On Saturday, Jackson returned to deliver the game ball to kick off the 2025-26 WNBL season. Southside also returned to the stage, now known as the Southside Melbourne Flyers, retaining only Maddy Rocci from their team from three seasons ago. That Flyers team had Nyadiew Puoch (Nyads) and Sara Blicavs, who now both play for the Canberra Capitals, Southside’s foes when the season tipped off.
The return to JCA again made history, with a new attendance record for a season opener being set at 4,342. The past two WNBL games at JCA have shown the ongoing appetite, atmosphere and trendline for basketball in Australia.
On the atmosphere, Jade Melbourne told The IX, “it was incredible. I think we can get to that [WNBA] level to be completely honest with you, and putting games [at JCA] is the start. Let’s make this the new norm. I think we can. I think we can ride the momentum of women’s basketball.”
The stage was set for the matinee season opener. Aside from injuries to incoming Opal Zitina Aokuso for the Caps and prospect Nikita Young for the Flyers, both teams are healthy to start their seasons. Teige Morrell stepped into Aokuso’s shoes to line up against Cayla George, a matchup that heavily favours Southside on paper.
This first game was a chance for the Canberra Capitals to show it is now their time to contend after years of development. With a very busy offseason, they finally had a chance to start a season on their terms. For the Flyers, it was a litmus test for cohesion, with import Haley Peters having only been with the team for a week and captain Rocci having had her preseason disrupted with injury.
Neither of these teams made the postseason last year, and the Capitals were coming off a few unsuccessful seasons, tallying a 14-49 record over the past three seasons. For Southside it hasn’t been as dire, having won the championship in 2024 with Rocci at the helm. That team also boasted the likes of Jackson, Mercedes Russell, Leilani Mitchell, Jasmine Dickey and Bec Cole. With George, Issie Bourne, and imports Makenna Marisa and Haley Peters all making their Southside debuts, the game gave them a chance to establish their identity.
Tera Reed opened up the scoring for WNBL26, but it was Puoch, now in Canberra colours, who was calling all the shots early. The 2024 Atlanta Dream draftee tallied seven points in the first five minutes, including two free throws, a strong finish on a fastbreak, shrugging her defender off in the process, as well as a 3-point shot. Puoch looks like she has taken a step up since last season and seems more comfortable with the team. Capitals head coach Paul Goriss spoke on this in the postgame press conference:
“I think Nyads has done a terrific job in the offseason working on her body, getting in the gym, getting extra workouts in. She had a workout coach, so huge props to her for putting in the work because it’s not easy just doing it on your own. She’s come back stronger, a better player, shooting the ball better. Obviously she’s got goals to get to the WNBA so we will help her keep developing with that, but I think she’s just taken it up another level and probably more comfortable with the people in the system from her first year with us. You can see how much confidence she was playing with.”
Canberra had an impenetrable stronghold in the first quarter, giving the Flyers no hope of getting any rhythm on the inside. The Capitals ended the first frame up 24-16.
In the postgame press conference, Flyers coach Kristi Harrower shared her insights on her teams slow start with The IX: “The thing that we’ve been trying to work on the most is our physicality. I think you guys could see through the game that the refs are going to let them play this season, which is nice. I love physicality. We turn it on and off at times and I don’t think we can be like that because I think the teams are too good in this league. They can pile on points real quick.”
The Flyers fought fire with fire to start the second, and it worked. They forced their way to the line and found a couple of easy layups, bringing the score to 26-23 just 98 seconds into the term.
At half, Southside had found ways to establish themselves, but Canberra had extended their quarter-time lead, 48-38. The Caps scoring was led by Blicavs in her return to the WNBL after missing a season due to her spinal fusion surgery. She had 12 at the half, followed by Puoch with 10, and new import Kadi Sissoko posted eight. Jade Melbourne barely broke a sweat with seven points, six assists, a steal and (checks notes) two blocks.
Southside was led by Reed, who got the start over Haley Peters, with 10 points. Stalwart Maddy Rocci had nine points with five assists, and major offseason addition Issie Bourne beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer to join Rocci on nine.
Opals captain Cayla George didn’t hit the scoreboard with two turnovers, two fouls and going 0-3 from the field. Not much separates these teams from the 3-point line or the charity stripe, but Canberra outperformed Southside on baskets inside the arc at 61.5% on 26 attempts compared to 54.5% on 22. The Capitals also won the turnover count 12-7, leaving Flyers head coach Kristi Harrower with some glaring areas for improvement in the second half. When asked what her message was, she shared in the postgame press conference:
“I’m not calm, I’ll tell you that much. I rip into ’em and just let them know that their physicality is terrible. I say it probably a bit different than that. But that we need to pick up the physicality and get after them, otherwise they’re sitting on the bench with me. So it’s up to the five that’s on the court to get it done and if they don’t get it done, they’re they’re getting subbed out.”
