Players to Watch in the Semi Finals | WNBL26

WNBL26 Finals kick off today, wSaturday 15 February 4pm AEDT with the Perth Lynx hosting the Bendigo Spirit at the Perth High Performance Centre to start the Series.

Then, on Sunday 15 February 4pm AEDT, the Townsville Fire will take on the Southside Melbourne Flyers at the Townsville Entertainment Centre to start the second Series.

With star power lightning up every matchup, here are the players to watch from each team:

With the Semi Finals series starting Saturday, here’s one player to watch from each team.

Southside Melbourne Flyers: Cayla George

Second on the WNBL all-time games played leader board, Cayla George’s experience, leadership and physicality loom as the x-factor in this series.

Across 18 WNBL seasons, there is no strategy or scheme she hasn’t faced. There is no play, strategy or scheme she hasn’t seen in 18 WNBL seasons. With Townsville boasting a smaller front court with Alicia Froling and Alex Fowler as their backline defence, George’s unrivalled skillset and basketball IQ could pose serious problems in the paint. can George’s unrivalled skillset down low cause the Fire issues on the interior?

Averaging 17.6 points against Townsville in their four-game regular season series (2.6 more than her season average), she’s proven to be a handful for their defence. With the match-up advantage, can George lead her Flyers to another Grand Final?

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Townsville Fire: Miela Sowah 

The Finals presents the perfect stage for Miela Sowah to showcase exactly why Townsville brought her to the Fire. 

In last season’s Grand Final series, we saw the Fire’s offence come to a halt with an average of 57.5 points against Bendigo when their average for the season was 81.2 per game. This highlighted the need for reliable scoring. Sowah was brought in as the player to spark their offence and deliver under pressure, and she has done exactly that all season.

With their offence screeching to a halt, averaging an astonishing 57.5 points against Bendigo in last season’s Grand Final (season average of 81.2), the Fire recruited Sowah to be the remedy for any scoring drought. 

Making the All-WNBL Second Team in back-to-back years, Sowah has lived up to everything Head Coach Shannon Seebohm could have wanted, averaging a career-high 17.6 points and three triples per game.

With Southside’s physical defence setting the tone, perimeter shooting and mid-range scoring will be more important than ever. Can Sowah, alongside Abbey Ellis, Lucy Olsen and Courtney Woods stretch the Flyers' defence and make another Championship run?

Perth Lynx: Amy Atwell

The Paris Olympian has the chance to completely take over the WNBL26 Finals.

Looking for redemption after Perth’s painful Semi Final loss last season to Townsville, where an injured Atwell only scored 11 points and shot 3-11 from deep, a healthy, confident campaign now shapes as the perfect opportunity to flip the narrative. Can a healthy and confident season flip the narrative?

With a season-high of 32 and a low of four, Atwell has had inconsistent moments. However, with the focus on Han Xu, Anneli Maley, Ally Wilson and Alex Ciabbatoni (who all made the All-WNBL Teams), will Atwell be able to fly under the radar, knock down shots and completely break open Bendigo’s stellar defence?

Bendigo Spirit: Isobel Borlase

This is the real test of whether Isobel Borlase is truly a WNBA prospect or not.

After she was drafted in 2024 by the Atlanta Dream with the 20th overall pick, Borlase has gone on a meteoric run, winning bronze in the Paris Olympics, gold in the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup and most recently, Borlase was named the WNBL26 MVP at 21-years-old. 

As she prepares for her first WNBL Finals appearance, Borlase steps into the spotlight after a historic regular season, leading the league with 22.9 points per game and dominating the MVP voting. With her sights firmly set on a Championship and future in the WNBA, the next few weeks now loom as the most defining stretch of her young career and a chance to prove she is ready for the next step. 

With her first finals game coming up, can Borlase star under the bright lights after averaging a league-high 22.9 points and completely dominating the MVP polls? In her MVP speech, she said her focuses are the Championship and the WNBA – meaning the next two-to-three weeks will be the most important in her short career so far to prove she is truly capable of taking the next step.