{"id":97134,"date":"2024-06-26T15:26:10","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T05:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/?p=97134"},"modified":"2024-06-26T15:26:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T05:26:10","slug":"opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/sport\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Opals star joins Bendigo Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>FOUR-<\/b>time WNBL champion, Australian Opal and Olympian Marianna Tolo, has signed with Bendigo Spirit.<\/p>\n<p>The 34-year-old centre has joined for the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m excited to get to Bendigo and start a new journey under Kennedy [Kereama] ,&#8221; Tolo said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve had experience being coached by him previously in the NBL1 and I look forward to working with him again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdditionally, I&#8217;m excited to be playing with one of my closest friends in Kelsey [Griffin]. She is the ultimate professional and I think we play well together.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinally, I&#8217;m looking forward to getting to know the Bendigo region better. I&#8217;m hoping to find some gold off the court, as well as on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On the Opals tour to Japan, Tolo was named Most Impressive Player, averaging 16.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists over the two games. She comes to Bendigo from a stint playing for Spanish team Spar Girona.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Coach Kereama said he has been keeping an eye on Tolo, the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTolo has been on my radar for the past two years, so we are very excited to have finally recruited her here to Bendigo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving coached against Tolo internationally and coached her at NBL1 level, I can attest to her work ethic, professionalism, leadership and skills.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer ability to defend the rim, rebound, anchor a team defensively, block shots, set screens, rim run, finish in multiple ways, and pass the ball will enhance our performance at both ends of the court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTolo&#8217;s international and WNBL experience will be a significant asset to our program. Reuniting her with Kelsey Griffin, a proven winning combination, will elevate our team with Tolo&#8217;s leadership and winning mentality.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Tolo has a track record of success, most recently reaching the finals with her team Spar Girona and winning four WNBL championships. We look forward to welcoming her once pre-season begins.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOUR-time WNBL champion, Australian Opal and Olympian Marianna Tolo, has signed with Bendigo Spirit. The 34-year-old centre has joined for the 2024-25 season. &#8220;I&#8217;m excited to get to Bendigo and start a new journey under Kennedy [Kereama] ,&#8221; Tolo said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve had experience being coached by him previously in the NBL1 and I look forward [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/sport\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":97136,"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-97134","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>Opals star joins Bendigo Spirit - Bendigo Times<\/title>\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\/bendigotimes\/sport\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opals star joins Bendigo Spirit - Bendigo Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FOUR-time WNBL champion, Australian Opal and Olympian Marianna Tolo, has signed with Bendigo Spirit. The 34-year-old centre has joined for the 2024-25 season. &#8220;I&#8217;m excited to get to Bendigo and start a new journey under Kennedy [Kereama] ,&#8221; Tolo said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve had experience being coached by him previously in the NBL1 and I look forward [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/sport\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bendigo Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-26T05:26:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2024\/06\/MTolo-Web-1024x576.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\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\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Edwina Williams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9\"},\"headline\":\"Opals star joins Bendigo Spirit\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-26T05:26:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":320,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/MTolo-Web.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/\",\"name\":\"Opals star joins Bendigo Spirit - Bendigo Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/MTolo-Web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-26T05:26:10+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/sport\\\/opals-star-joins-bendigo-spirit\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/MTolo-Web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/MTolo-Web.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Recruit: Marianna Tolo has signed with Bendigo Spirit. 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