Women’s UBL squad ready to defend national crown

The Eagles’ title defence kicks off next Wednesday when they head north to take on the University of Sunshine Coast, with the team to be led again by Cam Burt as head coach and 2022 UBL championship stars Meg Stagoll and Meg McCarthy elevated to the role of co-captains.

With seven new players added to the 2023 UBL squad, building team cohesion has been the key focus of the preseason trial sessions and training camps, which according to McCarthy has them primed for another tilt at national championship success.

“I'm extremely excited - I think we've got a really good group of girls this year,” McCarthy said.

“There's a lot of new ones, but we're already getting along on the court and you can already see our chemistry coming together.

“I learned a lot from last season. I think the most important thing was our chemistry, like off the court, which is what made us better on the court. We're making it a big focus this year (team culture), like organising to go out for dinners together and just getting to know each other because then you really begin to respect each other on the court as players and get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses.”

For Burt, now in his third season as La Trobe Women’s Basketball team head coach, the loss of team stalwarts Jayde Kirk, Eilish Feehan, Kiara Mountford and Jamieson Weddle from last year’s UBL championship squad due to graduation presents its own set of challenges from a coaching perspective.

However, Burt believes the team is well placed to fill the void left by the graduating stars given a strong senior core of players will remain in Eagles’ colours in 2023. Along with captains Stagoll and McCarthy, the likes of Piper Dunlop, Anna Burrows, Bianca Keogh and Grace Whiteley will continue to add a nice blend of experience to the influx of younger talent to the playing roster.

“Excitement is the first word that comes to mind,” Burt says, when asked about the make-up of the La Trobe squad for 2023.

“We lost a couple of key cogs, but I’m really happy with what we got as far as recruitment. We’ve had some really nice players fall on our lap and we're ready to go again with a good mix of the old crew that won it for us last season and a lot of talent from a bunch of the new crew.

“It’s tough to replace who we lost. But the culture that we build here is important and I think that will help us get through.”

Of the new faces, Burt is expecting Caitlin Richardson (Bendigo Braves) and Steph Georgantas (Ringwood Hawks) to play a prominent role as the Eagles seek back-to-back UBL titles.

“Caitlin Richardson is going to be a problem for a lot of teams,” Burt said.

“She (Richardson) played for me for five years in Bendigo and she's an All-Star five-calibre player for Youth Champ Women for Big V. She's on the (Bendigo) Spirit training body roster and she's with the Bendigo Lady Braves.

“Steph we've got from Ringwood; she’s a lights-out shooter. Piper (Dunlop) is going to love playing with her. They play together at Ringwood, so we have that nice connection there with them already. There's a couple that are really exciting.”

As for looking into the crystal ball for what he expects of his side this season, Burt is not shying away from playoffs being the target for the Eagles once again.

“The expectation is really just to make the playoffs and anything can happen from there, but you always hope for a little bit better than that,” Burt said.

“Look, I'm not I'm not going to ask for another undefeated season. It'd be nice, but they don't happen often. We want to make the playoffs and make some noise once we get there.

“But until that point, we'll keep it semi low key and just keep doing what we're doing.”

For more information on the University Basketball League, visit the UniSport Australia website. To keep up-to-date with our Men’s and Women’s team’s results, follow La Trobe Sport on Facebook and Instagram.

2023 La Trobe University Women’s Basketball UBL Squad

Coach: Cam Burt

Assistant Coach: Cody Norman (Ringwood Hawks)

2023 La Trobe University Women’s Basketball UBL Fixture

Finals:

Week 1: week commencing 15 May – Top 8 playoffs (centralised location TBC)

Week 2: week commencing 22 May – Semi Finals (venues to be determined by ladder position) Week 3: week commencing 29 May – Grand Finals (venues to be determined by ladder position)