\u201cHonestly, it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be,\u201d Puoch said in her exit interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing in as a rookie, I didn\u2019t know what to expect. Obviously, this was a new team, and I was new as well, so I was really open-minded about it. It turned out great. It was really fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I grew on the court from the very start to now, and I grew off the court as well. I made lots of friends and met a lot of great people along the way, so it\u2019s been really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old Melbourne forward started 28 of 42 games and made the most of her minutes, averaging 4.3 points (36.6%), 2.2 rebounds, and 0.8 assists, but was just 23-from-36 at the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want to continue building on what we\u2019ve done,\u201d Puoch said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe last game showed Portland Fire\u2019s style of basketball. We want to keep growing that. Hopefully, people see it and want to come and play with us. We want to go into next season as a finals-contending team. It\u2019s going to take growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Portland beat playoff-bound 32-12 Golden State Valkyries<\/a> 90-82 in overtime at home in its final game of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cComing in as a new player, along with the other girls, I think we\u2019ve built something really special here in Portland,\u201d Puoch added. <\/p>\n \u201cThe way Portland gets around us and loves what we do makes it even more special.<\/p>\n The crowd and the fans are always behind us, whether we win or lose. That\u2019s been incredible. It makes it easier, it makes it fun, and it makes us want to show up every day. Seeing the fans smiling and cheering for us is incredible. I haven\u2019t played for a team with a fan base like this.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing alongside these girls and seeing how much it means to them is special. The time the coaches, staff and everyone have put into the season has been incredible as well. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to be here and to call this place home.\u201d<\/p>\n Puoch has re-signed with the UC Capitals for WNBL27 and will play alongside sister Manuela, who the New York Liberty drafted with the 41st pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst, some rest,\u201d Puoch said when asked what was next. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to go home and chill out for a bit. I\u2019m playing in Canberra with my sister in the off-season, which will be really fun. I\u2019ll be able to play again, keep building my game and get ready for next season. I\u2019ll enjoy the time off as much as I can, too.\u201d<\/p>\n It was the Fire\u2019s first season in the W.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything is completely different to being back home in Australia, but I\u2019ve grown to love Portland,\u201d Puoch admitted.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been really great. Living in America is different, but that comes with being an athlete. <\/p>\n \u201cYou live in different places, and as a professional you\u2019ve got to learn to love it and get used to it. I\u2019m not going to sit at home and cry all day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the friendships we\u2019ve been building off the court. We\u2019ve got such a great group of girls. We bond so well, and everyone wants the best for each other.<\/p>\n “When you know someone really well off the court, you really want to work hard for them on the court and do anything you possibly can for them. <\/p>\n \u201cThese relationships and friendships we\u2019ve built have been great. You can tell how connected we are on the court because of how much time we spend with each other off it. That plays a really big part.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know anyone. Coming from Australia, it was a bit daunting because I was used to playing with fellow Australians, people I knew and girls I grew up with. We didn\u2019t know each other, but I think we\u2019d been together for a week and a bit, and we got close.<\/p>\n \u201cPortland\u2019s been a great place to live. They\u2019ve got great food and coffee, and those are the keys to my heart. Australians love a good coffee, so it\u2019s a great place here.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Her rookie year has positioned the 1.9m big to make an impact in her fifth WNBL season<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cTo continue to grow,\u201d Puoch revealed is what Fire coaches asked her to do before WNBA 2027. <\/p>\n \u201cThe main thing the coaches and I want is for me to keep growing offensively so I can be more of a threat on the court.<\/p>\n \u201cThe learning style on the court (in Portland) is really different. <\/p>\n \u201cDifferential learning is very new to me. When I first got to training camp and shot off one leg, I was really confused. <\/p>\n \u201cFrom then to now, I\u2019ve become so used to it. It\u2019s the first thing we do when we get on the court.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s cool to see the different ways we can learn on the court and then take that into a game. His coaching style and what he believes in are really cool to see on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n The UC Capitals open their WNBL27<\/a> campaign against former teammate Jade Melbourne<\/a> and the Bendigo Spirit<\/a> on Saturday, October 17, at 3pm at AIS Arena in Canberra.<\/p>\n Every game Nyadiew Puoch played in her first WNBA season, in order, for the Portland Fire. Her best night was 19 points against the Seattle Storm on 8 August. A dash in a percentage column means she did not shoot, not that she missed.<\/p>\n What the season actually shows, and what it does not<\/p>\n \n Starting changed her, and that is the finding. She started 28 games and came off the bench in fourteen, and the role moved four times across the year (11 starts, 10 off the bench, 1 start, 4 off the bench, 16 starts) \u2013 she started, lost the job, and won it back. Started she averaged 5.5 points on 38.9% shooting and 27.9% from three; off the bench 1.9 on 27.0% and 13.6%. That is close to triple the scoring, on 21.0 minutes against 13.3. The buttons above split the table either way.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/69fe7248cd959bcf314fcbef_GettyImages-2273156251.jpg\")
Australian Nyadiew Puoch #13 poses in her Portland Fire uniform. Photo: Soobum Im\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
And she got better as the year went on. Across her first twenty-one games she scored 3.3 a game on 31.5% shooting and 16.3% from three; across the last twenty-one, 5.3 on 41.2% and 31.9%. August is where the shooting arrived, 11 from 28 beyond the arc at 39.3%.
What the table does not support. Twelve of her forty-two games were scoreless, and 24.4% from three across a full season is poor however the second half reads \u2013 August is the exception rather than the trend. Her three September games look like her best of the year at 9.0 points in 28.8 minutes, on a sample far too small to carry a conclusion. And 2026 is her only WNBA season, so nothing here is a career comparison.
One game worth finding. 28 June at the Washington Mystics went to four overtimes \u2013 Portland lost it 123-124, and she played 19:09 for 9 points.
Reading the table. Columns are grouped for a phone \u2013 the basics first, then shooting, then the rest. Tap a heading to sort. GmSc is game score, a single-number rating of a performance. The bottom row is her season total and stays put whichever way you sort.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Melbourne forward started 28 games as a WNBA rookie and now joins her sister at the UC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-907818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}