MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - If you haven't read the work of Melanie Whelan you should as she's one of the best regional sports journos going around.

I came across Melanie through her coverage of Victorian Football League (VFL) team the North Ballarat Roosters, but recently she wrote a column entitled 'Just watch, women's sport can impress you', during a visit to Ballarat by WNBL team the Melbourne Boomers.

It's hard to disagree. For the past two years I have covered Australia's premier women's competition intensively. It's a quality league, highly competitive and filled with high-quality players and teams with great stories.

The 2015-16 season tips off this weekend and rosters are littered with veterans of Olympics, FIBA Women's World Championships and the WNBA.

The entire roster which this past August propelled Australia to next year's Rio Olympics will be on show, as will a pair of Tall Ferns who will feature in next year's FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT).

There's a heap of talent, and having chatted to so many of these players, there are outstanding role models for young girls aching for something other than reality TV.

One comment in Whelan's column really stood out for me - "top women's sport needs better recognition and an equal platform to men."

That would indeed help, but how do you achieve that?

In this world, you don't usually get what you think you deserve, you get what you generate. NBL players work as hard as those in the Australian Football League (AFL) or National Rugby League (NRL) yet they receive a fraction of the pay and media coverage.

VFL premiers Williamstown, all part-time athletes, regularly come up against, and beat, AFL-listed players who earn more money from football than their entire playing list combined.

If someone isn't getting the success they believe they deserve, the first question to ask is 'Are you doing all the little things right?'

When it comes to the WNBL, looking for greater publicity, that question is particularly pertinent for administrators.

If the WNBL wants a better television presence and more support from the media, it needs to sell their story of great role models and high-achieving female athletes to the public, media and business.

Yet if you look at the little things, the controllables, this isn't happening. 

The WNBL Facebook page has just over 8,000 Likes. That's less than 10 per cent the number the ANZ Championship - the number one netball league in Australia and New Zealand - has attracted, despite the hundreds of thousands of girls and women who play hoops Downunder.

I know that WNBL players spend time in the community. Where are the photos or videos showing that work and encouraging the people they engaged with to share these posts?

As sad as it is, for a lot of people today, the only thing better than spending time with their heroes is having a social media post to prove it.

I know many WNBL players are excellent role models who are generous with their time and humorous with their stories.

Where are the videos, stories or even entertaining photos that introduce us to the personalities of these athletes? 

I know all WNBL players are highly-skilled, yet where are the videos of them showing these talents, giving young basketballers some feats to try and emulate, to share with their friends, and through that gain a realisation of how good these athletes are?

Some clubs have touched on these things, but it is a disparate approach. There are a number of other things I could point out away from social media, but I'll let the part tell the whole.

This isn't about proportioning blame, it's about saying things need to improve.

The good news is there's a new guard of employees at Basketball Australia (BA) in charge of running the WNBL like the quality competition it is. In the past few days, there have been some promising signs, but it's too early to say this crew is staging a resurgence.

My advice to them is don't try and do it on your own. The league, its teams and players can make a formidable combination.

The 'Here Come the Girls' promotional idea has lots of potential, so let's maximise its reach by getting the little things right.

A couple of social media leaders on each roster is a great place to start. Get the smart phones out once or twice a week at training and capture video of teammates doing some extra training, goofing around, having a quiet chat, showing off a certain skill, hitting 20 three-pointers in a row... anything that will engage fans.

Discover those stories then sell them to corporates too.

Basketball Australia multimedia staff can quickly polish video footage, while keeping its raw element, for posting and/or sharing on club and league channels. If it's an Opals player, share through those channels too. Just as importantly, share it with the relevant players' local association(s) so they can help spread the word too. Same with sponsors.

Get pics of community appearances (with required permissions of course) and then get the people the players have just impacted to be social media ambassadors for the club and league.

There are so many people and organisations interested in the WNBL succeeding and hoisting quality role models to public attention, get them on board to help with the job. 

And if the free-to-air TV deal gets finalised, let's make sure that presentation encapsulates the 'Here Come the Girls' spirit, showing off the skills and personalities of the athletes, not just a bland two-hour coverage of a basketball game with nothing to hook the casual viewer.

Melanie Whelan is right: women's sport and the WNBL need more coverage to reach out to an audience that wants what these athletes have to offer.

Basketball Australia has provided a couple of positive nibbles to start this season, but it is going to take months and years of consistent dedication to help the WNBL fulfil its potential. 

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.