Image credit: @ChyonKondylasPhotography
In the blink of an eye the Warwick Senators went from having the deepest guard rotation perhaps in the entire NBL1 to then missing three superstars but young gun Kyana Weir is ready, willing and able to step up wherever needed in NBL1 West.
It's hard to imagine a more imposing group of guards than what the Senators have put together this season with two-time MVP Stacey Barr joined by last year's runner-up MVP Chloe Forster and 19-year-old Weir back from the strong team of 2024.
With that trio still on board, they were topped off by former Perth Lynx WNBL pair and NBL1 West championship winning guards Robbi Ryan and Emma Gandini. Coach Brad Robbins' biggest problem looked to be just how to get them all having enough minutes.
That very quickly became the opposite problem when both Forster and Ryan went down injured against the Willetton Tigers back on July 5, and they have been sidelined since.
To top that off, captain Barr has been away on a pre-planned holiday so all of a sudden the Senators had not only 59.3 points, 16.6 rebounds and 13.6 assists a game to cover, but the experience, leadership and sheer quality of Barr, Forster and Ryan too.
Not surprisingly, the Senators did suffer some tough losses directly after against the Perry Lakes Hawks and Kalamunda Eastern Suns, but they dug deep last Saturday to beat the South West Slammers to steady to a 14-4 record and to stay in second place.
Weir has been thrown in the deep end charged for making up for Ryan, Forster and Barr the best she can. That has seen her average 19 points over the past four games at an average of 30 minutes, and she's happy to step up as much as she can.
"I tell you what, the game we played where our two point guards went our injured, I knew I was going to have to step up a little bit," Weir said on The Hoop Hour on 91.3 SportFM.
"Then the timing was just a little bit crazy with Stacey also heading off on holidays so I knew I had to fill some pretty big shoes. But honestly it has been a great opportunity for me to do step up and contribute what I can to the team."
Having to step up
Once Forster and Ryan went down with their injuries during that Willetton game and with Barr to be away for a couple of weeks, there was no choice for Robbins to call on Weir to step up.
She was thrown into the starting line-up alongside three-time 232-game winning veteran defensive menace Gandini, and has just been doing whatever she can to keep the second placed Warwick as competitive as possible.
"I had a chat with Brad after the girls went down with their injuries just about what my role would look like in the team while they were out," Weir said.
"He wanted me to step up a little bit more and facilitate given all our point guards are phenomenal and do really with getting our team into our offences.
"So that's become a bit of my role to take up some of that because before that when I came on I would start in the two or three. Then if Chloe had a break I would graduate to the one so this has been something to adapt to.
"For me I just wanted to play my role and obviously those girls have massive shoes to fill so I didn’t want to put too much pressure on me.
"I'm just trying to contribute to the team as much as I can and I'm very defensively minded so if I have a role to lockdown a player one night, I focus on that. Then if offence comes, it comes."
Having superstar teammates
While the Senators did have a standout guard group on paper for this season, the reality is that there were only two games before that Willetton game where they got to play with all five of Barr, Forster, Ryan, Gandini and Weir.
Now there's every chance at least Forster doesn’t make it back at all this season, but Weir was happy especially to have Ryan and Gandini join Warwick in 2025 on the back of helping the Rockingham Flames to the 2024 championship.
"I was really keen to have both them on board. They are high level IQ players and have a lot of experience and knowledge of the game so for me that's great," Weir said.
"I'm starting to get a little bit older now so it's been great to just train against them and pick their brains. Robbi is just an absolute beast offensively, she's so crafty and she can just get to the hoop whenever she wants.
"Emma can do the same and she is a menace on defence, and I feel like I am very defensively minded. So that's been great to just see how Emma gets her steals and stays in front of her player."
Supremely deep Senators team
While Weir has already made 89 appearances in the NBL1 given she started so young and is still just 19 years of age, she continues to develop all the time and it's hard to imagine a better environment to do that than on this Warwick team.
After all, it starts with NBL championship winning pair Robbins and Paul Rogers on the coaching staff, and then a playing group with current or former WNBL players Nat Burton, Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard, Kiara Waite, Izzy Miotti, Barr, Gandini, Ryan and Forster.
"I tell you what, practices have been a lot tougher this year than they ever have been," Weir said.
"Usually in practice we'll have our starting five, second five and then our third five, and we'll all scrimmage, and man, that is tough this year.
"I remember when I was first breaking into NBL1 when I was younger and our second five would get whooped every practice, but this year even our third five give it to the starters every now and then which shows what a competitive environment we have.
"It's great for me and a lot of juniors coming through because we see that level of what it takes in NBL1."
Remaining confident this season
While the plans of the full squad that the Senators hoped to have available to make a run at the championship has been blown up with the injuries to Ryan and Foster, and even with Waite having only been available for four games, they are still well placed.
With just two games to play over the last two weeks, the Senators sit in second place with a 14-4 record and they can't drop lower than third so Weir remains confident in what they are capable of.
"I'm still 100 per cent confident of what we can do," Weir said.
"Obviously when we lost the girls it was quite hard to adapt with how we play because I feel like a lot of our offence we do run through them, and they can score so easily.
"So we've kinda had to make up for that scoring and our Kalamunda game wasn’t our best, but we had so much improvement in a week of practice after that.
"We're only going to go up from here and especially with Stacey coming back in so that's another senior player who is very wise. I'm definitely confident heading into the finals series."
Wanting to prove people wrong
To watch Weir play and she brings boundless energy every second she spends on the court whether it's with how aggressive and attacking she is on the offensive end, or the tenacious way she guards at the defensive end.
To then learn that she does feel like she plays with a chip on her shoulder to prove anyone wrong who's ever doubted her abilities, or even her size at 5'5, and it makes the world of sense.
"I remember when I was in under-12s and I missed out on the state team, and I got into the car with mum just after I got cut and said that I was going to prove these guys wrong," Weir said.
"So ever since then I've had that bit of a chip on my shoulder to always give maximum effort because I see a lot of young ones now just putting in all the effort, and it goes a long way.
"I'm very glad I had that mindset when I was younger and I'm just hoping I can continue that where I give maximum effort whenever I can."
Shooting for WNBL dream
Given Weir has now been playing at NBL1 level since 2020 when she was only 15 and that's also spent a season with the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and has spent time training with the Lynx, she does have a bright future.
The 19-year-old isn’t afraid to spell out that playing that a WNBL opportunity is her dream and she'll continue doing everything she can to try and make that happen.
"After being that kinda pro level in college, it definitely made me realise that WNBL is my dream and hopefully it can happen. Who knows, whatever opportunities come I can play WNBL soon," Weir said.
"I will not be going back to college even though it was such a great experience that I'm happy and grateful for that I had the opportunity to go over there. But honestly, I felt as though NBL1 was a better level of basketball just in terms of me wanting to get to WNBL.
"I would say that Division 1 is a lot more athletic and usually here I'm a bit quicker than most players, but over there I was just like an average so that was a bit of a reality check.
"I actually just decided to come back and honestly I felt like I could advance more playing in a semi-pro league but the great thing about college is that you're there, and technically a professional athlete getting paid and being on court 20-plus hours a week.
"I did quite like the study side as well and you didn’t really have a social life, so the study was quite good to break the basketball up."