'Thrown into the fire': Opals' youth gain hard lessons in defeat

Australian Opals coach Sandy Brondello had no complaints about her players' effort and commitment after Spain knocked them out of the FIBA World Cup, but she conceded a lack of height and experience ultimately proved costly.

The Opals were already missing key depth after Ezi Magbegor suffered a serious knee injury late in the tournament and Cayla George sat out due to pregnancy. Brondello admitted she couldn't help but think about what might have been had those players been available, alongside the likes of Sami Whitcomb (knee), Alanna Smith (leg) and Jade Melbourne (flu).

"A lack of size hurt us and, in the past, we've been extremely big," Brondello admitted. "We've got to find solutions for that."

"We had so many injuries. It's really hard to compete against the best in the world when you don't have all your best players.

"The players got to play more minutes than they probably expected.

"They were thrown into the fire, and what a great experience. It's going to help us as we move forward."

Brondello said there were some key learnings in the loss to Belgium during the group stage, which ultimately cost the Opals a direct path to the quarter-finals.

"We didn't play well against Belgium because we went away from what works best for us. The learning is staying true to our identity," she said.

"I don't think we shot the ball really well [during the tournament]. Losing Sami Whitcomb, Cayla George and Alanna Smith, they're our best shooters, hurt us a little bit. That's something we need to focus on.

"Defensively, I think we had some lapses too.

"There were too many turnovers, things that we can control, but I think we've learned so much too. We saw some growth."

The Opals will now shift their focus to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, looking to address the issues that brought their World Cup campaign to such an early end.

"It's very weird. It was very quiet, very unusual. We were all looking around like, 'Is this it?'," Steph Talbot said post-game.

"Unless you're in it, you have to go through it to learn. You have to be in the middle of it and understand the pressure that you're under while trying to execute at a high level," Brondello said.

"What we've learned is that the lesson of the experience is always positive. We've learned a lot, but at the time it might not have always looked pretty."