Alice Kunek reflects on 250 games in the WNBL

Alice Kunek recognises the symmetry in her WNBL career.
After graduating from the AIS, it began in Melbourne with the Bulleen Boomers playing out of the iconic Veneto Club.
Now, 14 seasons later, the 34-year-old will achieve the 250-game milestone in Victoria representing Southside, the league’s only Melbourne team.
In between, Kunek has played in Perth, lapping up the beach lifestyle, to Sydney, where she worked full time in finance, to the north Queensland tropics of Townsville.
“It’s very special to have started my career in Victoria and especially in Melbourne and now reach 250 games playing for Southside which feels a bit like home because it’s Melbourne, Bulleen and Dandenong all into one,” Kunek explains.
“I feel very grateful to be part of the 250 club with so many incredible players and people. It’s a very special achievement to me and a huge reason why I came back to play in Australia.”
Kuenk began her career with the AIS where she played 20 games, then spent a defining 64 games with Bulleen before crossing to the Dandenong Rangers (47). She became a Boomer once again, but this time of the Melbourne variety (48 games) before playing seasons in Perth (23) then Sydney (17) in 2019-20.
She would head to Europe and spent four seasons abroad before returning home for 2023-24.
A broken wrist sidelined her for a chunk of the season restricting her to just 12 appearances for the Fire.
Kunek’s 18th game for Southside will bring up her milestone, and life membership, in Bendigo.
The achievement has allowed Kunek to reflect on the peaks and troughs of professional sport, the injuries that have built resilience and the lifelong friendships formed.
“I had a lot of injuries at the AIS and setbacks with my jaw and then I hurt my foot and back. Leaving the AIS I didn’t know if I’d play 250 WNBL games,” she reveals.
“Every year has been so different but each one brings a lot of joy and had its highs and lows, friendships, accolades and memories.
“It’s about the people. You don’t remember the games and ‘Oh, I had 20 that game’ it’s the years you won, had good teammates, the camaraderie and the friendships.”
After leaving the AIS in January 2010, Kunek joined Bulleen as a training player and was part of the roster that fell to a Lauren Jackson-led Canberra in a Grand Final epic at Parkville.
The esteemed Bulleen coaching panel of Tom Maher, Michele Timms and Gary Fox had an immediate, yet lasting, impact on the Eltham junior.
“I was very humbled by Tom Maher that first year and it was the making of me. Tom said ‘If you’re going to play in this league you’ve got to get a shot and you’ve got to do this.’
“Those Bulleen days were the best days of my career – what Tom, Timmsy and Gary created, the expertise and culture they brought to the group. What I learned from them was the most pivotal, cornerstone of my career, everything they taught me and all the little lessons along the way.
When I do a runner, I’ve still got Tom in my head ‘Go up, don’t go forward’ when I do a jump shot it’s ‘Shoot on the way up, don’t shoot on the way down.’
The following year, Kunek was a young gun, alongside the likes of Jenna O’Hea, Liz Cambage, Elyse Penaluna and Rachel Jarry, in a Bulleen team featuring veterans Sharin Milner, Desi Glaubitz, Shelley Hammonds, Kylie Reid and Anna Crosswhite.
That team, with its true blend of youth and experience, delivered the Boomers first championship.
“To win a championship in my first year was surreal and I’m disappointed not to have won another one since but that’s life and sport,” Kunek says.
“It showed how hard they are to win. I say all the time to the (Southside) girls – winning a championship is so hard, it takes luck, it takes everyone buying in and sacrificing and then to win one is so special.
“It can never be taken away from you.”