Obstacles boost CoE's resolve for East finals

• The Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence women will take on Canberra in an NBL1 East elimination final on Saturday at 1pm
• CoE and Canberra have split the two meetings this season
• Gems stars Sitaya Fagan and Zara Russell are game-time decisions for the final

No team in the NBL1 faces a juggling act quite like the Centre of Excellence (CoE).

As they cultivate a crop of young Australian talent with strong ambition, their line-up is ever-changing — colleges are seeking signatures and international duties can gut the roster overnight.

Yet, despite a myriad of challenges, the CoE will play for glory as they will take the court in the 2025 NBL1 East finals series. However, this hasn’t always been as straightforward.  

Based out of the Australian Institute of Sport, the CoE has been a launchpad for emerging Australian talent. Despite that, with an overloaded calendar of national and international events, availability is often compromised.  

In 2024, the calendar was a thorn in the side of the CoE women when they qualified for the playoffs in eighth position but were forced to withdraw. On the same weekend of the first week of the 2024 finals, five CoE athletes were in Mexico for the U17s FIBA Women’s World Cup, leaving the program with no choice but to forfeit their place.

Now having come full circle, CoE women’s assistant coach Mel Downer has been really impressed with the younger athletes who’ve “held down the fort” given the instability spurred by the revolving door of athletes and their availability.

“Their availability for one, and then their ability to come in and immediately compete and contribute hasn’t been surprising, but really valuable and useful to supplement what some of the older girls have been able to do and then take over when these older girls went to the World Cup and had camps,” she said.

Most recently, CoE key pillars Sitaya Fagan, second-in-command Zara Russell, and facilitator and defensive pest Emilija Dakic won silver in Czechia as they represented the Australian Gems in the FIBA Under-19s World Cup.

In a valiant four-point loss against Manly without their core trio, bottom-agers Isobel Smith scored (29 points), and Olivia Olechnowicz (23 points) stepped up — the latter having gone unused at times when the team has been at full health — and a duo who make up two of three COE women who will go to the U16 Asia Cup in September.

As it speaks to Downer’s observations, she emphasises that understanding the calendar and the presence of these disruptions helps inform the development of the squad, allowing players to step up and contribute in such a manner as Smith and Olechnowicz did against Manly.

“Some of them did a little bit of an apprenticeship, a full preseason with the older girls… they get a bit of a soft entry into the NBL1, and we don’t have to throw them in the deep end from the get go - then as things start to pop up, their opportunities increase,” she said.

“We manage that in terms of when we have our older athletes utilising them in a capacity of leadership and helping to bring those younger ones through. There’s really as minimal of a disruption as much as possible.”

Downer said that whilst the heavily-filled basketball calendar is a challenge, it’s just the “reality of the situation”.

She noted that the objective of the organisation is development first and foremost, prioritising the long-term over short-term availability, primarily demonstrated through their recruiting strategy.

Downer sees the positive side in this being the case.

“If we might need to qualify some other athletes to help us, and manage the season, like we’ve got three Basketball ACT athletes, who have graciously come in and helped us with bodies – for them it’s a learning experience,” she said.

“They get the benefit of training with the best kids in the country, and we get the benefit that they get to help us out in times of need.”

Downer said it was important for this to not get twisted with a lack of ambition.

“Part of development is obviously learning to compete and learning to win,” she said.

“It’s not a challenge in the sense that we play differently when the others are gone. It’s more just making sure those other athletes feel supported in their development whilst they’re still learning to play at a high level.”

One in a similar position just a year ago was emerging young star Sitaya Fagan.

In her nine 2024 NBL1 appearances, Fagan only averaged six points in 22 minutes per contest on shooting splits (25/15/55), despite showing exciting defensive impact.

Since, she’s burst onto the scene, leading the CoE in 2025 as 2024 graduates Bonnie Deas and Monique Bobongie have departed.

