Canberra capitals eye WNBL three-peat in Queensland hub

A revised season model will see all eight WNBL teams move to the sunshine state for a season beginning on November 12, and wrapping up with a grand final on December 20.

Each team will play 14 regular season games as part of a 56-match regular season fixture, before the top four teams advance to the playoffs.

The new fixture boasts a revamped finals series featuring two semi-finals, a preliminary final and a one-off grand final, moving away from the three-match series which has been in place for the past five seasons.

A cash injection from the Queensland state government will see Cairns, Mackay and Townsville host the entire season, with the Capitals set to take a squad of 12 and support staff on the road.

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"Managing some of our older players and those niggling injuries will be down to myself, the players and the medical staff in how we manage those back-to-back games," Capitals coach Paul Goriss said.

"I just had that meeting with one of our team captains in [Marianna] Tolo. My mantra around this is we don't need to be heroes, we don't need to be putting ourselves at risk of injury for the sake of a game.

"Our number one priority is keeping them healthy. There may be games people have to sit out or play limited minutes. That's going to be dependent on the draw and how people pull up.

"Continual improvement is going to be necessary throughout the 30 days before finals comes. That's what I'm looking at.

"Being in a hub and living with each other 24/7, the team that gets along really well on and off the court, the team that's fit and improves continually every day is going to be the team that holds up the trophy."

Townsville Stadium and the Townsville Entertainment Centre will combine to host 32 games, including the entire finals series. Mackay Basketball Stadium will hold eight games, while Cairns Pop-Up Arena will showcase 20 matches.

The fixture, broadcast details and ticketing information are set to be announced this month with Tolo desperate to play in her hometown of Mackay.

But the move north means the Capitals will be unable to play in front of their Canberra fans, who players and staff have worked tirelessly to connect with in recent seasons.

Crowds have risen at Capitals games throughout the regular season and fans have flocked to finals blockbusters in Canberra, but Tolo hopes fans stick by the club as they find a home away from home.

Capitals officials are piecing together membership packages for the new season in the hope of retaining support, with Tolo adding the prospect of playing in Queensland is far better than not playing at all.

"I've thought about that a lot. It was made clear this was the only option for us," Tolo said.

"Part of that was we knew we had to take a 15 per cent pay cut as athletes as well, and without that we wouldn't have had a season this year.

"There were a lot of things that came into play. It's going to be physically and mentally challenging.

"We'll have a bigger squad up in the hub, which means people get an opportunity to play on the road that wouldn't normally have an opportunity.

"We'll rely on them definitely a lot more because we can't play with a short rotation when you're playing so often. It's a great opportunity for our young players and development players to get a shot at making the most of opportunities."