Bendigo has long had fertile sporting soil but has now produced one of the NBA’s best defensive players as well as successful WNBL and NBL 1 teams

Dyson Daniels opened his sparkling silver jacket on NBA draft night in 2022. Under the bright lights of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the lining on his right breast revealed the names of his parents and brothers. On Daniels’ left was stitched a map of Bendigo.

About two hours’ drive north-west of Melbourne and with a population of 122,000, Bendigo is no Brooklyn. But thanks to Daniels and a dominant professional women’s team, the regional centre generously described by some as a city has emerged this year as a genuine power in global basketball.