Rocky start turns into best ever decision for Brcaninovic

Melisa Brcaninovic joined the Willetton Tigers as a potentially dominant and versatile big, and while she arrived for her first NBL1 West season with a heavy heart it's turned out the best decision of her life as she chases a championship.

Despite still being just 24 years of age, Brcaninovic has built a strong career in Europe already having grown up in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and she did join Willetton fresh off a season with Hozona Global Jairis in Spain.

She was looking for something different to do this European off-season and after spending time with family in Sydney last year, Australia seemed like the perfect place to do that but she was then thrown another curve ball with the passing of her father.

It didn’t deter the 6'4 power forward from still joining Willetton and what a ride it has been ever since. She's become a crucial part on a team that finished the regular season winning 11 straight games, then beat the Joondalup Wolves ahead of this Saturday night's preliminary final against the Rockingham Flames.

The form Brcaninovic is now in is phenomenal, but things didn’t get off to the best start when she landed in hospital shortly after arriving and then the Tigers lost two of the first four games with her in the line-up.

However, they haven’t lost since and she's been remarkable including averaging 27.8 points and 7.0 rebounds over the past seven games where her outside shooting has taken off, and all-round game is clearly suited to the Australian style of basketball.

Rocky start to first NBL1 season

Brcaninovic was excited to begin her career in the NBL1 with Willetton on the back of what she'd done playing in Spain, Belgium, Italy, Hungary and Lebanon already in her professional career on top of being a regular national team representative at various levels for Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

It's been a lot that she has crammed into her career already as a 24-year-old, but it was with a heavy heart that she arrived at Willetton just weeks after her father passed away.

"I came here after my dad passed away two weeks earlier and I didn’t know how I was going to adapt, and how everything was going to react on me," Brcaninovic said.

"But actually it was the best decision that I could make and it actually helped me move forward and I really appreciate this time here."

She then got sick and landed in hospital not long after arriving so understandably she might have been wondering if she'd made the right choice. But a couple of months on and coming to Australia, choosing Perth and landing at the Tigers has been the best thing she's ever done.

"Actually in the first month that I got here I was sick. I ended up in the emergency and I had never been that sick before, and I was just hoping things would get better," she added.

"I had a bad, bad flu with a high fever and actually a fun fact, Simon asked how was my conditioning and usually it was fun, but after that I felt like I was dying on the court. 

"But we figured that out and from those tough early games, we learned from them and sometimes in sport it's important to lose so you can realise certain kind of things. They helped us a lot to realise how we need to play, and to get to know each other. 

"We lost when I just arrived against Wolves but then in the most important game last week against the Wolves we won. I think it's important how we continued growing to know each other and that's the way that we're showing right now how we can play."

Being part of a Tigers team playing so well

It might have been a bit of a rocky start when Brcaninovic first arrived at Willetton with the two losses in the first two games, and then throw in the fact she ended up in hospital and wasn’t exactly feeling her best for those first few weeks.

However, they haven’t lost since winning the last 11 games of the regular season before beating the Joondalup Wolves in a fascinating qualifying final match up.

While the big three of herself, two-time MVP Alex Sharp and championship captain Desiree Kelley have been brilliant this season for the Tigers, Brcaninovic has enjoyed how well the whole group has come together and she just hopes it can continue now.

"I always feel like we can keep getting better and I feel like we are still having some bad moments, but we're figuring them out and that's the important thing," Brcaninovic said. 

"Even when we're playing good, the important thing is to keep playing good and that showed in the last game against Wolves. We were up 17 and then started losing by seven, but then we got our things together and we worked out to get that win. 

"I really hope that we can now keep playing good on Saturday and even if we're winning against Rockingham, we need to keep respecting them and respect ourselves by continuing the way we're playing and doing the things we need to do. 

"Hopefully we can get a big win and then go into the Grand Final because I think the way that we're playing we deserve it especially after losing lose two games when I first got here, and afterwards we've been clicking so well."

Finals so far, what's to come

Brcaninovic has had a chance to play against Willetton's preliminary final opponents, Rockingham, with the Tigers winning 98-87 back on June 16.

While a battle for her with Flames sharpshooter Casey Samuels looms as fascinating, she's not looking at any individual match ups and knows that even though Willetton is playing so well on a 12-game winning run, it's going to take their best to overcome the Flames.

"First game that they played I wasn’t there but then at the game in Rockingham I got to play against them, and they have an interesting team," she said. 

"They showed what they can do by beating the Senators by so much and I guess they had a bit of an easier game than all of us expected in that one. But we just need to focus on ourselves and know that when we are playing our way everything goes well, and we just need to respect the opponent."

The condensed finals series is something new for Brcaninovic compared to what she's used to throughout Europe as well, but it also adds to the excitement knowing any loss will now be her last game and there's the chance to go still on to win the NBL1 West and National Championship.

"This is also a different kind of way than in Europe where we would have to win more games in the playoffs, and there's not the same kind of pressure here with as many knockout games where it's win or go home," Brcaninovic said.

"As an athlete, that gives you an extra pressure but also excitement to be part of it. For sure, I don’t want to look too far and I just want us to focus on this game against Rockingham but obviously we would be the happiest to win that and then go into the Grand Final."

The connection quickly built on this Willetton team

Coming to play in a new country for the first time is never easy and joining a team mid-season only adds to that difficulty, but Brcaninovic has been blown away by the connection this whole Willetton group has together.

