Letter from the Hoops Capital executive director Matthew Denholm

To our 2024-2025 Sydney Flames members,

On behalf of the Hoops Capital ownership group, I wanted to thank you for your support over the WNBL25 season.  Your support as a Flames member, at both Quaycentre and Qudos Bank Arena and at away games, has been so important to our organisation this campaign.

As we look back on WNBL25, it will be a season that is remembered for the resilience shown by our playing group and coaching staff and the epic achievement of getting back to the semi-finals for the first time in seven seasons. We look forward to building the Sydney Flames program going forward and are excited about changes to the WNBL that will help to propel the game forward.

HOOPS CAPITAL UNVEILS 2020-25 AWARD WINNERS

I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight some of the great accomplishments of our Flames during this record-breaking season; 

• We started the off-season with an amazing performance by Flames’ Cayla George (and Flame #221 Tess Madgen) winning bronze at the Paris Olympic Games.
• During this period, we launched our Harvey Norman Future Flames program, in conjunction with Basketball NSW – which provides a stepping stone for local girls, post-high school, to play professionally in NSW. This program provided an opportunity to integrate Future Flames into our system and give them an opportunity to fight it out for a potential roster spot but also for us to have a touch point with the stars of tomorrow and grassroots basketball in NSW. We were lucky enough to have three of our Future Flames make it onto our squad in WNBL25 with Carla Pitman (fully contracted), Caitlyn Martin and Piper Anderson (development players) all suiting up for the Guy Molloy’s side this season.
• A special shout out to Carla Pitman, who was recognised on numerous occasions at our annual Hoops Capital awards night, including the Hardest Working Player Award, Co-Defensive Player of the Year and The Coaches Award. The Future Flames program is something we are immensely proud of and we are looking forward to growing this again coming into the off-season. We thank our principal partner Harvey Norman for their support in making this happen.
• Speaking of awards, our Flames members’ moment of the year (voted on by our loyal members) went to Celeste Taylor, for her clutch three-pointer that helped the club secure their first semi-final spot in seven seasons. Other awards for the season went to Shaneice Swain (MVP) and Isabella Brancatisano (Players’ Player and Co-Defensive Player of the Year).
• Other accolades during the season include Guy Molloy becoming just the sixth person in history to coach 350 games, Cayla George being the first player to ever secure 3,500 career rebounds, Tahlia Tupaea playing 150 games, Sherrie Calleia chalking up 50 WNBL appearances, George and Swain recently being selected in the Australia Opals squad and Renae Garlepp (coach) and Bonnie Deas (player) being picked in the Australian under 19s squad.
• Finally, the amazing work of the coaching staff of Molloy, Garlepp, Tiana Mangakahia and Liam Cavanagh-Downs for withstanding a huge injury toll and still qualifying for finals.

We couldn’t have achieved these things without our members’ support, who have constantly shown up to support the club over the past three years at Quaycentre. We are thrilled with where we are heading and look forward to building on that going into next season – while also looking to continually improve our game day experience.

Adding to that, we can’t wait to build on our amazing Qudos Bank Arena double-headers alongside the Sydney Kings, which have helped to propel the Flames brand forward. Connecting our two professional Hoops Capital teams is vitally important, by continuing to showcase women’s basketball, as shown by our attracting the the biggest WNBL crowd this season at our Pink Hoops double-header.

Our success this season is just the beginning and we look forward to the growth path that is before us. Until next season #FlameOn.