Credit: Lawrence Surgers (@pics.by.tre) via NBL1

It’s Saturday night in Geelong, and where else would you rather be?

The Geelong Arena is close to its 2,000 person capacity, with fans filling out the bleachers in a sea of navy and white. Music pulses throughout the building, overlaid by the constant bouncing of basketballs on the hardwood floors. There’s an air of anticipation that’s slowly building.

With the main event eventually underway, Gemma Potter, one of the competition’s rising stars, holds the ball at the perimeter, orchestrating Geelong’s offence. She waits patiently, as Jaz Shelley darts around a Hannah Hank screen. Shelley is played high, her defender denying a turnout, so she flares to the corner, where Potter’s pinpoint pass lands precisely in her shot pocket. Almost automatically, Shelley drains a corner three. She then pays it forward, finding Taylor Mole for triple - not once, but twice. All net, not once, but twice. The pair have an irresistible chemistry, and even with Geelong taking a two point lead into half time, there’s a sense of inevitability about what’s to come.

As the action resumes, Shelley hits a wide open Potter under the basket with a nifty lob for an easy two. Potter then follows that bucket up with back to back triples - from the same spot no less - as the lead starts ballooning. Before long, Mole checks back in off the bench and replicates Dirk Nowitzki’s patented fadeaway jumper, converting off one leg, and the bench goes berserk. She finishes with a game-high 23 points in just 16 minutes off the pine, while Shelley and Potter also finish with double digits in an 18-point win.

If it sounds like a Geelong United game, it’s because it is - although it’s important to note this is the NBL1’s undefeated juggernaut we’re talking about, not the WNBL’s newest franchise. While they’ve now rebranded into the Venom, the region’s second tier team is still United in name, and by nature. It’s a team made up of five rostered players from last WNBL season, giving Geelong the opportunity to do something no other team is doing, let alone able to do: using the NBL1 competition as an extended pre-season.

“Not having much of a turnaround from WNBL season wasn't really a bad thing for us, just because we didn't get as many wins as we were hoping during the WNBL season,” Jaz Shelley explains to me. “We started to see some progress towards the end of it, so I think we kind of picked up where we left off, and us WNBL girls have really tried to carry that into this new season.”

That’s an understatement. Remarkably, Geelong United sits 18-0 in a brutal NBL1 South conference, and aren’t just favourites to win the title, but also take out the national championship. But those goals are just a precursor of what’s to come.