players received awards. Mitchell was named the league’s Sixth Woman of the Year and Russell was selected in the All-WNBL first team, the second All-WNBL selection of her career, having been selected in the All-WNBL second team in 2019/20. Russell was one of five nominees for the Robyn Maher Defensive Player of the Year Award. Mitchell played 20 games in the regular season including 11 games off the bench and averaged 8.9 points, 3.7 assists, 1.1 steals and 25.1 minutes per game. During the regular season Mitchell ranked equal 12th in the WNBL for assists per game and was of only two players in the top 16 along with Lauren Mansfield that averaged less than 28.0 minutes per game. Russell averaged 15.2 points, 9.1 rebounds, 0.9 blocks and 34.1 minutes per game to lead Southside in all four categories. Among players that had at least 10 field goal attempts Russell led the league with a field goal accuracy of 56.7%. Among players that played at least five regular season games Russell ranked equal eighth for points, seventh for rebounds, sixth for blocked shots and fifth for minutes per game.

Mercedes Russell shooting a jump shot for the Southside Flyers against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on 31 January 2024    

Early in the ICON Series – Mercedes Russell video published by She Hoops on 6 March 2024 Lauren Jackson commented to Russell “For me the most important thing is I want you to know how much you have inspired me this year. I think being your teammate and watch you go about your business just so cool, calm and collected but then it is like the professionalism and you are always there. You are a great human and I really respect the opportunity I have had to play with you. First of all I want to say I think you have been the MVP of this season. Just because you have led our team to number two spot. I think that you have been the best post in the league this season and like I have said before I think post players are the most important.” Russell says “I would agree, we are, we are.” LJ continues “I might be a bit biased, if you don’t have a good post player you don’t win a championship.” Later in the She Hoops ICON Series – Mercedes Russell video LJ comments “On court Slim you are who you are, you are gorgeous, and nothing phases you, for me I love that because I am the sort of person that is like ‘RAH’, (LJ and Russell both laugh) and then you are like the opposite, you are just gentle and then it is like bam, you just pull out a move and it is so aggressive, no one can stop you. You did it actually I think against Townsville, you just pulled out this reverse left handed thing and I was like oh my god, she is so good.”

Mercedes Russell taking a rebound for the Southside Flyers against Sydney Flames forward DiDi Richards at the State Basketball Centre on 12 January 2024

2023/24 finals

The four WNBL finalists for 2023/24 – Townsville, Southside, Melbourne and Perth finished in the same order as the previous season, resulting in the same semi final match ups as 2022-23 with Southside playing Melbourne and Townsville playing Perth.

Since rebranding from the Dandenong Rangers to the Southside Flyers in July 2019 Southside had finished in the top two on the ladder in four of their five seasons, on the three occasions before 2023/24 the Flyers made the Grand Final.

In 2023/24 Southside lost their regular season series to Melbourne one game to two, resulting in the Boomers winning the Michele Timms Cup. The Boomers won the first game at the State Basketball Centre on 4 November by seven points and had a six point victory in the second game at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 3 January. In the third encounter between the two clubs Southside had a two point victory at Parkville on 21 January.

Southside’s starting line-up for the semi final series against the Boomers was Rocci, Mitchell, Cole, Jackson and Russell. Eight Flyers averaged more than 15.0 minutes and 7.0 points per game during the regular season with the five starters joined in this category by Puoch, Dickey and Ernst.

Six Boomers players averaged more than 22.0 minutes and 7.5 points per game and played at least 18 games in the regular season – Jordin Canada, Naz Hillmon, Keely Froling, Sara Blicavs, Monique Conti and Tera Reed. Another three Boomers averaged more than 14.0 minutes per game – Aimie Rocci, Penina Davidson and Kristy Wallace. Davidson hadn’t played a game for the Boomers since suffering a calf injury in a home game against Townsville on 13 January. Due to a knee injury Wallace missed most of the regular season, only playing the Boomers last two games. Both of the Boomers American imports were selected in an All-WNBL team with point guard Canada selected in the first team and power forward/centre Hillmon selected in the second team. Canada won the Suzy Batkovic Medal for being the WNBL’s 2023/24 regular season MVP and also won the league’s Golden Hands Award. The Boomers starting line up for game 1 of the semi final series was Canada, Conti, Rocci, Froling and Hillmon.

Lauren Jackson making a turn around jump shot for Southside in semi final game 1 against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 28 February 2024

In semi final game 1 on 28 February Southside vice captain Maddison Rocci reached 150 WNBL games and Flyers Head Coach Cheryl Chambers reached 350 games as a Head Coach in the WNBL. For most of the first half of game 1 the Melbourne Boomers led Southside. A Carley Ernst lay up put the Flyers in front by two points with a minute and 27 seconds left in the second quarter. Melbourne struck back to go on a 5-0 run including a Jordin Canada three-pointer with five seconds left in the quarter to lead Southside 47-44 at half-time. Southside outscored the Boomers 26-14 in the third quarter to turn a three point deficit at half time into a nine point lead at the final change, 70-61. Several times in the last quarter Melbourne were able to reduce the margin to under four points, including trimming the margin to one point 78-79 with three minutes and 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Southside led by two points, 86-84 with a minute left. In the final minute Mitchell made four free throws and Southside won by four points 90-86.

Above – Leilani Mitchell about to make a free throw for Southside Flyers in the last 15 seconds of semi final game 1 against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 28 February 2024

Below – Mercedes Russell about to make a field goal in game 1 of Southside Flyers semi final against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 28 February 2024

Key factors in the Flyers victory were scoring 26 bench points to the Boomers 13, winning the second chance points category 20-5 and the rebounds 38-29. Four Southside players scored at least 15 points, playing her first WNBL final in over a decade Jackson scored a team-high 20 points at 53% from the field and was well supported by Mitchell (18 points), Dickey (16) and Rocci (15). Russell took an equal game-high eight rebounds along with Rocci and Ernst and made an equal team-high five assists along with Mitchell. Dickey made a game-high four steals, her highest tally of the season.

Above – Maddison Rocci about to shoot a free throw in game 1 of Southside Flyers semi final against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 28 February 2024

Below – Southside Flyers team huddle after their semi final victory against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 28 February 2024

During the post-game press conference Flyers Head Coach Chambers was asked “Your team’s work on the offensive boards especially in the first half really kept you in the game I thought, was that a point of emphasis coming in?” Chambers replied “Absolutely, Melbourne Boomers get a lot of their offense from rebounding so we wanted to make sure we had that emphasis at both ends of the floor. We absolutely want to get out there and get extra shots for ourselves and stop them down the other end.” 

