Perth Lynx captain Anneli Maley wants to win WNBL championship for the entire WA basketball community

A WNBL championship is the missing piece in Perth Lynx co-captain Anneli Maley’s glittering basketball career, but she is just as motivated to win the title for the players who have spent decades building the club to what it is today. Maley will play in her third WNBL grand final when the Lynx face Townsville Fire in the opening game of the best-of-three series in Queensland on Thursday. She was a 21-year-old bench player during the 2019-20 grand final with Southside, losing the first game by two points and the second by three. Then Maley captained Perth to the 2024 grand final, missed the shot that could have won the Lynx the championship and suffered the heartache of being beaten in game three. One of the game’s biggest stars, Maley is a WNBL MVP and Lynx MVP, has won medals for the Australian Opals and 3x3 Gangarrus, and was selected for the 2024 Olympics, but a championship has always eluded her. “It’s my third grand final series, and I’ve never got a chip, so it is something that I want,” Maley told The West Australian. “We are playing to win, and I am playing for these girls because they are something special to me. It is something I really want. “I’m excited. Obviously, we’ve fallen short in the last few years, so it will be nice to be on the big stage. “As a team, club and basketball player, you lose more games than you win. But part of growth is failing forward. Those last times weren’t our time, and maybe this one will be.” Maley has embraced Western Australia since moving to the Lynx and understands how significant it would be to win the club’s second championship, and first since 1992. She said the Lynx are playing for the entire WA basketball community. “Every time we put on this jersey, we are doing so for the people who wore it before us,” she said. “It’s bigger than the group and bigger than the players, so we are proud to put it on. We know what we are representing. It is the wider Perth community, the wider basketball community and all of the female players who have worn this jersey in the past. It is special. “A lot of former players come to our games and sit courtside. They come to post-game events, too. We know we are lucky to have past players being part of our community.”