CANBERRA (FIBA World Championship for Women/Olympics) - Just over six weeks ago, Australia’s Opals stepped onto the podium at the FIBA World Championship after a dominant performance against hosts Turkey in the battle for third place.

Even without injured stars Liz Cambage and Lauren Jackson, the Australians excelled.

They even pushed the heavily favored Americans hard in their Semi-Final.

Brendan Joyce, the Australia coach, spoke on Friday to FIBA.com.

FIBA: Looking back at Turkey 2014, how did things go?

Brendan Joyce: I’m really pleased with how we played. To get a bronze medal, as you could see by the smiles on the faces of the players and the staff that we were pretty ecstatic about it. Obviously the loss to the USA was disappointing but to bounce back and beat Turkey in Turkey, you always envisage that could be the case. We’re very pleased. It’s more about how we played. I think we recaptured how the Opals play defense, the intensity that was there previously, probably in Beijing and AthensAthens. The feedback to me had been that we weren’t as good defensively in London and looking back at some of the results, it really jumped out at you the shooting percentages of other teams. So we really made giant strides there. Despite not having Lauren and Lizzie, it was surprising that we were the second best defensive rebounding team in the tournament. We got 37 percent offensive rebounds when you accumulate all six games together. 

FIBA: What else was positive?

Brendan Joyce: The other big thing that stood out is that we had wanted to be a big fastbreaking team, a transition team. It was pleasing when you break the games down, we certainly put pressure on the rim in the first eight seconds. I also wanted us to be aggressive and get to the rim. You look at the statistics in terms of how many free-throws we got and that supported that. 

FIBA: What about the shortcomings?

Brendan Joyce: I think there is going to be a natural improvement when we get Liz Cambage back. Our interior scoring will go up and our rebounding should improve so it’s about getting her healthy and obviously Lauren Jackson, get her healthy through to Rio. Her experience and leadership could be vital. 

FIBA: What about Liz’s recovery from the torn Achilles she suffered a week before the World Championship during a warm-up game against the United States? 

Brendan Joyce: It’s usually about six to eight months recovery, but we’re encouraging her to rehabilitate it right, so it will probably take about 10 months, especially with her size (2.03m). Her age, she’s only 23, so we’ve got to encourage her to get it right. She has a long career ahead of her.

FIBA: What about her current mindset?

Brendan Joyce: I think she’s going to be hungry. She had lost 25 percent body fat from London to when I had her ready to go at the World Championship. The USA national coach, Geno, came up to me and goes, 'My God, she was in unbelievable shape.' And I went, 'I know. We put a lot of work into it and Lizzie put a lot of work into this.' So it was devastating for us to lose her. But we made adjustments, we still won games. It came more from the defensive end. We would have created a lot more problems for teams if we had had Lizzie as an interior target. She has such high percentages, has great hands and is smart and as Geno and most of the USA people, because they had seen her play in the WNBA, saw, she was more mobile because she had trimmed down. 

FIBA: One positive to come out the absences of Cambage and Jackson is that other players got more experience, right?

Brendan Joyce: With young players like Marianna Tolo, Natalie Burton, Rebecca Allen, Rachel Jarry, we put a lot of time into them in the preparation and at the Worlds. I looked at our team and evaluated it when I got the job. I looked at the team in London and 10 players were going to be 30 years of age in Rio, but I didn’t publicize that because I didn’t want it to be an excuse not to do well at the Worlds. We put a lot of time into development with camps and tours. The goal was still to challenge the USA for the gold medal. I didn’t want that to change. It was a matter of creating some depth. I would have preferred to have had Lauren and Liz because maybe we could have won the gold medal. But certainly with them not playing, it opened the doors for Tolo, Burton to play more minutes. It gave them tremendous experience going into Rio. There are pluses and minuses. It probably made us quicker with Marianna but certainly, I’d love to have Liz Cambage’s interior presence. It’s a huge factor and it’s going to be needed if we’re going to take the next step and win the gold medal at Rio.

FIBA: Will Liz play in the WNBA?

Brendan Joyce: It was really about the timing of it, for her to make a commitment to the Opals this year. She’ll go back and play in the WNBA. If you look at how much money the girls make in China and Europe, I think it’s an easy decision for the girls to go to Europe. I guess the carrot to playing in the WNBA is the chance to play against the best athletes in the world but the girls aren’t really making enough money there. It’s still a sacrifice that Liz made from a financial point of view to commit to the Opals. She wants to become a leader and me being the new coach, I was over the moon that she made a commitment to the Opals. It helps develop cohesion and for her to know our structure. She was our trump card that we lost. Would we have taken the next step? We won’t know until she comes back. As for the WNBA, I encourage the girls to play there but the big thing for me is accessibility. We need to have access. There is a new collective bargaining agreement and it’s going to be interesting to see what the European girls do. I want them to play in the WNBA but at the same time, the WNBA has to encourage girls from overseas to play there and be a bit more flexible. 

FIBA: So overall, the Opals built some momentum this year?

Brendan Joyce: We’re on the right track, with the level of commitment from the ladies, the style of play. Defensively, we played at a higher intensity for longer periods in the game. We run and we play a more attacking game off the dribble. And, what I’m trying to encourage more Down Under is that we let the player play more off ball screens so the girls have enjoyed that change. Obviously the more time that we have together. 

FIBA: You have a realistic hope that Lauren is going to come back after having so many injuries?

Brendan Joyce: I was only with her a couple of days ago. The big thing is we're trying to fix every injury (knee, hip, Achilles). She’s a bit frustrated now with the fact that it’s been about 10 months and there has been some swelling. We’ve just got to make sure that she doesn’t come back too early. I am confident that she can make it through to Rio. But at the same time, we’re going to have to make her rehab and she’s going to have to have patience. Those are the big challenges, not whether she’s going to play. We’re supporting her. She actually looks in game shape now and hopefully, it will be four to six weeks that she’ll be playing in the WNBL with Canberra.

FIBA