Opals stars threaten Basketball Australia boycott

Liz Cambage and Jenna O'Hea posted messages of solidarity with the black lives matter movement on Instagram, demanding Basketball Australia take action.

"We as an Opals playing group stand in support of our black and Indigenous players and will not be training until we see support and change from our sporting organisation," the pair both wrote on social media.

"We say enough is enough."

A statement on the Basketball Australia dated Sunday, June 14, reads "we have developed a reconciliation action plan which is now with Reconciliation Australia. We have also commenced the development of a diversity and inclusion action plan, which highlights cultural diversity as a key pillar of our framework."

MORE SPORT

Opals players have no national team camps on the radar with players instead training in their home cities, many with an eye on the looming WNBL season.

"Basketball Australia made a statement on Sunday strongly condemning racism and discrimination in all its forms and reinforced our solidarity with black communities, here at home and around the world, in proclaiming that Black Lives Matter," BA said on Thursday night.

"Basketball Australia is committed to eliminating racism and discrimination, and acknowledges we all have a role in building a more tolerant and just society.

"We are in dialogue with the Opals' playing group on this significant global and local matter."

Meanwhile, Canberra Capitals coach Paul Goriss hopes a longer-than-usual pre-season will make up for lost time and give his side the grit they need to chase down a WNBL three-peat.

The Capitals will have eight weeks to prepare for their title defence when they return to Canberra on October 5, almost double the length of last year's pre-season.

With no Opals campaigns planned nor international players to wait for, Goriss will have the bulk of his squad for the entire period.

It means the Capitals could be better prepared than ever before but on the other hand, Goriss says they'll need as much time as possible to rebuild match fitness after the coronavirus-shutdown.

"The girls will probably hate the length of the pre-season being seven or eight weeks, but I'll love it," Gorris said.

"We're going to have a new group with a couple of new faces so even though we have seven returning, getting them up to speed and building chemistry is really important.

"It'll be great to have that length of pre-season knowing some of them haven't played basketball since last year's championship. There's no NBL1 or SEABL currently, so the girls won't be coming off a second-tier season.

"We'll need that extra time to get up their fitness but also to get them back into their basketball and game touch."

Goriss may consider playing trial matches against rival WNBL teams but those plans would depend on travel restrictions and club budgets.

He'll now shift his focus to finding development players to round-out the 2020-21 roster, having filled the final major vacancy with Brittany Smart.

"She has that veteran presence and I think we needed that with a young back-court with Tahlia [Tupaea], Abby [Cubillo] and Maddi Rocci," Goriss said.

"What strikes me about her is she's a true competitor. I think every time we've played against her she's played a big shot or made a big play.

"She can shoot the ball which adds what we need around our front court. Her competitiveness and experience is going to help those young players along the way."