On June 27, the Seattle Storm hosted the Atlanta Dream. It was the Storm’s second straight win after an 11-game losing streak. The Dream had battled the Golden State Valkyries in their prior two meetings and were leapfrogged by the Valkyries in the standings.
Those were the headlines, but amid all that, two of Australia’s sparkliest Opals were writing a different story. Seattle guard Jade Melbourne and Atlanta guard Isobel Borlase duked it out in one of their final meetings as foes before they team up on the Bendigo Spirit in the 2026-27 WNBL season.
Melbourne has been a consistent source of production for Seattle and somewhat of a veteran presence, even though she’s just 23 years old. Borlase, a WNBA rookie, has grown in her role as the season has progressed, showcasing her scoring acumen in short bursts. The two track as the Opals backcourt until 2040, so pairing them together is a massive coup for Bendigo.
In fact, everything points to Melbourne’s signing being the biggest free agency move in the league’s history, combining the outgoing value with the incoming value.
“We’re obviously ecstatic to get [Melbourne],” Spirit head coach Kennedy Kereama told The IX Basketball. “Probably more effort went into what our pitch was gonna be and what that was gonna look like, figuring out what was probably gonna resonate most with her whilst being authentic to ensure that whatever we deliver on or what we present, we deliver on well. I think that’s something that our program’s done a great job [of]. … So a lot of it was around that.
“At the same time, we knew there was a lot of uncertainty because Jade is a highly sought-after player. So I’m sure plenty of clubs had interest, and obviously there was plenty of overseas interest. I think we need to be honest with ourselves. Our league’s made huge inroads with what payments look like for players, but we’re miles away. … There were probably much more lucrative financial offers out there for her. And so to then come away with getting the nod from her is incredibly exciting in that sense and humbling, too.”
Melbourne, a regional Victorian, is moving to a regional Victorian professional basketball team for more than money. Bendigo puts her much closer to her family in Victoria, which is important to her given that she’s in the United States for half of the year.
“Honestly, it was just time for a change for me,” she told The IX Basketball. “I’ve been in Canberra for six years. I’m not the player or the person I am without them, but I feel like sometimes you can only give so much to a franchise, and Canberra was just continuing to go through rebuilds. New faces were coming in and out of the program.
“So I decided that I kind of had given it all, and also I wanted to be in the same state as my family. … I spent a lot of time over here [in the U.S.], a lot of time away from family, so basically, honestly, it’s just a switch-up. It was time for some fresh faces. Bendigo have a great group of people, and I think it’s a team that, one, I’ll be able to contend for a championship with; two, get better; and then three, I’m also back home. So it was a perfect fit, and I can’t wait.”
Kereama commented on Melbourne “being a regional Victorian superstar that’s sort of come through the program.
“So I think she’s a great champion for our program and being able to highlight that is great for us to be able to promote it within our program.”
The roots are all intertwined. Melbourne has every reason to set up shop in Bendigo, and any WNBL team has every reason to throw the farm at her. The Spirit have an added incentive for her: Melbourne grew up in Traralgon, known for its farming, where the Spirit played one home game last season. The game ranked dead last in attendance. So what did the WNBL do? Scheduled two games there for the upcoming season.
The investment in community, with finances as an afterthought, is a perfect parallel to Melbourne’s decision to join Bendigo. The Spirit also played two games in Ballarat last season that drew the second- and third-smallest crowds, but they’re returning for two more in WNBL27. Their commitment to community is a genuine value that courses through the team and helps separate them in the league.
Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women’s Sports Daily
We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women’s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women’s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!
Another new teammate for Melbourne will be Olivia Pollerd. Yet Pollerd revealed that their partnership has been long-standing.
“We started playing together from Under-14 onwards,” she told The IX Basketball. “I was in every state team with her, a lot of junior Australian teams, and then we moved to the [Australian Institute of Sport] together. So … we just know exactly how each other plays.
“I absolutely love playing with Jade because we also really complement each other. She knows I love to shoot [the] three-ball. She’s also a phenomenal passer, so any pick-and-pop situation that we can get into, we will get into. She loves it, I love it, and yeah, I think our games really complement each other, but it’s also just having that history and that knowledge of one another.”
When asked, “You two probably won a lot of games?” Pollerd laughed confidently. “Yeah, we had a pretty successful run through our juniors,” she said.
That chemistry doesn’t end there, as Pollerd, Melbourne, Borlase and Spirit forward Kelsey Rees all played on Australia’s U-19 World Cup team in 2021, winning the silver medal.
In fact, the Spirit have the most continuity in the WNBL, which is one of their competitive advantages. Melbourne bolsters the chemistry, even though she’s a newcomer. She and Borlase were roommates at that U-19 World Cup and at the 2024 Olympics.