The CoE assistant placed the Aussie Gem in high regard, as she has spearheaded the program to new heights at her times of availability. In 16 games with an expanded role, she has averaged 24 points, 11 rebounds, and four STOCKS (steals and blocks) per game. She’s shown more perimeter threat and an ability to draw contact.

"She (Fagan) came in as a 15-year-old kid, she was a baby and she still is really young and having to grow up away from home — the biggest leap for her has been in her maturity,” she said.

“She’s really wanting to take on a leadership role, and she’s leading by example… the confidence in herself has led to the on-court performance that she believes she can do it.”

Downer said that has been one of the most redeeming parts of overseeing the women’s program at the CoE.

“The legacy that I really want to leave as a coach is that these young ladies have the utmost confidence in their capacity, because of the work they have put in behind the scenes, from the hours on the floor and in the gym, and that they can walk out feeling really prepared in their approach to the game," she said.

While Downer said Fagan’s impact is at a generational level, and for that their ceiling is heightened with her playing, the assistant flagged that a more conservative approach will be taken this post season with Fagan and fellow Gem Zara Russell.

“They [Fagan, Zara Russell] played vital roles for the Gems, they’ve had a seven-day campaign and before that a camp in Portugal, so they’re coming off a significantly heavy load, so we have to be mindful of that,” she said.

“It’s not going be a win at all costs scenario with those two.”

Fagan and Russell will be game-time decisions against Canberra, with Downer noting their mid-week return from Europe and medical clearance as key factors.

Though, Downer said the team can’t depend on their availability to trump over the Nationals this Saturday afternoon, the team that took their playoff spot in 2024.

She believes the challenges to overcome on the weekend will arise mentally. A devastating third quarter that pioneered an early season triumph against Canberra was contrasted with a second half collapse in their second meeting.

“The last time we played them, we didn’t walk into that game the right way, we did not mentally prepare ourselves the way we should,” she said.

“Dealing with youth athletes is always trying to teach them that you have to approach every game the same way, whatever the process is.”

Alongside the learnings of their previous meeting, Downer said these challenges manifested in another, more unique fashion.

“One of the Canberra girls works for the AIS as a supervisor over at the residence, so they [CoE girls] know her really well, she gets to play against the athletes she works with and for the girls it’s a bit of a challenge because they hold her you know in high regard,” she said.

“So just being able to switch into work mode, everyone on court’s an enemy and inside the lines it’s go time. To differentiate that for them at this point in their lives is a challenge but that’s part of it because basketball’s an international game now and the likelihood of them running into someone when they go to college, when they play professionally, is really high.”

Downer recognises after an excellent start the team's recent form where they’ve lost six of their last eight games is not a great lead-in to the finals.

However, these games have shown valuable moments of resolve and maturity, and Downer wasn’t hesitant to praise her shorthanded squad for their efforts against fully grown opposition.

“I mean on the weekend we lost to Maitland by one and had an ATO (after timeout play) to win it, and we got a wide open look out of it off the whiteboard, hadn’t been able to practice it, so you know credit to the kids,” she said.

“That’s the stuff you can’t replicate in practice. It’s just not the same as being in front of a crowd, being fatigued, having played a whole game, having played the night before and a win’s on the line.”

That said, whilst the long-term messaging of playing “our way” won’t deviate as they grow as athletes, Downer said they wouldn’t downplay the stakes of the occasion to ease the heightened pressure that can fall upon young athletes.

“Everyone wants to play finals and they’re going to be playing their hardest,” she said.

“It’s about doubling down on the fact that it’s really important that we do things the way we want to do them, and we don’t go rogue at this point.”

As the CoE women step into the finals spotlight, the moment may be unfamiliar, but the challenge is not. With a young core that’s hardened by experience and a team identity forged through adversity, it’s very possible the CoE have a layer of untapped potential they’re yet to reach this season, and for that, the rest of the NBL1 East may have a reason to be on notice.