Carley Ernst taking a rebound in game 1 of Southside Flyers semi final against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 28 February 2024

Southside Flyers captain Cole was asked in the press-conference “It was a game of runs for a lot of it. When you are down, you are playing from behind like that how does the team stay together and keep that belief that you can finally make that bigger run and take control of the game?” Cole responded “I think that is something we have worked on all season. If you asked us Round 5, even Round 10 hey if we have those runs and we are down can we still fight I would probably say most of those games we would just fall short. We have really worked on committing to our values and sticking together. It is a team effort, that is what finals are about. What I loved today is we had different people step up in different scenarios and that is why we won at the end of the day. We are connected and we just want to do it for each other. We also just haven’t played a game of four good quarters against the Boomers and that is what excites me because we got the win and I wouldn’t say we played absolutely amazing either. There definitely are points on the stats where we wanted to be good and we did that today so I am super stoked.”

Jasmine Dickey shooting a free throw in game 1 of Southside Flyers semi final against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 28 February 2024

Chambers commented on Dickey “She is just a real pro, she comes in and gives you a 110%, not everything comes off every single time but you know you are going to get a 110%. She got in the lanes, I don’t know how many steals she had but she must have had three or four really good steals, got to the rack and really just played an awesome role. Not only her, I thought Carley Ernst came off the bench too, she had a real hand in us winning that game today. We are really blessed to have some players come off the bench and contribute and feel like they can be confident out there which is an attribute that winning teams that win finals have.”

Above – Southside Flyers during the introductions for game 2 of the semi final against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 2 March 2024    

Below – Bec Cole in game 2 of the Southside Flyers semi final against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 2 March 2024    

Three days after semi final game 1 the two teams returned to Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville for game 2 on Saturday 2 March, this time with the Boomers as the home team and the Flyers as the away team. On the afternoon of the game the Boomers announced that Blicavs would miss the rest of the finals series due to a foot injury. Melbourne outscored the Flyers in all four quarters of game 2 and had a convincing 88-67 victory. The Boomers were more accurate from the field, having a field goal accuracy of 45.6% to Southside’s 39.3%. In the first five games of 2023/24 between the Boomers and Flyers the team that won the rebound count won the game. In semi final game 2 Melbourne had a 42-33 advantage in this category. The Boomers made 31 free throws to Southside’s eight with Naz Hillmon making all 15 free throws and all three field goal attempts to score a game-high 22 points without missing a shot. Jackson led Southside with 21 points at 56.3% from the field.

Above – Leilani Mitchell blocking Keely Froling’s shot during game 2 of Southside Flyers semi final against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 2 March 2024

Below – Mitchell’s animated reaction after blocking Froling’s shot

Southside made three of 18 three-pointers at an accuracy of 16.7% in game 2. During the post-game press conference Tom Hersz asked “Were you a bit surprised by your team’s struggles from the perimeter tonight in shooting?” Flyers Head Coach Chambers responded “Yeah, look I think we have got some good shooters and we didn’t hit our shots tonight.” Hersz asked “Where do you think you guys need to make the biggest adjustments heading into game 3?” Chambers replied “On the rebounds, we need some foul discipline and hopefully some of our shots go in.”

Tom Hersz, Cheryl Chambers and Mercedes Russell during the post-game press conference following the game 2 loss against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 2 March 2024

In semi final game 3 at Parkville on Wednesday 6 March Jackson was phenomenal in the first half, scoring 20 points to be the catalyst for Southside leading Melbourne by six points, 47-41 at half time. In the half-time interview on ESPN Candy Hertz asked “LJ you have amazing leadership within this team and a huge amount of experience in high pressure moments like this. What do you say to your team at half-time like this.” Jackson answered “Right now I am just telling them not to relax for one second, like one play. We can’t give them the opportunity to get open three’s or drive to the basket. We just gotta stick together, we have to play team basketball which at the moment we are doing but we haven’t done it consistently throughout 40 minutes of a game so it is going to be interesting to see how we come out. I know the girls are ready to go and after what happened last game we are not going to be satisfied with anything less.”

Above – Lauren Jackson with her back to the basket in Southside Flyers semi final game 3 against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 6 March 2024

Below – Jackson making a turn around jump shot for Southside Flyers in semi final game 3 against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 6 March 2024

The Flyers outscored Melbourne 27-17 in the third quarter and went on to have a convincing 16 point victory, 93-77 to make the WNBL Grand Final for the second season in a row. With fantastic teamwork Southside won the assist count against the Boomers 24-16 and had four players that made at least four assists, Maddison Rocci (6 assists), Mitchell (5), Russell (4) and Cole (4). Mercedes Russell scored 17 points and took nine rebounds to rank second for Southside in both categories behind LJ.

Mercedes Russell taking a rebound for Southside Flyers in semi final game 3 against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 6 March 2024

Southside shot the ball proficiently to have a field goal accuracy of 54.4%, shot at 35.3% for three-pointers and 92.9% for free throws. The Flyers took more rebounds than the Boomers 37-27 to continue the pattern of the team that won that category in the cross-town derby winning the game.

Jackson put on a shooting exhibition to make 15 of 22 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 68.2%, this included LJ making three of six three-pointers and several turn around jump shots. Jackson with 38 points became just the fourth player to score 35 points or more in a WNBL final in the past decade from 2014/15 onwards, joining Sami Whitcomb (41 points), Sara Blicavs (38) and Tiffany Mitchell (36) in this category. Jackson took a game-high 11 rebounds to record her first double-double of the season.

Lauren Jackson about to make a field goal in Southside Flyers semi final game 3 against Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 6 March 2024

During a post-game interview on ESPN Hertz asked Jackson “What goes in your head mentally when you prepare for these unbelievably important games?” Jackson responded “It is a lot different now, obviously I was injured last year and it has taken me a long time to get back. Cheryl right from day dot was ‘you know it isn’t about this end of the season it is about the back end’. I want to do things right now, I want everything to happen right now but she has been patient with me and now I can do a lot more on court between games and stuff. I just feel like it is OK, we have still got a long way to go, we just won one game so there is a long way to go.” On being on the verge of playing in her first WNBL Grand Final in 14 seasons Jackson told ESPN “It feels different because I have got my beautiful children and I am probably not as young as I was then. I am looking forward to it let’s just say that.”

Above – Lauren Jackson being interviewed by Candy Hertz on ESPN after Southside’s victory against Melbourne in game 3 of the semi final, LJ’s sons Harry and Lenny are hugging each other

Below- As the ESPN interview ends Southside Flyers players celebrate with Jackson after her incredible performance in semi final game 3 against the Melbourne Boomers

On ESPN Hertz asked “Congratulations Cheryl, another Grand Final for the team, how excited are you with the efforts of your team today?” Chambers answered “Super excited, we have been up and down all season and we had to bounce back after what we weren’t pleased with the other night, super pleased, super proud of them and look forward to a great series ahead.” On Jackson’s performance Chambers commented “She was unstoppable absolutely, not just scoring but on the offensive boards and she was tenacious, it was like vintage Loz isn’t it.” Chambers said “I am proud of the whole team. A season takes a whole group of people and different roles. I am so proud of the team and I am really happy that we get a chance to play in the Grand Final.”

