Women's National Basketball League facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Women's National Basketball League (WNBL)

WNBL Logo since 2025
Formerly	Women's Interstate Basketball Conference (WIBC) (1981)
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1981
Inaugural season	1981
CEO	Jennie Sager (from April 2025)
Commissioner	Christy Collier-Hill
No. of teams	8
Country	Australia
Continent	FIBA Oceania (Oceania)
Most recent champion(s)	Bendigo Spirit (3rd title)
Most titles	Canberra Capitals (9 titles)
TV partner(s)	ESPN
Streaming partner(s)	9Now
Sponsor(s)	Cygnett
Level on pyramid	1
Related competitions	Women's Basketball Conference
Official website	wnbl.com.au/

The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional basketball league for women in Australia. It has eight teams and is the top women's basketball league in the country. The WNBL started in 1981. It is like the women's version of the National Basketball League (NBL) for men.

History of the WNBL

How the WNBL Started

In August 1980, a basketball coach named Ted Powell had an idea. He wanted to create a competition where top teams from different states could play each other. He met with other coaches, and they decided to invite teams from Victoria and South Australia.

Six teams agreed to form a new league. They met in Sydney and planned a two-round competition for July and August 1981. The main goal was to give the best players more chances to play against each other. This would help improve women's basketball in Australia.

Money was a big concern, so they planned the games to save costs. Teams would play three games on one weekend. Two teams from New South Wales, Bankstown and Sutherland, joined later. They paid their own travel costs to be part of the league.

The league was first called the Women's Interstate Basketball Conference (WIBC). Each team paid $25 to join. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) also joined, making it nine teams in the first season. The very first game was played on June 19, 1981, between AIS and West Adelaide.

Early Years: 1981–1985

The first champion was St. Kilda, who beat North Adelaide Rockets 77–58. St. Kilda was a very strong team at the time. Their player, Karen Ogden, won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in 1982 and 1983.

In 1982, the league grew to include a team from Brisbane. The competition also changed its name to the Women's Basketball League. St. Kilda won the championship again.

By 1983, the Nunawading Spectres, led by Robyn Maher, became very strong. They won many titles over the next 12 years. More clubs joined, and a second league, the Women's Basketball Conference (WBC), was formed. This meant 20 women's teams were playing regularly, which greatly improved the game.

The league also started to get more attention. Sometimes, women's games were played before men's NBL games. This helped more people see how good women's basketball was.

Growing Bigger: 1986–1989

In 1986, a team from Perth joined the Women's Basketball Conference. This meant the women's leagues truly covered the whole country. The league was then renamed the National Women's Basketball League (WNBL).

The WNBL started playing a full home and away season in 1986. After the success of the Australian women's basketball team at the Seoul Olympics, the WNBL grew even more. Lyn Palmer became the first full-time general manager.

In 1989, the WNBL got its first major sponsor, Pony, a sports clothing company. The ABC TV channel also agreed to show the finals games. The league had 13 teams, showing how much it had grown.

Continued Growth in the 1990s

The WNBL kept growing in the 1990s. Australia was chosen to host the Women's World Championships in 1994. This made it even more important for women's basketball to be well-known. In 1993, WNBL teams agreed to help pay for games to be shown on ABC TV every week. This was a big step forward for the sport.

The Sydney Flames, coached by Carrie Graf, became very popular. They even started getting news coverage on the back pages of Sydney newspapers, which was a huge achievement.

Teams like Sydney, Melbourne Tigers, Adelaide Lightning, and Canberra were very strong in the 1990s. The AIS team won their first title in 1998–99, led by the amazing player Lauren Jackson. By the late 1990s, the WNBL was one of the most famous women's sports leagues in Australia and one of the top three women's basketball leagues in the world.

The 2000s and Beyond

ABC TV continued to show WNBL games, helping the league stay popular. The WNBL was stable with eight teams for many seasons. In 2006, two new teams joined for the 2007–08 season: Bendigo Spirit and Christchurch Sirens from New Zealand. The Logan Thunder joined in 2008–09.

WNBL teams, the Logan Thunder (white) and the University of Canberra Capitals (blue), playing a game in 2012.

In February 2023, a game between the Southside Flyers and the Sydney Flames had a record crowd of 7,681 fans. This was the biggest crowd ever for a WNBL game.

New League Management

In June 2024, Basketball Australia sold the WNBL to a group that includes the National Basketball League (NBL). The NBL will start managing the WNBL from April 2025, after the 2024–25 WNBL season finishes.

In May 2025, the WNBL showed off a new logo and brand.

