Australian head coach Sandy Brondello may have departed from the New York Liberty at the end of last season, but the team hasn’t uprooted its Australian connections. In fact, the Liberty have brought in three Aussies and a star WNBL import for their 2026 training camp. Anneli Maley, Alex Fowler and Han Xu are on training contracts, with the latter making up the import role.
To paint the full Aussie picture, the team also has Rebecca Allen. who has signed a one-year contract, and draft and stashed Manuela Puoch with the 41st pick of the draft.
WNBA fans are already familiar with the fluidity in Allen’s game; where the intrigue for Australians may lie is with the others at training camp. Fowler, of the champion Townsville Fire, and Maley and Xu, of the runners-up Perth Lynx, all featured in the 2026 WNBL Grand Final series. Add in Miela Sowah (Townsville) with the Golden State Valkyries and Ally Wilson (Perth) on the Washington Mystics, and half of the total starters in the Grand Final are on WNBA training camp rosters.
That’s a very green trend line for the Australian league and speaks to the ongoing exposure it receives. Fire head coach Shannon Seebohm spoke with The IX Basketball about how this exposure helped Fowler arrive in the Big Apple.
“I know Alex, you know, New York were watching Han Xu and just happened to come across our team and our games and the coach really liked how we played.” Seebohm said. “So he started watching more games of just us, and then that’s obviously how he unearthed Alex.”
Seebohm was all praise for his versatile wing.
“Alex is kind of the unsung hero, I think, a little bit,” he said. “She might have 11 points and nine rebounds and whatever else and contributes on the stat sheet. I think it goes way deeper than that. Her ability to impact winning is unlike many players that I’ve ever coached before, to be honest, like she just has a knack for just defensively knowing where to be, she can guard one through five basically in the WNBL.”
“She’s only scratching the surface,” Seebohm continued. “Now, to be able to stay in that Opals program and obviously keep getting opportunities like the WNBA, she’s kind of gone in a very short space of time, I guess, from being like a five who then plays the four to now being a four who’s going to play the three. I think her versatility is just so valuable and she’s a huge part of why we’re able to do what we do.”
Fowler herself also had some thoughts on how her style of play blends with New York’s. She told The IX Basketball that incoming Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco “loves the Australian hustle,” and she can see how it will transition to New York.
“You look at a lot of Aussies around the WNBA, we’re all kind of role players,” Fowler said. “We’re not going to be the star, but we’re all kind of players that would just do what’s told of us, and we do the hard hustle things.”
Fowler talked further about how her game fits in New York and why she’s excited to be there.
“This has just been an experience and an opportunity that kind of popped up for me, and something I said yes to straight away,” Fowler explained. “I would love to just help out and whatever’s been asked of me, I’m really that player that you get told do something, I’ll say yes, no matter what it is … Whatever I’m being asked to do, I’m a yes man.”
“[Seebohm] is known for his success with the Fire for years, [and] he’s insane with his development,” Fowler continued. “He runs similar stuff to Chris in an offensive scheme. So that’s made it easy for me transitioning to this a little bit, so that’s helped a lot.”
In addition to her impressive work with the Fire, Fowler has also quickly been proving herself at the highest level, earning Asia Cup MVP honors in 2025 and becoming a mainstay for the Australian Opals moving forward. Her variability that Seebohm spoke about is what the 24-year-old Fowler has hung her hat on in her young professional career. That versatility, plus her worth ethic and the potential longevity of her career, makes her both an accomplished and promising player.
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Fowler’s talent was on full display as she, along with Maley and Xu, combined for 41 points in the Liberty’s preseason game against the Indiana Fever, with Xu accounting for 20 of these. Preseason numbers might not mean much for an individual, but as a whole, WNBL Grand Finalists made up 45% of the total scoring pie for New York, a positive and accurate reflection of the league.
“I love that woman, Han is so cool,” Maley said about her current and former teammate. “If you ever have the opportunity of having a conversation with her, she’s just a ray of sunshine … Coming out here, this is still a foreign country for me too, you know, so having people around me that are familiar and she’s, gosh, she’s just the best.”
There’s an unspoken understanding between Maley and Xu, both on and off the court. Their respect and friendship transcends how they play; they both made All-WNBL teams in the past season, but it’s their off-court friendship that helps them rise to new challenges.
Maley knows her experience in both the WNBL and the WNBA is about more than just basketball, which is why relationships matter to her. And that’s especially relevant when it comes to her new head coach.
“[DeMarco] makes me feel like a person, not just a basketball player,” Maley said. “He doesn’t make you feel like an asset, [he] makes you feel like a human. I really like that, and I really value that in coaches. He’s a good communicator and when he asks questions, he asks to listen and hear the answer, not just to respond, which I think is a really invaluable thing in a coach.”
Maley has grown impressively as a shooter over her past few seasons, which will be critical in her more supplementary role in the WNBA. She has the athleticism, grit and strength as a rebounder, and her three-point shot is growing. But for Maley her, she’s focusing mostly on stripping it ball back, keeping it simple and getting those reps.
“I don’t know, you just shoot. Shooting with more self-belief,” she said. “You get reps up, but it’s when you believe it’s going to go in then, then that probably. Everybody trains hard, everyone gets the reps up.”
That development and determination is what landed Maley back on a training camp contract in the WNBA. She is happy and eager in New York, and grounded by the presence of her Perth teammate Xu. The two of them, of course, are joined by fellow Aussie Fowler; the three together paint a pretty good picture of what WNBL stars can offer the WNBA.
A 6’11 Xu draining a three while Fowler and Maley assist and possess around the glass could be a winning combination for the Liberty. While it’s too early to tell who will stay in New York beyond training camp, the triad’s early returns are positive. Other players like Leonie Fiebich and Satou Sabally and are still yet to arrive at in New York, and questions remain about who will make the final roster. But the Liberty plan to be a juggernaut once again, and the Aussies are working hard to be a big part of that picture.
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