Southside Flyers in a team huddle after their victory against Melbourne Boomers in game 3 of the semi final

In a post-game interview Hertz asked “Bec we can always feel your energy, it is absolutely palpable, how are you feeling in this exact moment?” Cole responded “I feel bloody great, we just got to a Grand Final. You don’t go through all this blood, sweat and tears all season to lose in a semi final. We lost a Grand Final series last year, that fire still burns right in my belly. These girls we fought through so much and each and every single person is so important. It is not just the starters, it is not just the bench, it is everyone, it is the staff, it is our fans, this just means the world but it aint over and it aint done yet.”

Bec Cole being interviewed on ESPN by Candy Hertz after Southside’s victory in game 3 of the semi final against Melbourne Boomers

Hertz asked “Bec I don’t know if everybody knows the unbelievable leadership role that you play within this team, I know sending little texts to your teammates and really trying to motivate them on a day like today. You don’t have to tell us the exact language but what sort of stuff do you say to them when you send those messages?” Cole answered “Look lately it has probably been a little foul because it has been really expressive and let’s go. Today I didn’t need to text anyone because we knew what we did on Saturday wasn’t good enough and it was enough talking, it was time for action. You know we have our little moments between each other that you just have a look in each others eyes and you know what you are talking about, you don’t get that with every team so that is something that is super special us.”

2023/24 was the fourth time in five seasons that the club had made the WNBL Grand Final since being rebranded as the Southside Flyers in July 2019. Southside defeated Townsville in 2020 to win the WNBL Championship. The Flyers have been runners-up twice, in 2019/20 to the UC Capitals and in 2022/23 to Townsville Fire.

Before being rebranded the club competed in the WNBL as the Dandenong Rangers from 1992 to 2018/19. Dandenong won three WNBL titles – 2003/04 and 2004/05 against Sydney Flames and 2011/12 against Bulleen (now Melbourne) Boomers). The Rangers were runners up three times – in their inaugural 1992 season to Perth, 2005/06 to Canberra and 2016/17 to Sydney. Combining the Dandenong Rangers and Southside Flyers eras, 2023/24 was the club’s 10^th WNBL Grand Final and they were attempting to win their fifth championship. 

In the other 2023/24 semi final series Perth Lynx defeated Townsville Fire two games to nil, having an 88-87 road win in game 1 and a 108-102 home victory in game 2 at Bendat Basketball Centre. Perth’s 108 points in game 2 was the second highest score of all-time in a WNBL final and the combined 210 points between Perth and Townsville set a new record for highest aggregate score in a WNBL final.

During the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL regular season Perth Lynx had the two highest scorers in the league – Aari McDonald (19.8 points per game) and Amy Atwell (17.9). McDonald and Atwell were both selected in the All-WNBL second team. Perth captain Anneli Maley ranked second in the WNBL with 12.8 rebounds per game. All five members of Perth’s full-strength starting line-up – McDonald, Miela Goodchild, Atwell, Maley and Emily Potter averaged more than 10.0 points and 22.0 minutes per game. Another three Perth players averaged more than 19.0 minutes per game – Steph Gorman, Alex Ciabattoni and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard. 

Perth have different style to Southside, playing at a quicker pace and attempting more three-pointers. Perth led the league with 84.1 points and 8.6 three-pointers made per game during the regular season. Southside ranked seventh in the WNBL with 6.9 three-pointers made per game in the regular season but led the league with a three-point accuracy of 36.1%.

Southside won the regular season series between the two clubs two games to one however in all three games the road team was missing at least two players from their core rotation. Southside had victories against Perth in home games at the State Basketball Centre 94-92 on 22 November and 91-70 on 31 January. At Bendat Basketball Centre on 23 December the Lynx defeated the Flyers 95-85.

In the Round 4 game between Perth and Southside the first half was on the Lynx’s terms and they led by 20 points 54-34 at half-time. In the second half Southside Flyers Head Coach Cheryl Chambers implemented a defensive zone which played a critical role in changing the momentum of the game. Southside outscored Perth 60-38 in the second half to have a fightback two point victory. Key points in the Grand Final were going to be the ability of Southside to minimise transition points scored by Perth and the Lynx’s defence against the Flyers frontcourt duo of Russell and Jackson.

For the 2023/24 WNBL Grand Final both Southside and Perth were at full strength. Southside had the same starting five as their semi final victory against Melbourne – Rocci, Mitchell, Cole, Jackson and Russell. Perth’s starting line-up was McDonald, Goodchild, Atwell, Maley and Potter. Southside hosted game 1 of the Grand Final at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on Sunday 10 March. Perth had an incredible start to lead 15-2 with five minutes and 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Lynx extended the lead to 23 points, 60-37 at half-time. Perth defeated Southside by 22 points, 101-79 to register the second highest score in WNBL Grand Final history. Perth outscored Southside by at least six points in each of the first three quarters. The Flyers scored 26 points to the Lynx’s 19 in the last quarter. In the 2023/24 finals Perth created history by becoming the first team in WNBL history to reach 100 points in a finals game twice in the same season. Perth put on a long range shooting exhibition against Southside to make 22 of 38 three-pointers at an accuracy of 57.9%. The leader in this category was Lynx vice captain Amy Atwell making a phenomenal nine of 14 three-pointers at an accuracy of 64.3%. Atwell broke the record for most three-pointers in a final which was held by Sami Whitcomb with 8 3PM for Perth Lynx against Dandenong Rangers on 3 March 2017 at Bendat Basketball Centre in semi final game 2.

Nyadiew Puoch making a lay up for Southside Flyers in game 1 of the Grand Final against Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 10 March 2024

In the game 1 Grand Final loss Jackson scored a team-high 21 points, had a field goal accuracy of 57.1% and was even more effective from long range, making five of six three-pointers at 83.3%. In each of Southside’s first four finals of 2023/24 Jackson scored at least 20 points. Three Southside guards had at least five assists in game one of the Grand Final, led by Leilani Mitchell with six assists in her 200th WNBL game followed by Bec Cole and Maddison Rocci with five assists each. 19 year old forward Puoch played her 50^th WNBL game in game 1 of the Grand Final.

Lauren Jackson making a three-pointer for Southside Flyers in game 1 of the Grand Final against Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 10 March 2024

During a post-game interview on ESPN Hertz asked “Bec that was a tough one, tell me the game from your perspective?” A candid Cole responded “Embarrassing, to say the least, I feel like we just did not bring that championship energy or that championship mindset. From the get-go we are sort of on the back foot. We tried but I don’t think we tried hard enough. As embarrassing as that was thank god it is a series. We have to reset, we have to recharge, it is do or die for us in game 2.” Hertz asked “There were some adjustments that you definitely made after three quarter time because the start of that fourth quarter was great, some positives to take out of that, what were those changes?” Cole answered “Really when you are down by that much I said to the girls let’s get this momentum going in the last quarter so we are playing the way we want to when we go into game 2.” 

