NBL1's unbeaten outfits on nationals collision course

• Geelong United women are undefeated in the NBL1 South with a 22-0 record
• The Cockburn Cougars women are undefeated at 17-0 in the NBL1 West
• The NBL1 National Finals will be held in Canberra in late August

Geelong United and the Cockburn Cougars might very well be on a collision course as unbeaten NBL1 teams to meet at the National Finals in Canberra, but neither are taking anything for granted in their South and West seasons.

The Bendigo Braves showed in 2023 that not only is it possible to go through an NBL1 South season winning every game and then claiming a championship, but then to back it up at the National Finals when they remained perfect winning those three games in Perth for the national title.

Now in 2025, Geelong United have finished the NBL1 South season with a perfect 22-0 record and the Cockburn Cougars are sitting at 17-0 with three games and two rounds of their NBL1 West season remaining.

On the back of being part of part of the newly-named Geelong Venom's maiden WNBL season, Gemma Potter has stayed in Geelong to play NBL1 South but she says it's time to hit reset after completing the 22-0 in the regular season.

"We've definitely hit reset," Potter said.

"It might sound silly, but I think even throughout the season it wasn’t something that we were chasing.

"We really took each game for what it was and respected every opponent the exact same way, and at the end we were just lucky to have that 22-0 record.

"Obviously now it does reset because we get two chances at this and if we lose both of them, that will be all for nothing. So it's about maintaining that winning and trying to get there as quick as we can."

Cougars captain and 2023 championship winning guard Jewel Williams is proud of the season that Cockburn is building, but is happy to let the talk about the undefeated streak to others.

"It’s definitely something everyone else is talking about, and we’re definitely proud of what we’ve done so far and we enjoy winning the same as anyone does," Williams said.

"But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves, and we’re not taking it for granted either. It’s never been about the streak — we just show up each week wanting to improve and play the right way by our team standards.

"The streak’s a nice by-product of that. Finals are a different challenge though, and we know we need to keep on lifting."

Geelong United's perfect regular season

Geelong missed the finals in the NBL1 South in 2024 with an 11-11 record but there was a significantly different feeling about them coming into 2025 on the back of the Venom playing a first WNBL season.

It helped that Potter along with Hannah Hank, Jaz Shelley, Tanielle Knight, Taylor Mole and Dakota Crichton were all part of Geelong's WNBL team and then backed it up for the NBL1 South season.

Geelong started the season on fire winning the first six games by an average of 28 points before an overtime win over the Sandringham Sabres.

They would then win the last 15 games by an average of 25 points with only one of those being decided by single figures which was a nine-point win away to the Dandenong Rangers a fortnight ago.

It's as dominant a season as a team is likely to have in such a competitive league but Potter does feel they have been tested along the way.

"We did have a few games this year that really tested us and did feel like a final, especially that one against Dandenong that came down to the last couple of possessions and then we went to overtime with Sandringham earlier on in the season," Potter said.

"I don’t think it's been the smoothest of runs and getting wins easily as much as the record might look like.

"It's definitely been an awesome season and that doesn’t take away from what this group has been able to do, and it will still be impressive to look back on. But we're not satisfied at all with where we're at right now and we do want those next three wins."

In the bigger picture, though, and Potter had noticed the support from the local community grow for their team who continue to pack out The Geelong Arena week in and week out.

That is sure to continue this Saturday night for their qualifying final against a Keilor Thunder team who regains Issie Bourne from the FIBA Asia Cup, and Potter is proud to be part of what is building.

"What we are building here is quite special and it's kind of hard to describe the emotion throughout the town with how they are embracing women's sport in general, and especially basketball," Potter said.

"Even in our last few games we've had sell-outs and not just for the men's game or coming to ours at half-time, they've been there from the warm up for our game.

"It's not something you see really often and you don't always see that support when you're competing with the men's team, but the way this community has embraced us will continue to be amazing for this upcoming WNBL season with our roster shaping up really well too so I'm excited for it definitely."

Cockburn Cougars unbeaten season — so far

This time two years ago and the Cougars women had never been to an SBL or NBL1 West grand final. They would go on to win the 2023 championship and then be in a strong position to go back-to-back before being overrun late by the Rockingham Flames at RAC Arena in 2024.

There has been a change in coach for 2025 with Tyrone Thwaites moving into a front office role at Basketball WA with his assistant Russell Hann taking over. The result has been a dominant 17-0 season so far with three games to go.

Cockburn have averaged scoring 98.9 points a game with an average winning margin of a dominant 32.1 points with only two single figure wins out of the 17.

It's no surprise when you look at the talent. There are imports Sarah Mortensen (23.6 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists) and Daniel Raber (17.9 points, 10.4 boards, 5.1 assists) showing the way but they have plenty of help.

Perth Lynx WNBL guard Steph Gorman is producing 17.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.9 assists and will be runaway winner of the Best Defensive Player award while Ruby Porter has been a handy addition delivering 13.7 points.

There's young talent getting a chance too including the Centre of Excellence bound Reece Anticevic and championship winning leaders with point guard Jewel Williams and centre Jessie Edwards.

It's a well-rounded team and Williams is just happy with the way the Cougars have continued to build as they hunt a third straight grand final appearance.

"We’ve kept building steadily over time," Williams said.

"This year, we added some solid pieces who’ve really fit well with our style and the way we want to play. Everyone understands their role and is committed to it, and our depth is stronger than it’s ever been.

"Our defence has made a big step forward too - more consistent than any season before - and that’s kudos to the group buying in fully to the scout and game plans the coaches put together each week.

"It’s clear the hard work is paying off. Defence sets the tone for us and, combined with the offensive firepower we have, it’s made us a tough team to face.

"Off the court, we’re a close group of people who genuinely support each other, and that connection helps us bring our best every time. We know none of this comes easy, so we’re proud of the effort it takes to get here, but also to stay here."

While Geelong did complete the perfect regular season, Cockburn still have three games to go in the last two rounds in the NBL1 West.

The first challenge is this Friday night against an Alex Fowler-powered Perry Lakes Hawks before they take on the Willetton Tigers featuring Zitina Aokuso, and then last up the second placed Warwick Senators.

Williams is certainly not taking it for granted they will end up at 20-0.

"This last stretch feels like a finals warm up," Williams said.

"Hawks, Tigers and Senators are all tough teams, and we're very lucky to be closing out the season with them because they’ll give us the kind of games we really need going into the post-season.

"It’s a great chance to keep building momentum and clean up the things we need to stay on top of. So we're definitely not looking past these games - they really matter to us, and we want to finish the regular season strong so we’re in the best spot possible heading into finals."