Heal to make long-awaited Venom debut

• Shyla Heal will return for the Geelong Venom against Adelaide on Friday
• It will be the first time Heal has played in the WNBL since winning a championship with Townsville in 2023
• Heal's teammate, Mackenzie Holmes, was the latest guest on It's a Cole World with Bec Cole

Shyla Heal is set to make her debut for Geelong Venom in Friday night’s road clash against Adelaide Lightning.

The club announced Tuesday the point guard would line up for her first game of the season in the round six clash at SA State Basketball Centre, after a multifaceted knee injury sustained in July in the NBL1 delayed the 24-year-old’s start to the WNBL season by seven games.

It marked Heal’s longest injury lay-off in a decade of playing professional basketball, writes Meg Saultry from CODE Sports Basketball.

“This is my first big injury and for someone that’s such a hard worker and loves the game it’s been pretty hard for me, definitely had some down days,” Heal told CODE Sports last month.

Heal’s return to the floor also marks her first appearance back in the WNBL since 2023, when she won a championship with Townsville Fire before jetting off to play in Europe in recent seasons.

Heal and the 3-4 Venom will be eyeing their second win over the 2-3 Lightning on Friday, having accounted for them 110-76 at Geelong Arena back in round two.

Heal, who joined the second-year franchise in hopes of carrying on her father Shane’s legacy in the city – the Australian basketball legend having played for the Geelong Supercats in the 1990s – had knocked back lucrative contract offers to return to Europe to instead sign with Geelong, saying the time felt right now to return to the WNBL.

She said coach Chris Lucas and United’s ownership group helped sway her decision.

“Their vision, they really sold me on what they’re doing,” Heal said earlier this year

For the full story on CODE Sports Basketball, click here.