At the start of the post-game press conference Flyers Head Coach Chambers was asked “Cheryl immediate reaction after game 1 of the Grand Final, what are you stewing on right as we speak?” Chambers replied “Look disappointed, I don’t think we even got out of the blocks, I think it was nought-seven in the first quarter so pretty disappointed. I think mentally we weren’t there tonight either, I don’t think we locked in to what we needed to do. We are really disappointed but having said that we have got a great team, a great bunch of girls and we will bounce back and give it everything on Thursday.” Chambers commented “We allowed them to get it in transition, they didn’t get past the three-point line most of the time so I am not sure it was actually the pace. I think it was more where we put our attention and how quickly we got it there. They are a great team, they run a style, they are shooting well, they are hard to slow down, kudos to them today I think they played really well. One of the good things for us as a team is when our backs are to the wall we have responded, we have got some real quality competitors there that will not be happy with tonight and we will respond.”

Two years earlier in game 1 of the 2021/22 WNBL Grand Final at the same venue, Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville, Perth Lynx had defeated Melbourne Boomers in a similar fashion, having a 98-71 victory making 14 of three-pointers at 46.4%. Perth fell just short of winning the 2021/22 WNBL Championship, having a one point loss at home in game 2 and had an 18 point loss to the Boomers in game 3 at Parkville.

Perth Lynx hosted game 2 of the 2023/24 WNBL Grand Final at Bendat Basketball Centre on Thursday 14 March. Southside Flyers import and two time All-WNBL team member Russell reached 50 WNBL games in game 2 of the Grand Final. Southside had a far better start to game 2, scoring the first five points of the game comprised of a jump shot from Russell and a three-pointer from Rocci to lead 5-0 after one minute and three seconds. After a fast paced opening quarter Southside led 28-25 and six Flyers players had scored. A three-pointer from Perth Lynx captain Maley levelled the scores at 33 points apiece with seven minutes and 33 seconds left in the second quarter. The Flyers went on an 8-0 run comprised of a jump shot for Ernst followed by a three-pointer each for Cole and Ernst to lead 41-33 with six minutes and one second to play in the second quarter. Southside maintained the ascendancy to lead Perth by 12 points, 55-43 at half time.

Perth were able to make some inroads to the lead in the third quarter, reducing the margin to seven points, 71-78 at three quarter time. A Mitchell lay-up extended Southside’s lead to nine points, 84-75 three minutes into the final quarter. Perth fought back and when Potter made two free throws with two minutes and 14 seconds left Southside’s lead had been reduced to two points, 93-91. Two made free throws by Rocci six seconds later restored the Flyers lead to four points. A lay up by Ciabattoni followed by two made free throws by McDonald tied the scores at 95 points apiece with 59 seconds left in the last quarter. With 34 seconds left Perth had an opportunity from the free throw line to take the lead for the first time of the game however both of Maley’s free throw attempts missed. On the next possession Russell turned the ball over with 20 seconds left, Ciabattoni dribbled the ball up court and passed to Maley who missed the lay up. Maley got the ball back and attempted a jump shot from just outside the key on the right hand side of the basket, Russell blocked Maley’s shot and gained possession of the ball with 11 seconds left. Cole dribbled the ball up the court and passed to Mitchell at the top of the three point line. Mitchell drove through the key and after losing control of the ball used some quick thinking to tap the ball to Russell who caught the ball just outside the key on the left hand side of the basket. With two defenders Maley and Potter applying pressure Russell’s difficult fade away jump shot was in mid-air as the buzzer sounded, the shot went in, giving Southside a marvellous two point victory, 97-95 to level the Grand Final series at one game apiece. With the victory Southside would become the first team in WNBL history to play a semi final game 3 and a grand final game 3 in the same season.

Southside were more accurate from the perimeter in game 2, making nine of 22 three-pointers at an accuracy of 41% to Perth’s 7 of 24 three-pointers at 29%. For Southside Ernst made two of two three-pointers and Cole made three of four three-pointers at an accuracy of 75%. The Flyers won the assist count 23 to 17 and the Lynx had the edge for rebounds 48-43. Five Flyers were in double figures for scoring, Dickey with a team-high 19 points along with Russell (18), Cole (18), Rocci (14) and Ernst (14). In her 50^th WNBL game Russell was incredible, in addition to her 18 points which included the game winner she took an equal season-high 17 rebounds, made three assists and blocked two shots.

In an ESPN post-game interview Megan Hustwaite said “Cheryl Chambers that is how you come to Perth and send it to a deciding game 3 back at home.” Chambers replied “Yeah, wasn’t it awesome, not quite how we planned it but it doesn’t matter, we got the win and we can go back home and defend home.” Hustwaite asked “How tough is this group, it was a hard loss on Sunday, you made the adjustments, we saw it in the game but that was as tough as they come.” Chambers said “And our team is tough, I said that before the game, we are a really tough team, we are a smart team, we stick together and we just keep going. This crowd tonight was awesome and thanks to all the supporters for coming out, they would have wanted to get it done here but we are glad to go back the other way.”

Ernst and Brown were both members of the Melbourne Boomers team that defeated Perth Lynx by one point in game 2 of the 2021/22 WNBL Grand Final and went on to win the series two games to one. Post-game Ernst whilst holding son Kylan told ESPN “It was a bit of deja vu hey but they are a tough team and that was a bloody tough game so we are absolutely rapt to bring it to game three back home so we are so excited. Recovery begins now and we will take it back home.” Hustwaite asked “How special is it having the kids here around the club. Southside so supportive of the mums and bubs, it has been a big couple of days the time difference, the flight, keeping kids entertained, tell us all about it?” Ernst responded “Southside are amazing at supporting the mums to bring their kids, our kids are everything and being able to bring them, being close, not having to worry about them is the best. We are so grateful and thankful for them being able to help us bring our kids and have them with us.”

Above – The Southside Flyers team, their children and Waverley Falcons junior players after Southside’s victory against Sydney Flames at the State Basketball Centre on 12 January 2024

Below – Carley Ernst playing for the Southside Flyers against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre on 31 January 2024  

During the post-game press conference Flyers Head Coach Chambers was asked “That last possession it was disjointed and certainly wasn’t the way you wanted to play but once it ended up in Mercedes’ hands with half a second to go, is she the person you would want taking that shot?” Chambers replied “Yeah without a doubt, she is just a true talent. I must say in my head and I will have to watch it again, Leilani actually got the ball, she fumbled and was able to whack it (to Russell) which is a real talent in itself, there is not many players that would be able to keep it alive and play through that. I thought that her tap on was pretty important in that phase as well and Mercedes to come up with the big bucket was great as well.” Jackson was asked “What did you think of those last few seconds?” LJ answered “I was watching it in slow motion. I saw her (Russell) take it off and then I heard the buzzer sound so I knew she got it off in time, it looked beautiful when it left her hand. As soon as it left her hand it was like yep let’s go in so it was one of those moments.”  

