The Spirit start with a Queensland road trip, facing new team South East Queensland on October 9 in the WNBL season-opener before tackling reigning champions Townsville on October 10.

In the final round of the season the Spirit plays Sydney Uni in Sydney on February 19 before backing up the next night in Canberra against the Capitals.

The Spirit’s first home game of the season is against the Perth Lynx on Sunday, October 18.

The Spirit has a second Queensland road trip in round nine before enjoying a stretch of five-straight home games from round 10 to round 14.

Spirit coach Simon Pritchard said the draw was an exciting one for the Spirit.

“South East Queensland has some strong leaders, with WNBA star Erin Phillips joining Rachel Jarry and Rebecca Allen,” he said. 

“We then go into the Townsville cauldron, which always has a fantastic atmosphere. It is a great start  to the year.”

Two bye rounds have been scheduled, the first over the Christmas weekend and the second mid-January when many of the WNBL stars are on Opals’ duty at the Rio Olympics test event.

The Spirit’s schedule – October 9 v SE Queensland (a), October 10 v Townsville (a), October 18 v Perth (h), October 23 v Dandenong (a), October 24 v Canberra (h), October 30 v Perth (a), November 1 v Adelaide (a), November 7 v SE Queensland (h), November 15 v Perth (h), November 21 v Melbourne Boomers (a), November 22 v Dandenong (h), November 29 v Adelaide (a).

December 4 v Townsville (a), December 6 v SE Queensland (a), December 12 v Melbourne (h), December 18 v Sydney Uni (h), January 2 v Canberra (h), January 9 v Melbourne (h), January 22 v Sydney Uni (h), January 30 v Dandenong (a), February 7 v Townsville (h), February 14 v Adelaide (h), February 19 v Sydney Uni (a), February 20 v Canberra (a).