Venom out to spoil the Jewels’ big night

Han Xu won’t be on court when the Geelong Venom open their WNBL27 campaign against the Tasmania Jewels on Thursday night, but the club’s marquee import is only days away from touching down in Australia.

Fresh from a semi-final exit with the New York Liberty in the WNBA Playoffs, the reigning WNBA Defensive Player of the Year is in line to make her Venom debut in the October 24 home-opener against the Southside Melbourne Flyers.

“She’ll arrive next week and then we’ll see what her health’s like and what she needs and all that sort of stuff and we’ll go from there,” Venom coach Cheryl Chambers said.

Han’s absence aside, Geelong heads into the season at full strength, and Chambers has made no secret of where the bar sits.

“You never start a season without thinking you’re going to make finals, so we’re certainly talking about wanting to make the finals,” she said.

Reigning champions the Townsville Fire are the benchmark, and Chambers is happy to be doing the chasing.

“It’s actually quite nice to chase rather than be the chased a little bit,” she said.

“Townsville, they’re a really good team, been together for a long time, which definitely helps in our sport and they’ve added some talent, so I think that they’re probably the ones to chase.”

The Fire aren’t the only side on Geelong’s radar, with Chambers also flagging Sydney’s recruiting haul and Perth’s enduring consistency.

“Sydney has got a huge team now, they’ve recruited really well, so I think that they’ll be in the chase,” she said.

“Perth is always good, and then hopefully, we can throw something in among it.”

Before any of that, the Venom have a slice of history to be part of. Thursday’s Season-opener is the Jewels’ first-ever WNBL game, and star Alex Sharp can’t wait to soak it in.

“I think just the opportunity to be able to play the inaugural game in Tassie against their new team and be in that atmosphere with our team, that’s kind of mostly new as well … it’s going to be crazy,” she said.

“We probably don’t know yet how loud it’s going to be … it’s going to be a sick atmosphere.”

The Tasmania Jewels and Geelong Venom tip off WNBL27 at 7pm AEDT on Thursday, live on 9Now and ESPN via Disney+.

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