Shooting the Breeze No 168 Cheryl Chambers is Flying High podcast was published on 29 March 2024. On Grand Final game 2 Southside Head Coach Chambers commented “It was all those things that you love in finals, it was physical, it was high emotion, it was dramatic, there was lots of stuff going on here and there. It was certainly stressful until the last whatever seconds, there was nothing we could do on the bench, we just had to watch it unfold in that last little phase, luckily for us it went on our side.” On the conclusion of game 2 Chambers said “We only probably had about 20 supporters in the whole of the stadium and the rest of the stadium was so loud all game, it felt like when that went on (Russell’s last second shot going in) it was like you could hear a pin drop, quiet, the fans were stunned, the teams were stunned. There was a few seconds of absolute silence where everyone had to process what had just happened.”

Whilst the first two games of the 2023/24 Grand Final series for Perth were remarkably similar to their previous Grand Final two seasons ago against Melbourne Boomers in 2021/22 the Lynx had a very different team in the two Grand Final series. Alex Ciabattoni and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard were the only two players that remained from Perth’s 2021/22 Grand Final team.

On the similarities between the 2021/22 and 2023/24 WNBL Grand Finals Perth Lynx Head Coach Ryan Petrik commented “It is a completely different roster so the battle scars are more on the coaching staff than the players. Most of the players would never have seen it and I do understand it’s a question everyone’s going to ask, but I don’t know the players care too much. I think they will care more about responding to what happened in this game.”31 In both the 2021/22 and 2023/24 Grand Finals Petrik was Perth’s Head Coach and had Brad Robbins and Nat Burton as Lynx Assistant Coaches. 

The prize on offer for the winner of game 3 of the Grand Final between Southside Flyers and Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024 – The Cygnett WNBL Championship trophy

Southside Flyers hosted game 3 of the WNBL Grand Final at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on Sunday afternoon 17 March. Jackson opened the scoring in game 3 with a lay-up 23 seconds into the game. It took more than two minutes for the next score of the game, a Mitchell pull up jump shot with seven minutes and 32 seconds remaining in the first term. Both teams scored regularly for the rest of the quarter and Southside led by a point 28-27 at quarter time. In the first three minutes and 40 seconds of the second quarter Southside went on a 10-0 run comprised of a hook shot for Russell, a jump shot for Russell, a lay up Dickey, a three pointer for Mitchell and a free throw for Russell to extend their lead to 11 points, 38-27. After Atwell made a lay-up Southside vice captain Rocci scored the next six points of the game comprised of two lay ups and a floating jump shot to increase Southside’s lead to 15 points, 44-29 with three minutes and 10 seconds left in the second quarter. At the main break Southside led by 13 points, 52-39.

Leilani Mitchell making a three-pointer for Southside Flyers at the start of the third quarter in game 3 of the Grand Final against Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

Perth Lynx led the WNBL for three-pointers made per game during the 2023/24 regular season however in the third quarter of game 3 of the Grand Final it was the Flyers who put a phenomenal long range shooting exhibition, making six of seven three-pointers at an accuracy of 85.7%. The opening score of the third term was a Mitchell three-pointer, mid-way through the quarter Jackson and Cole each made a three. In the space of two minutes from four minutes and 15 seconds remaining in the third term Ernst was incredible, scoring 11 points comprised of three three-pointers and a lay up. Southside extended their lead by seven points in the third quarter to have a 20 point lead at the final change, 85-65. The Flyers outscored Perth 30-16 in the final quarter to have a 115-81 victory.

Southside and Perth each getting into a huddle during a deadball situation in game 3 of the Grand Final against Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

It was the second time that Southside had won the WNBL Championship after being rebranded from Dandenong Rangers to Southside Flyers in July 2019. In both 2020 and 2023/24 Southside won the WNBL Championship after being runners-up in the previous season. Southside’s 115 points in game 3 of the 2023/24 Grand Final was the highest score of all-time in a WNBL final, surpassing 111 points scored by Sydney in game 1 of their 2016/17 semi final against Townsville. Southside’s tally of 115 points in game 3 of the Grand Final against Perth was 12 points higher than the previous record for most points in a Grand Final game. In the 2010/11 Grand Final at Parkville Bulleen (now Melbourne) Boomers scored 103 points against Canberra. The Flyers 34 point victory against Perth in game 3 broke the record for biggest winning margin in a Grand Final, exceeding Townsville’s 31 point victory against Southside in game 1, 2022/23. Southside became the second team to win the WNBL Championship after losing game 1 of the Grand Final, joining the Melbourne Boomers who achieved this feat in 2021/22 against Perth Lynx.

Maddison Rocci about to shoot a jump shot for Southside Flyers in game 3 of the Grand Final against Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

Each of the seven Flyers that played at least 12 minutes court time in game 3 scored at least 12 points. In a consistent team performance no Southside player reached 20 points with Jasmine Dickey off the bench scoring a team-high 19 points shooting at 85.7% from the field. Joining Dickey in double figures were Southside captain Bec Cole (17 points), Maddison Rocci (15), Carley Ernst (15), Leilani Mitchell (14), Mercedes Russell (13) and Lauren Jackson (12). Russell took a game-high 13 rebounds and three Flyers had at least four assists – Mitchell with a game-high six assists along with Jackson (4) and Cole (4).

Jasmine Dickey about to shoot a free throw for Southside Flyers in game 3 of the Grand Final against Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

Shooting accuracy was a strength of the Flyers throughout the 2023/24 regular season, leading the league for both field goal accuracy (44.3%) and three-point accuracy (36.1%). In the game 3 Grand Final decider Southside were even more proficient, having a field goal accuracy of 53.8% and a three-point accuracy of 55.6%. Southside won the rebound count against Perth 51-34 and had a 26-12 advantage for assists.

Above – Jasmine Dickey taking a defensive rebound for Southside Flyers in game 3 of the Grand Final against Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

Below – Southside Flyers celebrating winning game 3 of the Grand Final against Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024 to win the WNBL Championship

In a post-game interview on ESPN Megan Hustwaite said “Lauren it has been 25 years since your first WNBL title, 14 since you did it here, you are a WNBL Champion again.” Jackson responded “I know, it is crazy, it is awesome, I am so proud of the girls, they were incredible tonight and we worked for it this year, it has been a hard year. For us to get here and win it like this after what happened in game one here is pretty special.” Hustwaite asked “How tough is the group, you said to the players in the second half don’t forget what Perth did to us in game 1, you responded at every turn this WNBL season and you did it in this series.” LJ replied “Yeah, that’s been the thing with our team this season, we have been up and down and I think people ruled us out but whenever we have had our backs against the wall we have been able to respond, it has been pretty remarkable actually. It has been a crazy season but one that I will never forget.” Hustwaite asked “How special is it to share it with your beautiful boys, we have got Harry here, Lenny is running around celebrating, they are your everything.” Jackson answered “They are, it is so much better when you have got your kids and your family with you that is for sure, I couldn’t do it without them. It is remarkable and I am just so proud of them.”

