Fire's bench spark headlines Tip Off's final day

• Rotunno shines in Tip Off's Day 2 takeaways
• The main observations from Day 1 of the Tip Off
• The Townsville Fire won the inaugural tournament and Issie Bourne was named MVP
• 2025-26 WNBL Team Lists and Roster Tracker

The WNBL Townsville Tip Off is done and dusted and with eight games played, it was a great opportunity for teams to see where they stand.

Having closely watched every game across the weekend, I was impressed by several teams who are tracking nicely a couple of weeks out from the season, while others have some work to do.

Day three saw Canberra defeat Perth 84-80, Bendigo handled Sydney 57-48 and Townsville came away with an 81-54 win over Geelong in the final game of the tournament to be crowned inaugural tournament champions.

So let’s dive into five takeaways from the final day of the Townsville Tip Off.

1. Townsville's depth is a major strength

On day two, I wrote about how the starting line-up that Townsville rolled out was bordering on unfair, and while that rang true on day three, their depth shone through too as development players and an injury replacement player made their mark against Geelong.

As the Fire defeated the Venom 81-54, coach Shannon Seebohm shared the minutes around and those who don’t see consistent minutes proved they have what it takes to compete at WNBL level.

Development players Catelyn Van Es and Piper Anderson, as well as injury-replacement player Chantel Horvat – who deserves a roster spot in the WNBL – went to work as Townsville’s bench outscored Geelong’s 42-13.

Horvat (15 points, nine rebounds and three steals) had a stellar second half and led the game in scoring, while Van Es (10 points) and Anderson (eight points and three assists) had some nice moments as they got heavily involved.

Simply put, Townsville has seven players who are starter-worthy; Miela Sowah, Abbey Ellis, Courtney Woods, Alex Fowler, Alicia Froling, and imports Lauren Cox and Lucy Olsen – who shook off some rust in her WNBL preseason debut yesterday. Cox didn’t suit up across the weekend, while Olsen sat out the first game and then Sowah was rested yesterday, so when all healthy and playing, the Fire second unit is clearly going to only get stronger.

There’s no doubt about it, they are the championship favourites heading into the season.

2. Big help might be on the way for Perth

Perth started Yemiyah Morris at the centre position in both games, against Southside Melbourne and Canberra, and the opposing bigs went to work against her.

With not much frontcourt depth, Morris was matched up against Cayla George and Issie Bourne throughout their game against the Flyers and those two did as they pleased, finishing with a combined 39 points (8-from-15 from three), 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Clearly, it doesn’t all come back to Morris, she needs her teammates to help on the defensive end but many times she just wasn’t versatile enough to get out and defend opposing bigs that stretch the floor.

Against Canberra, it was more of the same and Morris struggled to contain Kadi Sissoko, who’s athleticism is going to cause problems for frontcourts across the league. Sissoko drove right by Morris on multiple occasions, while Sara Blicavs went to work too.

With many teams across the league boasting two big frontcourt options, Perth needs to act because in two pre-season games they were found out. Obviously, Anneli Maley is a star, and she was her typical hardworking self, but she’s undersized going against fives.

In a positive for Lynx fans, I did hear rumblings throughout the weekend they possibly do have an import big on their way at some point in the season. And let me just say, she has been a massive presence across the Asian region in recent times…

3. Sydney’s stumbling offence

Sydney needs Shaneice Swain to be at her absolute best if they’re going to get back to the postseason as they did last season.

Over the course of the weekend, we didn’t see the best of Swain, as she struggled from the field. In the Flames’ first game, a 96-75 loss to the Fire, Swain shot just 3-from-17 from the field and 0-from-6 from beyond the arc to finish with six points, three rebounds, three assists and four turnovers. There wasn’t the usual smooth offence that we’ve come to know Swain for.

Coming off the bench in the yesterday’s game, a 57-48 loss to Bendigo, Swain wasn’t looking for her shot and finished with two points on only four shot attempts (0-from-3 from three), three rebounds and two assists.

Sydney needs Swain to shoot more than four times if they’re going to be successful in season 2025-26, but they also obviously need her to be more efficient than going 3-from-17. There has to be a middle-ground and I suppose that’s the dilemma for the Flames because their offence was stumbling for large parts of the weekend, and they don’t possess much genuine offensive firepower, besides Swain, Nicholson and incoming import Grace Berger.

4. Jayda Clark is all class

I highlighted players to watch at the Townsville Tip Off before the tournament and Jayda Clark was on that list. She lived up to the hype, and her performance against Perth on the final day was the most complete game I’ve seen her play.

In her first WNBL season since returning from an ACL injury, the 21-year-old is going to be a big part of Canberra’s push towards the postseason, and it appears she is every bit ready for that responsibility.

She has the ability to play multiple positions, with her size and length causing issues for guards on both ends, while she matches up well against wings with her athleticism. With Jade Melbourne still building up and not playing big minutes across the weekend after a long WNBA season, it was Clark who was taking care of a lot of the ball-handling duties against Perth, bringing the ball up and initiating the offence.

Her ability to grab defensive rebounds and push the pace in transition should excite Canberra fans, and her style fits in seamlessly with the like of Melbourne and Nyadiew Puoch, who didn’t suit up across the weekend.

Clark finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in the close win over Perth, and it was her tough driving lay-up which broke the deadlock with 30 seconds remaining as Canberra ran out 84-80 winners.

5. Tasmania would’ve liked what they saw

While it’s 12 months until the Tasmanian WNBL team enters the league, they are clearly already doing their homework, with the expansion club's assistant general manager for basketball, Kayla Steindl, and JackJumpers chief operating officer, Darren Smith, at the tournament, getting an up-close look at players, and coaches too, I’m sure.

They clearly know how to build a successful franchise from scratch after the stunning success the JackJumpers have enjoyed since joining the NBL, and Tasmania will be looking to do the same in the WNBL.

I caught up with Steindl for a chat, which you’ll be able to read in the coming days, and with so much talent at the Tip Off, you’d have to think the Tasmanian franchise already has their eyes on players and coaches to build out their inaugural roster for the 2026-27 season.

About the Author

Hayley Wildes is passionate about all things Australian women’s basketball and loves to highlight the stories of players from all levels and competitions across the globe. From our own backyard in the WNBL, to the WNBA and the Opals, and everything in between, Hayley has you covered.