Well, this week I set myself an even tougher task - naming the best 12 Opals players I've played with.

Over the past 20 years I've had the privilege of playing alongside so many greats of our game.

I respect everyone that I've played with in international competition with the Opals and there were some players who I found really hard to leave out.

To narrow the field down to a team of 12 wasn't easy, but here it is:

Guards - Michelle Timms, Tully Bevilaqua, Sandy Brondello, Belinda Snell.

Forwards - Penny Taylor, Trish Fallon, Michelle Brogan, Laura Summerton.

Centres - Lauren Jackson, Rachel Sporn, Jenny Whittle, Suzy Batkovic.

The 12 is a mix of the players who played a major role in the Opals' golden era of the past decade and the players who laid the foundation of that era through the late 1990's.

I've had the box seat to watch the international career unfold of our greatest player Lauren Jackson.

Lauren and I played our first major international tournament for the Opals together at the world championships in 1998.

She has gone on to become a superstar of world basketball.

Penny Taylor started with the Opals in 2002 and, like Lauren, has established herself as an international star.

Belinda Snell, Suzy Batkovic, Tully Bevilaqua and Laura Summerton all played through that golden era.

People forget that we might not have had that golden era if it wasn't for players like Michelle Timms, Sandy Brondello, Rachel Sporn, Trish Fallon, Michelle Brogan and Jenny Whittle.

I was lucky enough to learn a lot about the game from Timms, Brondello and Sporn when I first made the Opals.

Timms and Brondello put Australian women's basketball on the map when they made the move to the WNBA.

Sporn and Brondello, who had one of the best jump shot in women's basketball in the world,  were two of the most positive players I've played with.

The three of them were great leaders - on and off the court.

Whittle, Brogan and I won the world junior championships together in 1993.

They made the Opals earlier than me and they were fantastic players.

The common factor amongst the 12 players I've selected is work ethic.

The older generation set the standard for the next generation of Opals.

Timms, Brondello, Fallon and Sporn were so professional in how they went about their basketball.

They showed the next generation coming through that you have to work your butt off in everything you do.

That's one of the major reasons why the Opals have been successful.

The fact I could easily have picked another six or eight players in the squad of 12 shows just how much depth the Opals have had.

I would love to give a special mention to Hollie Grima, who without doubt was the best roommate I had in my international career. That is a role that shouldn't be underestimated.