Opals squad member and two-time Olympian Michelle Brogan has signed on to play with Dandenong Rangers in the upcoming WNBL season.By Glen Atwell
TWO-TIME Olympian and Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) life member Michelle Brogan has joined the Dandenong Rangers.
The 34-year-old caught the eye of Dandenong coach Dale Waters after making a stellar start to the current Big V season with the Melbourne Tigers.
Brogan officially retired from basketball at the end of the 2004 season after 257 WNBL games and 16 play-off appearances.
But new coach Dale Waters, who said he had had his recruiting eye on Brogan since being appointed in February, wooed the veteran back to Dandenong.
“I knew Michelle was aiming to play at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and her form in the Big V this season had been great,” he said.
“Michelle’s ambition and drive to succeed fits nicely with the culture at Dandenong and she will add another dimension to our offensive punch.”
Brogan is a four-time WNBL championship winner and first played in the WNBL with the Australian Institute of Sport in 1988, where she spent three seasons before returning home to Adelaide to play for the Noarlunga Tigers in 1991.
Noarlunga merged with West Adelaide in 1992 to become Adelaide City, where Brogan spent the next four seasons.
It was in that period that she claimed a historic championship three-peat under the guidance of current Opals coach Jan Stirling.
In 1997 Brogan joined Sydney, playing two seasons before linking with the Melbourne Tigers for the 1999, 2000 and 2001 seasons.
She returned home to Adelaide in 2001, playing the 2001-02 and 2003-04 seasons.
This year Brogan has averaged 15.3 points and 13.2 rebounds per game with the Melbourne Tigers.
