{"id":36735,"date":"2023-10-20T08:50:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T22:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/?p=36735"},"modified":"2023-10-20T08:50:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T22:50:32","slug":"wnbl-team-preview-series-melbourne-boomers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wnbl-team-preview-series-melbourne-boomers\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBL | Team Preview series &#8211; Melbourne Boomers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>THE Women&#8217;s National Basketball League (WNBL) is getting extremely close to commencing its 2023\/24 season, with the opener set to take place on November 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last season, there was plenty of excitement as locals and imports alike fired for each of the eight teams, with a plethora of highlights gathering plenty of attention to one of the fastest growing women&#8217;s basketball competitions in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a data-type=\"team\" data-id=\"173\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/team\/townsville-fire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Townsville Fire<\/a> won their last 16 games of the season (including finals), and claimed the ultimate prize in a dominant finish to their campaign. They will now become the hunted as seven other sides look to prevent them from going back to back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were plenty of player movements over the off-season too, as sides load up with a mixture of homegrown and international talent for the upcoming fixture, changing the landscape of the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With that in mind, <em>Rookie Me Central <\/em>will be placing each side under the microscope, taking a look how all eight sides are faring in the build up to the season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Closing out the teams for the week are the <a data-type=\"team\" data-id=\"166\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/team\/melbourne-boomers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Melbourne Boomers<\/a>, who look primed to be one of the championship contenders this WNBL season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-melbourne-boomers\">Melbourne Boomers <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2022-23-record-15-wins-six-losses\">2022\/23 record &#8211; 15 wins, six losses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Boomers fell short last season, unable to trump a red-hot Fire team, but have made some eye-catching moves over the off-season to shoot back into contention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-players\">Players<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"329\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/player\/aimie-rocci\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aimie Rocci<\/a>, <strong>Jantel Lavander<\/strong>, <strong>Jordin Canada<\/strong>, <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"363\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/player\/keely-froling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Keely Froling<\/a>, <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"359\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/player\/kristy-wallace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kristy Wallace<\/a>, <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"387\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/player\/monique-conti\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monique Conti<\/a>, <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"337\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/player\/penina-davidson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Penina Davidson<\/a>, <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"379\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/player\/sara-blicavs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sara Blicavs<\/a>, <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"25800\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/basketball\/player\/taylah-simmons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taylah Simmons<\/a>, <strong>Tera Reed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Boomers made their intentions clear with an aggressive off-season, intent on building a roster that can take down a dominant Townsville side that brought them undone last time around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The addition of Froling and Blicavs makes them a tough team to match up on. Froling&#8217;s presence in the frontcourt will be massive in the club&#8217;s title aspirations. Her ability to pull down a rebound and completely own the paint will add another dimension to a Melbourne side that has not always thrived in this domain. In the battle on the glass, the Boomers will have a huge advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blicavs is an established star in the WNBL, and joins the team after a decorated career at this level. Melbourne knows what to expect from her at the small forward position, and is better having her in the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Canada will combine with Wallace in the backcourt and bring some real pace in setting up the team&#8217;s offence. With the amount of scoring weapons in the likely starting lineup, this duo will conjure plenty of good looks throughout the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Boomers are one of the biggest contenders this season, and appear one of the most likely to potentially knock off the Fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-dc-block-dc-mention _dc_mention\"><div class=\"section-heading_wrap\"><span class=\"section-heading is-small\">Mentions<\/span><span class=\"hor-border\"><\/span><\/div><ul class=\"js-overflow-list overflow-list\"><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_t\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/team\/townsville-fire\/\">Townsville Fire<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_t\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/team\/melbourne-boomers\/\">Melbourne Boomers<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/player\/aimie-rocci\/\">Aimie Rocci<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/player\/keely-froling\/\">Keely Froling<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/player\/kristy-wallace\/\">Kristy Wallace<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/player\/monique-conti\/\">Monique Conti<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/player\/penina-davidson\/\">Penina Davidson<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/player\/sara-blicavs\/\">Sara Blicavs<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/player\/taylah-simmons\/\">Taylah Simmons<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"js-dropdown dropdown overflowed\"><button class=\"btn btn-icon-only\"><span class=\"icon btn-icon\">\n                    <!-- icon - plus circle - 20px-->\n                    <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 20 20\">\n                        <path d=\"M15,9.28h-4.3V5h0A.72.72,0,1,0,9.28,5h0V9.28H5a.72.72,0,0,0,0,1.43H9.28V15a.72.72,0,0,0,1.43,0h0V10.71H15a.72.72,0,0,0,0-1.43Z\"\/>\n                        <path d=\"M10,0A10,10,0,1,0,20,10,10,10,0,0,0,10,0Zm0,18.57A8.57,8.57,0,0,1,10,1.43h0a8.57,8.57,0,0,1,0,17.14Z\"\/>\n                    <\/svg>\n                <\/span><\/button><div class=\"popover\"><div class=\"popover-content\"><ul class=\"popover-menu\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE Women&#8217;s National Basketball League (WNBL) is getting extremely close to commencing its 2023\/24 season, with the opener set to take place on November 1. Last season, there was plenty of excitement as locals and imports alike fired for each of the eight teams, with a plethora of highlights gathering plenty of attention to one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":32809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2810,2871,5888,11],"tags":[5964,6944,23,21,590,28,64,56,5017,1997],"class_list":["post-36735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-melbourne-boomers","category-news","category-team-preview","category-wnbl","tag-aimie-rocci","tag-jordin-canada","tag-keely-froling","tag-kristy-wallace","tag-melbourne-boomers","tag-monique-conti","tag-penina-davidson","tag-sara-blicavs","tag-taylah-simmons","tag-townsville-fire"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36735"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36737,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36735\/revisions\/36737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}