Two of Southside’s strengths during the 2023/24 WNBL regular season were their passing ability and shooting accuracy, the Flyers were even more effective in these aspects of the game during the finals. Southside led the WNBL with 18.9 assists per game in the 2023/24 regular season. With superb teamwork the Flyers increased this by 17.5% to average 22.2 assists per game in the finals. The Jayco Flyers ranked first in the WNBL with a field goal accuracy of 44.3% during the 2023/24 regular season. Southside were even more accurate in the finals, having a field goal accuracy of 46.9%. Southside led the league with a three-point accuracy of 36.1% during the regular season. The Flyers were able to slightly improve on this mark during the finals, having a three-point accuracy of 37.1%. After averaging 79.0 points per game during the regular season Southside’s scoring output increased by 14.2% to 90.2 points per game for their six finals. The Jayco Flyers scored at least 90 points in a game eight times in 2023/24, four times during the regular season and in each of their four finals victories.

Mercedes Russell about to make a jump shot for Southside Flyers in game 1 of the Grand Final against Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 10 March 2024

Russell averaged a double-double comprised of 14.3 points and 12.7 rebounds per game and also made 2.3 blocks per game in the three game Grand Final series against Perth and shot the ball efficiently to have a field goal accuracy of 54.1%. Russell was recognised for her exceptional performance by winning the Rachael Sporn Medal for being the Grand Final Most Valuable Player.

Above – Mercedes Russell during the post-game presentation after Southside’s victory in game 3 of the Grand Final

Below – Russell during her acceptance speech after receiving the Rachael Sporn medal as grand Final MVP.

During the presentation Megan Hustwaite said “Well Mercedes you are part of Southside Flyers inaugural team in 2019/20 and you weren’t able to get the job done in the Grand Final series, you came back to Australia with some unfinished business and you have now got it done.” Russell responded, “Yeah for sure, obviously I was supposed to come back that following year, actually that year we lost against Maddy so I am glad she is on our team now. So excited just to be back with the Flyers, we had an amazing group of players this season. Credit to our coaches and our staff as well they were unbelievable all year and obviously we ended up with the championship and that is what we came to do.” Hustwaite said “Well Mercedes I think a lot of people would have watched back the final seconds of game 2 in Perth that got this series to a decider, have you watched it a few times on Kayo?” Russell replied “Yeah I have seen it a lot just on twitter and Instagram through social media just playing it back. It was a really surreal moment for us, obviously it came down to the wire, credit to Perth but yeah it was a huge shot for me and I just wanted to win the game for our team.”

Hustwaite said “Finally Mercedes I am sure there is some people you would like to acknowledge in receiving the Rachael Sporn Grand final MVP.” Russell commented “Yes for sure. First of all thank you to the WNBL, it has been just a pleasure being back obviously after a few years, obviously went through COVID, planned to be back a few years before but now it has been special. Credit to my whole team they have been nothing but support and amazing this whole season. Special shout out to Lauren, it has been amazing being your teammate, learning from you, being able to play on the court alongside you, it has been really special. Shout out to our staff Cheryl, Hannah, Kerryn, Scottie, JJ and Jenni, every single person for just taking care of us, we are a really needy group of women, day in and day out it has been a grind personally for every single person. I am just really proud of everybody on our team, they have been amazing from day one until now and we are going home champions.”

In Southside captain Bec Cole’s speech she commented “To our sponsors, our fairy godparents Gerry and Val Ryan. We appreciate you not only supporting women’s sport but especially the Southside Flyers and you have created a professional environment for us to go to work and get the best out of ourselves and each other every single day. We are so thankful to you and what you have provided us.”

Bec Cole during her speech after Southside defeated Perth Lynx in game 3 of the Grand Final to win the 2023/24 WNBL Championship

During her speech Cole said “Of course to our family and friends, we know how much you have to sacrifice being a part of our world and what we live in, to our parents, to our kids, we have three beautiful big mummas and a little mumma over there and it is inspiring watching them go to work. Of course to our family and friends we bloody love you and you have helped get us here today.”

Cole also thanked Perth Lynx, the fans, sponsors, coaches and staff. Cole concluded her speech by saying “Last but not least my flygirls. It has been an absolute rollercoaster, it has been a journey of a season, but we stuck together, we believed, we trusted, we got it done and I don’t think people understand when you have a stacked team like this everyone has to make sacrifices and it isn’t easy. I think a lot of people underestimated us so this tasted bloody beautiful. To you girls, I would do anything for you, we have each others backs. Each and every single one of you including our development players who come to work every single day help us get better, shout out to you guys. And flygirls we the champions, we the champions.”

During her speech Southside Flyers Head Coach Cheryl Chambers commented “We have the best staff in the league so thank you to all my staff. We are very lucky, we have got great personalities as well as professional and really organised people so thank you to all the staff. To the girls, what can I say, it has been a journey and I have loved every minute of it, I know sometimes you probably haven’t loved me during the journey but that is part of the parcel. Look at what we have achieved, be proud, remember it for years to come and I am glad that all the kids are with us as well, so thank you.”   

The three mothers on the Southside Flyers team with their children, Leilani Mitchell with son Kash and daughter Elle, Carley Ernst with son Kylan and Lauren Jackson with sons Lenny and Harry

After the speeches had concluded Southside Head Coach Chambers and captain Cole were presented with the WNBL Championship trophy. It was the second time in four seasons that Southside had won the WNBL title, having taken out the Championship during the 2020 hub season in North Queensland. With the 2023/24 WNBL title having been won in Melbourne Southside players, coaches and staff had more family, friends, sponsors and Flyers fans to celebrate the title win with than in 2020. As is customary in basketball as part of the Championship celebrations Southside players, coaches and staff took turns cutting the net.

Above – Southside Flyers with the WNBL Championship trophy at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

Below – Jasmine Dickey with a piece of the net at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

Above – Nyadiew Puoch cutting the net at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

Five players on Southside’s main roster played in their first WNBL Championship in 2023/24 – Dickey, Loughridge, Puoch, Russell and Wischer. Brown and Ernst were teammates on a WNBL title winning team for the second time, having previously achieved the feat in 2021/22 with the Melbourne Boomers. Cole has played in both of Southside’s WNBL Championships. Rocci played in her third title having gone back-to-back with the University of Canberra Capitals in 2018/19 and 2019/20. Chambers won her third WNBL Championship as a coach, having previously won with Sydney Flames in 2016/17 and Southside in 2020. As a player Chambers won a WNBL championship with Nunawading Spectres in 1984. Mitchell has played in four championships, having won with the University of Canberra Capitals in 2018/19 and was a player on all three titles Chambers has won as a Head Coach. Jackson won her seventh WNBL title as a player, having previously won with the AIS in 1998/99 and five titles with the Canberra Capitals – 1999/2000, 2001/02, 2002/03, 2005/06 and 2009/10.

