Joyce makes stirring return to lead Miners women

A TRUE Ballarat basketball legend is returning to the helm of the Ballarat Miners women’s team.

Basketball Ballarat has announced the appointment of Brendan Joyce as women’s head coach for the 2026 NBL1 season.

He replaces Kennedy Kereama, currently coaching the Bendigo Spirit’s WNBL team, and whose three-year deal to coach the Miners expired at the end of the 2025 season.

Joyce needs no introduction to long-time basketball fans in Ballarat, having first coached the Miners women’s team in 1994, winning two VBL championships before launching his NBL coaching career with Wollongong Hawks in 1996.

He returned in 2018 to lead the men’s program and now reunites with the club again to guide the women’s team.

Joyce said he was excited to not only return to Ballarat, but to be back with the Miners.

“I’ve been fortunate to gain extensive experience coaching both female and male teams in Australia, and more recently in Asia, where I was proud to coach a team to a national championship in Taiwan,” he said.

“Coaching the Australian Opals and leading the women’s program at the COE from 2013–2016 was incredibly rewarding, with World Cup medals – under-17 gold, under-19 bronze, and Opals bronze and a strong 5-1 result at the Rio Olympics.

“Seeing so many of the young athletes we developed now playing professionally around the world is something I’m particularly proud of.

“Now it’s time to return home for family and lead the Ballarat Women’s NBL1 team.

“My focus will be on developing players and helping them achieve their goals, whether at Ballarat, college, the WNBL, or even the WNBA.

“I also want to build a style of play that excites our fans and encourages the community to get behind our team.

“Although we’re starting a little later than usual, we’ll work hard to recruit talented players and build a squad capable of competing for playoffs and ultimately a championship.”

An impressive national and international coaching career for Joyce, who played 13 seasons in the NBL between 1979 and 1991, included stints with the Hawks and Gold Coast.

He served as an assistant coach for the Australian Olympic teams in 2004 and 2008 and was head coach of the Australian Opals from 2013 to 2016.

Under his leadership, the Opals won bronze at the 2014 FIBA Women’s World Championship and competed at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Most recently, Joyce led the Kaohsiung Aquas to a T1 League Championship in Taiwan – the first Australian to win a senior-level title in Asia.

Basketball Ballarat CEO Travis Merlo said Joyce’s return marked the next chapter in a remarkable coaching journey spanning more than three decades.

“It’s fantastic that Basketball Ballarat can attract a coach of the calibre and experience of Brendan, and shows our program is highly regarded,” he said.

“We think of Brendan as basically a Ballarat local, having coached the Miners on two separate occasions.

“Having coached in the NBL, with the Australian Opals and running Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence, Brendan will bring a wealth of experience to our women’s program and Ballarat as a whole.”

Merlo foreshadowed some exciting player signings in the coming months.