“Izzy’s one of my best friends,” Melbourne said. “So when that opportunity arose, it was definitely an exciting one for me. Her development over the last 12 months, and just seeing how composed she stayed when she’s playing her role in Atlanta as well, is exciting. So Izzy as well is someone that can get downhill, create shots for herself and teammates, but I think it’s going to be transition where we thrive.
“She’s just going to get out. I’m going to make sure I hit her in transition [for] catch-and-shoot threes. I really want to make her life easy because last year she had a fantastic year. She averaged 24 points, but I think 20 of them were really tough to get, so if I can get her 10 easy ones a game, that’s a goal of mine. But yeah, she’s gonna get me catch-and-shoot threes. If one of us gets trapped, the other one’s gonna be open, so our games are gonna complement each other so well. And … I’m smiling ear to ear [right now], and I can’t wait to be a part of that and play with her.”
Kereama spoke on the team chemistry, too:
“One of the toughest things to manufacture is building chemistry. You aim to peak later in the season towards finals, and sometimes the challenge bringing in internationals is you’ve got to try and build that chemistry and dynamic really quickly. And so the fact that Jade has runs on the board with myself and with [Kelsey Griffin] and [Marianna] Tolo and obviously Izzy through the Opals, that automatically wouldn’t mean everything’s going to click instantly, but it’s certainly going to help us.
“When you’ve got high-caliber, WNBA-level Australian players, the likelihood is they’re going to come in late with WNBA. You don’t really have much runway to try and create that dynamic quickly. So being able to have that instant chemistry, I think, is going to be great. And not only that … [but] the way Jade plays and her personality is such that I think she could fit into any program, irrespective of who she’s playing with. She’s that quality of person.”
The Spirit players’ styles all complement each other, and there’s already a desire to support each other. There’s another theme that emerges: Aussies playing with Aussies. Whether it’s a player joining forces with other elite Aussies, a general manager landing top-level Aussie talent or a coach being able to coach players they are familiar with, everybody benefits.
“I think we always try and prefer to bring in Australians rather than imports,” general manager Dan Jackson told The IX Basketball. “With an Australian, you know what you’re going to get. Americans are a bit of a risk. Now, we’ve been pretty lucky that the Americans we’ve brought in have been pretty high quality for the past two years — initially Veronica Burton and last year Meg McConnell — so two really good players have contributed to our successful seasons.
“I’m not sure if it was a deliberate thing for this year. It was just that this year there was a point guard available to us, whereas in the last couple of years, there was not really anyone on the market kind of on the level that we were hoping for.”
Kereama was candid in discussing the topic:
“[I’m] not saying the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. But the reality is a bit of that, right? We’ve kind of all got some synergy and history together in a number of different programs, so I think that’s an incredibly helpful tool. [I] certainly see it as more of a catalyst than a hand brake, right? I think that’s probably more of the consideration.”
‘Rare Gems’ is out now!
Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The IX Basketball and The IX Sports, wrote this deeply reported book. “Rare Gems” follows four connected generations of women’s basketball pioneers, from Elvera “Peps” Neuman to Cheryl Reeve and from Lindsay Whalen to Sylvia Fowles and Paige Bueckers.
If you enjoy Megdal’s coverage of women’s basketball every Wednesday at The IX Sports, you will love “Rare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA.”
That synergy extends to the Aussies when they’re in the States. As Borlase told The IX Basketball, “Any time us Opals get to connect, it’s genuinely super special because I guess we’re going through the same things … Everything’s new, it’s different, and just to have that little touchpoint means a lot.”
Borlase and Melbourne will bring that connection back with them and get to play in the same color jersey. Every time Melbourne has gone against Bendigo, the Spirit have been a juggernaut. She mentioned how tough Bendigo is defensively in particular, changing up schemes and making it difficult to score. Now she’s part of that.
“They do stuff that is different [than] a lot of the teams in the league, and I feel like Kennedy is really good with those finer details and maximizing players’ strengths,” Melbourne said. “Sometimes on paper, Bendigo haven’t had the most talented team, but they’ve just had the right pieces, they’ve had the right game plan. It’s a tough night every given night, so I’m just hoping that I can add to that. …
“Learning those details, getting kind of tricky with the game is something Bendigo has been really good at. I’m excited to get amongst that, and also just embrace their fans and their community.”
Last year, the Spirit were hampered by availability. Casey Samuels missed nearly the entire season injured. Marianna Tolo was unavailable due to pregnancy. Micah Simpson also had a season-ending ACL injury, and Ashlee Hannan pulled the pin before the season started due to multiple concussions.
Pollerd spoke on the silver lining this gave Bendigo. “With our injuries, it was good for people like me and Kelsey Rees because we did kind of get thrown in the deep end earlier on and had more minutes,” she said. “… We got to grow into that space quickly. Now I feel like our team’s going to be full of people with experience, which is so cool.”
