Bendigo Spirit 'rivalry' ignites Canberra Capitals' sell-out WNBL season-opener

The stage is set for a highly anticipated start to the Capitals' 2022-23 WNBL season, as a familiar face or two line up for the opposition.

Bendigo recruit Kelsey Griffin won two WNBL titles with the Capitals in 2018-19 and 2019-20 and was MVP in the latter season.

Now she's back with the team where her WNBL journey began, the Spirit, and she's not the only former Capital now in Victoria.

Alicia Froling and Kelly Wilson also landed in Bendigo in the off-season, along with Canberra's former assistant coach Kennedy Kereama.

That's sure to provoke mixed emotions for Capitals supporters at the National Convention Centre when the teams face off in the season opener.

"I'm sure our fans will welcome back KG and give her a big cheer, but I think that'll also create a sense of rivalry welcoming back all those names," University of Canberra director of sport and former Capitals coach Carrie Graf said.

"We're hoping we'll have close to a sellout game. This is a huge contest to play a quality team like Bendigo, with those Capitals from our team last season."

With the loss of so many key players, the Capitals squad has had a shake-up under new coach Kristen Veal.

Alex Bunton, Brittany Smart and Jade Melbourne make up the three-woman leadership group in place of a standalone captain, and the trio will be instrumental guiding the rest of the young squad to success.

Graf is confident that despite relying on a lot of youth this season, there's plenty of quality that may surprise their WNBL rivals.

"There's a lot of excitement within this group. The chemistry is obvious," she said.

"That's unique and fans will see that on the court. It is hard to orchestrate, but this group has got it."

"I'm sure for the inner sanctum of the coaching staff that will feel special."

Griffin was a major piece of the puzzle when the Capitals hit their stride in their last championship victory, and at the time it appeared as though the team were on track to replicate the long period of success they had during the first decade of the 2000s.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and hurdle after hurdle tested that momentum as all sports and their athletes were forced to adapt to the constantly changing situations presented to them.

Now this season COVID-19 is seemingly in the rear-view mirror for sports.

Crowds are returning to capacity, bubbles and restrictions are no more, and basketball in Canberra is primed to bounce back in style at every level.

Graf said membership numbers are now "close to back to where they were pre-COVID", and there's optimism the Capitals can finally start making up for all that lost turnstile revenue from the pandemic.

"The Caps organisation and team managed to handle a lot of adversity through those COVID times," Graf said.

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"But you can feel the energy - the athletes are excited to be back out and looking forward to a normal, non-COVID-impacted season, and back to strong crowds at NCCC.

"It had a huge impact in so many ways - on performance, on athlete health and wellbeing, on the team on the cusp of finals, not being able to host a semi-final, going down hit with COVID, and on young fans who love getting on the court post-game to get autographs.

"It's been like that for two years until now."

The Capitals' season-opener will be followed by a four-game away stretch that won't see them back in Canberra until December 10 when they take on the Sydney Flames.

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