The lack of purpose and physicality was evident throughout the Flyers first half, completely contrasting Canberra. After three early misses from Cayla to start the second half, Melbourne cut through the Southside defence to find Sissoko on a corner three, which she converted. A Southside timeout less than two minutes into the half saw them trailing 53-38 and feeling like it was game over. The Flyers chipped back but the Caps retained their halftime cushion, now up 66-56 through three.
On the third, Harrower shared with The IX, “as you saw in the third we got down by 22 and then were always playing catch-up basketball. I mean they’re a quality team. They’ve got so much firepower and I think we have to have a bigger spread in our in our offence and not just rely on certain people to get it done all the time for us.”
Reed cracked 20 to start the final frame and cut the deficit to eight, but an ankle-breaking step back three from Melbourne cut any Southside momentum in its tracks.
Reed, again, cut the margin to seven for the first time since the first half, but this is as close as Southside would get. Canberra won comfortably at 80-71 and hindsight would suggest the writing was on the wall within the first five minutes of the game.
Both teams attempted 47 two-point shots and 22 3-pointers, with the Capitals attempting 15 free throws to Southside’s 13. The stat sheet showed marginal advantages for Canberra, with wins of 25-23 on made twos, 7-5 on made 3s, and a 9-10 record from the line. But they had the Flyers exactly where they wanted them all night.
In her return to Australia’s top-flight, Blicavs led the Caps scoring with 19 and nine rebounds, Puoch added 16, and Sissoko had 15. Melbourne’s continued development through concurrent WNBA seasons was on full display with 15 points, six rebounds, and eight assists.
On this scoring spread in the absence of Aokuso, Goriss told The IX, “We share the load. I think this is a group where there’s no one person we rely on. In the past we’ve had to rely on Jade to do a lot at both ends of the floor. With the group that we put together this year we can really share the load and it’s not just up to one person to have to score or defend at a high level. That’s what I really like about our group, on any one night, we can go different ways and find mismatches that we like, but it’s also the team. I really love turning up to practice and to games every day with this group.”
Reed had a career-high 22 points on 14 field goal attempts for Southside, with Bourne adding 18 points and nine rebounds. Rocci finished with 14 points and seven assists, while George finished with just four points on 14 field goal attempts.
Although she had a nice statline, Harrower was honest about Issie Bourne, “there’s still a lot we’re working on with her and a lot of it’s got to do with the physicality and handling the physicality. The thing with her is that she can be inside-outside, and a lot of the stuff we worked on with her in the off-season in NBL1 was taking it off the dribble. I think she needs to be able to do that if we’re going to have her in that 3-spot at times.”
On her career high, Reed was team-first in the press conference, “We have quite a few things to work on, but I feel like we have such a talented team that could beat anyone on any night. Tonight, I think the ball was just in my hands a bit more and in the lanes. But it does give me confidence personally. I trust in my coach and team to help me out and continue to build for the next game.”
There’s a consistent theme that the Flyers aren’t where they want to be. There was a feeling in the stadium that they were always playing catch-up, with no real threat to ever catch up. It didn’t appear as though they had built any identity, or even taken foundational steps towards one. They would be hoping to ride Reed’s wave of confidence to kick themselves into gear and not maintain the complacency shown in their season opener.
A new era in the nation’s capital parallels the new era in the WNBL. With one of the most significant offseason acquisitions in Aokuso inactive, they won their season opener on the road. As Melbourne said in the press conference, “I can’t remember the last time we were 1-0.”
Canberra inserted themselves from tipoff and made it clear they weren’t going to waste a second of game time. That would catapult their previous three-season win total of 14 this season alone. Clarity, chemistry and an unmistakable style were all on display for the Caps this game and we could be witnessing the beginning of Jade Melbourne’s time as the face of Australian basketball.
A season tip off at JCA could continue to be a marker for the start of the WNBL season and a trademark of the new ownership group. A later start time might be more suitable for families and consistently has attendance of around 6,000. Regardless, JCA is synonymous with making and breaking history for the WNBL, which gets proven time and time again. It was once again a success for a league that’s writing the first chapter of its new book.