'Extreme interest': Bullets determined to win 10th team

• Brisbane Bullets have reaffirmed their interest in being the WNBL's 10th team
• It comes after the WNBL announced Tasmania will enter the competition in season 2026-27
• Brisbane has not had a WNBL team since 1996

The Brisbane Bullets will submit an expression of interest to be the WNBL's 10th license, reaffirming their "extreme interest" in having a team based in the Queensland capital for the first time in almost three decades.

"A Brisbane WNBL team has been a key priority for the Bullets for the past three years," Brisbane Bullets Malcolm Watts said.

"We will be making a submission via the EOI."

It comes after the WNBL announced Tasmania would enter a team into Australia's longest professional women's sporting competition for season 2026-27.

WNBL CEO Jennie Sager also made it clear the league's aim is to expand to 10 teams next season.

Watts told basketball.com.au in March bringing a WNBL team back to Brisbane has been a priority for the club ever since he joined.

Basketball Queensland CEO Joshua Pascoe said the governing body would be supportive of any successful WNBL bid to bring a team back to Brisbane.

"Basketball Queensland sees a WNBL Team in Brisbane as a key strategic need for the sport in the lead up to Brisbane 2032," he told basketball.com.au.

"The South East Queensland corner currently has an NBL Team, two National Wheelchair League Men's Teams and one National Wheelchair League Women's Team, two Suncorp Super Netball Women's Teams, two AFL Women's Teams, two NRL Women's Teams and one A League Women's Team.

"Yet basketball, the second largest participation sport in the state with a significant number of SEQ players representing the Opals and already playing in the WNBL for other teams does not have a team.

"Basketball Queensland will support any successful bid for a team to re-enter the WNBL both through working with the league and with any successful bid party."

Pascoe said an epic NBL1 North women's grand final series showed why Brisbane needs a WNBL team.

"One only has to have been at Rowland Cowan Stadium last week to watch the NBL1 North Women's Grand Final with the amount of current, former and future WNBL on talent on show from the Brisbane Region, combined with the level of support from the community to know that a team would be successful here," he said.

Sager would not guarantee the 10th team would be based in Brisbane but saw it as a key area for the league to have a presence.

The Bullets are not the only group bidding for the 10th license in Brisbane with another group submitting an EOI.

basketball.com.au will have more details on that group in the coming weeks.