	{"id":119955,"date":"2026-03-03T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=119955"},"modified":"2026-02-25T17:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:20:15","slug":"samuels-signs-with-miners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/","title":{"rendered":"Samuels signs with Miners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WNBL veteran and Bendigo Spirit championship forward Casey Samuels has joined the Ballarat Miners for their 2026 NBL1 South campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The 31-year-old heads to the Miners after an injury-interrupted third season with the WNBL&#8217;s Spirit, with whom she won a championship in 2024-25.<\/p>\n<p>Miners women&#8217;s head coach Brendan Joyce said Samuels would bring extensive experience, leadership and versatility to Ballarat ahead of the 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Samuels boasts an impressive resume as a current 14-year WNBL veteran.<\/p>\n<p>She debuted in the women&#8217;s national league in 2010 with the Australian Institute of Sport and has since played with the Canberra Capitals, Sydney Uni Flames, Townsville Fire and the Spirit.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, she was crowned Halls medallist as the women&#8217;s MVP in the NBL1 Central while leading Central Districts Lions to a championship, underlining her ability to lead and elevate a roster through consistent all-around performance.<\/p>\n<p>Samuels was restricted to just four games for the Spirit this season due to a foot injury.<\/p>\n<p>Inactive after their round two win over the Geelong Venom, she returned to the lineup for the Spirit&#8217;s 2-0 semi-final series loss against the Perth Lynx.<\/p>\n<p>Joyce said he was thrilled to have Samuels join the Miners.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is fantastic to welcome Casey to our women&#8217;s team for this NBL1 season,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She will bring experience, toughness and versatility to play both the 3 and 4 positions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She is renowned for her great shooting ability, and we are looking forward to Casey playing an important role for us this season.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Miners kick off their season at home against arch-rival Bendigo on 28 March.<\/p>\n<p>Memberships are now available.<\/p>\n<p>For details, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/minersrush.memberlink.net.au\/memberhome\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">minersrush.memberlink.net.au\/memberhome<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WNBL veteran and Bendigo Spirit championship forward Casey Samuels has joined the Ballarat Miners for their 2026 NBL1 South campaign. The 31-year-old heads to the Miners after an injury-interrupted third season with the WNBL&#8217;s Spirit, with whom she won a championship in 2024-25. Miners women&#8217;s head coach Brendan Joyce said Samuels would bring extensive experience, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":119959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-119955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Samuels signs with Miners - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Casey Samuels Miners signing boosts Ballarat for 2026 NBL1 South, adding WNBL experience and championship pedigree.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Samuels signs with Miners - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Casey Samuels Miners signing boosts Ballarat for 2026 NBL1 South, adding WNBL experience and championship pedigree.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-02T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/North-2502-10.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kieran Iles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kieran Iles\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kieran Iles\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/648f33b474e59aed09644feca1d7a318\"},\"headline\":\"Samuels signs with Miners\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-02T17:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":280,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/North-2502-10.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/\",\"name\":\"Samuels signs with Miners - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/North-2502-10.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-02T17:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Casey Samuels Miners signing boosts Ballarat for 2026 NBL1 South, adding WNBL experience and championship pedigree.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/North-2502-10.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/North-2502-10.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Experience: A championship winner with the Bendigo Spirit in 2024-25, Casey Samuels has signed with the Ballarat Miners for the 2026 NBL1 South season. Photo: BENDIGO SPIRIT\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/samuels-signs-with-miners\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Samuels signs with Miners\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"width\":739,\"height\":98,\"caption\":\"Ballarat Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/648f33b474e59aed09644feca1d7a318\",\"name\":\"Kieran Iles\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/author\\\/kieraniles\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Samuels signs with Miners - Ballarat Times","description":"Casey Samuels Miners signing boosts Ballarat for 2026 NBL1 South, adding WNBL experience and championship pedigree.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Samuels signs with Miners - Ballarat Times","og_description":"Casey Samuels Miners signing boosts Ballarat for 2026 NBL1 South, adding WNBL experience and championship pedigree.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/","og_site_name":"Ballarat Times","article_published_time":"2026-03-02T17:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/North-2502-10.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kieran Iles","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kieran Iles","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/"},"author":{"name":"Kieran Iles","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/648f33b474e59aed09644feca1d7a318"},"headline":"Samuels signs with Miners","datePublished":"2026-03-02T17:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/"},"wordCount":280,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/North-2502-10.jpg","articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/","name":"Samuels signs with Miners - Ballarat Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/North-2502-10.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-02T17:00:00+00:00","description":"Casey Samuels Miners signing boosts Ballarat for 2026 NBL1 South, adding WNBL experience and championship pedigree.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/North-2502-10.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/North-2502-10.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Experience: A championship winner with the Bendigo Spirit in 2024-25, Casey Samuels has signed with the Ballarat Miners for the 2026 NBL1 South season. Photo: BENDIGO SPIRIT"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/samuels-signs-with-miners\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Samuels signs with Miners"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","name":"Ballarat Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization","name":"Ballarat Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","width":739,"height":98,"caption":"Ballarat Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/648f33b474e59aed09644feca1d7a318","name":"Kieran Iles","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/author\/kieraniles\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119955"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=119955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}