Basketball hunger returned quickly for new mum

Featured image: Michael Farnell @sportsimageryau

Darcee Garbin had no expectations of basketball beyond becoming a mother, but it didn’t take long for the hunger to return and now she has an NBL1 West Grand Final with Cockburn Cougars on the horizon ahead of reuniting in WNBL with Claudia Brassard at Tasmania Jewels.

Following her last WNBL season back in 2021/22 and even as a two-time championship winner at the Townsville Fire and winning three with the Rockingham Flames in the then SBL, Garbin had felt she'd never played better than when she was in Hungary.

She won a championship with Diósgyőri VTK in 2024 before spending a season at UNI Gyor, but then life threw her and husband Nic Cody, himself a former player, a curve ball and they were about to become parents for the first time by the end of 2025.

Garbin was happy to admit she had no idea what her basketball future would look like after having a baby and was willing to accept she might never play again while equally being open to the prospect of a quick return to play.

It was then not much more than a month after the arrival of daughter Rose that Garbin knew she wanted to get back playing. She quickly informed Cougars coach Russell Haan of her desire to do that in the NBL1 West with Cockburn given Wally Hagan Stadium was just around the corner.

Then once Brassard was appointed inaugural coach in the WNBL of the Jewels, she immediately wanted to be part of that in Tasmania and now the rest is history.

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Garbin might not have felt her return to playing has been as smooth as it's looked from the outside, but she's starred almost instantly at the Cougars with 15.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.8 steals a game.

That has included a 38-point outburst with six triples against the Lakeside Lightning and then in Sunday's preliminary final hammering of the East Perth Eagles, she had another 32 points with 7/12 shooting from the outside.

She has been instrumental in the defending champion Cougars making it to a fourth straight NBL1 West Grand Final, but her desire to return to playing all happened at HoopsFest in Perth back in January.

"Rose was born at the start of December and then by mid-January when HoopsFest was over here in Perth, I took her to a couple of the games and was catching up with some of the girls, and caught up with my agent," Garbin said.

"That's when I kinda said that I think I want to keep doing this and my husband kept telling me I was becoming a bit too much of an armchair expert.

"I was watching a lot of WNBL and he was telling me that it would be nice for Rose to see me try to have a crack at playing at that level again.

"It was funny that I was talking with Russell as well and said that I wasn’t that interested in playing but he wanted to get a coffee more to see if he could pick my brain about recruiting.

"So I went to that meeting and told him I did want to play and I think that caught him a bit by surprise, but then we came to terms pretty quickly.

"The timing all ended up lining up with HoopsFest and Russ reaching out, and Nic kinda encouraging me about how nice it would be for Rose to know that I did have a crack at making it back.

"Then not long after I messaged Claudia just to see if she thought I could do it and then not too long after that she made Jewels coach and then that all came together pretty quickly."

Proximity to Cockburn made it easier

While Garbin has a strong history in the league of playing 98 games previously and winning three championships at the Rockingham Flames and then a near homecoming at the Goldfields Giants in 2023, it was sheer convenience that made Cockburn the obvious choice as her home in 2026.

Her and husband Nic had settled into a home in the area so not having to factor in travel time was a big reason why she was keen to join the Cougars. It just happened to be a bonus they were the reigning NBL1 West champions who had played in the past three Grand Finals.

"It made it so easy and just literally the stadium is about four minutes around the corner," Garbin said.

"Rose doesn’t come to too many games but a lot of the times when we have training, I can put her to bed and head out so it does make it very easy that they are just around the corner.

"The community and everyone at Cockburn has embraced me and embraced Rose so much, and it's just been so nice to have that.

"There's a lot of talk about the new stadium they are going to get and that's probably where Rose is going to grow up and play basketball if that's the sport she chooses to play so I'm really happy that I decided to play there, and if that's going to be her junior basketball club."

Has felt like a grind to make it back

To anyone looking on from the outside and considering Garbin only gave birth in December, to be back playing in the NBL1 with Cockburn by May 1 and it looked like it was a quick process to get back out there again.

That's the opposite of how it felt for her both just in terms of having had to sit out of playing for that long, but also then just getting her body back in the condition to be able to play basketball again.

From her point of view, it certainly hasn’t been as easy as a journey as it might appear, but she is glad that it's all now gone to plan and she's not only made it back to play, but is going well and ready to full get ready for a WNBL season after Saturday night's Grand Final.

"It is probably one of the hardest and most humbling things I've ever done trying to get back to play, and I wouldn’t say I'm surprised how quick it's been because for me it doesn’t feel like that at all," Garbin said.

"It really felt like a grind and when I was coming back from in 2024 being at the top of my game and the expectation for me was that it wasn’t going to come back a lot quicker than it did.

"But I think once we sort of had a bit of a plan in place for me, I thought it was going to be way too long working with my support team and physios at the WA Institute of Sport.

"I'm happy that I've been able to just get back on court and do it, but being the competitive athlete that I am, it did feel like a long time not that anyone held me back or anything.

"There was no rush and I wanted to make sure I was right for the start of WNBL and wasn't trying to rush for Round 1 of NBL1. It did feel like a little bit of a drag and it did feel quite hard at first, but then probably about two months it really clicked and felt like all that hard work paid off.