Current Clubs

Overview of WNBL teams

Club	Location	Arena	Capacity	Head Coach	Titles	Founded
Adelaide Lightning	Adelaide, South Australia	Adelaide 36ers Arena	8,000	Natalie Hurst	5	1992; 33 years ago (1992)
Bendigo Spirit	Bendigo, Victoria	Bendigo Stadium	4,000	Kennedy Kereama	2	2007; 18 years ago (2007)
Canberra Capitals	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	AIS Arena	5,200	Paul Goriss	9	1986; 39 years ago (1986)
Geelong Venom	Geelong, Victoria	Geelong Arena	2,000	Chris Lucas	2	1984; 41 years ago (1984)
Perth Lynx	Perth, Western Australia	Bendat Basketball Centre Perth High Performance Centre	2,000 (BBC) 4,500 (PHPC)	Ryan Petrik	1	1988; 37 years ago (1988)
Southside Flyers	Dandenong, Victoria	State Basketball Centre	3,200	Kristi Harrower	4	1992; 33 years ago (1992)
Sydney Flames	Sydney, New South Wales	Qudos Bank Arena	18,000	Guy Molloy	4	1981; 44 years ago (1981)
Townsville Fire	Townsville, Queensland	Townsville Entertainment Centre	5,257	Shannon Seebohm	4	2001; 24 years ago (2001)

Former Clubs

• Adelaide City Comets – 1992
• Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) – 1981 to 2011–12
• Brisbane Blazers – 1982 to 1998
• Christchurch Sirens – 2007–08
• Coburg Cougars – 1983 to 1990
• Geelong Cats – 1986
• Hobart Islanders – 1986 to 1996
• Logan Thunder – 2008–09 to 2013–14
• Melbourne Telstars – 1981
• Melbourne Tigers – 1989 to 2000–01
• Noarlunga City Tigers – 1981 to 1991
• North Adelaide Rockets – 1981 to 1991
• Nunawading Spectres (Melbourne East Spectres) – 1982 to 1991
• South East Queensland Stars – 2015–16
• St. Kilda Saints – 1981 to 1985
• Sutherland Sharks – 1981 to 1986
• West Adelaide Bearcats – 1981 to 1992

Season Format

Regular Season Games

The WNBL regular season usually starts in October and ends in February. Teams play each other three times, making it 21 games for each team. This means there are 84 games in total during the regular season.

The top four teams then move on to the WNBL Finals, which usually happen in March. Before the season starts, teams have training camps. Coaches use these camps to get players ready and decide who will be on the team.

WNBL Finals and Champions

The four best teams from the regular season play in the finals. The teams that finished first and second get to play their first-round games at home. They play against the teams that finished fourth and third. These first-round games are a "best-of-three" series, meaning a team needs to win two games to move on.

The winners of these series then play in the Grand Final. The team with the better record gets to play at home. The team that wins two games in the Grand Final series is crowned the WNBL champion.

Over the years, many teams have won the WNBL championship. The Canberra Capitals have won the most titles, with nine championships. Other successful teams include the Adelaide Lightning, Nunawading Spectres, Sydney Flames, Townsville Fire, and Southside Flyers. The most recent champion is Bendigo Spirit, who won their third title in the 2024–25 season.

Players and Coaches

The WNBL has helped many Australian players become famous. These players have also played for the Australian national team, known as the Opals. Some of these amazing players include Robyn Maher, Michele Timms, Rachael Sporn, Lauren Jackson, and Penny Taylor. They were key players for their clubs and for Australia.

Player Milestones

Here are some cool facts about WNBL players:

WNBL Awards

The WNBL gives out several awards each season to recognize great players and coaches:

• The Most Valuable Player Award goes to the best player in the league for that season.
• The Grand Final Most Valuable Player Award is for the best player in the finals.
• The Rookie of the Year Award is given to the best first-year player.
• The Defensive Player of the Year Award goes to the league's top defender.
• The Top Shooter of the Year Award is for the player who scores the most points per game.
• The Coach of the Year Award is for the coach who made the biggest positive difference to their team.
• The All-Star Five is a team of the five best players from the season.

Recent Award Winners (2023–24)

International Players

The WNBL is a great place for Australian players to get noticed by teams in Europe and the WNBA in the United States. Many WNBA players also come to play in the WNBL during their off-season. This is because the WNBA plays in the Northern Hemisphere summer, which is winter in Australia.

Many international players have played in the WNBL, including:

• Chelsea Aubry, Canada
• Alana Beard, United States
• Micaela Cocks, New Zealand
• Shanavia Dowdell, United States
• Olivia Époupa, France
• Antonia Farnworth, United States
• Ruth Hamblin, Canada
• Laurie Koehn, United States
• Betnijah Laney, United States
• Jo Leedham, Great Britain
• Angela Marino, New Zealand
• Kia Nurse, Canada
• Krista Phillips, Canada
• Cappie Pondexter, United States
• Qiu Chen, China
• Julie Vanloo, Belgium
• Amanda Zahui B., Sweden

Television Coverage

The ABC TV channel showed WNBL games from the very first season in 1981 until the 2014–15 season. After two seasons without TV coverage, Fox Sports started showing the games for the 2017–18 season.

For the 2020 season, games were shown on ABC, Fox Sports, and Kayo. Since the 2022–23 season, ESPN Australia has been showing the games, and 9Now streams every game online.

See also

• Australian Basketball Association
• Basketball Australia
• Basketball in Australia
• National Basketball League
• Women's Basketball Conference
• Timeline of women's basketball

Images for kids

• 

  Cygnett WNBL logo.