Canberra Capitals set for Keely Froling's family 'madness' in WNBL

First glance would suggest the Canberra Capitals young gun had traded hoops for haymakers during the WNBL off-season when she returned home to Townsville.

But this was the result of one-on-one basketball games with her sister Alicia, and now the twins are set to reignite the sibling rivalry for real.

Keely's Capitals will meet Alicia's Bendigo Spirit at Mackay Stadium on Monday night, with the Canberra star joking referees will be a welcome addition this time around.

Because their off-season battles got so heated their dad Shane, a former Australian representative who spent the best part of two decades in the NBL, had to step in as a whistle blower.

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"If anyone saw the one-on-one battles we had in the off-season during COVID times, they'd be excited and probably a little bit nervous for us," the Capitals sensation said.

"I'm glad there will be refs in the game this time because there was definitely blood drawn in the off-season. Hopefully they can keep that under control.

"It got really full on. Dad actually had start refereeing, because it just turned into tackle rugby, I don't know, it was madness.

"She made my nose bleed again, I bit through my tongue, there were all sorts of elbows and things flying everywhere.

"It's just because we're so competitive, right, no one wants to lose. It does get a little bit more physical when it's your sister and you don't really care if you give her an elbow or a shoulder."

The Bendigo clash will cap off a whirlwind 48 hours for the Capitals after they faced the Townsville Fire on Sunday night.

But that's the life WNBL players across all eight clubs are adjusting to in an unprecedented season which has every team playing 14 games in a month before the top four advance to the playoffs.

The Capitals face an incredibly hectic week ahead with a game against the high-flying Melbourne Boomers on Wednesday, followed by five games in an eight-day stretch from Saturday onwards.

Froling has stepped up to take a bigger role for the Capitals already this season in the midst of an injury crisis which has sidelined a raft of key stars.

Marianna Tolo has played on limited minutes while Mikaela Ruef battles an ankle issue, with coach Paul Goriss opting to ease the likes of Kelsey Griffin, Britt Smart and Tahlia Tupaea back into the fold.

The absence of some of Canberra's seasoned campaigners turns 24-year-old Froling into one of the club's most experienced players on the court come Monday night.

Now she is poised to lock horns with her sister with Alicia's emergence in the Bendigo line-up coming more than a year after she first signed, with her entire 2019-20 campaign wiped out by injury.

So on a stage far bigger than the one they grew up on, but not so far from their hometown of Townsville, there will come a moment when they both stop to think about the significance of playing against each other at the elite level.

"That'll probably be after the game, when we've won," Froling laughed.

"On the court, it's just white line fever. It'll be fun and great to have family there watching, but it'll definitely be after the game where we think 'that was special'."

Shane will be able to watch from afar rather than pulling his daughters up for stray elbows like he did as a referee at home. So too will their mother Jenny, a four-time WNBL champion.

But which side of the fence will they sit on?

"It's actually similar to last year when the boys [Sam and Harry] played each other [in the NBL], I think they'll be on the fence and just hope we both play well," Froling said.

WNBL

Round two: Monday, November 16 - Canberra Capitals v Bendigo Spirit at Mackay Stadium, 6pm.