"But there was a bit of time where I didn’t know if I'd ever get back to WNBL level. It did feel like it was a long process but I'm very happy to be back on the court."

Figuring out the three Cockburn bigs

While Cockburn might have played in the last three NBL1 West Grand Finals before Garbin's arrival, there has been significant turnover from last year's championship team with Sarah Mortensen, Ruby Porter and Steph Gorman not part of this 2026 outfit.

So by bringing in Garbin and retaining Jessie Edwards and Daniel Raber, it was always going to be fascinating how championship coach Russell Hann would juggle the trio and who would end up starting, and who would end up finishing games.

In the end, Hann has gone with having the three of them out there together and it's working a treat because they've now won 11 of the last 12 games heading into the Grand Final with Edwards having been crowned MVP.

Garbin was also named Sixth Woman of the Year but then Raber is the one ending up playing as a key forward and having averaged 18.2 points, 12.3 rebounds and 8.5 assists over the past six matches including three triple doubles.

Garbin couldn’t be happier with how it's worked out for the three bigs, but then also with a shooter like Cierra Walker, point guard captain Jewel Williams and with Ayla Pizzuto, Jaya Scafidi and Alira Fotu who are taking their moments too.

"I'm sure there were some teething issues and it's quite ironic we're now playing Warwick who were the team that broke our winning streak earlier on in the year," Garbin said.

"A big factor in that game was that we were still trying to figure out how we were going to play with these three bigs and it took us a while to get there.

"And even defensively, we tried to change up a few things but it's been amazing he way it has all come together. It's so nice throwing the ball up to Jessie and she just goes and gets it, and put it in and she makes me look good.

"And then Dani is amazing and flies under the radar and is so underrated. The way she goes about it, she's just all class so it's been great and I'm glad that we have in these last couple of weeks kind of peaked to be gelling really well.

"But it's about more than just us three, I'm really proud of how we've been able to do adapt throughout the season with different players coming in and out. We've now been able to put it together when it matters most which has been great."

Daughter will be there for Grand Final

The timing for Saturday's Grand Final for Cockburn against Warwick works out perfectly for Garbin to have daughter Rose there as well. It will be the first time she's had the chance to play at RAC Arena as well.

It just highlights how far the NBL1 has come since her last brief season even in 2023 and first full season back when it was the SBL still when she won a third championship at Rockingham.

"I don't know if a couple of years ago I'd have been too happy about a 4:30 game but now I'm very happy with it because it makes it nice and easy for Rose to come along with my parents," Garbin said.

"Unfortunately Nic is going to be away at work, but I'm so excited and obviously having Rose and my whole perspective has changed, but I'm still a competitor and want to win.

"That's what you play for ultimately is to be in a Grand Final and I've been there a few times when I was at Rockingham even though we played those at Bendat.

"It's amazing to see how much it's evolved with the NBL1 and that we get to play at RAC, what a cool opportunity it is and I think it's just great the way the NBL1 is now with the professionalism in the league.

"There's a lot of girls that might not play at WNBL level or in Europe, but they get these experiences now and it's so exciting."

Resuming WNBL career at the Jewels

While Garbin initially was just relieved to have a WNBL opportunity after having Rose and for the Jewels to make her an offer before she hit the floor at Cockburn, the reality was playing for Brassard again was too good a chance to pass up.

The pair enjoyed two championships together in Townsville in 2016 and 2018, and Garbin couldn’t think of anyone better to make her return playing for.

"I did joke with my husband that as soon as Tassie gave me an offer I had to sign it because I hadn’t even played a game back yet, but I was thankful they were willing to give me a shot without even seeing me back playing," Garbin said.

"As soon as the Jewels announced Claudia as the coach, I told my agent that I wouldn’t really want to play anywhere else but I told him to not tell them exactly that and maybe play a little hard to get.

"But I was excited to play for her again because we have a great relationship from our time in Townsville and I'm so excited that she's back in the WNBL coaching."

Making the move to Tasmania

While Garbin is no stranger to living in different parts of Australia and indeed the world, now moving to a new home in Tasmania for the first time as a mother does open up a whole different set of challenges.

But she has no reason to think she won't find tremendous support once she heads to Hobart in the coming weeks to get settled and she's looking forward to everything about it.

"I think I'm a little bit delusional that the whole move across the country with an eight-month-old is going to be completely smooth, but prior to Rose I was doing that and picked up and moved to Hungary, and had moved around for NBL1," Garbin said.

"So it's just kinda part of the lifestyle and I know that I'm probably on the back end and I don’t know how much more I'll be able to do this, so I'm excited to give Rose as many opportunities like this as I can.

"She's not going to remember it, but we'll make friends and have photos and all of that to show her when she gets a bit older.

"I can't wait to get over there and it's obviously going to be a bit of a puzzle trying to figure it all out with when Nic can get over, finding a new nanny and all of that.

"But I'm already feeling a lot of support from the club and community, and my sister lives in Melbourne which isn’t too far away so hopefully get to see her a lot more.

"We've had so many friends that have helped us out over here so hopefully we find a similar little network in Tassie and I can't wait."