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AUSTRALIAN Opals coach Sandy Brondello is expected to shortly be revealed as the new head coach of the WNBA's New York Liberty, replacing Walt Hopkins and joining two players from her national program - Bec Allen and Sami Whitcomb - at the Big Apple.

Brondello, 53, was at the helm of the Phoenix Mercury for the past eight seasons, never missing the playoffs and winning the WNBA championship in 2014.

The Mercury only lost once in the first round of the post-season and in 2021 reached the championship series before being beaten by Chicago Sky in four games.

Brondello's husband Olaf Lange was an assistant with the Sky, a factor which did not sit well with some of the hierarchy at Phoenix.

Out of contract at season's end, the Mercury's decision to go "in a different direction" also suited Brondello, who was ready for a change of scenery.

When the franchise makes her appointment official, Brondello will become the fifth woman to head the Liberty since its inception in 1997.

She was one of three finalists the Liberty interviewed for the coaching role, along with Becky Hammon and Latricia Trammell.

Hammon, a legend at the Liberty as a player and a San Antonio Spurs assistant coach alongside Gregg Popovich in the NBA, was announced head coach of the Las Vegas Aces on Friday.

An assistant coach of the Los Angeles Sparks, Trammell is a candidate for the Mercury’s coaching vacancy, Phoenix releasing Brondello the same day New York parted company with Hopkins.

Brondello’s win-loss coaching record at Phoenix is a tidy 150-108 and she also was named WNBA Coach of the Year in 2014.

Her WNBA playing career, which included stops at Detroit Shock, Miami Sol and Seattle Storm, saw her start in 146 of 155 games, average 11.4 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists. She was named to the 1999 All-Star Game and finished top 10 in 1998 in single season total field goals made (157), points scored (426), minutes played (993), points per game (14.2), offensive rating (105.6) and win shares (4.2), to name a few of her highlights.

A star player with the Opals at three Olympics and two FIBA World Championships, Brondello also is an MVP of the WNBL, winning the ultimate individual accolade in 1995 with the now defunct Brisbane Blazers.

Her record as national coach yielded a Silver Medal behind the USA at the 2018 FIBA World Cup before her Tokyo Olympic Games campaign last year was sabotaged by the fall-out from the Liz Cambage-Nigeria practice match and the late and sudden addition of Lange to her Opals coaching staff after he failed to qualify for the Games as head coach of Russia.

Brondello's appointment will make 2022 a huge year for her.

The FIBA World Cup will be staged in Australia for the first time since 1994, with the Opals in a  transition phase, the coach needing to make some big calls on some of her team's older generation at an emotional time with the championship on home soil.

Verstaile "bigs" Ezi Magbegor and Alanna Smith (above) broke into the Opals together and rightly were seen as "the future". But their future is now and while Magbegor has been allowed to flourish, Brondello's treatment of Smith in Tokyo was unconsionable.

Smith's recent WNBL form with Adelaide Lightning has left little doubt she can be an international star if given the support and encouragement necessary.

Apart from the challenges of restoring the Opals to favour at the World Cup, Brondello's challenge in New York is also tough. The Liberty are the only remaining WNBA foundation club yet to win a championship.

The club has been publicly strident it now has all the right pieces - such as a No.1 draft pick in Sabrina Ionescu, All-Star Betnijah Laney, Rookie of the Year Michaela Onyenwere and 2019 Defensive Player of the Year Natasha Howard - and for success, it now only requires the right coach. Yep. No pressure.

LIBERTY'S BETNIJAH LANEY: Also played WNBL at Perth Lynx and Bendigo Spirit.