Above – Klara Wischer cutting the net

Below – Carley Ernst with the net around her neck signing an autograph

The 2023/24 WNBL Championship was the fifth time in club history that Southside had won the WNBL title, having won three Championships as the Dandenong Rangers and another two Championships after rebranding to become the Southside Flyers in July 2019. In the club’s first four titles they were undefeated in the finals. The 2023/24 Finals series was a far different story with Southside becoming the first team in WNBL history to win the championship after suffering two defeats in that season’s finals.

During the 2023/24 WNBL season Southside played 27 games comprised of 21 regular season games and six finals. All five players that were in Southside’s starting line-up at the end of the season averaged more than 22.0 minutes and 9.0 points per game. Russell led the Flyers in scoring with 14.9 points per game, followed by Cole (12.6), Jackson (12.0), Rocci (10.1) and Mitchell (9.1). Another three Southside players averaged more than 16.0 minutes and 6.0 points per game – Dickey (8.4 points per game), Ernst (7.9) and Puoch (6.2). Loughridge, Wischer & Brown all played at least 13 games and averaged between 4.0 and 5.5 minutes per game. All five Southside development players played at least one game, Isis Lopes played two games and Georgia Booth, Emily Fisher, Emma Nankervis and Nikita young each played one game. 

Emma Nankervis, Emily Fisher, Georgia Booth, Bella Niven-Brown, Nikita Young and Isis Lopes with the WNBL Championship trophy at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

On Sunday night 17 March the Southside Flyers celebrated winning the 2023/24 WNBL Championship. Within days several members of the Flyers team were on planes overseas or interstate to return home. Imports Russell and Dickey both departed Melbourne Airport on Tuesday 19 March to return to the USA. Mitchell left Melbourne for home on Wednesday 20 March.  

Below are details on the leagues that players on Southside’s 2023/24 roster are playing in during the 2024 season as well as the team they are be representing.

Off-season player tracker for players on Southside Flyers 2023/24 main roster.

Player                               Team League                        

Lou Brown                         Frankston Blues                               NBL1 South                 

Bec Cole                            Waverley Falcons                            NBL1 South                                 

Carley Ernst                       Waverley Falcons                            NBL1 South

Lauren Jackson                 Albury Wodonga Bandits              NBL1 East

Dallas Loughridge            Dandenong Rangers                       NBL1 South                  

Leilani Mitchell                 Central Coast Crusaders                NBL1 East

Nyadiew Puoch                Dandenong Rangers                       NBL1 South                    

Maddison Rocci                Keilor Thunder                                 NBL1 South        

Mercedes Russell*          Seattle Storm                                    WNBA      

Klara Wischer     Sandringham Sabres                        NBL1 South              

Free Agent:                       Jasmine Dickey*   

*Import

Off-season player tracker for Southside Flyers 2023/24 development players  

Player                                  Team                                            League                                                   

Georgia Booth                 Kilsyth Cobras                               NBL1 South     

Emily Fisher                       Knox Raiders                                 NBL1 South                                                      

Isis Lopes                           Sandringham Sabres                    NBL1 South                                                      

Emma Nankervis              Sandringham Sabres                    NBL1 South                                            

Nikita Young                       Kilsyth Cobras                              NBL1 South      

All 14 Australian players on the Southside Flyers 2023/24 roster are playing in an NBL1 Conference during the 2024 season. 12 Southside players including all five development players are playing in NBL1 South in 2024, four clubs in the conference have multiple Southside players on their roster. The club that has the strongest Southside representation is the Sandringham Sabres. Flyers Assistant Coach Kerryn Mitchell is the Head Coach of a Sandringham team that includes three Southside players in its starting lineup – Klara Wischer, Isis Lopes and Emma Nankervis. 

Bec Cole and Carley Ernst were members of the Waverley Falcons team that made the 2023 NBL1 South Grand Final and for the third consecutive NBL1 South season Cole and Ernst are teammates at Waverley in 2024.

At junior level Dallas Loughridge and Nyadiew Puoch were teammates at the Dandenong Rangers. In 2024 Loughridge and Puoch are teammates at senior level on the Rangers NBL1 South team and have Larissa Anderson as their Head Coach. For the second NBL1 South season in a row Nyadiew Puoch and her younger sister Manuela are teammates on the Dandenong Rangers NBL1 South women’s team.

Loughridge and the Puoch sisters Manuela and Nyadiew started each of the Rangers first four games of the 2024 NBL1 South season. Nyadiew Puoch was one of 15 prospects that attended the 2024 WNBA Draft which was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York on Tuesday 16 April 2024 at 9.30am Melbourne time. Due to this commitment on the other side of the world Puoch missed the Rangers fifth game of the WNBL season against Launceston on Saturday 13 April. With their first two picks in the 2024 WNBA Draft Atlanta Dream chose Australians, selecting Puoch with pick 12 and guard Isobel Borlase with pick 20. Puoch might remain in Australia developing her game this year which would enable her to continue playing for the Dandenong Rangers in the 2024 NBL1 South season. This is a common scenario for international players that have not attended college in the USA including a duo of current Australian Opals that are teammates at WNBA club Seattle Storm – Ezi Magbegor and Jade Melbourne.

Southside development player duo Georgia Booth and Nikita Young are both playing for Kilsyth Cobras in the 2024 NBL1 South season. Completing the 12 Flyers players in NBL1 South are Lou Brown for Frankston Blues, Maddison Rocci for Keilor Thunder and Emily Fisher for Knox Raiders.

Two Southside Flyers are playing in NBL1 East – Lauren Jackson and Leilani Mitchell. Mitchell and her partner Mikaela Dombkins have both joined the Central Coast Crusaders for the 2024 NBL1 East season, having been teammates at the Inner West Bulls in 2023. After missing the 2023 NBL1 East season due to an Achilles injury Jackson is playing for the Albury Wodonga Bandits in 2024. In her return to playing basketball in 2022 with Albury Jackson won the NBL1 East’s regular season MVP Award and was a member of the Bandits NBL1 East Championship winning team. Sam McDonald is in his first season as Head Coach of the Bandits women’s team, having been an Assistant Coach on the Albury team that won the 2022 NBL1 East title. Mercedes Russell will be playing her seventh WNBA season for Seattle Storm in 2024. Jasmine Dickey has returned to the USA and is a free agent.

