Snakes eye championship around "special" talent

As Geelong prepare for its third season in the WNBL, and second as the Venom, the team have undergone a revamp to ensure success not just this season, but moving forward.

The head of the snake, so to speak, is new Head Coach Cheryl Chambers, who was appointed to her role in March.

With three championships and three Coach of the Year awards to her name, Chambers is excited for the new challenge in Geelong.

"Jumping on board was a no-brainer for me, as Geelong is a place that I absolutely love," she said.

"The area down there's wonderful. I've got family down there, and the club's been awesome and welcoming.

"To be in a city where sport is such a huge thing and get the WNBL and women's sport front and centre [of people's minds] is really exciting."

A bit part of achieving that is building a roster that can make a deep finals run, which is what Chambers has achieved during the off-season.

"When you build a roster, you have to look for a bit of everything, and we've got that," she said.

"We've got some youth, we've got some experience, we've got some bigs, we've got some smalls, we've got some extroverts, and we've got some introverts.

"Getting the team to gel together is a really important part of championships, as a lot of talented teams don't win championships.

"It's really important that you get them to gel together and we've got some personalities that I think will gel together."

One of those personalities is Chinese superstar Han Xu, who joins the Venom after playing WNBL26 with Perth.

"She (Han) is flexible, as she can shoot the three, while getting more and more physical every day," Chambers said.

"I've been watching her in the WNBA, and she's putting the ball to the floor and going at people physically.

"[Honestly] she does a bit of everything. She can guard up internationally. I've seen her high-hedge and do all those things that'll make her a really good defender as well.

"[Most importantly] she wants to win a championship, [as her teammates do] so I think that's pretty special to have in a team."

The return of Han to the WNBL for a second season is massive for the League too.

"It's awesome [that she's back]," Chambers said.

"It puts eyes on our League, and our League is [already] great, but it only makes it even better when you've got someone there who people all around the world are tuning in and want to watch play."

Other recruits for the Venom include Maddy Rocci, Bec Cole, Dakota Crichton and Zhang Wanglai, while Indiah Bowyer, Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard, Lilly Rotunno and Alex Sharp all return from last season.

"It's super important [to attract players with high pedigrees, especially when you've got a player like Han, as she can't play on her own," Chambers said.

"Last year's final game [against Townsville] was probably the best game she's ever had, so I'm really excited to see what she does this year.

"Bec bring that real championship experience and grit, which are hard to come by, especially in the Playoffs.

"Having players like these helps the product continue to get better each and every year, and I have no doubt we're going to play a fun style that Geelong fans will want to get around."

Geelong open their WNBL27 season against Tasmania in their historic first game at MyState Bank Arena on October 15.