While the big three of herself, Sharp and Kelley have been brilliant, Jess Jakens, Kiara Waite, Grace Foster, Amy Jacobs, Sophie Doran and Kaya Wardle have been making important contributions.

It's that whole combination of how well they all get along on and off the court that has had Brcaninovic enjoy her time so much as part of the Tigers team.

"At certain times people might not be saying the truth by saying the team they are on is fun, but it actually true for this team," she said.

"Even me having changed on so many teams, even I am surprised because no matter what we have going on outside the court or inside the court, we don't let it affect our fun that we're having as a team. 

"It actually is really fun with these teammates even away from the court, and what can you say, we are playing so well together even though we haven’t known each other that good. In Europe we work out much more than here and you have more team practices and everything, but you don’t get this sort of connection even if you spend that much more time together. 

"We have such a flow in between each other with this team and we are working so well together, which I'm happy about, and we have that good combination but we have so many different players stepping up. I try to use my experience from overseas to help us all because in the end it's all about our whole team stepping up to help us be successful."

Building that connection with coach Parker

Brcaninovic has had a bit of a love-hate relationship with some of her coaches throughout Europe and they can be quite the hard taskmasters, and given their full-time nature and amount of time they spend with their players and teams, maybe that's the way it needs to be.

But she couldn’t speak more highly of the relationship she's developed with Tigers coach Simon Parker from the moment she arrived with Willetton and she can easily see why he's been successful winning two championships and is far from done yet.

"I have been saying this to him that it's totally different than with my coaches in Europe," Brcaninovic said.

"We have been having chats about how different the basketball lifestyle is in Europe and he could not believe it because it's so weird, and the coaches back there having morning sessions and evening sessions with their players, but I feel like he's more chill with us and we get along better. 

"Sometimes as a player of course you need a strong hand and someone putting in a certain situation and also screaming and stuff like that, but I think he manages that even if we are not professionals here. 

"He does that really good and sometimes he knows how to manage us and I might even go crazy sometimes, but he is super calm and nice with us, which you don’t get to experience all the time in Europe with your coaches. 

"Especially because this team has been together with him for so many years and he knows a lot of the players so well, and he just has that perfect balance of being our coach who can be hard when he needs to be but he's also like family and a friend with us, and that's why we are doing so well on the court."

Different style of game to Europe

While Brcaninovic knew that she would enjoy living in Australia once she arrived and now finds herself craving spending a summer down under, she wasn’t totally sure what to expect in a basketball sense.

However, having a bit more freedom to show her all-round talents as a versatile big out on the floor has clearly suited her perfectly. She's enjoying the higher tempo action rather than the half-court grind that European basketball can be.

"It's obviously totally different compared to the European style but I like it. Changes don't always have to be bad and I have really enjoyed it. It's been a nice time here to spend the off-season from Europe where I have stayed active but in a different kind of way," Brcaninovic said.

"For me it's a different kind of way here with the defence and the running, and I would say the game here is quicker and more like American style than European style. In Europe we're more settled down and the coach controls more of what we do, but I'm excited to play against everyone here. 

"It's totally different to how we get defended in Europe so I find it always exciting because it's a way where I'm still improving my game and learning certain things. I really appreciate coming out here and playing all the other girls because if you might say it's an off-season, for an off-season it's pretty good I would say."

Family connection with Australia

This season with Willetton in the NBL1 West might be the first time that Brcaninovic has played in Australia, but she's no stranger to the country and it wasn’t as if she was coming to this great big foreign land on the other side of the world.

Last year, she took some time in the off-season without any commitments with the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team and came to visit family in Sydney.

She immediately knew she wanted to spend more time in Australia and playing basketball down under was the dream, so when Simon Parker put the feelers out that Willetton were interested once her season in Spain ended, she didn’t need much convincing.

"It's actually not my first time in Australia, last year in this period it was the first time that I had some months off of basketball because usually I would be with the national team and we always had something going on," she said. 

"But this time last year I came to Sydney because some of the side of my mum's family are mostly living in Sydney. So there's my uncles, my aunts and I have a lot of cousins there so it was actually the best time I have spent in my life, and I loved it. 

"That was just making fun so I thought about what the possibility would be like to come to Australia to play. Then when Willetton contacted, I just said immediately yes because I really enjoy the nature here, the people and everything. 

"I actually also have some family here in Perth, my closest aunt is here and it's like I'm away from family but still have support so I don’t even feel like I'm that far from home."

That tricky surname to pronounce

Given she has lived with her surname her whole life and it's not an uncommon name back home in Bosnia, Brcaninovic wasn’t quite prepared for the troubles Australians might have getting the pronunciation under control.

She feels her teammates have picked it up quickly but it was the NBL1 West commentators pre-game that she found it amusing how much time she had to spend trying to help them out when she first arrived.

"Actually my teammates and coaches are able to pronounce it pretty well because they get to talk to me about it," Brcaninovic said. 

"For me people find it hard because we have the signs over the letters but I just tell people that it would be easier to just imagine there's a h at the end of my name and you can say it that way. 

"In the men's team there's Gerovich and people are saying it right so you just think of saying my name the same way as that. 

"For me in the beginning it was really funny because all the commentators would come up to me before the game and ask me how to pronounce it so actually as we were warming up I was spending my time trying to help the commentators figure it out."