Shooting the Breeze No 168 Cheryl Chambers is Flying High podcast was published on 29 March 2024. During the STB episode host Paul Camillos asked Chambers “This was your fourth championship, third as a Head Coach and once as a player. When you think back to that first championship with the Flames, did you think back then that not that many years later you would be sitting here in the position that you are sitting in.” Chambers responded “No, I am really lucky to be quite honest with you because after the Flames I had come back home (to Melbourne) and it really was just a decision about being at home and being with family. I didn’t really know if I would coach in the WNBL again so I am really blessed that the opportunity came up with Gerry and the Flyers. No I wouldn’t have thought it back then at all, for sure.”  

Jenni James and Cheryl Chambers with the WNBL Championship trophy at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

During the episode Camillos asked “As a coach how do you deal with a player like LJ, the IQ, the experience, what do you do?” Chambers replied “Loz and I have a really great relationship, we both really respect each other. I guess with her the thing is to be upfront and honest with everything, communication is really important, especially to experienced players so they can understand where you are coming from and we set that up pretty early. Lauren being the competitor that she is game one wanted to be the Lauren of what she was at the end of the season. She was coming off an Achilles and a foot surgery so it was important for us to a) look after her and make sure that we didn’t just throw her out there and injure her, and try to give her enough time for the muscle memory and all that sort of stuff to come back. As the season went on and down the last month of the season, she looked like she was twenty again, at one stage I said ‘you just chased down a loose ball’ and we had a little giggle about it, she is moving really well and back to that she knows when she has got the ball and turn over that shoulder that it is going in sort of thing. I love coaching Loz because you know everything that comes out of her mouth is about winning. If you start at that level good things happen.”

Camillos said “The other player that really stood out for me was Bec Cole, she stepped into the role as captain, she seemed to wear that mantle so well and you could see how much she wanted the win, how much she wanted to put into the game.” Chambers responded “Yeah well she’s a winner isn’t she and she does it in that flamboyant style, she loves it, a big play happens and she’s all around it. That was really important for our team to have that to link us all together. To have someone who is just going to enjoy the moment and rally the troops around her. She has been great and our last finals series she was great too when we lost to Townsville unfortunately. She was great at holding the team together and had learnt that everyone has to sacrifice a little bit to get a championship, you can’t have everything on a plate, things are going to go wrong. I thought she did a great job of learning all those things. We made her a captain because she has wonderful leadership qualities. I was so proud and happy that at the end she got to hold the cup up. At the end it was like it had all came together and I was really happy and proud for her that she got that moment as the captain of our Flyers.”

Southside captain Bec Cole with a piece of the net at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

The 2023/24 WNBL Championship was the fifth time in club history that Southside had won the WNBL title, having won three Championships as the Dandenong Rangers in 2003/2004, 2004/05 and 2011/12 with Jayco as the naming rights sponsor. After rebranding to become the Southside Flyers in July 2019 under the ownership of Gerry Ryan the club has won two WNBL titles, 2020 and 2023/24. In the club’s first four titles they were undefeated in the finals. Dandenong Rangers in 2011/12 and Southside Flyers in 2020 dominated the concluding stages of their championship winning seasons to each win the last nine games of their season.

Southside Flyers with the WNBL Championship trophy at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024, Southside owner Gerry Ryan is on the left

The 2023/24 finals series was far from smooth sailing which is highlighted by Southside having a loss by more than 20 points in both their semi final series against Melbourne Boomers and in the Grand Final against Perth Lynx. In game 3 of the Grand Final Southside played phenomenal team basketball against Perth to score a finals record 115 points and all seven players that played at least 12 minutes court time for the Flyers scored at least 12 points. When their backs were against the wall in the finals Southside’s experience came to the fore and the Flyers became the first team in WNBL history to win the championship after suffering two defeats in that season’s finals. With the high standard of basketball in the WNBL and the competitiveness of the league it is a magnificent achievement by the Southside Flyers to win two WNBL championships in four seasons.

Writing and photographs by Dean Andrews

Twitter: @DeanAndrews7777

Instagram: @dean_andrews7_

References

1 https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/south-east/sport/dandenong-rangers-celebrate-a-whirlwind-25-years-in-the-wnbl/news-story/ad5478b8eac0e15389d45c1f6a4e8ba1

2 https://www.australia.basketball/players/3613266

3 https://dandenong.starcommunity.com.au/journal/2010-02-11/rangers-boss-flags-rebuild/

4 https://dandenong.starcommunity.com.au/journal/2010-02-11/rangers-boss-flags-rebuild/

5 https://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/mentors-grand-wish-20120310-1ureg.html

6 WNBL, Spotlight Official Game Program, MacLeod recounts one-legged WNBL Grand Final heroics by Max Bennett, Round 14, page 5, 11-13 January 2013

7 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/the-person-behind-the-new-southside-flyers/

8 http://wnbl.basketball/blog/news/southside-flyers-a-new-look-team-in-the-wnbl/

9 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/the-person-behind-the-new-southside-flyers/

10 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/3-time-wnbl-coach-of-the-year-to-lead-southside-flyers/

11 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/opals-captain-jenna-ohea-joins-southside-flyers/

12 https://wnbl.basketball/blog/news/cheryl-chambers-250-games-milestone/

13 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/southside-flyers-are-your-wnbl20-champions/

14 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/southside-flyers-are-your-wnbl20-champions/

15 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/flyers-welcome-new-assistant-coaches/

16 https://wnbl.basketball/blog/news/the-wnbl-breaks-attendance-record-at-john-cain-arena/

17 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/heart-and-soul-back-for-more/

18 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/flyers-ready-for-new-season-after-stint-with-opals/

19 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/carly-ernst-to-be-presented-with-250th-milestone-at-john-cain-arena/

20 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/championship-player-returns-to-the-flyers/

21 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/championship-player-returns-to-the-flyers/

22 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/flyers-welcome-back-dual-wnba-champion/

23 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/american-college-star-signs-with-flyers/

24 https://nbl1.com.au/news/jackson-reveals-greatest-achievement/east/

25 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/captain-coley/

26 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/captain-coley/

27 https://www.espn.com.au/nbl/story/_/id/35290841/how-wnbl-athletes-juggling-motherhood-basketball

28 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/development-players-join-the-flyers/

29 https://wnbl.basketball/southside/news/flyers-ready-for-new-season-after-stint-with-opals/

30 https://wnbl.basketball/blog/news/bec-cole-250-wnbl-games/

31 https://wnbl.basketball/perth/news/playing-lynx-basketball-the-focus-for-game-3/

Milestones and Misses

Milestones and Misses publishes articles to celebrate the achievements of sportspeople. In sport as with life in general it is common that milestones are only achieved after overcoming adversity. Whilst the articles on the Milestones and Misses website celebrate sportspeople achieving milestones they also cover the misses along the journey such as a player having minimal game-time or spending a prolonged period on the sidelines due to injury.

A link to Milestones and Misses homepage and WNBL category is below:

https://milestonesandmisses.com

https://milestonesandmisses.com/category/wnbl