Rollers announce World Championship team

Basketball Australia has announced the final 12 athletes selected to represent the Rollers at the 2026 IWBF World Championships in Ottawa, Canada, from 9–19 September.

Ten players return from last year’s Asia Oceania Zone Championships gold medal-winning team, with Jaylen Brown (Red Dust Heelers), Jontee Brown (Wollongong Roller Hawks), Steven Elliott (Wollongong Roller Hawks), Phil Evans (Wollongong Roller Hawks), Tristan Knowles (Wollongong Roller Hawks), Bill Latham (Manly Wheel Eagles), Tom O’Neill-Thorne (Manly Wheel Eagles), Frank Pinder (Perth Wheelcats), Luke Pople (Wollongong Roller Hawks) and Jeremy Tyndall (Red Dust Heelers) all earning selection.

Head Coach Brad Ness said the Rollers’ depth would be one of their greatest strengths heading into Canada.

“We have a great mix of youth and experience now after having six new players at the Paris Paralympic Games in 2024. The new players have all now played another 40-plus games as Rollers.

“Depth is the main strength to this group; we run 12 deep and have players that can either interchange one for one during the game or fit into specific line-ups that can change the style of play that we are looking to implement on the fly.”

The team is rounded out by returning Paris Paralympians Sam White (Manly Wheel Eagles) and Eithen Leard (Southern Districts Spartans), with Leard fresh off a Commonwealth Games 3×3 gold medal in Glasgow alongside fellow Rollers team members Tom O’Neill-Thorne and Luke Pople.

“Sam is a veteran and knows exactly what his role is coming back after injury and he will fit straight back in and can assist the team in a few different line-ups. He brings security in the low-point category.

“Eithen has been working on his game over the last two years under the guidance of the national coaches and we saw firsthand at the Commonwealth Games the improvements he has made in the areas required.

“He is an X factor coming off the bench that I think every team in the world would love to have and will only add to the high-intensity game style we now play.”

There will be no easing into the tournament for the Rollers, who have been drawn into a stacked Pool B alongside Argentina, Türkiye and Great Britain, with Ness welcoming what he believes is one of the tournament’s toughest pools.

“We love a challenge, that’s why we play basketball – to play against the best teams. We will need to get off to a good start and if we do that then it sets us up nicely for the back end of the tournament.

“Our mentality is we need to beat everyone if we want to win the World Cup, so at some stage you are going to have to beat the best teams in the world. This time around, we just need to do it from the first game.

“I think our experience from Paris has helped us with this. We have been in this situation before and now have lived experience on what we need to do collectively as a team to make sure we get the best possible pathway through the crossover and quarterfinals to get through to the medal rounds.”

Ness said the team has evolved since their seventh-place finish at the 2023 World Championships, developing a fast-paced and aggressive style of play while strengthening the culture within the program.

“This group has really bought into the style we want to play, high-intensity transition basketball building pressure for every second of the game.

“We have a saying, ‘TNT’ – Takes No Talent, which relates to all things on and off the court that any player can do like loose ball gets, picking up after yourself, extra free throws at practice, and they have really bought into this which has strengthened our culture and accountability to making sure we are the best versions of ourselves and the best version of the Rollers that we can be.”