Perth Lynx Preview – Home to Southside Flyers

The Perth Lynx open their 2024/25 WNBL season with two home games at Bendat Basketball Centre beginning on Saturday night against the Southside Flyers.
The Lynx will play host to the Flyers on Saturday night with tip-off set for 7pm at Bendat Basketball Centre in what is a rematch of last year’s WNBL Grand Final series to open the new season for both clubs.
From the Lynx team that played in that Grand Final series, Laeticia Amihere, Ally Wilson and Kiara Waite are on board with Teige Morrell now joining the full roster as of this season.
Then there is co-captains Anneli Maley and Amy Atwell along with Alex Ciabattoni, Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard, Steph Gorman and Miela Goodchild all back on deck.
At the Flyers, they have a new coach with Kristi Harrower replacing Cheryl Chambers while Alice Kunek, Manuela Puoch, Mikayla Vaughn, Naz Hillmon, Tera Reed, Paige Burrows and Tayah Burrows are among their new faces.
While Bec Cole, Maddy Rocci and Carley Ernst are back, there’s no Lauren Jackson, Mercedes Russell, Leilani Mitchell, Jasmine Dickey, Nyadiew Puoch, Lou Brown and Klara Wischer.
It might be a Grand Final rematch on Saturday night, but given the amount of time that has now passed since and with the significant changes to both squads, that’s the last thing that will be on Lynx coach Ryan Petrik’s mind this week.
“I can only speak on behalf of myself and I couldn’t care less that it’s them we are playing in the first game,” Petrik said.
“I get along really well with Bec Cole and Alice Kunek, and I know they beat us in that Grand Final, but so much has changed since then.
“We have a different team, they have a vastly different team and even have a new coach so it’s all very different.
“We could win this game by 1000 points but they will still be last season’s champions and so they should be. So for mine, I’m not going to spend a second about this being a revenge match or anything on that side of things.
“The players might feel differently and I certainly get the romance of it from a crowd and fan engagement point of view, and the marketability of it, but from a head coach point of view I won’t spend a second thinking about it.”
While Petrik is glad to be starting the season with two home games over the next week firstly on Saturday against the Flyers and then on Wednesday against the Townsville Fire, it’s anything but a way of easing into the season.
Taking on the last two championship winning teams first up is being thrown right in the deep end and even though Petrik is looking forward to hitting the road with this group to quick up the chemistry building process, he’s excited for the Perth fans to see their team in action.
“We certainly never seem to start the season with an easy one, we always seem to play a championship favourite in one of the first games,” Petrik said.
“This time it’s back to back and it is what it is, but it is nice to play home games early. It’s also nice to hit the road early and get some chemistry built on the road especially for us this season.
“Because of HoopsFest being here, we haven’t travelled and didn’t have any pre-season games on the road so haven’t had a real chance to get on the road and travel.
“Now that this is my 10th year in the WNBL and those road trip really do matter because you’re forced to interact with each other wherever you go all day, every day.
“There’s just little collisions everywhere that allows you to form bonds, friendships and camaraderie, and you just build that team chemistry.
“Because we’ve been at home we haven’t been able to have that chance, so starting home or away both have their advantages, but we’d like to be better in sync and that’s going to come in time.
“We hope to play some good basketball first up in front of our home fans, but no one will be at their best this early on.”
The Lynx won’t quite be at full strength for the season-opener with the absence of Atwell who had a stunning off-season getting the chance to play in the WNBA and also be part of the Australian Opals campaign at Paris 2024.
However, she is the only player unavailable to take on the Flyers with the recently married Goodchild good to go after an injury shortly after joining pre-season training.
“Atwell will be an out at least for this first game against Southside,” Petrik said.
“She will miss that game at this stage and Miela missed a good chunk of pre-season, but she’s back now and has peaked perfectly for the season to start this week.”
CYGNETT WNBL SEASON 2024/25
Round 1 – Perth Lynx v Southside Flyers
Venue – Bendat Basketball Centre
Tip-off – Saturday November 2, 7pm AWST
Tickets – Available by clicking here
How to watch – Live, free and on demand on 9Now