How the Bendigo Spirit captured a WNBL title

“Knowing this is a special group, knowing it’s pretty rare that teams are identical from one year to the next, [I’m] just really grateful for this group,” Bendigo guard Sami Whitcomb said to The Next after her team’s semifinal victory. “I’m trying to soak in all the moments with them throughout the course of the year.”

Head coach Kennedy Kereama shared a similar mood to Whitcomb’s after the semifinal win. “I don’t feel any [added] pressure,” he told The Next. “Having a high level of leadership and expectation within our program has probably created the environment that just makes what we’re doing right now the norm. It’s exciting, don’t get me wrong. I’m not taking away from the magnitude of playing finals basketball and coaching finals basketball.”

And come Grand Final, the magnitude of playing championship basketball was heavy. Immediately evident in the Grand Final was an uptick from previous games in both physicality and purpose. As opposed to the semis, in the Grand Final, there was more clarity in how Bendigo and Townsville both approached the competition. Each team played with assurance in their game plan.

There was a desperation evident from the jump ball of game one, and the usual free-flowing offense both teams run was full of energy. On the shot attempt side of things, however, getting up a good look seemed near impossible to come by.

Townsville head coach Shannon Seebohm focused his defense on disrupting the Spirit’s playmaking. Kereama, meanwhile, focused his defense on delaying the Fire’s decisions, burning the shot clock and gluing Veronica Burton on Nia Coffey.

A 23-16 first quarter lead for Townsville felt insurmountable, and a play call to start the second was perfectly comprehended by 19-year-old Saffron Shiels, who bumped up lead out to nine.

The first quarter and two minutes established the base for the series with two key themes standing out —IQ and nuance. Both teams have excellent coaching and deep talent. This series was never going to be about who was going to hit their shots, it was going to be about quick wit. About who could identify a fault. About who could create an opportunity where there otherwise wasn’t.

The most telling lesson from the box score of game one was Coffey’s line, a fulcrum of Townsville’s offense. The final stat line? 35 minutes, seven field goal attempts, one assist, one turnover, no trips to the line and five total points. An unmitigated success for both Burton and Kereama.

“[Burton] was known mainly as a defensive player, but she’s come in and just been absolutely phenomenal on both ends of the floor,” guard Kelly Wilson said to The Next after the semifinals.

To Wilson’s point, Burton carried the offensive load as well as the defensive, leading the way in game one of the Grand Final with 24 points and six assists.

After exemplary game and scoreboard management from Bendigo in the second half of game one, the team left home with a win. They made their way around Cyclone Alfred and found themselves in Townsville for game two.

---

The Next, a 24/7/365 women’s basketball newsroom

The Next: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.

---

The second game was reflective of the first. Scoreboard movement throughout the first half was entirely frozen by Bendigo in the third quarter, giving up a cumulative 15 points in both third terms across the Grand Final. In game one, the difference in score was made entirely in the last term, whereas in game two, Bendigo slowly created that separation throughout the second half.

And again in game two, Burton and Kereama had reasons to be thrilled with Coffey’s output. The stat line? 35 minutes, nine field goal attempts, two assists, one turnover, four free throws and four total points. After pouring in 49 hyper-efficient points against the Perth Lynx in round one, Bendigo made Coffey a total non factor.

The major discernible difference in Bendigo’s defensive approach in game two was how happy they were to give Townsville the three ball. Across the Grand Final, Townsville shot 8-46, 17%, from beyond the arc. They were the second most efficient three point shooting team during the regular season and were at an elite 45% mark in the first round. This came from Bendigo going under on the pick-and-roll, shrinking the middle, taking away the catch-and-shoot threat and forcing players to create their own shot.

Ultimately, this series was firmly dictated by the defensive end. The advantage Bendigo had on the offensive end was Veronica Burton in game one and Sami Whitcomb in game two. The ability for the two to find opportunities as soon as their opponents dropped their guard, as well as create openings for others, made all the difference. The marginal advantages they were able to find on the offensive end stacked up.

Shannon Seebohm and the Townsville Fire should be very happy with the season they had, and with import Lauren Cox returning for next season, their attempts to retain a strong core has started on the right foot. Their ecosystem attracts good basketball players and churns out great ones. As of right now, it would be hard to go past them as favorites for next year’s championship.

Townsville was a formidable opponent. To end the regular season, they fell to the Perth Lynx by one point in an overtime thriller. But aside from this game, the last time Townsville lost to a team not named the Bendigo Spirit was in November — four months ago.

But in reality, Bendigo captured their title long ago. As Kennedy Kereama told The Next, a lot of that work gets done in the preseason. “Putting things together, roster building, recruitment of front office staff, not just players,” Kereama said.

A recurrence in the Bendigo Spirit’s season is that, when a player or coach is asked a question, they’ll credit the collective. Unless the individual is specifically asked a question about another individual on the roster, they will always put the team first. This translated to the court as well.

“When you’re winning games, sometimes that makes things more enjoyable, but more so the group that we’ve put together this year has made it enjoyable for me,” Wilson said to The Next.

Looking back on WNBL’s 2025 season, the Bendigo Spirit only lost three times, which constitutes one of the all-time WNBL runs. The team may fly under the radar when one considers the greatest WNBL teams of all time, but they won 88% of their contests this season. And then, they topped it off with a WNBL championship, as well as Sami Whitcomb’s Finals MVP award.

And the season as a whole was a great success. It was the last chapter before the league’s licensing changes hands from Basketball Australia to Wollemi Capital Group. The WNBL has a rich history with lore to match, and Basketball Australia outperformed the resources they had. The Bendigo Spirit win’s honors basketball, and 44 years of WNBL history, as it opens the door to the next generation.

---

Add Locked On Women’s Basketball to your daily routine

Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.

---