Resiliency key to Flames’ ending seven-year finals drought

You could see on the faces of the Sydney Flames players, coaches and staff what it meant to end their seven-year WNBL finals drought, following their courageous win in Canberra on February 3.

But if you peel back the curtain, you can really appreciate the ecstasy that Guy Molloy’s side was feeling that afternoon.

Ever since coach Molloy signed on with the Hoops Capital club, adversity and new challenges haven’t been far away.

During the WNBL24 pre-season, Molloy – after rebuilding a squad that only had Emma Clarke and Kiera Rowe contracted – lost key recruits Tess Madgen (knee), Didi Richards (leg) and Shaneice Swain (foot) to injuries.

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Soon after, Clake (calf/leg) and Lauren Nicholson (elbow) were added to that list during the team’s game at Brisbane’s River City Rebounds pre-season tournament.

All four of those players missed chunks of pre-season training, as did Cayla George who was in the United States helping the Las Vegas Aces win the 2023 WNBA title – leaving Molloy with barely enough players for five-on-five scrimmages

Before Molloy, and his coaching staff which included former Flames Renae Garlepp and Tiana Mangakahia, knew it, round one was upon them.

Madgen and Swain didn’t recover in time but the other three injured stars did and made the trip to Perth for round one – as did George, two days after landing in Sydney for the first time.

Understandably, the harbour city side started the WNBL24 slowly, losing three of their first five games.

But this didn’t stop Molloy and his group from working hard and establishing foundations for the future – despite Madgen’s injuries lingering.

Swain went on to miss all but three games due to injuries that season and it looked like her return would help volt the Flames back into the finals.

But losses in their final games of the season, against Southside (81-78) and Townsville (90-78), saw Sydney fall agonisingly short and miss the top four on percentage.

As shattering as that was, the team used that as drive going into the WNBL25 season.

But before a ball was bounced, more adversity came the Flames way.

Firstly, Nicholson announced she was pregnant with her first child and then import Richards was ruled out for the season, after suffering an injury with WNBA franchise, the Washington Mystics.

Before Molloy had a chance to blink, he’d lost two All-WNBL players and two projected starters on his squad.

But once again, the Flames rolled with the cards they were dealt – which also included Clarke missing time in the pre-season due to concussion.

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The injury curse didn’t go away when the games started though, with Mikaela Ruef (knee), Clarke (leg) and Bonnie Deas (quad) missing numerous games during the middle of the season – so much so, that it saw McKenna Dale join the team as an injury replacement player for the former.

Soon after, Dale (finger), Yemiyah Morris (knee) and George (foot) were forced to spend time on the sidelines, before, most recently, guard Celest Taylor was ruled out for the season with a foot injury.

But despite all this, the Flames defied the odds and qualified for their first finals series since the 2017-18 season.

Now the new challenges awaits, in the form of the Bendigo Spirit, starting this Sunday at Red Energy Arena.