Yes she Cann! Flame still burns for WNBL champ

• Mikhaela Cann has signed a one-year deal with the Sydney Flames
• She last played in the WNBL with the Townsville Fire in 2019
• Cann (nee Donnelly) won a WNBL title in 2018, won an NBl1 North championship in 2021, where she was named Finals MVP

Mikhaela Cann last hit a WNBL court six years ago and for the most part since, believed it was the last time in her elite basketball career.

She had just become a first time mum. Since then, she's added two more daughters to her own little team with husband and newly-signed Adelaide 36ers assistant coach Luke Cann.

But the 2018 WNBL champion is back. She will make her remarkable return to the WNBL after signing a one-year deal with the Sydney Flames for the 2025-26 season.

Between 2019, when she played for the Townsville Fire to now, any thought of Cann (nee Donnelly) returning to the elite level had been squashed by several things which made it near impossible for a mother-of-three to play in the best league in the country and one of the best leagues in the world.

Firstly, the amount of resources for WNBL athletes wasn't enough to support to make the now full-time mum feel comfortable.

Secondly, after proving she remained good enough to play in the WNBL as one of the best players in the Queensland Basketball League for the Logan Thunder before it became the NBL1 North, approaches by representatives of Cann to WNBL teams were met with rejections such as "oh, but she has kids doesn't she".

Cann was the captain and Finals MVP of the Thunder team that won the inaugural NBL1 North title in 2019.

An attitude which has now, rightfully, changed as the WNBL has made other drastic changes, such as a historic CBA deal announced earlier this year, and allowed the 31-year-old to "feel super comfortable" in chasing her basketball dreams while taking her three daughters along for the ride.

"Going back into talks with Sydney this year, my feelings around it being the right thing for my family has completely changed, I feel really comfortable," Cann said.

"I'm just glad that the league's at a point where we can be open to mums and females in sport.

"I know that three kids is very different to having one kid, but I'm just grateful that we can jump back in and see how it goes.

"As far as some of the comments and attitude previously around not being able to play at that level because I had a family, I think I was probably just more disappointed. than anything.

"One for myself, because I knew that I could play at that level and that I deserved to be there, but I think just disappointed for women in sport, right.

"Like we are here, we're going to have kids, we're going to have families and to be in an environment where that was a barrier was honestly just like disappointing for all the other young females out there, who are looking at the league and they hear, 'oh well, you can't have kids, you can't have both at the same time' and you've got to choose one of the other.

"That was probably for me, when I went back with Adisyn in 2018, that was probably like one of my proudest moments just as far as showing the next generation and showing the league that it can be done. Showing that, because my situation was a little bit different, Adisyn was with me full-time and I was coming back after being pregnant and giving birth. She was only about five-months-old at the time.

"So, just showing everybody that it is possible and it's been really great to see that more and more mums are coming back and playing and are getting supported in more ways as the years have gone on. But back then, it was just deflating, I think, as far as women in sport go because I'm a huge advocate for that and I want to see females be able to do both because we're more than capable of doing that."

While it'll be for a different team, in a different city and even in a different country, chasing her goals in the sport she loves in Sydney is just another adventure for Cann and her daughters after her desire to continue to play at an elite level was spiked following a season with the Mainland Pouakai in the New Zealand women's league last season.

It was there, she helped transform a Pouakai team as the team's leader, going on to finish the regular season in first place and also earning All-Star Five honours.

"It definitely built my confidence just as far as knowing that I had the ability to kind of juggle the kids and play at that level. Did I think it would ever happen? I think that when I had one kid, it was a maybe, and then when I had two and three, like I just didn't really think that clubs would be open to that.

"I'm super grateful to Pouakai last year for the opportunity to do that, because I proved to myself that we can easily do it. My kids are amazing. They've grown up in the basketball environment. They love being there, they love being amongst it and also I just learnt a lot about myself as well.

"I grew a lot last season as far as understanding how to do all of the things. I was home-schooling Adisyn. I had two girls in day care three days a week, training full time, playing full time, travelling full time. So, it definitely just built my confidence and kind of proved to myself that I can do it."

The support she received in New Zealand was the same reason the Flames were a perfect fit for her to make a long-awaited comeback to the WNBL.

"Sydney just feels like such a great fit for me," Cann said.

"First of all, I've heard great things about Guy (Molloy). I've spoken to him in depth around what he's after, what he's trying to do with the club, what he's trying to do with the team and the culture and it really aligns with my own values and who I am on and off the court.

"I've only heard great things about Sydney Flames as an organisation. I've heard great things about ownership, Chris (Pongrass) the whole lot and the more that I've spoken to them about what they're trying to achieve from a club perspective, it just aligns with who I am and what I want to be doing and what I want to be getting out of basketball in my older years.

"On top of that, just the way that they've literally contacted me and already have made me feel so comfortable bringing the kids. Like I can't even really explain it. It's just like they know that we're a package deal and they're excited that we're a package deal."

One part of that package, her husband Luke will be in South Australia chasing his own dreams as an assistant with the 36ers, and while being apart for along period of time — it was all part of showing their daughters the sacrifices it takes to do what you love.

"Luke and I talk about it all the time and we kind of flip between 'oh my gosh, are we doing the right thing' to 'hey this is the best thing for everyone'. We definitely feel as though what they're going to learn from watching us chase our dreams and watching us push ourselves outside our comfort zone definitely outweighs everyone staying in their comfort zone here in Brisbane," Cann said.

"I'm super grateful to be married to someone who shares that belief and who is just as eager to kind of be the best version of himself as I am. I think that if we can do that in front of our kids and we can show them that you can do whatever you want and chase whatever dream you have, regardless of your family situation and your work situation and all of those sorts of things. Hopefully that's what they kind of take on board as they grow into young adults."

Cann, who also has her own business in Assist Athlete Services which focuses on teaching youngsters the mental tools to be the best people and athletes they can be, is starring for Logan again this NBL1 North season, leading the league in assists (9.1 per game) while also scoring 11.2 points per game for the second-placed Thunder.

Her sheer determination to play at the elite level can't be more evident than during the 2022 NBL1 North season. Just eight days after giving birth to her third daughter, Dallas, Cann returned to the court for her beloved Thunder.

The former Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder will look to add leadership and a veteran presence at the point guard position for Flames team, featuring several big names, including Shaniece Swain, the returning Lauren Nicholson as well as US import point guard Grace Berger.

"I'm really excited to get down there and get to work," Cann said.