The Southside Flyers are an Australian professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
team based in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Victoria. The Flyers compete in the
Women's National Basketball League
The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...
(WNBL) and play their home games at the
State Basketball Centre. For sponsorship purposes, they are known as the Jayco Southside Flyers.
The team was founded as the Dandenong Rangers in 1992. In 2019, the team was rebranded as the Southside Flyers.
History
The Dandenong Rangers made their debut in the
Women's National Basketball League
The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...
(WNBL) in the
1992 season after Dandenong Basketball Association (DBA) obtained a WNBL license from the
Nunawading Spectres. The Rangers went on to finish as runners-up in their first season, losing 58–54 in the grand final to the
Perth Breakers. In the
2003–04 and
2004–05 seasons, the Rangers won back-to-back
WNBL championships. They finished as runners-up in
2005–06. The team won their third championship in
2011–12 and finished runners-up again in
2016–17.
In July 2019, the Dandenong Rangers franchise was purchased from DBA by long-time sponsor
Gerry Ryan and rebranded to the Southside Flyers. The team continued to play at
Dandenong Stadium until moving to the
State Basketball Centre in 2022.
In the
2019–20 WNBL season, the Flyers finished as runners-up. In the
2020 WNBL Hub season in Queensland, the Flyers won their first championship and fourth in franchise history. They finished runners-up again in
2022–23.
The Flyers won their second WNBL championship and the franchise's fifth in the
2023–24 season. In the third and deciding game of the 2024 grand final series, the Flyers won 115–81 over the
Perth Lynx, breaking the record for both the biggest winning margin in a grand final and the highest score.
Following the 2023–24 season, the Flyers sought to rebrand as the Melbourne Flyers following the transfer of the
Melbourne Boomers
Geelong United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Geelong, Victoria. United compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Geelong Arena.
Beginning as the Bulleen Boomers in 1984, the ...
' WNBL license to Geelong. The name change was initially accepted but later declined by the new league owners.
Season-by-season records
Source
WNBL
Players
Current roster
Former players
*
Jessica Bibby
*
Stephanie Blicavs
*
Liz Cambage
Elizabeth Folake "Liz" Cambage ( ; born 18 August 1991) is a British-born Australian professional basketball player for the Sichuan Yuanda of the Women's Chinese Basketball Association. She won the Women's National Basketball League in 2011 and ...
*
Aimie Clydesdale
*
Alison Downie
*
Jacinta Kennedy
*
Kathleen MacLeod
*
Anneli Maley
*
Emily McInerny
*
Leilani Mitchell
*
Jenna O'Hea
*
Laia Palau
*
Kayla Pedersen
*
Cappie Pondexter
*
Stephanie Reid
*
Mercedes Russell
*
Penny Taylor
*
Samantha Thornton
*
Louella Tomlinson
*
Carly Wilson
References
External links
Official WNBL club website
{{Melbourne Sports Teams
Basketball teams in Melbourne
Women's National Basketball League teams
Basketball teams established in 1992
1992 establishments in Australia
Sport in the City of Greater Dandenong