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 Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. 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 The State Basketball Centre is a sports arena located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, used primarily for basketball. The stadium features 18 courts, including one basketball show court with seating for 3,200. The stadium houses the offices o ...

. 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

(WNBL) in the 1992 season after Dandenong Basketball Association (DBA) obtained a WNBL license from the

Nunawading Spectres Nunawading Spectres is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Melbourne East Basketball Association (MEBA), the major administrative basketball ...

. The Rangers went on to finish as runners-up in their first season, losing 58–54 in the grand final to the

Perth Breakers The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at both Bendat Basketball Centre and Perth High Perfor ...

. 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 Gerard Ryan (4 June 1956 – 30 April 2010) was an Irish people, Irish presenter of radio and television employed by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). He presented ''The Gerry Ryan Show'' on radio station RTÉ 2fm each weekday morning from 1 ...

and rebranded to the Southside Flyers. The team continued to play at

Dandenong Stadium Dandenong Stadium is an Australian sports and entertainment centre in Dandenong, Victoria. The stadium is home to Volleyball Victoria and Dandenong Basketball Association. The stadium features 10 basketball courts, 7 volleyball courts and 3 beac ...

until moving to the

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 dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

. 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 The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at both WA Basketball Centre, Bendat Basketball Centre ...

, 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 Kathleen MacLeod (born 23 October 1986) is an Australian basketball player who was part of the Australian team that won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Personal MacLeod is from Melbourne. She has four siblings, two brothers and t ...

Anneli Maley Anneli Maley (born 1 September 1998) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Perth Redbacks of the NBL1 West. She is also contracted with the Perth Lynx of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). She made her WNBL debut i ...

Emily McInerny Emily Katherine "Macca" McInerny (born 30 April 1978) is a former Australian women's basketball player. Biography McInerny was a member of the Australia women's national basketball team roster during the late 1990s and 2000s and was a member ...

Leilani Mitchell Leilani Seamah Mitchell (born June 15, 1985) is an American-Australian professional basketball player for the Southside Flyers of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). Mitchell was drafted 25th overall by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2008 ...

Jenna O'Hea Jenna O'Hea (born 6 June 1987) is a former Australian professional basketball player and former captain of Australia's national team, the Opals. O'Hea was the captain of the Australian Women's basketball team (Opals) at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic ...

Laia Palau Laia Palau Altés (born 10 September 1979) is a Spanish professional basketball player, currently playing for Spanish team Spar CityLift Girona. At 314, she is the most capped player in the Spain women's national basketball team, after being in ...

* Kayla Pedersen *

Cappie Pondexter Cappie Marie Pondexter (born January 7, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player. She was born in Oceanside, California and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Pondexter is known for her scrappy play, quick crossovers and midrange ju ...

Stephanie Reid Stephanie Reid (born 22 July 1996) is an Australian basketball player for Sopron Basket of the EuroCup Women. Reid is a Women's National Basketball League Champion with the Townsville Fire in 2023, a NBL1 North Champion with the Townsville Fl ...

Mercedes Russell Mercedes Brianna Russell (born July 27, 1995) is an American professional basketball player who is currently a free agent. She was drafted 22nd overall by the New York Liberty in the 2018 WNBA draft. Russell played center for the Tennessee Lady V ...

Penny Taylor Penelope Jane Taylor (born 24 May 1981) is an Australian former professional basketball player and assistant coach. During her 19-year career, Taylor spent the most time with the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, where she won three championships. S ...

* Samantha Thornton *

Louella Tomlinson Louella Brooke Tomlinson (born 8 April 1988) is an Australian former professional basketball player. She retired in June 2021. Early life and career Tomlinson was born and raised in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria. She moved to Canbe ...

* 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