However, the absences also highlighted what Bendigo was missing most: playmaking. That’s what Melbourne is elite at.
“Last year, we thought we were pretty good, but we just fell short in kind of shot creation,” Jackson said. “We’d rely on Izzy so much to create offense for us. Hopefully Jade comes in and in late-clock scenarios, we’ve got another option to throw it to rather than just Izzy having to do her thing.
“Look, those two are both two of the best players in the league in transition, so I’m sure they’re going to get out and run as much as possible. Then also, it makes sense to put them in a ton of on-ball situations because we’ve got guards that can get in the lane and create and then we’ll have people like Abbey Wehrung on the perimeter that can shoot. So … we’re pretty excited with the two and yeah, hopefully it’s successful.”
It sounded like there were children running around in the background of Jackson’s call, which was presumably taken in Bendigo. Kereama, who was dealing with Melbourne’s trademark traffic, had an eerily similar response, even though the two were speaking in completely different worlds:
“Jade’s an incredibly dynamic scoring point guard that has the ability to play two ends of the floor, and Izzy Borlase is a scoring machine who’s obviously come off an MVP-winning season. So really that’s a situation where I thought last season teams could really sort of hone in on Izzy, and look, let’s be honest, that didn’t necessarily stop her. … But now we put another dynamic scoring guard that can create off pick-and-roll, that’s incredibly quick in transition, who’s great at getting downhill and forcing defenses to collapse. Now that creates another dimension to our offense and not to mention, Jade’s an exceptional full-court defender.
“So I think there are some real challenges for opposition teams. So for my perspective, I mean, it’s going to be probably a bit of a match made in heaven, and we’ve got all the right floor spacers within our group.”
This team is spiritually bound regardless of its geography. It’s always on the same page. There’s still a bit of work to do on the roster, but the bulk of it has been done.
“We’ve got seven contracted players at the moment,” Jackson said. “Obviously, we’re hopeful for results across Kelsey Griffin deciding to play again, but then also giving Marianna Tolo enough time, post-baby, to make a decision if she wants to try and come back and play. So there are two spots available. And then the last spot’s probably just going to be like a backup point guard. So there’s a chance that we go into the season with no imports.
“If Marianna decides not to play, maybe we do field just a depth position there. We’re very happy and excited with Kelsey Rees and the progress she made last year. So we don’t think we need to bring in someone that’s going to play 35 minutes a game. So we’ll just be looking for someone to kind of share minutes.”
Imports are an important part of every team. Building a roster that is driven by Australian talent and supplemented with foreign excellence that can thrive while fitting in is a complicated tango that a contender has to dance to win a WNBL championship. As of right now, Bendigo doesn’t have to worry about that.
“We can go the import routes,” Kereama said. “I mean, we had this up our sleeve last season. … Good Australian players are incredibly hard to replace; that’s the reality. The Spirit, we’re in an interesting phase of our program. We’ve had success and we’re playing good basketball. We’re attracting people to our program. But also, we want to continue to build stronger connection with the community. And so Jade fits that for us.”
Imports are usually key signings who start and play around 30 minutes a night. To have that “up your sleeve” illustrates how strong the Spirit’s roster construction is.
Rep The IX Sports at your next game!
Shop the logo collection or special “Women’s Sports are Front Page News” collection now on Shopify.
Melbourne recognizes how their system benefits her:
“Sami Whitcomb went there and won MVP, Izzy Borlase won MVP, Veronica Burton went from him to winning WNBA Most Improved [Player]. Guards seem to develop under Kennedy and Bendigo are always contending for a championship, and I think that’s a credit to his recruiting and the pieces he gets, and then the leadership of the players in that group as well. So when you see that happening, you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna learn something there.’
“I’m only 23 and scratching the surface with what I feel like I can do as a basketball player, so I’d been learning from the same coach for a long time, and I thought it was time for a new voice, a fresh face. … And then there’s players in that team as well — Kelsey Griffin, Marianna Tolo — that I’m gonna learn a lot from, just in terms of leadership, veteran voices. So yeah, it’s just a perfect mix.”
It’s a perfect mix from every direction. It’s also a gargantuan hole for Melbourne’s former team, the Canberra Capitals, to fill. It’s a massive incoming signing for the Bendigo Spirit, the likes of which is rarely seen within the WNBL. In terms of talent, it’s equal to the best imports the WNBL tends to attract.
At Australia’s World Cup qualifiers in March, Borlase said the following in a press release:
“Bendigo has helped me grow so much on and off the court, and I love playing in this environment with this group. I’m grateful to be part of it for another season, and I hope I can contribute to the point where we can go that extra step in finals next year.”
She was playing with Melbourne at the time with the Opals. Now, that extra step for Bendigo might be colored jade.
The IX Basketball’s Michael Waterloo contributed reporting for this story.
