It's back to work for the Opals

CANBERRA (2016 Rio Olympic Games) - Australia coach Brendan Joyce remained in France after the completion of the Opals' recent tour of Europe to watch the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT) and scout potential opponents at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

France, Belarus and Turkey claimed berths for Rio at the WOQT and were then drawn in Group A with Australia, Brazil and Japan. Spain and China, who also qualified for Rio and were drawn in Group B, could also end up facing the Opals in the knockout round.

Now Joyce is back on home soil, putting players hopeful of making the final Olympic roster of the No. 2 side in the FIBA World Ranking Women through their paces at another training camp.

Rebecca Allen is the only player that toured Europe with the squad that is unavailable for Australia's third camp since March while Sara Blicavs and Abby Bishop have returned from injury and the WNBA, respectively.

Joyce, whose team won eight of its 11 games on tour and did not have star players Penny Taylor and Erin Phillips because of their WNBA commitments, saw plenty of positives in his squad but also identified areas the Opals must improve in before the start of the Rio Games.

"The tours [were] positive in respect to exposing areas we need to improve and what we do well," Joyce said. "The tours add to our preparation for August by giving the coaching staff a chance to trial the players and different combinations and test them in various roles as well as giving the players themselves some international experience."

Stephanie Talbot underlined her status as one of Australia's emerging talents, especially on the defensive end, and Liz Cambage continued to show signs she is getting back to her best following the ruptured Achilles injury she suffered before the 2014 FIBA Women's World Championship.

Marianna Tolo, who tore an ACL last year, also took part in the tour and revealed herself to be far along on the comeback trail. Tolo played a very important role for Australia when they finished third at the FIBA Women's World Championship in Turkey two years ago.

Australia have been focusing intently on developing new talents under Joyce and that hard work should pay off by August, when the the Rio Games are staged.

Joyce and Australia still have friendly games to play before the start of the Olympics.

They will visit the United States 28 July to 1 August and take on Canada, France and the USA. Their battle with the Geno Auriemma's US side will be fought in the bright lights of New York City at Madison Square Garden, a famous venue the Opals have not competed in before, on 1 August.

FIBA